Other tips: - If you love good food (and who doesn't?) then learn to cook. It can be hella fun, but the big advantage is it's a ton cheaper (and once you get decent, usually tastier than what you buy eating out). - BIG one: Skip art school unless art school won't put you into a ton of debt and not cause a financial burden to your parents. If you can afford art school, by all means. There are some advantages to art school, but over all there is NO secret art information that art schools will hand you. You can learn everything you need to for free if you are dedicated and work hard and can self motivate. - Re-invest in yourself. Saving money is great, but don't be afraid to spend on things that will widen what you can do and in the long run increase your earnings.
Great tips. Finding the time to cook was difficult back then when I have to work at evening after finishing courses but I also used to cook for more portions so the amount of my meal was enough to cover more than two days saving time for cooking every day. It was stressful to work right after the end of my classes (my fulltimes studies required compulsory attendance because of many team projects from morning to evening) but it was the only way to keep my studies. Sometimes I had 1-2 hours left for the rest of the day to draw and compensate the whole stress. It was tough, I somehow survived it and I remember how I thought about the purpose for all that madness. But without my studies I couldn't have met so many talented fellow artists who shared their individual workflows with me which actually had a big impact on my life and own work philosophy... An experience I'm grateful for. Still meet some of my old fellow students from time to time who wanted to save their stress by taking a loan and they already 'got used' to the weight of debt they still have to deal with it but doubt that they could ever solve their financial issues within the next two decades. :/
@@thaumana8489 Finding time to cook can still be a challenge even when I professional and working from home haha. I'm a big fan of crock pot or rice cooker meals where I can throw ingredients together and walk away until the food is ready. I love machines that keep everything warm until you are ready to eat, so if I get caught up in work nothing is over cooked AND everything is still hot. It's really nice when I'm busy and can't spend a bunch of time in the kitchen that day.
Hey guys... I'm considering going to a college to study 3d. I've worked in concept art for 4 years. I've already done a smaller course for 3d polymodelling (which I paid for and did at home) and it was good. The main reasons I'd consider studying abroad would be to meet like minded artists, get professional and intensive tutoring, possible contacts. Will have to learn to cook in any case. Some of these courses are really expensive, but I can possibly get partial scholarships with the work I have (got one for my small course). Anything major to consider about loans and trying to find work post college( assuming I apply)?
@@pronoydutta614 hey, assuming you're indeed living in India from your name, would you be kind enough to share the schools you're considering and also the countries or basically just anything important to keep note of or consider? I'm somewhat in the same situation although I'm in Product/Industrial Design as opposed to concept art, and I'm looking for a prospect career in 3D, have been learning a lot online just from tutorials, but would be great to know what important and relevant info I need to know of as a fellow Indian if I'd consider eventually going abroad to further my career education and all that jazz.Thanks :)
@@RuthwikRao sure.. Vancouver film school University of Hertfordshire The guildhall at SMU New3dge art school NHTV Breda university of applied sciences DAE - University college of West Flanders Howest Champlain university SCAD Norwich university of the arts Brigham Young University ISART Digital Darmstadt university of applied sciences Think tank training Van arts Teeside University
I think this is the first video I have seen on RUclips about this topic; people never talk about this stuff despite is super important. Maybe would be a good topic to touch a little bit of freelancing, tax and contracts, legal stuff like NDA s, working with clients, studio work environment, as I call, the dirty stuff...just briefly to give a starting point what is needed to run your own business or work in a studio. That topic is overlooked as well. Great video btw.
Well it's not glamorous, and it doesnt "sell a product". That's why you never hear about it. But the whole reason I started my channel is that I wanted to share things that I wish I knew when I was younger. Thanks for the support Nikoletta. If videos like this get people talking, and thinking about their financial stability to get closer to their goals, I'll gladly do more of them:)
@@TrentKaniuga dude. you're so underrated. thank you for all these videos. I've been following you for a while but haven't thought much about your videos because I was still young. But now that I'm on the verge of adulthood, you're one of a few people I count on for knowlegde regarding these...
I’m so glad I was never a car enthusiast. I can only imagine how devastating it must be for someone’s modded car to completely die. Another tip on saving money if you have a significant other: Learn to cook together or if you’re going out to eat, share a plate! Most of the time the meals can feed at least 2 people
I'm a dad of two lil ones, a school teacher, a struggling freelance artist, and I still have school loans to pay for (39)...listen to this man! He definitely has some good points. There's a lot of stuff you really don't have to pay for, but also a lot of other things you have to definitely keep. Thanks for the info and video Trent.
If someone's an art professional and an nerdy(lot of us are, admit it), they're not going to be spending on those things anyway. So if they're pining for those things, they probably need to double check how much art they're really making. It should be disrupting some of their life and altering their preferences if they're practicing art enough, I think.
I've been only posting 1 video per week lately because I'm working on 5 contracts at once. I'm spread pretty thin, but I'm looking forward to getting back to 2-3 vids per week in a couple of months.
I live by my art already. In low money, but I'm ok, and evolving. Two things that you mentioned makes a lot of difference for me: 1 - I ride a bike. A freewheel single speed road bike that costed me less than 200USD. My body changed, I'm stronger and healthier. 2 - I'm not a slave of consumption... I don't spend money with expensive clothing or shoes and I don't use to spend too much money when hanging out with friends. To hav fun you need people, not money.
So I'm a new subscriber, but your videos are really good, they are helpful and of very good quality. Not many artists share so many and so good tips! Keep up the good work man. :)
Absolute truth Trent! I live beneath my means and it affords me peace of mind. My life hacks are as follows: 1. I've cut my own hair since the age of 18, I'm in my 40's now $$$ saved. 2. My 2006 LS460 is paid off and runs like a champ so no car payments are a plus in the positive cash flow dept. 3. Find alternate means to create revenue streams, I do graphic designs, T-shirts & logos and also work a full time job.
As a young person who is looking into a career in art, I can't express how grateful I am for industry veterans like you, Marc Brunet, and David Greco sharing your experience.
I saw a budget article that made fun of cutting out coffee because it wouldn’t make much of a difference, $100 is a solid chunk of change to me, but he has a degree he must be right! Then he also said instead of paying for music and tv streaming services to individually purchase songs and shows off of itunes.....I mean we all still have our 8-tracks and vhs tapes no need to buy more than a song or two amirite?!?
Thanks for making this video! So many people are working their asses off but have barely any savings for emergencies, yet they still buy a 5 dollar starbucks coffee everyday.. This video might be an eye-opener for them and improve their financial situation
In terms of working part-time and living frugally to have artistic freedom: so true! Especially since a lot of expenses only arise from having to console oneself for not living the life one wants to live: that's why one "needs" that coffee, that netflix subscription, and the video games.
Hey Trent, watching all your videos while I'm working from home (quarantine). Love your content :) I specially love this one as I believe you're the only one that talks about these kinds of topics. Very, very practical and it applies to both students and professionals. Thank you very much and please don't stop producing these kinds of videos :)
Hey Trent, i would love to hear you breaking down the different art related roles in a videogame studio, such as junior, senior, lead concept artist and finally art and creative director. And to know about the ones i'm missing here!
Thank you Trent! I didn't know about the tax deductible on freelance equipment, gotta file it next year after my research. :) I had to dig way pass my comfort zone to find all the financial strategies to prepare for the future. But here you laid them out perfectly clear and sweet! The internet people are so blessed to have found you.
