There's a lot of meaningful discussion in the comment section and I want to thank those who shared their story and thoughts. I enjoy seeing POV's from different sides, but remember to also be kind. I can tell some people didn't finish the video and ran to the comment section to lecture me. I appreciate the attempt at advice 😅, but I am doing much better in my career as of current. I think there's value in sharing the unpretty stories, especially because being successful from the start in this business is very rare. But those are unfortunately the stories the industry prefers to prop up. I wanted to share my story as a way to provide transparency and so that others wouldn't feel alone in their hardship. Yes, it is possible to overcome many of these hurdles, and I hope to make a follow up video sometime in the future on that. This video is not meant to dissuade others from pursuing art, it's a forewarning of the difficulties to be ready for. And as evident at the end of the video, there is no right answer because everyone is different. For those of you asking who told me all these positives about an art career...pro tip: it helps to read the title of videos you watch 😉.
I watched one of your videos similar to this one months ago. I am clicking on this video after watching Whiplash for the first time last night. I think there are a lot of psychological motives that are similar.
It's weird that you got told only the positives of the art career- I feel like growing up I was told nothing but "art isn't a job" "art isn't a career" "you're not going to have any money if you become an artist"
Definitely. It was always seen as a big risk. Every resource I looked at basically said it was a big risk, and the whole starving artist thing was always floating around -- excluding Art Schools themselves, because they have to say that they are actually able to get you jobs and such or people would choose cheaper alternatives or just not bother at all. But it really doesn't take much or long to find out from sources outside of the schools themselves to know it was a huge risk That said, every industry has sort of become very risky in terms of job security. Even Big Tech has those issues. Projects end, stuff can fail and get cut, and you're just going to have to go looking elsewhere for stuff unless the company you're working at is really good at managing and moving employees around to places where they are needed so they don't have to keep looking for new jobs all the time
@@gaereksworkshop I think what she's talking about is you only hear the positives from other /artists/, especially those in the industry who "made it" and are comfortable. The average joe who has no idea the difference between fine art/illustration/graphic design/animation is almost always going to say its a risk because their idea of an artist is someone who paints all day and relies on selling original artwork at galleries when that is not the average person in an artistic field. There are plenty art jobs that are just regular 9-5's that people do not know about because they are not privy to how art careers work.
@@gaereksworkshop it’s all a scam really, it’s all nepotism, and connections. Rarely an artists comes from literally nowhere. They always somehow relate to someone who knows another someone… and go on and so forth.
@@lagunitoast Yeah... maybe. One of the resources I read was on freelancing as an artist from someone who was making a living as one, and it'd cover how insecure the job was. But you'd have to find a way to make do. Always. And the writer was literally making do because she suffered an injury that was keeping her from doing her art stuff, which was why she even decided to write a book on how to make it as a freelancer and published it. And that book is more than a decade old now, which I picked up to read at a library. There were definitely resources, but I guess you might not see them around all that much. Though to be fair, maybe freelancing doesn't quite count as 'industry' by more rigorous definitions And to be fair to the more positive promotions of an art job... things were better before (to some degree), across the board for all industries for job security. Believe that was also mentioned a bit too in the video. So it might not have necessarily been a complete lie, but if the same thing were to be said today...? Yeah, no. Nuh uh. Delusional. Too much has shifted nowadays that you can't guarantee anything with art. Especially AI shenanigans going around that's messed up so much because of how the more significant portions were implemented/introduced
I am a designer myself and I completely agree with you. It's completely true and if by December i don't get a full time design job i will be leaving this career. I will do any other job. As being a freelancer and having to worry if I would get clients or not isn't living. I rather clean floors and live peacefully. But I really wish I get a full time job before the new year. I still have a few interviews left. I let destiny decide for me.
Technically no career is safe. My family told me as someone living in Asia that English majoring had a future. Now we're being replaced with ChatGPT. Pretty much the only things that won't go away are trades like carpentry and plumbing, and eateries. Office jobs all have bleak futures.
