My daughter, who has always been a doodler, wants to pursue a career in art when she graduates high school.
I fully understand how difficult it can be to make a living as an artist. But, I don’t want either of us to spend the rest of our lives wondering, “What if?”… So, we are going to take the chance.
As luck would have it, our local collage offers “Children’s Book Illustration” as one of the art majors. My daughter plans to major in that, with a minor in graphic design. I was very interested to learn that the course in Children’s Illustration seems to be as much about business and marketing as it is about artistic technique.
Here are a few of the MANY artworks that she has done recently. There is always a project on the computer, or a doodle laying on top of the desk. And, these are not a version of somebody else’s work, she creates all of the characters herself.
Like her Dad, the girl is a video gamer.
(Image removed from quote.)
A homemade Bithday card.
(Image removed from quote.)
Her first watercolor. Not an art class project, she just did this over the course of a couple of evenings while watching TV.
(Image removed from quote.)
This was a quick picture she made after I saved her laptop from the “Blue screen of death”.
(Image removed from quote.)
And finally, one of the MANY doodles that seem to always be cluttering up the top of our desk.
(Image removed from quote.)
While this collage major may be an expensive risk, It is a chance I want us to take. An added benefit of the collage being local is that she can live at home and save money while she is in school. More than I like the idea of saving money, I’m glad we will have her close to us for a little while longer. She is a great kid.
Wish her luck!
Very nice work, I must say.
My cousin graduated from the Philadelphia University of the Arts. He also had natural talent and I often wondered why he spent all of that money on schooling but, as he progressed and told me about it, it made sense. Just as a natural athlete needs a coach to refine their skills, prevent bad habits and learn the in's and out's of a career, so does an artist. It is worth it, if she is serious about making it a career.
Yes, he "starved" for a bunch and had to make a living at other various jobs (delivering newspapers, landscaping, etc) for a while and he even served a few years in the army.
He has now moved to Los Angeles and is finally making a living, doing what he loves to do.
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/thomas-hoyle.htmlThe secret is that if you love your career or craft, you will never work a day in your life.
I encourage my kids all of the time (both budding musicians) that, if they want to pursue a career in music, put every effort into it and don't go halfway. I don't expect them to be rock stars, but there are more careers in music than just that. Being an accomplished session musician that can be handed a chart on Monday, sight-read it, and prepared to record your part on Tuesday for say, a TV commercial jingle by Wednesday is more flexible than hanging out in a garage and counting on luck to "make it big" I tell them to work as hard as you can and be the best that you can be at your profession and the rewards are endless, the least of which being the lack of dread about waking up every day and going to a place that you hate, performing tasks that you despise all because you need to survive.
I wish her the best of luck
