Topic awaiting preservation: "Grow up 2 B a Artist"

I know most of you guy's are like pro's, and surely make living with your art's... but are you happy about your life, job, and how much you make?... i mean do you recomend some one like me to get into these stuff...ok, straight to the point i wana grow up to be a character designer in games, dose this thing have money in it?
btw, i'm 18----

2 things

1) we don't know what "someone like you" is. I wouldn't recommend anything in particular to you at the moment...

2) if you're good at what you do, and get in with the right companies, yes there can be good money in it. but it is a very competitive field...


(ok, 3 things)
3) if want to get into *any* profession, my first suggestion is to take some basic english and grammar courses.


[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 09-18-2003).]

4. A lesson in sarcasm would be advantageous too.......

E-Mail DL-44, he'll put you in the right direction

I'd recommend reading some of the forum posts at cgtalk.com and conceptart.org. There have been many questions just like yours answered over there though you may need to sift through a few posts. Lots of great info there.



Amerasu

If English and grammar isn't your thing, you could always go into law. From what my mom tells me, English is definitely not a prerequisite in the legal field.

I think that no matter what field you go into the key to excelling is truly loving what you do and having some sort of inner motivation. Many artists and designers don't see much money for a long time. If you have aspirations of getting rich quick you should put those aside. However, if you truly love what you do and you're willing to sacrifice some material things early on, don't hesitate to seek out the job you want.

The last thing I'll say is please don't "settle." I've seen too many of my friends become miserable because they took the first job offered to them even though it lacked some of the things they wanted. Now they're stuck because they're either too afraid to change or because they're just not motivated enough to leave the status quo. You have to take a few risks in life and right now while you're young is the time to do it.

Good luck.



:::11oh1:::

Armen I know what exactly you mean and you want to be, I wanted to do the same thing as you....couple of years ago...yes I was tetsuya numora and yoji shinkawa freak.

lately I have come to conclusion....and my only advice for you is....simply go to art college, study fine arts, paint, draw, study masters, stay away from drawing cartoons, take 3D courses and photoshop and such classes in college, get as much as possible fine art experience by studing masters....honest your skills in realistic drawings/paintings as much as you can.....

your own style will come to you in time

after you will graduate, you can call yourself a profecional artist,, you will make money depends on how really good you are.

no mater in what field you are, you can make money if you are good...

but since you want to be an artist you cant think about money, you should think about art...and do always best you can, keep improving yourself. Thinking about being an artist to just make money wont do good....if you want to make moeny be a doctor, lawyer banker, marketing, whatever....just not arts

you dont have to call your self a "character designer" to be one....you just have to be simply good artist

as for being an artist, jobs are endless, you can get hired almost by any company, design, animation, illustration whatever...it all depends on how good you really are.

so get as much skills as possible in as much medium as possible.

yeah, i know if i wana be an artist , i don't have to think about making too much money or whatever...
but, Dude money is however essential 4 life, right?
So you are now what you whanted to be "i mean you design characters" , Ruski?
BTW- is it really enjoing to MOCK other people Dl-44?...(B)ch)

AND, thank you all . . .

armen, I am around your age....I used to play alot of video games and loved artwork produced by japanese character designers, I doodled alot too, I mastered "line work"
by coping alot of comics...

the time had gone by and I was becoming more and more interested in masters work, realistic stuff.
at that time january 2003, was the first time I started taking fine art courses, I immediatly succeded with my taylent, and was accepted to Marie Walsh Art foundation summer seminar in colorado...this even more led me into arts....

latly I keep practicing developing my skills in watercolor, acrylic, pastels, human figure....I take as much courses as possible since my high school doesnt provide art classes....

I am planing to go to NY's SVA or Ringling School of art and designe to study Computer animation

I will do my best to do what I love, I will try to make my living by working with indusries on animation projects, 3D or 2D, it might also involve character design, 3D works, animation, whatever.

my passion for painting will remain my own independed work. I dont want to paint the way poeple tell me, nor do I want to sell my paintings....it will be something I will do as a hobby.

edit: I hope this information can help you decide about what you want to chose,

just remeber, I picked computer animation cuz they make alot of money, ......but it involves alot of work....

if you got any more questions ask away, I will tell you what I know, I have talked to alot of proffecional artists personally, none of them regreted anything. One is simple illustrators, he makes a living as art teachers.......other simply does good job as a graphic designer and illustrator, he even was kinda famouse for his work around Puerto Rico, currently he is in airforce to get cash, he wants to study for masters degree.

in my oppinion being an artist is wonderful/great way to live, you just have to be patient, determined, humble and most important of all love what you do.

[This message has been edited by Ruski (edited 09-19-2003).]

I'm quite like ruski, except that i wont do computer animation, neither i am that much of an anime/manga fan, but i have the intentions to make traditional animation stuff. I have always loved cartoons (or any other kind of animated sereis, included clay animation and one to another 3d anim), and its my passion and love to draw. I really love drawing, drawing and drawing. I have tons of notebooks filled with doodles, ideas, thoughts and much more.

I have always wondered to myself if i'd ever dare to sell my stuff. Probably because it would be like selling my couple for a few cents.

Btw, wahts wrong with drawing cartoons? Often times their character design can be much more complex, as most corporal factions need to be exaggerated, and each char should be quite unique. And at times they are the most lovely ones =)

__________________________________


Alevice's Media Library

quote:

---

BTW- is it really enjoing to MOCK other people Dl-44?...(B)ch)

---

I assume you are referring to my number 3 up there?