@@cokecan6169thats the thing I was trying to tell the public a few years ago when first chat gpt arrived. And robots. Like dont you realize robots and ai will not replace the poor working condition jobs? Theyre gonna take all the comofrotable jobs. Any office job, any excel spreeadsheet, any sale and trade, any manager literally ANYTHING we use the pc for. The only jobs that are left are the ones that are really hard to replace or have budget reasons not to use robots. Like picking up stuff, security guard, cook, waiter, all the low paying bad jobs. How do they not realize is beyond my understanding. We will have millions of no job poor people. Either they will all die within a few generations and the wealthy people will move away like in Districts Hunger games. Or the long time inbetween will lead to massive civil wars
Yes, however many fields are much safer in comparison. Art is a luxury good, and those are always the first to be cut. Being a plumber is much safer and in the current world, a better financial decision even if it is not “dream worthy” my B.S in Graphic design science made me $13.25 an hour, a month after getting my associates in Hydraulic technologies I landed a job for $29.00 an hour with full benefits. :/ My art degree cost 68k my industrial automation degree cost less than 20k…
I am on the opposite side; out of fear, I didn't choose to pursue my degree in fine arts but decided to look for formal jobs. I have been in the field for 12 years, and I want to leave it. Common jobs also have instability, which comes from the current economic downturn, exploitative work environments, and the demands of meeting unattainable budgets. That's why I understood that instability is a constant in life, but I prefer to face it through what makes me feel alive and not from a desk in an soulbreaking office.
I think with recent events, yeah, once stable jobs have become quite unstable. I see tech people basically doing what we do in animation, apply like crazy and get no replies.
This is exactly what I was thinking as I was watching the video, though I don't have much experience, I've heard of many stories, and even more stories of people with degrees even having difficulty getting their first job, getting exploited, getting paid very lil compared to the work, I very much agree with your perspective of instability in terms of finance seems to be a consistent issue, if you aren't making 6 figures with no risk of being laid off. I think the truth of the matter is financial security is very rare and only a very few people actually have it, most people are struggling to get by, and can barely have any savings, this is sadly just true for majority, at least to my understanding.
Not only that but people with “stable jobs” are not immune to being laid off. It happens, the stability people are looking for aren’t always in your typical 9 to 5. Gathering in everyone individual experiences - you may come to a conclusion that ALL the paths are a gamble.
This is the real perspective I’ve been waiting for. I noticed very early in that the ones saying the ‘starving artist isn’t real’ and similar are all from people who made it. The absolute top of the ladder that have so many connections available to them. If not that, art is never their main source of income- its content creation. I forgot who said something similar I think Proko, but part of this business is making yourself a brand if you’re not affiliated with a big company (even that is having issues). I don’t want to do all that. I’m saving art as my special side thing because it’s too heavy of a job for me
Right, people lying others to make a cheap buck on youtube. Sadly tons of so called “artist” do that and most likely they themselves gave actually made no true art pieces, just products that sell and win them followers. That’s not ART, that’s the art of lying to fools.
They don't lie because it'll shatter our wholesome dreams. Art schools (at least in the US) are for profit and they need to keep the lie alive to keep making obscene amounts of tuition money. Thankfully I ignored what my school was saying and assumed it was going to be tough after graduating and had always planned to be self-employed. I'm an artist through and through and I was prepared and determined to make art as a career work, bracing myself for hardships. I somehow have made it work by being self-employed and running my own business, but it is tough. I was able to (barely) afford a house with my partner (who is also an artist). It's possible, but unfortunately not all of us are going to make it. We don't rest and it's a hustle BUT honestly, I rather not be doing anything else even with the stressful parts.
The wholesome dreams part is actually based off an industry taboo. It's extremely frowned upon in the industry to discourage anyone from this career on the basis that we are stepping on their dreams and changing the course of their career decision. But yes the bigger picture is profitability. Education is a big sub-industry within art.