My kind of video! Really good advice Trent, got me thinking; I'd also like to add one of my own: If you build a stable online income, consider moving to a cheaper country! Nomadlist has a big database of information on what it's like to work online in various cities around the world, and I'd say the prices listed there are on the high side; for example they list Chiang Mai, Thailand (an amazing city I can recommend!) at about $1000 a month but most months I only spent half of that and lived quite well. You'd be surprised how easy it is for a westerner to live there.
I hear Vietnam is also becoming a nice place to live. Kathleen Peddicord's Overseas Retirement Letter is a pretty good resource, too. They review the different inexpensive places to live around the world and cover topics such as international health insurance, real estate, etc. Last I checked an area of Portugal was the top destination.
If you're guilt tripped into buying anything, you can take it back (unless there's a no return policy). Keep the tags and receipt in case "it doesn't fit." If the person is a positive influence in your life they'll forgive you for returning that $30 pair of pants to WalMart and accept that you'd rather pick up a pair from Good Will for $5 (if not then it's their loss). This also applies to cars. If it doesn't "work for you" talk to both the dealership and bank. I'd recommend talking to the bank first and see if you can swing that loan to another location, then talk to the dealership... same applies to if the friend or family member gets mad at you as before hand. Sometimes you're working they only job you can get and can't have any roommates. Other times you just have a limited budget due to one emergency after another and can't help the financial situation you're in. If renting works out best for you... do it. Organize the hell out of the place so that you need less space, compare price of square footage, and etc. These are a couple of things I wish people would of told me years ago. ...and yes I have taken stuff back due to peer pressure from family and friends... and destroyed those relationships by simply saying, "it wasn't my style." That put into sharp relief how bad of an influence the person was and I walked away from that relationship without any harsh words. But I am so much better off by keeping the positive family and friends around me.. and I think it's mutual for them.
THANKS TRENT This is great Advice. I would also add that you should improve your ability to understand finances (financial literacy). I'd even go as far as to suggest doing a course on business management and accounting on udemy or whatever so that you better understand how to bill your clients, how to manage yourself as a business rather than just as an art-making entity. Being able to see how you the artist can be an asset to a client, from the perspective of their financial manager (bean counter) will benefit you in a BIG way. A lot of what Trent mentioned hardware,software plugins brushes etc above can be covered by your contract/freelance work if you bill with transparency. Find ways to get a passive income from your art experience like Trent does with his Gumroad channel is a great example. Buy your videogames 2nd hand or wait for specials (you should be too busy making cool art to play the hottest AAA game on release day anyway so it can wait) I had to learn this repeatedly the hard way :D And my last little thing, which Trent has covered but learn the difference between what is an investment and what is a liability.
My biggest mistake was attending an art-school. It's not too much compared to US, but it takes it's toll. NEVER PAY FOR ART-SCHOOL. You can learn anything online.
In theory you can learn anything on your own, the question is would you have done it. For me school was the right choice as I did not have the drive or confidence to pull it off otherwise. If I was to do it now I'd probably go and do it without. I feel like a lot of people are missing that part in their advice because they can't relate to their former self anymore.
I think school/college helps with connections, guidance, and accountability, but if you can get that without spending thousands on loans, then by all means, do it.
Thank you so much for talking about all of these! I do most of these but it is great to hear confirmation that I’m on a good path. Thanks again for always having amazing tips and advice.
gonna add some to some of the points: 1. cheap tablets are great nowadays, I have the huion 610 v2 now and it has 8k pressure levels and battery-free pen 2. there is also free open source software like krita; or the one time payment software: clip studio paint, it's only like 25$ when on sale 3. I'm using pcloud right now, 5$ a month for 500GB, and you can add it as a network drive which is awesome; I'd also recommend doing local backups with an external harddrive, Windows file history is great for that (win 10)
This hit home dude. I’m 28 and have tons of credit card debt. It is CRIPPLING. I’m at the point where I can’t afford rent. I’m heavily considering bankruptcy but that’s a double edged blade in itself. Keep up the awesome vids!
Get that credit card paid off! Many people that I know with credit card debt have a lot of stuff laying around that they don't need. You can sell it on ebay or craigslist. Clear out the old stuff, AND pay off that debt more quickly. Get your money working for you instead of everything costing extra just because you didn't have the money at that time. Don't buy things till you've saved up enough to pay cash.
Also, do NOT file for bankruptcy if you can formulate a budget and get back on a plan to pay it off. Get ahead of this thing. There are no bailouts. You will regret that ding on your credit if you file for bankruptcy.
@Xero Genesis - You're only 28 and bankruptcy leaves your credit report after about 10 years, so it's not the end of the world. The effects of it taper off after 4 or so years. Declaring bankruptcy is better than having a bunch of collections on your record and getting sued by your creditors. Once that happens the credit card companies can have your property taken, take all the money in your bank account, take your paycheck, etc.
@@TrentKaniuga Really appreciate the advice! You are right, I have tablets and electronics/games I don't even touch collecting dust! And that is a lesson I've learned the hard way. Save up first spend later.
Trent, thank you so much! The economics/business part to art on RUclips needs more videos. Hmm this is a second question but what games are you playing recently, which is your current favorite?
I agree. I want to dig into these topics more because many people spend money on the wrong things, and it stops them from accomplishing their career goals.
Lately I've been playing old games from the PS3 era (many of them are under $5 each!) like goldeneye reloaded, and Splinter cell. Although I recently finished Far Cry New Dawn, and loved it. Resident evil 2 remake was one of my favorites so far this year, and I'm looking forward to Sekiro. Thanks for asking! I don't get to talk about games as much as I used to since I stopped the Trent's game room segment.
@@TrentKaniuga I can understand that as I've gotten into more college classes I've noticed games are, while still awesome, more of a time sucker. So I've had to wait on those, but I do hope you can bring the game room back some day soon. There's always hope.
It's like everything my parents taught me in one video. Anyone who reads my comment listen to Trent and go start retirement! In the United States it's pretty important...don't know about other countries. My parents were on to me throughout college...then I lost my first job and now I finally got a new job and have started it (26 now) but wish I would've started at 22 at least. Also Trent this was a great video! The coffee really does add up. If you guys don't think you spend a ton of money I think you should try downloading a spending tracker app. It will really show you. I had no idea how much money was going into eating out and coffee till I did that.
I wish so bad that I wouldve started saving when I was younger. I endured so many hardships because I just thought I wouldn't have to worry about it when I'm older.
2:46 I love shopping on ebay personally, but you need to be very careful about buying second hand adobe products nowdays. Adobe has recently cracked down on their registered serial numbers. I bought a used copy of adobe master collection CS6 a long time ago that cost over $900 (that was about two months of saving at my below min wage fast food job lol) The serial number was accepted on my account for years and I was very happy with it. However, last year it was suddenly recognized as pirated software and was rejected. I'm currently using the photographer creative cloud subscription. It's affordable, but I very much regret that I purchased a faulty version of the software I needed (I pretty much threw away about $1000). My advice for purchasing adobe software on ebay is to ask the seller for a License Transfer. This is extremely important. If the seller is unwilling to work with you to transfer a serial number to your adobe account, you should not make the purchase. A seller may give you their adobe serial number, but unless they transfer the license to your adobe account, the software technically still belongs to them. I've seen so many ebay sellers trying to sell their old software stating that it is deactivated and comes with the CD and original box. When an adobe user "deactivates" software from their device, it does not mean that the serial number is no longer registered to them. It simply allows them to install the software onto another device (up to two devices at one time). So if you end up buying a $400 copy of photoshop CS6 and you install it with the given serial number, you're pretty much paying somebody to use one of their software device installs. The software will still legally belong to them until the serial is officially transferred to your account through adobe. I guess this wouldn't be a very big issue for somebody that's simply using the software as a hobby or something, but if you're very serious about what you're doing with the software or purchasing it for the intended use for work or your company, it could be a pretty sticky legal situation if you're not careful. In my opinion, it's just way easier to pay the $10 a month for photoshop as a subscription though the photography plan. You can cancel or renew as you go, depending on your financial status if that's an issue. I would much rather have my paid off CS6 software, but it's just too risky or difficult to come by nowdays I didn't mean to write an essay here, but I feel it was important to share my experience with purchasing software second hand. It's a massive gamble to be honest and I would recommend that it be avoided if you're on a tight budget. The subscription route is safe, flexible, and legal.
