Art as a Job. Is it worth it?

[Emmyc]

Hi there! Hope this is the right place for this!
My name is Emmy Cicierega. I'm 17 and I'm not that good at drawing just yet, still stuck in a rather bubbly cartoony place. I love drawing, though, the whole process is an adventure to me. It's got me curious about a future in it.


Do you do art for a living?
Do you like it?

I'd love to have a future involved with art. I'd like to know how enjoyable it is, though.
I love drawing for myself, but even drawing for myself can be frustrating at times. Would it wear on me if I was doing it proffesionally?
Also, i'm terrible with deadlines and pressure. Would that get easier with time/talent?

I love movies. Adore them. Nothing can ignite positive feelings and a passion for life better than a good story spread across the silver screen.
I'd LOVE to be involved in childrens entertainment someday, or just making movies, live-action or animated.

But how fun is it? Is working on a movie just as great a feeling as watching one?
Is drawing/animating someone esles character as fun as animating your own character?

Is your job a dream job?

I'd love some answers from anyone who has experience in this type of thing.
Thanks very much :)

[Hyskoa]

Okay, let's strip the starstruck phase away and let you crash into a harsh reality, it's still a job dear.

It's fun yes, but hard work. And well, there's an easy way to figure out to see if you will like it in the future.
It will usually be a grind. So grind away for a few months for 4-5 hours after school every day except the weekends and see if it's still enjoyable.
Put up deadlines and goals. See if you can reach them.

If it's still fun, then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Most people here start as a hobby, see that they like it, get addicted and turn it into their job.
But if you're dead set on it being your job, well, might as well do the test.

Good luck with it.


(also, I know you asked for other people their experiences in the field, but that won't do you much for you, since people diffir so much. What's okay and good for one might be torture for the other.)

Also, if you're set on getting a good start, make a sketchbook, public exposure is an extremely good motivator and will make you keep your deadlines.

[Emmyc]

Okay, let's strip the starstruck phase away and let you crash into a harsh reality, it's still a job dear.

I know. I don't think I'd care how hard it was if I knew the outcome would be worth it.

I'll end up working hard at whatever job I get, I'd just like to know that a job involving art wouldn't just end up as a job and would still retain the fun of art no matter how difficult it got.

Good suggestions, though, i'll give them a try.

[Hyskoa]

Well, if it will retain the fun after those 4 months, your chances are pretty high.
It means you're enjoying the grind, which is still the main part of the job.
Creating yet another elf or midget.. I mean gnomish engineer because the bosses ask for it just means putting your mind at zero and trying to be original with a lot of limitations. And sometimes you get to create some art that strokes the ego and soothes the soul.

I myself don't have this problem, just turn off the brain after thinking out a concept and grind away until I find what I seek, but others can get seriously depressed over this.

Make sure you're not one of them. If you are, maybe fine arts is more your thing, where every piece matters.

[Seedling]

Only you can answer the question “is it worth it”, because what’s worth the effort for one person is an absurdity to the next.

I make computer games for a living, and I enjoy it. Not because I get to play games all day (which I don’t), not because I’m making a game that I would want to play above all others (which I’m not), not because it brings me wealth or fame (it doesn’t); but because I get to work with a fun bunch of people on a project that is so large I could never have possibly made such a thing on my own, and that’s fun to me. And because I get paid to do this thing that I enjoy.

Yes, there are times when I don’t like my job! It is a dream job. It’s also hard and grindy work at times. Sometimes I have to make things that don’t interest me. Sometimes others on the team make decisions that I don’t agree with. Sometimes I have to work ten hours when I really feel like working two. But there are enough days when I go home feeling eager to come in the following day that the hard times are worth it.

The above could be said by anyone about any job. What you need to do is to figure out what sort of job you could feel this way about.

[Elwell]

See my sig.

[aerodyll]

well i am not working in the industry yet but i am in the same boat as you but a few years ahead. I am so determined to work in the games industry that ntohign will stop me, my ambition drives me, it gets lower and higher but it is always there forcing me to improve.
Drawing is great, i love it, you love it, all poeple on these forums love it. The problem comes when trying to make youreself stand out form the crowd. it has been said by a designer (dont ask which its in some book somewhere lol) that a game designer could go outside spin round three times spit and hit an artist in the face.
This industry is one of the most competitive out there. the work is grueling and you have to really enjoy itand be prepared to put the extar bit in to set youreself from the crowd.
I was scared that i mite not have what it takes to go for it, but when i looke dat myself i realised that i really do love my drawing, a day rarely goes by when i dont at least doodle something. I have been fortunate to meet a few people in the games, animation, and illustration industries and they all say the same thing. The work is really hard, the pay aint great, and thre hours are long, they swear all day at work and shout n get angry, but whenever they tell me this they get all glassy eyed. When youo ask them about a project thye are working on they will go on about it for an hour with an almost childlike enthusiasm, it is amazing.