My parents had no idea and they were still right. "Do a real job" I had severe burnout 3 years in and left for good. I would recommend NO ONE this career and job. Honestly its a miracle jow we still have comics, movies, animation, videogames. Its paid criminally low and they treat you like shit. Now I work in medicine. And yes its dry but I can atleast enjoy art on the evenings and weekends. Heck I can even sacrifice a bit of sleep and go without worries to work. Knowing I cant mess up doing simply what I am told to do. Working now feels like holodays compared to before because I can turn off my head from bad thoughts
It’s a real job but the problem like in any field it’s over saturation. Once you have a bunch of people willing to the job regardless of pay. It drives the price down.
Similar story here. Wanted to do art for a living but parents kept insisting I take on a "real career" if I wanted to have a good life. To be quite honest I was never too confident in my own skills as an artist so I gave in and did that. Almost a decade later, I'm a resident in my last year of residency. I've tried to draw here and there where I can squeeze some time but it's been tough. Hopefully that does change a bit after residency.
I took a network engineering major with an accounting and animation minor and just... all kinds of industries are oversaturated and treat people like toilet paper. You are far from alone here, but the grass is just as green on the other lawns now, too.
I agree, but I have a feeling this is a more recent phenomenon for other industries and for Animation has always been the case and it's been getting worse.
They're every bit as saturated!! There's no problem *finding work,* the problem is getting a respectable income from it once you do. And it's just as feast-and-famine! When you finally score a good gig or contract, you're still scoping out an additional 6mo to a year of expenses for the inevitable merger/acquizition, wave of layoffs and creative terminations, and game of musical careers.
These are definitely topics my wife and I reflect on as we are both animation industry artists as well. I started working in animation a decade ago and found more consistent success bouncing back and forth between LA Hollywood and the NYC advertising industry. We decided last year to pull the plug on living in the city and moved back to my wife's hometown near Chicago to buy a house and to bet on remote work to sustain our lower cost of living. Thank you for sharing your story. It takes a brave person to do this! I'm also starting my youtube channel uploads in the next few days. My backup plan is to diversify my talents into photography.
@@jozdrawsinprada Thank you! We already moved and bought a house which I'm also using as my photo studio! We'll see how the photo business will go! So far tho, I've gotten to collaborate and meet some amazing locals!
Only a very, very small number of artists achieve real success. And when I say success, I don't mean social media likes and followers-I mean earning money, being fully booked throughout the year, and things like that. I was also an animator, and it was horrible... All the uncertainties, making good money on one gig just to cover the months I’d go without work, this rollercoaster of anxiety and financial instability, it all broke me. So, I dropped everything because I was approaching 35 years old, and I asked myself: "Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life? Until I’m too old to do anything else?" I went back to the IT field (which I worked in before becoming an animator). Today, I’m in a managerial position. I know I’m not completely safe here either, but I earn enough to save money, make investments to secure my future, and spend on artistic hobbies (just so I don’t stop doing something I enjoy). Honestly, it was the best decision I ever made. The constant anxiety about being out of work, the pressure to "break out" in the industry, the despair of bills piling up and not knowing if I could pay them... Social media numbers don’t put food on the table. Today I still do art, drawings, paintings, even dioramas, but only for myself only, my art account on the socials is abandoned for 4 years now, and you know whats funny? Was this year that I received a DM about someone asking me for a gig... like... 4 years later, I didn't even bothered to respond
The problems with art career misinformation has to do with art schools. It is not in their best interest to say that commercial art in general is a very crappy deal for artists. There is also the other insidious factor of "rockstar artists" you usually see them in the form of film directors. The problem is people don't realize that this is the equivalent of becoming a rockstar. You are statistically predetermined to FAIL. I learned to appreciate the boring and mundane. It is steady, predictable, you can plan. I find hilarious how people complain about working in a corporate environment. Bruh, studios are way worse, it just looks and sounds "cool"
I think people just suffer from imagining the grass is greener on the other side because they're unhappy. But it's hard to say they'd be happy if they were on the opposite side.