You can always save money if you make a meal plan as well, and cook at home more often, my monthly budget for food is £100, so I can expend more money on Gumroad or events near the area to meet artist xD
That's half of mine and I'm cooking at home every day.. are you sure you aren't sacrificing in terms of quality? I am saving but I'm not willing to do it on groceries. Then again you might be living in a much cheaper area.
In order of importance, I'd Pay off credit cards, lower rent/cost of living, create a food budget, and learn to invest in an S&P500 diversified stock portfolio.
Reguarding the Dropbox tip, you can get google drive for free which does the same thing, just make a new account when you run out of space if we’re cheapskating haha
If people don't want to pay for Dropbox I'd recommend Google drive. It's completely free up to 15GB of space, and if you go over you can just make another Google account
A note on credit cards: You definitely don't want to let a balance ride and accrue interest, but buying things on credit and paying them off regularly is a great way to build your credit score, which makes it easier to get a good home loan! I put every purchase I can on my card and pay it off religiously on the first of each month. That way, I never pay interest on my balances, and I rack up points (since it's a rewards card) that can be converted to cash back. Credit cards can be a great deal if you know how to use them instead of letting them use you!
I went to community college for 3 years and then transferred to a business school. That made it so I have a lot less debt when I gradated back in 2010 when the job market crashed. I didn't find work within my field, instead of that got a job doing technical support. If I could find a way to make more money by doing a side business, I could take more programming classes then 1 at a time.
Thrift stores. I bought a couple of old flat screen Computer monitors next to nothing. I have a wacom intous 3 from ebay under 40 bucks. Did my homework and found out which brands are considered workhorses and last along time. Expensive equipment can be overwhelming like Trent said. As I improve, then I'll improve my equipment. It doesn't work the other way around. Newer equipment doesn't improve your work or skill. Lol
You're the 2nd person who has advised that I start a retirement fund while young haha. Though the house payment was a surprise. But that does make sense
Good advice Trent, thank you. Regarding your mention about using an old version of Photoshop, what's your opinion about Krita, and how would you recommend using the latest version of Krita vs an old version of Photoshop? How does that compare? (if you have any knowledge on Krita, that is)
Hey man, great video. I have found every single way possible to spend as much time possible taking online courses and developing my portfolio so I can do freelance full time. I have a side job to make sure my business expenses get paid, I rent an office, and I have been really debating sleeping in my office for a couple months and saving that money I would have spent on an apartment to go towards a big marketing campaign.
You can buy a pCloud drive for a single payment. 500GB is ~$120 I think. I've switched from OneDrive (which I was really happy with) and I'm completely happy. It works cross-platform, too, so it's better for me, since I use Linux at home.
Dave Ramsey is a great resource for finances, he completely changed the way I look at money and changed my life for the better. My wife and I have zero debt and have saved 6 months of expenses for emergencies. Highly recommend him. He also has resources for building businesses and career advice, etc.
My advice for saving money: get Clip Studio instead of Photoshop! In many ways it's actually BETTER. :) And it has free automatic cloud saving of your art, your brushes, your brush settings and your workspace set-up.
I'm a student and live alone. My monthly spending on food is less than £50. I stop buying junk food and focus more on eating healthily. Apparently, you eat more when you draw frequently. I'm using Clip Studio Paint right now but it took me a while to get used to it after using PTS for years.
Thanks a lot for the video ! Just found your channel a little while back, and even as a student who hasn't begun her carrier, I love to see how you draw, trying to learn something about your whole process... Your style so pretty after all ! ❤️ And by the way, if I may ask, as we are talking in this video about saving money as an artist, does any one have any tips about saving *time* ? (cause time is money after all !) I find myself so incredibly slow compared to other artists, even school projects that should be fast and easy at my level seem to take me months at a time to realize, and it's so frustrating 😖
I want to do a video about this soon. A few things I'd suggest: 1-turn off chatrooms/discord and turn off your web browser. Dont get distracted. Focus your energy on what you are doing. 2-designate a small amount of time to reach a focused goal. For example, give yourself 10 minutes to sketch 10 environment compositions. We slow down when we second guess ourselves or evaluate our work. Wait to evaluate your work when you are done. Then do another 10 minute sprint. Think of it like a workout with a specific quantifiable goal and make small timed challenges for yourself, and make the goal damn near impossible. For example tell yourself "im going to FINISH this entire painting before I go to bed tonight". Finish it, and if it stinks, do a better one the next night with the same timeboxed goal. Before you know it, you'll increase your speed.
@@TrentKaniuga Thanks for answering Sir, I shall try to put these tips into practice ! I find compositions quite hard to do if I tell the truth (I get easily lost in details or endless redrawing) so putting a timer definitely helps keeping me on my toes. I will see how much time I can gain with this method from now on :)
Yeah, been with roommates when working in non resident cities. There were good and bad ones. It's better to live with people you have a few things in common with, lifestyle wise and values wise, but if they're decent people, it's usually OK. Decent is a recognizable range, not some subjective mumbo jumbo. Anyone who says that is a walking red flag.
Clip Studio paint+Huion tablet is my combo XD. Clip studio comes with 10gb cloud storage for custom assets and projects, sync to amazon publishing with pre-set .epub settings, and a bunch of noob friendly goodies for 50bucks. Not too good with hotkeys tho, but you can get that set up as well.
Well for specs; I've got a windows 7 laptop with 2GBs of ram and 200GBs of storage and a "Wacom Intuos Draw" tablet that connects by usb. For software; I have Photoshop (which tends to lag just a little bit sometimes) and it certainly is useful, but not necessary. I only really use it for Text and if I want to do some painterly style stuff. The main program I use though is called "Medibang Paint Pro" and it's free, lightweight/fast and pretty easy to learn and the keyboard shortcuts are also quite close to Photoshop's, so if you switch between the two, like me, it's still comfortable. So over-all, I think that you definitely don't need an expensive pc to do digital art. I hope that helped and I wish you good luck on your future projects! :D
I needed to hear this right now, thank you kindly. *though small caveat, a Tesla is worth the expense (less than gas vehicle in long run) and it heals the planet :)
I actually have an old econ book I bought from a thrift store a few years back and it talks about a scam similar to what you are talking about, they did it in the last 80s with cans of green beans where they had can grade a and can grade b. can a was more costly and can b was cheap so they can get a wider side of the consumers but the green beans were actually equal in quality. anyways they deemed this illegal due to falsifying information about the product.
Im already near the end of art school feeling like im lost.. Famlily on the last lines half the time barely making it and I still need another job ( Im not looking for pity, just laying it out) Watching you're vids is helping me however and jsut got a huion tablet which im enjoying, now wondering what I must learn for future me to use and make income of any sorts!
@@TrentKaniuga I was also gonna say that a really good alternative to photoshop for people on a budget is Clip Studio paint. I have both Photshop and CSP and prefer CSP for most things. And it is only 50 dollars.