It's a basic fact. I'm not mocking you, I'm giving you some essential advice. Nobody in a professional field wants to hire people that can't speak proper english.

If that makes you unhappy, then you should probably try to do something about it.

If you have two people applying for the same job and applicant one writes like this:

plz hire me i can do the job

applicant two writes like this:

Please hire me, I can do the job.

Which one do you think they're going to hire?
Although as the kids grow up these days with "txt msgng" as their main language... imagine what job applications are going to look like, and if the same kids are employing people... ok, I've gone off track, but it's a disturbing thought.

web design

*shudder* I hate txt mesage abbreviations. Sure, they allow you to cram more info into one message, but if something is that important that you have to mutilate the English language to say it in a 120 character text message, then it's important enough to take the time and say it in person.

And yes...DL was not moking you in any of his points. He was simply speaking the truth. You may not believe it now, but it is something you will learn quickly as you try to get a job anywhere...even at McDonalds. Employers do not want ot hire people with bad communication skills. Get used ot it...and if you fit into the bad communication skills category, do something about it.

I left an engineering cadetship 6 months before I graduated my civil engineering diploma to pursue a career as a multimedia designer. I left that engineering job in 1999, when I was 19 (finished high school when I was 16, I was an early starter). I often wonder how things would be now if I'd not thrown it all away to follow something I was more passionate about.

I spent six months at University studying business marketing to get my academic standings up (it was the only course I could get into with my poor high school grades and it was the most boring 6 months of my life). After that I took a lot of different night classes, built a portfolio of art and website designs whilst working coffee shops during the day and a year and a half after leaving that job I finally got into the course I wanted.

Thinking back to my engineering job and studies, there?s one very vivid memory that often comes to mind. I remember training my replacement in general office duties before I left and I asked him why he wanted to be a civil engineer. His answer: "Because my dad's a civil engineer" -- poor sap, I hope he didn't get as depressed in that job as I did.

Right now, I'm in 2nd year University student with one of the highest GPA's in my year at university and I tutor 1st year University students in basic computer programming. I should be quite employable when I graduate at the end of 2004, but most of all I spend my days designing multimedia works; websites, interactive artworks, computer games and just generally have the time of my life.

Right now I'm 23, and bloody poor. I'll likely be 25 by the time I start turning over a note worthy sallary. I could be on 50k as an engineer if I hadn't left that job, but to be honest, I'd rather be a piss poor uni student than a depressed engineer any day of the week.

In order to a good character designer you have to be able to draw very well (*see Alevice's post above) and you have to really, really like drawing.

Character design starts with sketching, and you'll do a lot of it if you have an anal Art Director, so get used to drawing the same thing over and over again with slight variations (...make the hair longer...make the nose bigger...less feminine...more feminine).

So, your best bet is to either draw, sketch, paint, whatever several hours a day until you think you're good enough to apply for a job at a game company, or enroll in some arts courses at university or a community college near you.

Also, good written and verbal skills are essential for communicating with the rest of the design team.

Very well put DL-44, Very well put!

*ALL very well put

Money...prestige...happiness.

The three seem to be (in many cultures, though not all) to be inescapably intertwined. We want the high-paying, low-stress position that gets us laid. Remind me to toss another dollar into the coffers of the rich and famous. In the meantime, I'll be living my life as I see fit, not as dictated by a paycheck.

quote:

---

We want the high-paying, low-stress position that gets us laid.

---

Oh my god. I did not realize I was so transparent.

Right up until I was about 18 I could never be seen without a drawing pad in front of me. I still have a lot of that early work in my parents loft. Even now, some 20 years on I still love to draw whenever I find the time and always love to wander round gallerys.
Art is not something you do in order to achieve a different goal, its something in you that you love, even if you discover it later in life.
Painstakingly copying manga drawings when you have no real interest in art is not going to make you a gifted artist




~We're not here for long, we're here for fun~

It's hard to decide, all of the thing you all said where right . . . It actually depends on the person himself and how he or she see's life in general...happy or rich...Can't be both of them!?
"If your both rich and happy then who needs heaven for <---yes, i'm a believer"
But i have this stupid thing that i promesed to myself since i was 12, you see my homeland is a poor country and curently i'm not living there, but i always dreamed that i had a country of my own that was not at least poor and me growing up there, not thinking about leaving there, like an American who never thinks of leaving his country. so i thought to get rich and help my country so the next generation would get what i wanted...And unfortunatly I Love arts.
arts=not rich
"again sorry for my english"

Armen, where you from?

ok let me tell you something bud, you can't save the world....but you can creat a character that can!!!
I know what ou mean...but in that case you will have to become bill gates....a governor...or whatever....being an artist is something else....

your idea of becoming a character designer/artist in a sense sounds more realistic and since you love it you might take it seriously you might as well make a pretty good living...

as for being your countries savior is all too dreamy....you will get tired of
being rich and famouse (if you will become one) and this wont bring you happiness...being rich meaning you will have very little time, you will constantly will have to look after your richest/job...such as managment, control of money, bunkrapcy blah blah blah...if you like that stuff...do it...but I wouldnt recomend...

high paying stress free job that gets you laid... who said he wanted to be a prostitute? or are you saying he's gonna be a design whore...

I live in Iran, i know it sucks. I'm not talking about Iran though , I'm talking about Armenia.
I know it'a a bit dreamy, i can't save the world, but i can fill 1% of the saving project!!
but, your right , i tought it was dreamy when i got older... anyways i know i can't be that rich .
but first of all let me get my driving license, then i'll think about those stuff later....