Japanese term ikigai: It’s an idea to 1, list what you love to do 2, list what you’re good at 3, what the world want 4, what the world is willing to pay for
I've decided to be fulfilled with art by making it solely for myself, struggling to turn it into a livable career would only make me come to resent it as another form of stress. I would blame the inadequacies of my art for my failures making an already unhealthy relationship with my art worse. I do leave the door open for opportunities that arise, but I won't rely on it to pay my bills.
@@seanodanielsart I'm not sure, I would definitely prefer it over my current job but I'm going to school for higher education in the medical field so I can't say that for sure for the future. I can only look at it as what if's but if it were livable I would only hope the job doesn't suck the passion of art away from me, if not I would love to live off my art.
@@viheart I’m curious how much your art/drawing skills will help you in medschool? I’ve met a few pre meds who say their ability to draw helped them understand and remember complex topics immensely .
@@seanodanielsart I'm going into Sonography, I have surface level knowledge of the human body from studying anatomy in art which has helped me a bit with my prerequisites. Along with pretty good observational skills from years of practice, so I have a keen eye for detail which I feel can help me in this field.
The fact that I've been feeling depressed about not being able to get into the industry or use my art for a job in some way, I know that this is the reality of having the job. Sucks that we have to sacrifice everything to have a job we enjoy. I'd have to move to a place I never wanted to live and possibly be looking for a new job constantly.
A few years ago, a woman who was an animator for Disney spoke about why she left. The entire art community united as one to bash the girl. They all told on themselves by saying they don't get paid enough, so why should she. I see tons of videos of artists of all different stripes saying how hard it is to be an artist. The ones that do well are also really good at social media.
I remember that controversy 😅. The thing is a lot of people agreed with some of her points but didn't back her because she said "don't go into animation".
ahhh this hits so close to home for me. I'm luckier than most already but the instability and volatility of this career gets tougher and tougher every year it seems
If you have the fortune of having your parents look after you. Please please please remember. They won't last you forever and so wont your health. Please, please do not procastinate your income and retirement plans, dont wait until it's too late. There's a reason people retire early in this career, at one point your body breaks and you have to use your hard earned money to deal with all the stress that accumulated over the years and which would be by then eating your body away.
art industries are incredibly exploitative like any other job but they thrive off the "passion" of their young workers. It's not talked enough about how unsustainable this work is as a long time career for the vast majority of workers. Many will burnout by the time we hit middle age and neglected physical, social and mental health catch up with us. im so much more happier working a chill 9-5. Plus I create a crap ton and get excited to work on my art everyday more than i ever did when i was doing it "professionally."
Very relatable video, was comforting lol. I always figured I had no need to retire because I plan to do art until I die, but you raised a really good point about retiring to work on personal art only. I never considered that. Shout out to all artists out there fighting through the uncertainty and instability of the industry. It's an insane life and I think we all have our doubts. But I also know that for as much pain as being an artist has caused me, it also is the only thing that never abandons me when I am alone, sad, or feeling down. It is a blessing and a curse.
There are lots of things you can do with art that has more security. You can become an Art Teacher, you could be a tatoo guy or gal, you can airbrush cars and motorcycle helmets there's lots of things you csn do with art. You just gotta think outside the box.