Big fan and avid disciple. 40 year Old family man here, looking to change career and follow my passion. Bills have to get payed, and my career, although I tolerate and it pays descent, don’t want to spend what remains of my years not doing what I enjoy. Any Ideas on how to approach this transition ? Thanks.
I feel the pain, and I've been there. You gotta keep on top of them bills. Maximize your pay/hour (maybe you don't need to work so many hours at that job?). Minimize your cost per day (cook at home, lower rent/monthly bills). Find a way to dedicate at least 12-16 hours per week to art. Keep art as a hobby until it earns money. Once it earns money, transition hours away from unwanted job to the job that you want, even if it makes less per hour. Eventually it will grow. Do jobs that increase your value. Don't take jobs that get buried or lower your value in the direction you want to go (example: if you want to make art for games, don't do dog portraits). Or find a compromise (if you like doing dog portraits, just do that). Be focused with the little time you have for art, on the path that you want to go. Do not get distracted. Plan for the long game. Even if you don't "make it", you should enjoy it.
I know this video is kinda old now but, I just compared my Dropbox plan with what Google drive has to offer and this is what I found... Dropbox offers: 2gb storage free or 2tb for $12/month Google drive offers: 15gb of storage for free or 100gb for $2/month or 200gb for $3/month or 2tb for $10/month or (cheaper than Dropbox equivalent) 10tb for $100/month or 20tb for $200/month or 30tb for $300/month I hate to endorse a mega-corporation with mega overreach in our lives but...
Hi Trent! I think your advices are great but it depends on the person I guess. I was veeeeery stingy even in my childhood years and up until now I hate to spend money for "unimportant, expensive stuff". Also, I know how to get along with the money I have. I think a person like me can easily follow your advices or actually follows them already but other people with a different background might have problems with this. ^^° All in all nice video! I don't know if you are going to read this but I wondered if you could do a video on the topic of "physical health issues" as an artist? I am no professional but when I tried drawing like one (5-8 hours a day) for a few months in the end I only got muscle aches and eyesight problems up to this day and don't know how to fix this. :/ I am afraid that I destroyed my body and art carrer due to drawing because of this with 28 ....
Have you looked into the blue light glasses like Gunnar glasses? It reduces eye strain when looking at monitors. As for muscle cramps, it may just be that you need to take a break every 1 hour, and or do hand stretches. It may be unique to a small group of people. Because a lot of people I know paint for 8-10 hours a day.
Hello Mr. K. Are you available for hire for character design work? If so, how can you be contacted? Understand if you're unavailable due to present commitments.
My team has a pretty full schedule right now, and I try to focus on my own projects with whatever time I have remaining.Still - If you'd like to hire us, the information is on our website.
im a concept artist or i think i should be , but im also a 3D modeler that i make my 2D concept art into 3D animated game ready characters , do you think that 1 person can do both jobs at once , and that game studios will appreciate it or pick me from other people ? and should i include like the hole process of creating the concept to the final 3D model and it will boost my chance for getting the job?
I think you should focus on one or the other for your first job, but show that you are capable of both (80% 3d, 20% concept). Most big studios want specialized people. Smaller studios want people that can do everything. But be careful to not present yourself like a jack of all trades with no focus. I saw a portfolio the other day that had sculptures and 3d models, and paintings of dogs, and sketches of life drawings... it was all over the place. I thought to myself "what would I even hire this guy to do?" Ask yourself, "does my portfolio show that I can do the job that I'm applying for?"
@@TrentKaniuga thank you for replying. ..but i don't have a lot experience so my portfolio is kinda limited. ..so when im applying for a job ...i have to show them some of other type of work i can do ..not all my works gonna match their style
If you are looking into saving a LOT of money on food, research fasting, it will not only improve your money situation but also your health situation, it's been a life changer for me
I love ure videos man. But if u have time just for fun could u draw some concept art of assassins creed costumes/characters if they were set i like japan in the samurai era thanks 👍
My parents don't know much about it either:) But I can tell you that you can set up an account with Vanguard.com and start putting away even a handfull of dollars a week into an S&P500 investment account. You can do more research on this at www.mrmoneymustache.com/
Youre on the right track. If you do the research now, you won't have to worry about a LOT of things that everyone around you will struggle with their whole lives.
I'm not poor any more because I changed my relationship with money. But I grew up very, very poor. What changed is - I stopped waiting for someone else to fix my financial problems for me, and I started investing in my future self. If you're always investing in your future self, you're always collecting dividends, and life gets easier every year.
Yeah talking about life decisions and investment failure. DON'T buy used tablets. Just go for Wacom alternatives. There are plenty out there by now like xpen, Huion or gaemon for example.
Look.... a good artist.... just have a job like.... example.... I have a job as a designer however.... my 3d creativity.... now is ALLlllllll mineeeee hahahhahaa meaning i can do more 3d stuff during my free time. An 3d artist don't have to have a good 3d job to be successful. Success is when you look at those work you done be it freelance/fulltime/personal = awesome (especially when its personal) so........... i woke up and it's a good solution. :) also, as long you have a job that could help your simple life going, why... not..... erm hmm
Other tips:
- If you love good food (and who doesn't?) then learn to cook. It can be hella fun, but the big advantage is it's a ton cheaper (and once you get decent, usually tastier than what you buy eating out).
- BIG one: Skip art school unless art school won't put you into a ton of debt and not cause a financial burden to your parents. If you can afford art school, by all means. There are some advantages to art school, but over all there is NO secret art information that art schools will hand you. You can learn everything you need to for free if you are dedicated and work hard and can self motivate.
- Re-invest in yourself. Saving money is great, but don't be afraid to spend on things that will widen what you can do and in the long run increase your earnings.
Great tips. Finding the time to cook was difficult back then when I have to work at evening after finishing courses but I also used to cook for more portions so the amount of my meal was enough to cover more than two days saving time for cooking every day.
It was stressful to work right after the end of my classes (my fulltimes studies required compulsory attendance because of many team projects from morning to evening) but it was the only way to keep my studies. Sometimes I had 1-2 hours left for the rest of the day to draw and compensate the whole stress. It was tough, I somehow survived it and I remember how I thought about the purpose for all that madness. But without my studies I couldn't have met so many talented fellow artists who shared their individual workflows with me which actually had a big impact on my life and own work philosophy... An experience I'm grateful for. Still meet some of my old fellow students from time to time who wanted to save their stress by taking a loan and they already 'got used' to the weight of debt they still have to deal with it but doubt that they could ever solve their financial issues within the next two decades. :/
@@thaumana8489 Finding time to cook can still be a challenge even when I professional and working from home haha. I'm a big fan of crock pot or rice cooker meals where I can throw ingredients together and walk away until the food is ready. I love machines that keep everything warm until you are ready to eat, so if I get caught up in work nothing is over cooked AND everything is still hot. It's really nice when I'm busy and can't spend a bunch of time in the kitchen that day.
Hey guys... I'm considering going to a college to study 3d. I've worked in concept art for 4 years. I've already done a smaller course for 3d polymodelling (which I paid for and did at home) and it was good. The main reasons I'd consider studying abroad would be to meet like minded artists, get professional and intensive tutoring, possible contacts. Will have to learn to cook in any case. Some of these courses are really expensive, but I can possibly get partial scholarships with the work I have (got one for my small course). Anything major to consider about loans and trying to find work post college( assuming I apply)?