When i see these people it gives me the warm fuzzies, even though the work wil be hard when it is either this or shelf stacking or some other lame job for a life, i always go back to drawing because it is just ace.
Before you get all excited about a career choice, you need to ask youreself some serious questions, te big one that has been suggested is that you say you arent that great at drawing yet. The YET is all the difference between a box and a mansion in later life (exaggeration). I woul dsuggest a backup plan, for example instead of learning drawing, go for photoshop pics as well, and 3d design maybe while your at it, and some mroe traditional painting skills would be awesome.

...reading back over this i dont think it is very clear, but it is the best replyi can come up with, its even been re written three times lol.

[Justin.]

You know what John Cale says...

"Work is more fun than fun."
-John Cale

[mosh]

hi Emmy
for start i gess it really depends on what tipe of a person you are
how ever ill tell you a bit from my experiance
well to start i work in a nice little animation studio for a rather new company
basically as a story board artist . ( wich doing cartoons needs very persice art work done ) many times i find my self having a lot of fun with a caricture
mostly and inspecially wen i feal imotianally conected to it ( even if some one else made it up ) while at other times i could find my self being very bord with other carictures im not really interasted in drawing but rather most draw them beacous its what the work needs
some times i find my self doing a hole bunch of art work and non of the carictures are originally mine and some times not even the layout but rather what others want
so i always have lots of fun latter on wen i get some free time to just finally sit down i draw out somethink i like just plain for the fun and not for work
how ever over all .... being an artist is a lot like being an actriss in order to really draw a caricture you got to get into its persinalety so either way yor going to find your self fealing conected to a caricture you work on in a seriuse matter
wich is good it makes it joyable

i think if you want to test your self
you should do as follows

1- make your self a sqedual of about 4-5 hours stright ( evry day 5 days a week ) were you sit done and do art work
2- create 1 or to carictures ( and you most know and study there lay out top to botom so you can redraw them in any posetion from any direction in any expretion and that they should still look like there exactly the same caricture
3- once you have the carictures down . make up your own small story line
and start drawing it out ,,, remmber take it slow
youll be drawing the sam caricture same face over and over and over again and again many times from many directions etc ...

if you see you like it then you do
if you dont so you dont

( sometimes working in art is great fun somtimes boring sometimes presuring and some times fusterating )
over all as others said befor me . its a job
and we can just be thankful that its one we can many times enjoy as well

[Tizer]

If you are doing something you are passionate about and love doing whist earning a living from doing it,,,then you'll never have to work another day in your live :^^:

[Wasker]

Well, I'm not a pro but in my opinion it is worth it.

Most artists would probably draw and paint even without getting paid as a hobby, but I can't imagine a lawyer ploughing through tons of books because they love justice or a plumber fixing his pipes just for fun. If you can make a living out of your interests I say you should go for it.

[Noë]

I've been wondering the same thing,
currently I'm working hard to achieve my goals, but I'm wondering if I would still like to do all of this as a job, 10 hours a day (or something like that)

I currently don't have time to sit down and do art for 4-5 hours a day... But when there's a holiday soon, I'll try!
Oh @ Mosh: what do you mean with caricture, you mean creature I think?
And do you mean you have to draw the same creature for 4-5 hours each day, for five days in a row, or one a day?

Love
Marleen

[lavi]

I say, if it's something you really enjoy, then you can't go wrong. I've had a couple of full time graphic design jobs and do freelance illustrative work, right now I make the graphics for standardized tests. Yes, it can be hard work at times, sometimes there are strict deadlines that things have to be finished by... or sometimes you may have to draw or design things that don't really interest you. But all in all, I don't think I'd ever want to work in a different field. Work goes by really fast when you enjoy what you do. It also helps if you are good at what you do, and if you are constantly working towards improving. I've learned a lot by working in this field, and I still keep learning more every day. If you seriously love art, and could easily spend hours and hours on it a day (not to mention, getting paid for it!)... then I say go for it!