I worked as a graphic designer for about 2.5 years now. For 6 months I worked at a job that ended up letting their entire team of designers go in favor of hiring overseas designers for half the pay of 1 designer there (we were paid $13/hour). And my current one (which I'll be leaving soon) has treated me like garbage. Their nice people, but create the most toxic work environment for anyone there and constantly treat me like a 2 year old that doesnt know how to design, which the 1st job also treated us like this (though more so towards my coworker since she was the team leader). Its stressful as hell, and what once gave me some life and purpose to see a client admiring what you created, now doesnt make me feel anything...i now hate art and would rather do anything else besides it in order to give myself some peace of mind. I have several other colleagues who have both had experience in a stable local design job and those who've had freelance design work and all except me have since quit the industry for how much they belittle and harass us, not for our design work, but for us as a person as if we dont matter. Sorry for the rant yall, i just needed to get it off my chest. Thanks for the video, it really hit me deep. ❤
I remember when I was 20, some famous digital artist was saying that you can easily make 8000k to 9000k a month doing art commissions for big companies :) I believed them .
Art has always been a difficult industry, as it is viewed as a 'fun' industry, so there is quite often more artists than work to cater for them. But since the 2008 crash, work has become much more rare, and with everything being so insanely expensive, your paycheck runs out way sooner than before. Before, a paycheck woud have you covering the essentials, saving, and maybe a holiday once a year, now, it barely covers the rent. It doesn't matter if your in art or any other field at the moment, either way you would be finding it extremely difficult to making ends meet. At lest you are poor doing something you love, rather than poor and in a job you hate. *I miss animating :(
Nah, if I'm going to be at a job I hate, I better be at least rich 😂. I think this industry is hard because it isn't straightforward. You don't simply apply and get the job. You don't stay at one company for 10 years. There's no metric for what good art is, it's all subjective.
@@jozdrawsinprada I get what your saying but plenty of people are in jobs they hate, and are still poor. I think all uni courses sell you on having a job after the course to get their numbers up , and money in, , but the cliché of a poor artist exists for a reason. I liked your choice of video content that accompanied your message.
I was in art school more than 30 years ago, and now the industry is so saturated with talent and also in flux. I am moving from ANIMATION production to teaching at a college level as the opportunities of the past no longer exist. I saw this downturn coming right before COVID-19. It is easily the worst time I have ever seen. The introduction of AI and everything it entails has created a fear for future animators. It is indeed a difficult time, and there is no way to tell how it will pan out. For all of you newbies I wish you the best for your future endeavors.
I feel this. I got laid off 2020 from a corporate art job. After that I been freelancing, but it's hard. I have a toddler and it is hard to freelance now. We plan for another baby later on. I'm not sure if I'll go back to a regular 9-5 or keep freelancing. I thought about going back or find a different job. My partner is the breadwinner.
I know!! I love being alone and somehow it felt super isolating for me too. I took up a job as a host at a restaurant to make extra money and meet new people, ended up taking a bartending course and working as a server, I’m making a bit more money, finally gaining some sense of stability and feeling a lot happier. I do my art projects on the side now and have no pressure to perform or answer to people that have no idea how difficult it is to do design work and constantly try to scam you to get you to work your ass off for less money. Currently, I either don’t pick up the phone or just advise all the people that want to hire me to go do the design work themselves with Canva, Fiverr, Upwork, Chat GPT, you name it! Im like: Yes!! Go ahead and get everything you want done for .50 cents by a guy in the other side of the world! They truly don’t need me at all and I couldn’t be happier! 🙌✨
i think this video is fascinating because I have never heard anyone speak positively about the art profession. i exclusively heard I was going to be poor and miserable. i have a disability that would've made it nearly impossible to succeed in stem so I ended up reluectantly doing design in college. now all I hear are cs majors saying they can't find a job either.
Aunt Margaret and an actual working artist are going to say different things. Depends on your crowd, but I'm specifically talking about the professional crowd.
I was only given negatives of the industry before I joined, told very small number will succeed comfortably, it only made me more determined to get in lol. So there is no winning.
The point isn't to say don't pursue art. It's to say here's what you are signing up for, full transparency. If you still wanna do it, then more power to you 👍.