@@pronoydutta614 hey, assuming you're indeed living in India from your name, would you be kind enough to share the schools you're considering and also the countries or basically just anything important to keep note of or consider?
I'm somewhat in the same situation although I'm in Product/Industrial Design as opposed to concept art, and I'm looking for a prospect career in 3D, have been learning a lot online just from tutorials, but would be great to know what important and relevant info I need to know of as a fellow Indian if I'd consider eventually going abroad to further my career education and all that jazz.Thanks :)
@@RuthwikRao sure..
Vancouver film school
University of Hertfordshire
The guildhall at SMU
New3dge art school
NHTV Breda university of applied sciences
DAE - University college of West Flanders Howest
Champlain university
SCAD
Norwich university of the arts
Brigham Young University
ISART Digital
Darmstadt university of applied sciences
Think tank training
Van arts
Teeside University
I think this is the first video I have seen on RUclips about this topic; people never talk about this stuff despite is super important. Maybe would be a good topic to touch a little bit of freelancing, tax and contracts, legal stuff like NDA s, working with clients, studio work environment, as I call, the dirty stuff...just briefly to give a starting point what is needed to run your own business or work in a studio. That topic is overlooked as well. Great video btw.
Well it's not glamorous, and it doesnt "sell a product". That's why you never hear about it. But the whole reason I started my channel is that I wanted to share things that I wish I knew when I was younger. Thanks for the support Nikoletta. If videos like this get people talking, and thinking about their financial stability to get closer to their goals, I'll gladly do more of them:)
@@TrentKaniuga dude. you're so underrated. thank you for all these videos. I've been following you for a while but haven't thought much about your videos because I was still young. But now that I'm on the verge of adulthood, you're one of a few people I count on for knowlegde regarding these...
I’m so glad I was never a car enthusiast. I can only imagine how devastating it must be for someone’s modded car to completely die. Another tip on saving money if you have a significant other: Learn to cook together or if you’re going out to eat, share a plate! Most of the time the meals can feed at least 2 people
Same here! I drive a '99 Accord with pay-per-mile insurance (Metromile).
I'm a dad of two lil ones, a school teacher, a struggling freelance artist, and I still have school loans to pay for (39)...listen to this man! He definitely has some good points. There's a lot of stuff you really don't have to pay for, but also a lot of other things you have to definitely keep. Thanks for the info and video Trent.
If someone's an art professional and an nerdy(lot of us are, admit it), they're not going to be spending on those things anyway.
So if they're pining for those things, they probably need to double check how much art they're really making. It should be disrupting some of their life and altering their preferences if they're practicing art enough, I think.
You're like the uncle we all wish we had. Giving us the cold truths and all that knowledge. Much appreciated!!
Please do a podcast or longer videos! (when i'm drawing always listening your videos because it's so inspiring)
I've been only posting 1 video per week lately because I'm working on 5 contracts at once. I'm spread pretty thin, but I'm looking forward to getting back to 2-3 vids per week in a couple of months.
I live by my art already. In low money, but I'm ok, and evolving. Two things that you mentioned makes a lot of difference for me:
1 - I ride a bike. A freewheel single speed road bike that costed me less than 200USD. My body changed, I'm stronger and healthier.
2 - I'm not a slave of consumption... I don't spend money with expensive clothing or shoes and I don't use to spend too much money when hanging out with friends. To hav fun you need people, not money.
So I'm a new subscriber, but your videos are really good, they are helpful and of very good quality. Not many artists share so many and so good tips! Keep up the good work man.
:)
Absolute truth Trent! I live beneath my means and it affords me peace of mind. My life hacks are as follows: 1. I've cut my own hair since the age of 18, I'm in my 40's now $$$ saved. 2. My 2006 LS460 is paid off and runs like a champ so no car payments are a plus in the positive cash flow dept. 3. Find alternate means to create revenue streams, I do graphic designs, T-shirts & logos and also work a full time job.
As a young person who is looking into a career in art, I can't express how grateful I am for industry veterans like you, Marc Brunet, and David Greco sharing your experience.
I saw a budget article that made fun of cutting out coffee because it wouldn’t make much of a difference, $100 is a solid chunk of change to me, but he has a degree he must be right! Then he also said instead of paying for music and tv streaming services to individually purchase songs and shows off of itunes.....I mean we all still have our 8-tracks and vhs tapes no need to buy more than a song or two amirite?!?
Thanks for making this video! So many people are working their asses off but have barely any savings for emergencies, yet they still buy a 5 dollar starbucks coffee everyday.. This video might be an eye-opener for them and improve their financial situation
In terms of working part-time and living frugally to have artistic freedom: so true! Especially since a lot of expenses only arise from having to console oneself for not living the life one wants to live: that's why one "needs" that coffee, that netflix subscription, and the video games.
Hey Trent, watching all your videos while I'm working from home (quarantine). Love your content :) I specially love this one as I believe you're the only one that talks about these kinds of topics. Very, very practical and it applies to both students and professionals. Thank you very much and please don't stop producing these kinds of videos :)
Hey Trent, i would love to hear you breaking down the different art related roles in a videogame studio, such as junior, senior, lead concept artist and finally art and creative director. And to know about the ones i'm missing here!
Great suggestion! Although it varies from different companies.
@@TrentKaniuga Thank you :) I understand it is a complex topic to talk about then
Thank you Trent! I didn't know about the tax deductible on freelance equipment, gotta file it next year after my research. :) I had to dig way pass my comfort zone to find all the financial strategies to prepare for the future. But here you laid them out perfectly clear and sweet! The internet people are so blessed to have found you.
My kind of video! Really good advice Trent, got me thinking; I'd also like to add one of my own:
If you build a stable online income, consider moving to a cheaper country! Nomadlist has a big database of information on what it's like to work online in various cities around the world, and I'd say the prices listed there are on the high side; for example they list Chiang Mai, Thailand (an amazing city I can recommend!) at about $1000 a month but most months I only spent half of that and lived quite well. You'd be surprised how easy it is for a westerner to live there.
I hear Vietnam is also becoming a nice place to live. Kathleen Peddicord's Overseas Retirement Letter is a pretty good resource, too. They review the different inexpensive places to live around the world and cover topics such as international health insurance, real estate, etc. Last I checked an area of Portugal was the top destination.
This is my guy
Loved this
Thank you so much about the name brand clothes! I'm gonna browse in the thrift shop from now on.
Damn, man, I wish I had a time machine to show this to my parents 20 years ago... Thank you a lot for your videos, they really inspires me.
If you're guilt tripped into buying anything, you can take it back (unless there's a no return policy). Keep the tags and receipt in case "it doesn't fit." If the person is a positive influence in your life they'll forgive you for returning that $30 pair of pants to WalMart and accept that you'd rather pick up a pair from Good Will for $5 (if not then it's their loss). This also applies to cars. If it doesn't "work for you" talk to both the dealership and bank. I'd recommend talking to the bank first and see if you can swing that loan to another location, then talk to the dealership... same applies to if the friend or family member gets mad at you as before hand. Sometimes you're working they only job you can get and can't have any roommates. Other times you just have a limited budget due to one emergency after another and can't help the financial situation you're in. If renting works out best for you... do it. Organize the hell out of the place so that you need less space, compare price of square footage, and etc. These are a couple of things I wish people would of told me years ago. ...and yes I have taken stuff back due to peer pressure from family and friends... and destroyed those relationships by simply saying, "it wasn't my style." That put into sharp relief how bad of an influence the person was and I walked away from that relationship without any harsh words. But I am so much better off by keeping the positive family and friends around me.. and I think it's mutual for them.
THANKS TRENT This is great Advice. I would also add that you should improve your ability to understand finances (financial literacy).
I'd even go as far as to suggest doing a course on business management and accounting on udemy or whatever so that you better understand how to bill your clients, how to manage yourself as a business rather than just as an art-making entity.
Being able to see how you the artist can be an asset to a client, from the perspective of their financial manager (bean counter) will benefit you in a BIG way.
A lot of what Trent mentioned hardware,software plugins brushes etc above can be covered by your contract/freelance work if you bill with transparency.
Find ways to get a passive income from your art experience like Trent does with his Gumroad channel is a great example.
Buy your videogames 2nd hand or wait for specials (you should be too busy making cool art to play the hottest AAA game on release day anyway so it can wait) I had to learn this repeatedly the hard way :D
And my last little thing, which Trent has covered but learn the difference between what is an investment and what is a liability.
GREAT advice here. Thanks for adding this.
My biggest mistake was attending an art-school. It's not too much compared to US, but it takes it's toll. NEVER PAY FOR ART-SCHOOL. You can learn anything online.
In theory you can learn anything on your own, the question is would you have done it. For me school was the right choice as I did not have the drive or confidence to pull it off otherwise. If I was to do it now I'd probably go and do it without.
I feel like a lot of people are missing that part in their advice because they can't relate to their former self anymore.
I think school/college helps with connections, guidance, and accountability, but if you can get that without spending thousands on loans, then by all means, do it.
Bro, your tips have helped me get out of an artistic rut. Thanks! Such great content keep up the good work!
Thank you so much for talking about all of these! I do most of these but it is great to hear confirmation that I’m on a good path. Thanks again for always having amazing tips and advice.
gonna add some to some of the points:
1. cheap tablets are great nowadays, I have the huion 610 v2 now and it has 8k pressure levels and battery-free pen
2. there is also free open source software like krita; or the one time payment software: clip studio paint, it's only like 25$ when on sale
3. I'm using pcloud right now, 5$ a month for 500GB, and you can add it as a network drive which is awesome; I'd also recommend doing local backups with an external harddrive, Windows file history is great for that (win 10)
If you're buying a used Wacom, go for the old Intuos 3's. Those things are indestructible.
I had one for 10 years! Every one that I've had since then, I've had to replace every 2 years.
This hit home dude. I’m 28 and have tons of credit card debt. It is CRIPPLING. I’m at the point where I can’t afford rent. I’m heavily considering bankruptcy but that’s a double edged blade in itself. Keep up the awesome vids!
Xero Genesis keep going man, really we all believe In you. It’ll get better
Get that credit card paid off! Many people that I know with credit card debt have a lot of stuff laying around that they don't need. You can sell it on ebay or craigslist. Clear out the old stuff, AND pay off that debt more quickly. Get your money working for you instead of everything costing extra just because you didn't have the money at that time. Don't buy things till you've saved up enough to pay cash.
Also, do NOT file for bankruptcy if you can formulate a budget and get back on a plan to pay it off. Get ahead of this thing. There are no bailouts. You will regret that ding on your credit if you file for bankruptcy.
@Xero Genesis - You're only 28 and bankruptcy leaves your credit report after about 10 years, so it's not the end of the world. The effects of it taper off after 4 or so years. Declaring bankruptcy is better than having a bunch of collections on your record and getting sued by your creditors. Once that happens the credit card companies can have your property taken, take all the money in your bank account, take your paycheck, etc.
@@TrentKaniuga Really appreciate the advice! You are right, I have tablets and electronics/games I don't even touch collecting dust! And that is a lesson I've learned the hard way. Save up first spend later.
Trent, thank you so much! The economics/business part to art on RUclips needs more videos. Hmm this is a second question but what games are you playing recently, which is your current favorite?
I agree. I want to dig into these topics more because many people spend money on the wrong things, and it stops them from accomplishing their career goals.
Lately I've been playing old games from the PS3 era (many of them are under $5 each!) like goldeneye reloaded, and Splinter cell. Although I recently finished Far Cry New Dawn, and loved it. Resident evil 2 remake was one of my favorites so far this year, and I'm looking forward to Sekiro. Thanks for asking! I don't get to talk about games as much as I used to since I stopped the Trent's game room segment.
@@TrentKaniuga I can understand that as I've gotten into more college classes I've noticed games are, while still awesome, more of a time sucker. So I've had to wait on those, but I do hope you can bring the game room back some day soon. There's always hope.
It's like everything my parents taught me in one video.
Anyone who reads my comment listen to Trent and go start retirement! In the United States it's pretty important...don't know about other countries. My parents were on to me throughout college...then I lost my first job and now I finally got a new job and have started it (26 now) but wish I would've started at 22 at least.
Also Trent this was a great video! The coffee really does add up. If you guys don't think you spend a ton of money I think you should try downloading a spending tracker app. It will really show you. I had no idea how much money was going into eating out and coffee till I did that.
I wish so bad that I wouldve started saving when I was younger. I endured so many hardships because I just thought I wouldn't have to worry about it when I'm older.
2:46
I love shopping on ebay personally, but you need to be very careful about buying second hand adobe products nowdays.
Adobe has recently cracked down on their registered serial numbers. I bought a used copy of adobe master collection CS6 a long time ago that cost over $900 (that was about two months of saving at my below min wage fast food job lol) The serial number was accepted on my account for years and I was very happy with it. However, last year it was suddenly recognized as pirated software and was rejected. I'm currently using the photographer creative cloud subscription. It's affordable, but I very much regret that I purchased a faulty version of the software I needed (I pretty much threw away about $1000). My advice for purchasing adobe software on ebay is to ask the seller for a License Transfer. This is extremely important. If the seller is unwilling to work with you to transfer a serial number to your adobe account, you should not make the purchase. A seller may give you their adobe serial number, but unless they transfer the license to your adobe account, the software technically still belongs to them. I've seen so many ebay sellers trying to sell their old software stating that it is deactivated and comes with the CD and original box. When an adobe user "deactivates" software from their device, it does not mean that the serial number is no longer registered to them. It simply allows them to install the software onto another device (up to two devices at one time). So if you end up buying a $400 copy of photoshop CS6 and you install it with the given serial number, you're pretty much paying somebody to use one of their software device installs. The software will still legally belong to them until the serial is officially transferred to your account through adobe.
I guess this wouldn't be a very big issue for somebody that's simply using the software as a hobby or something, but if you're very serious about what you're doing with the software or purchasing it for the intended use for work or your company, it could be a pretty sticky legal situation if you're not careful. In my opinion, it's just way easier to pay the $10 a month for photoshop as a subscription though the photography plan. You can cancel or renew as you go, depending on your financial status if that's an issue. I would much rather have my paid off CS6 software, but it's just too risky or difficult to come by nowdays
I didn't mean to write an essay here, but I feel it was important to share my experience with purchasing software second hand. It's a massive gamble to be honest and I would recommend that it be avoided if you're on a tight budget. The subscription route is safe, flexible, and legal.
Thanks for information 👌
One thing that's gotten me is subscription services that I don't use but I'm still paying for. Each little bit of money adds up.
You can always save money if you make a meal plan as well, and cook at home more often, my monthly budget for food is £100, so I can expend more money on Gumroad or events near the area to meet artist xD
That's half of mine and I'm cooking at home every day.. are you sure you aren't sacrificing in terms of quality? I am saving but I'm not willing to do it on groceries. Then again you might be living in a much cheaper area.
Super good advice! Thanks Trent :)
Please do more basic drawing and coloring. Thank you. Love all your videos.