I am quite advanced in my creative career, probably one of the more productive / prolific in my generation. After 20 or so years, I have been thinking about a couple of things. First is this Jungian idea of a Type, in our inception of careers we are given a template, but the reality is that the template is someone else, and not the individual, to say that the path is straight, it is likely that the hero is on the wrong path. The second idea is endurance, so I started endurance training in my early 30s after reading Murakami's memoire. I was able to shift and expand on the temporal frame of reference. These are not specific things that I can talk about clearly, but more like driving in the woods in deep fog... But I think it is these deeper and none specific deep psychological explorations that has allowed me to excel.
I think I get what you mean.Jung said it directly like this: “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” Then it's only natural to resent the person who carved this path for you, you have given your power away to them. Realistically, any truly impressive artists' path will be full of turmoil but the reason it works out is that the process of creating art is actually an antidote to its own poisonous byporoducts (the uncertainty, the instability, resistance), such that when the artist encounters these moments of doubt they simply create something new that embodies that doubt. Every negative and positive emotion is an ingredient for the alchemical process of art. You simply keep creating. Forever.
"...wondering if I'd be happy choosing an art career" You probably would have as the grass tends to seem much greener. I say that as someone who is in that boat currently. I went down a different path from art (not even art adjacent), and while my finances are stable and my job is 'conventional' I do exactly that, I do art in my free time but I wonder if I would have been happier in an artistic career. And it gnaws at me. This is a side of the industry that seems criminally underdiscussed though so thank you for sharing! It's conversations like these that make me a bit accepting and appreciative that I'm at least able to do art as a I would like in my free time even though it's not a career
I think so too. Sometimes I daydream about a parallel universe where I chose a different profession. But it's hard to say I wouldn't become unhappy and swap into an art career eventually. Thank you for watching. I really enjoyed reading your comment ☺.
Same 😢 I chose a more financially stable career path and while it's stable... it's really dry and I feel unmotivated. Just drawing on weekends and evenings make me feel so free and happy. I do sometimes wonder if I will "make it big" if I pursued art... guess I won't know haha
Hey this is a very real conversation and thank you for being so candid about it all. Been struggling with this for many many years. Mostly because I really want to also have a healthy life as well. But art makes it impossible with its deadlines in its summer and lack of projects in its winter. Its tough. But keep on keeping on :)
I'm sitting here, adhd paralysis in full swing. Can't even bring myself to paint even though I love it. And you're cleaning your place when it's already completely spotless I can't process... :(
@jozdrawsinprada there's a reason I consider what you don't dare to show "spotless" 😂 I'm far from the worst but I'm self aware enough to know I'm also far from the standard you seem to hold 🥲
Majoring in industrial design just freshly graduated last year, it’s very difficult to get a stable job especially in design / art field. I love this field, it’s my passion and dreams but the reality is not common and not so supported here in my country, i try and take any chances from applying for masters scholarships and jobs but none of them accepting me. After almost a year, this november i got a job but not as a designer but a very average office worker in a small town and will start working on December this year.. i will take this chance as a learning opportunity and experience for me to step up my career and education, i wont give up on my dreams!
It's a very hard decision to pivot away from your goal, but even getting any job at the moment is hard, so do give yourself some credit for landing somewhere. Best of luck to you!
The art industry here feels like the exact opposite of most salaried healthcare jobs. Contract healthcare is a real thing for allied healthcare, though, so the hustle thing that you mentioned I completely understand. As for feeling cheated and the industry's instructors exaggerating the industry/career, it was also similar in my case despite being in healthcare.
That's really interesting to hear. I know someone in healthcare and one time I heard for picking up an overnight shift, it was a $1k paycheck. That's hard to pass up as unhealthy as that sounds.