Thanks for sharing all this! I'm gonna make the switch to dropbox and start learning about taxes now
In order of importance, I'd Pay off credit cards, lower rent/cost of living, create a food budget, and learn to invest in an S&P500 diversified stock portfolio.
Reguarding the Dropbox tip, you can get google drive for free which does the same thing, just make a new account when you run out of space if we’re cheapskating haha
If people don't want to pay for Dropbox I'd recommend Google drive. It's completely free up to 15GB of space, and if you go over you can just make another Google account
Awesome Trent thank you so much! Advices for life not only for artist stuff :)
man discovered you today and already like 10 videos in haha
A note on credit cards: You definitely don't want to let a balance ride and accrue interest, but buying things on credit and paying them off regularly is a great way to build your credit score, which makes it easier to get a good home loan! I put every purchase I can on my card and pay it off religiously on the first of each month. That way, I never pay interest on my balances, and I rack up points (since it's a rewards card) that can be converted to cash back.
Credit cards can be a great deal if you know how to use them instead of letting them use you!
Really good video! Thank You ! :)
I went to community college for 3 years and then transferred to a business school. That made it so I have a lot less debt when I gradated back in 2010 when the job market crashed. I didn't find work within my field, instead of that got a job doing technical support. If I could find a way to make more money by doing a side business, I could take more programming classes then 1 at a time.
Thrift stores. I bought a couple of old flat screen Computer monitors next to nothing. I have a wacom intous 3 from ebay under 40 bucks. Did my homework and found out which brands are considered workhorses and last along time. Expensive equipment can be overwhelming like Trent said. As I improve, then I'll improve my equipment. It doesn't work the other way around. Newer equipment doesn't improve your work or skill. Lol
i bought a wacon intuos just today, used. it is working perfectly, i'm so excited, and i'm gonna doodle the hell out of it
You're the 2nd person who has advised that I start a retirement fund while young haha. Though the house payment was a surprise. But that does make sense
If you do these things, life will be easier every year.
Good advice Trent, thank you. Regarding your mention about using an old version of Photoshop, what's your opinion about Krita, and how would you recommend using the latest version of Krita vs an old version of Photoshop? How does that compare? (if you have any knowledge on Krita, that is)
Hey man, great video.
I have found every single way possible to spend as much time possible taking online courses and developing my portfolio so I can do freelance full time.
I have a side job to make sure my business expenses get paid, I rent an office, and I have been really debating sleeping in my office for a couple months and saving that money I would have spent on an apartment to go towards a big marketing campaign.
You can buy a pCloud drive for a single payment. 500GB is ~$120 I think. I've switched from OneDrive (which I was really happy with) and I'm completely happy. It works cross-platform, too, so it's better for me, since I use Linux at home.
Dave Ramsey is a great resource for finances, he completely changed the way I look at money and changed my life for the better. My wife and I have zero debt and have saved 6 months of expenses for emergencies. Highly recommend him. He also has resources for building businesses and career advice, etc.
Treeeeeent!!! Don't know what to say 😱 just awesome 😍❤
Greetings from germany 😜
My advice for saving money: get Clip Studio instead of Photoshop! In many ways it's actually BETTER. :) And it has free automatic cloud saving of your art, your brushes, your brush settings and your workspace set-up.
I'm a student and live alone. My monthly spending on food is less than £50. I stop buying junk food and focus more on eating healthily. Apparently, you eat more when you draw frequently.
I'm using Clip Studio Paint right now but it took me a while to get used to it after using PTS for years.
Thats focus!
@@TrentKaniuga thank you=D
Thanks a lot for the video ! Just found your channel a little while back, and even as a student who hasn't begun her carrier, I love to see how you draw, trying to learn something about your whole process... Your style so pretty after all ! ❤️
And by the way, if I may ask, as we are talking in this video about saving money as an artist, does any one have any tips about saving *time* ? (cause time is money after all !) I find myself so incredibly slow compared to other artists, even school projects that should be fast and easy at my level seem to take me months at a time to realize, and it's so frustrating 😖
I want to do a video about this soon. A few things I'd suggest: 1-turn off chatrooms/discord and turn off your web browser. Dont get distracted. Focus your energy on what you are doing. 2-designate a small amount of time to reach a focused goal. For example, give yourself 10 minutes to sketch 10 environment compositions. We slow down when we second guess ourselves or evaluate our work. Wait to evaluate your work when you are done. Then do another 10 minute sprint. Think of it like a workout with a specific quantifiable goal and make small timed challenges for yourself, and make the goal damn near impossible. For example tell yourself "im going to FINISH this entire painting before I go to bed tonight". Finish it, and if it stinks, do a better one the next night with the same timeboxed goal. Before you know it, you'll increase your speed.
@@TrentKaniuga Thanks for answering Sir, I shall try to put these tips into practice ! I find compositions quite hard to do if I tell the truth (I get easily lost in details or endless redrawing) so putting a timer definitely helps keeping me on my toes. I will see how much time I can gain with this method from now on :)
Wisdom from Big Daddy Tent!
Who would pay 4 dollars for a cup of coffee? That is INSANE!
There's this place called Starbucks...
It's becoming a standard price where I live to pay 4 bucks for a cold brew.
ill have to sell my kidney for trents full tutorial box arghhh
I kinda just started tattooing and it's great
I'm using a Wacom Intuos where you connect to the pc, and I'm using a Photoshop Cs6
Yeah, been with roommates when working in non resident cities. There were good and bad ones. It's better to live with people you have a few things in common with, lifestyle wise and values wise, but if they're decent people, it's usually OK. Decent is a recognizable range, not some subjective mumbo jumbo. Anyone who says that is a walking red flag.
Clip Studio paint+Huion tablet is my combo XD. Clip studio comes with 10gb cloud storage for custom assets and projects, sync to amazon publishing with pre-set .epub settings, and a bunch of noob friendly goodies for 50bucks. Not too good with hotkeys tho, but you can get that set up as well.
Hello... Love your video!... What is the specification of your computer just to do a digital drawing?... your response is appreciated...I Subbed You!
Well for specs;
I've got a windows 7 laptop with 2GBs of ram and 200GBs of storage and a "Wacom Intuos Draw" tablet that connects by usb.
For software;
I have Photoshop (which tends to lag just a little bit sometimes) and it certainly is useful, but not necessary.
I only really use it for Text and if I want to do some painterly style stuff.
The main program I use though is called "Medibang Paint Pro" and it's free, lightweight/fast and pretty easy to learn and the keyboard shortcuts are also quite close to Photoshop's, so if you switch between the two, like me, it's still comfortable.
So over-all, I think that you definitely don't need an expensive pc to do digital art.
I hope that helped and I wish you good luck on your future projects! :D
@@Jess-qy6qe My specification of my pc are Core i5 3570 3.4 ghz, 1TB hhd, 6GB of Ram, Nvidia GT 610 (will upgrade soon)... is this enough?...
I needed to hear this right now, thank you kindly.
*though small caveat, a Tesla is worth the expense (less than gas vehicle in long run) and it heals the planet :)
I actually have an old econ book I bought from a thrift store a few years back and it talks about a scam similar to what you are talking about, they did it in the last 80s with cans of green beans where they had can grade a and can grade b. can a was more costly and can b was cheap so they can get a wider side of the consumers but the green beans were actually equal in quality. anyways they deemed this illegal due to falsifying information about the product.
Im already near the end of art school feeling like im lost.. Famlily on the last lines half the time barely making it and I still need another job ( Im not looking for pity, just laying it out) Watching you're vids is helping me however and jsut got a huion tablet which im enjoying, now wondering what I must learn for future me to use and make income of any sorts!
Before I got my Cintiq I was using an iPad Pro Gen 1 with the app Easy Canvas on my PC as a janky solution.
That guy looks like Keanu Reeves. Its awesome!
You're awesome!
@@TrentKaniuga I was also gonna say that a really good alternative to photoshop for people on a budget is Clip Studio paint. I have both Photshop and CSP and prefer CSP for most things. And it is only 50 dollars.
Big fan and avid disciple. 40 year Old family man here, looking to change career and follow my passion. Bills have to get payed, and my career, although I tolerate and it pays descent, don’t want to spend what remains of my years not doing what I enjoy. Any Ideas on how to approach this transition ? Thanks.
I feel the pain, and I've been there. You gotta keep on top of them bills. Maximize your pay/hour (maybe you don't need to work so many hours at that job?). Minimize your cost per day (cook at home, lower rent/monthly bills). Find a way to dedicate at least 12-16 hours per week to art. Keep art as a hobby until it earns money. Once it earns money, transition hours away from unwanted job to the job that you want, even if it makes less per hour. Eventually it will grow. Do jobs that increase your value. Don't take jobs that get buried or lower your value in the direction you want to go (example: if you want to make art for games, don't do dog portraits). Or find a compromise (if you like doing dog portraits, just do that). Be focused with the little time you have for art, on the path that you want to go. Do not get distracted. Plan for the long game. Even if you don't "make it", you should enjoy it.
I know this video is kinda old now but, I just compared my Dropbox plan with what Google drive has to offer and this is what I found...
Dropbox offers: 2gb storage free or
2tb for $12/month
Google drive offers:
15gb of storage for free or
100gb for $2/month or
200gb for $3/month or
2tb for $10/month or (cheaper than Dropbox equivalent)
10tb for $100/month or
20tb for $200/month or
30tb for $300/month
I hate to endorse a mega-corporation with mega overreach in our lives but...
Hi Trent! I think your advices are great but it depends on the person I guess. I was veeeeery stingy even in my childhood years and up until now I hate to spend money for "unimportant, expensive stuff". Also, I know how to get along with the money I have. I think a person like me can easily follow your advices or actually follows them already but other people with a different background might have problems with this. ^^°
All in all nice video!
I don't know if you are going to read this but I wondered if you could do a video on the topic of "physical health issues" as an artist? I am no professional but when I tried drawing like one (5-8 hours a day) for a few months in the end I only got muscle aches and eyesight problems up to this day and don't know how to fix this. :/ I am afraid that I destroyed my body and art carrer due to drawing because of this with 28 ....
Have you looked into the blue light glasses like Gunnar glasses? It reduces eye strain when looking at monitors. As for muscle cramps, it may just be that you need to take a break every 1 hour, and or do hand stretches. It may be unique to a small group of people. Because a lot of people I know paint for 8-10 hours a day.
great tips
waiting for your roommate stories
Dishin' out the goods ;)
So I work with Clip Studio Paint Ex, do you have any opinions on that one?
Clip studio is pretty good, in addition to that I like to use krita and sketchbook too.
got the like simply for the chicken comment and reward schemes - my friends usually give me their receipts so I can get the points.
Hello Mr. K. Are you available for hire for character design work? If so, how can you be contacted?
Understand if you're unavailable due to present commitments.
My team has a pretty full schedule right now, and I try to focus on my own projects with whatever time I have remaining.Still - If you'd like to hire us, the information is on our website.
Quicktip, google drive is nearly the same as dropbox but it offers 15 gb's for free, you just need a gmail acc to use it
@bill coca oh didn't know about that thats interesting thanks a lot :)
im a concept artist or i think i should be , but im also a 3D modeler that i make my 2D concept art into 3D animated game ready characters , do you think that 1 person can do both jobs at once , and that game studios will appreciate it or pick me from other people ? and should i include like the hole process of creating the concept to the final 3D model and it will boost my chance for getting the job?
I think you should focus on one or the other for your first job, but show that you are capable of both (80% 3d, 20% concept). Most big studios want specialized people. Smaller studios want people that can do everything. But be careful to not present yourself like a jack of all trades with no focus. I saw a portfolio the other day that had sculptures and 3d models, and paintings of dogs, and sketches of life drawings... it was all over the place. I thought to myself "what would I even hire this guy to do?" Ask yourself, "does my portfolio show that I can do the job that I'm applying for?"
@@TrentKaniuga thank you for replying. ..but i don't have a lot experience so my portfolio is kinda limited. ..so when im applying for a job ...i have to show them some of other type of work i can do ..not all my works gonna match their style
Don't buy lunch every day, bring it in stead
Tutorial: Basic - HowToLife
If you are looking into saving a LOT of money on food, research fasting, it will not only improve your money situation but also your health situation, it's been a life changer for me
I had to do a lot of intermittent fasting for health reasons a few years ago. It did save a lot of money AND i lost a ton of weight.
Please, a when you start a drawing, can you tell us the tools to you use?
I always use photoshop and Sketchbook pro.
15 and already htting tip 9 with all I've got.
Hey Trent.....What about how to deal with student loan debt...with no degree...or job experience...or money to go back to school...
...😣😣😣😣😣😣
On the point on buying and old version of Photoshop, what are your thoughts on Affinity Photo and Designer?
I havent tried them yet. Still trying to find time to dig into other software. For now I just use Photoshop, Sketchbook Pro, and Blender for 3d.
I feel like im more stressed out about the future now 😫🙃
Thoughts on procreate?
ramen and every vitaman pill
I love ure videos man. But if u have time just for fun could u draw some concept art of assassins creed costumes/characters if they were set i like japan in the samurai era thanks 👍
i tried asking my parents about investments (im 19),, but they don't know much about it
My parents don't know much about it either:) But I can tell you that you can set up an account with Vanguard.com and start putting away even a handfull of dollars a week into an S&P500 investment account. You can do more research on this at www.mrmoneymustache.com/
Youre on the right track. If you do the research now, you won't have to worry about a LOT of things that everyone around you will struggle with their whole lives.
It’s time for the incredibly obvious tips segment for artists who aren’t actually that poor.
I'm not poor any more because I changed my relationship with money. But I grew up very, very poor. What changed is - I stopped waiting for someone else to fix my financial problems for me, and I started investing in my future self. If you're always investing in your future self, you're always collecting dividends, and life gets easier every year.
Yeah talking about life decisions and investment failure. DON'T buy used tablets. Just go for Wacom alternatives. There are plenty out there by now like xpen, Huion or gaemon for example.
Pffft I live in Hong Kong, I'm doomed
why ?
@@duongduong5308 the rent and everything else
i just use gimp
4 people are unwise to not heed this advice.
Most of this is financial advice I didn't sign up for this XD
Tip number 11 : stop doing drugs( just grow your own weed )
Tip number 12 : NEVER spend money on girls, love is free.
Look.... a good artist.... just have a job like.... example.... I have a job as a designer however.... my 3d creativity.... now is ALLlllllll mineeeee hahahhahaa meaning i can do more 3d stuff during my free time. An 3d artist don't have to have a good 3d job to be successful. Success is when you look at those work you done be it freelance/fulltime/personal = awesome (especially when its personal) so........... i woke up and it's a good solution. :) also, as long you have a job that could help your simple life going, why... not..... erm hmm
This is my comment
indians: u guys buy software, just download it from torrent or get into pc
Ugh. I have no respect for people who pirate software.