@@jozdrawsinprada Sounds like a travel nurse in the U.S.! In the U.S., healthcare workers are much better compensated. Here in Canada, it's kind of bad, unfortunately. That is a fair point regarding compensation, and if I could redo things, nursing would definitely have been at the top of my list if I had to do health care again. An extremely versatile profession that you can easily pick up and stop if needed (e.g. for child rearing, family emergencies, etc.) I think healthcare's biggest problem that art (I feel, please correct me if I'm wrong) is burnout. Working with a system that doesn't play well and not allowing practitioners to provide the care they want to provide for their patients because of the barriers to care.
@@jozdrawsinpradaOh yeah, I think our healthcare overall is better (U.S. drug prices are crazy!) but it is more nuanced. I think in terms of imaging,managing chronic diseases, and elective procedures, the U.S. is better. A large part is that only primary care is funded by the provinces and that the healthcare is province dependent (not federal). In the last 5-10 years, in some of our provinces, wait times have gotten really bad that there have been increased deaths due to ED wait times. Haha sorry for the rant. 😅 I'll watch the your video on overworking! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side… I've daysreamed a bit to think how life would have been like in another field. Thank you again for your videos!
Healthcare is always in demand, no matter where you go. It really should be a viable career, but it has been parasitized by those on the administrative and insurance end of things that suck the economic lifeblood away from both those providing the care and their patients. Also it's far from an easy job for those doing the actual care end of things.
@@pauljs75 No kidding and I believe the U.S. is much worse (the assassination of the United Health CEO is a testament to that). We have three managers, and only one of them does her job properly. The rest are just roadblocks or speedbumps. You'll always have a job in healthcare, but usually one that causes burnout and is stress-inducing.
I got a certificate in UI/UX design through the University of Utah. That was two years ago, I’ve done freelancing and applied to 100+ jobs in design. I currently do IT, there’s no jobs in design unless you have 5+ years of experience but how am I supposed to get that 😂
Hmm that’s not entirely true. I graduated and had no experience and was able to crack into the industry as a UX/UI designer. There are many jobs in UX but you need to stand out with solid work. They care more about your portfolio and skills than experience, and tbh a certificate isn’t enough time to build solid UX work. Keep working at your portfolio and grinding your design skills and I’m sure you’ll land something eventually. But yeah the design industry is very competitive, once you break in it gets easier from there.
It's so refreshing to see this. We're about the same age but I entered animation a little late. I'm in a great studio now - for the time being - but I noticed my previous studios had "agreements" in contracts to not discuss salary with colleagues. They knew it would create contention because some were being paid fairly while they would very obviously undercut those who didn't know any better, which I didn't at the time. I've since married, bought a home, and started a family but it limits me more to working from home because I live so far from the big cities studios usually set up shop and we've made sacrifices like our second vehicle. Sometimes it's volatile and scary, and I see former colleagues who have married within the industry which, especially these last few years, has been a VERY scary ride for them. Thanks for your honesty. I hope we can all continue supporting and educating each other.
I think people should spend a year working in a warehouse before they decide to pursue any career. It teaches you how to tolerate being miserable, which I believe is an important life skill to have. And it really makes you think if you would rather do anything else for the same pay or less.
Call center will also do it. I worked there for over a year and it was the most miserable time of my life. Long hours, crazy shifts and difficult customers.
Some people never do. I guess that's why I'm still looking for the next thing. Speaking as a navy veteran and trying to figure out a way to escape my current small factory machine operator job.
I relate to your struggle and thank your telling this part of the story. im 59, NYC art school graduate and its very annoying to hear those who say. "you're just not trying hard enough...", or other cliche's for success when you are doing your best. I finally took a job in a completely different field of work and im presently retired from that work and doing fairly well. some things haven't changed despite the years. I still do art but for fun and relaxation thank God. Still, I wish u success, stability, and job security. There is a path for you, sometimes life adjusts your destiny for you.
The field would be more viable if it weren't so stupidly tied to location. A person could live decently in one of the Carolinas, Tennessee, or Wisconsin on what is a mediocre income in California. Or perhaps like a king in Iowa, Mississippi, or West Virginia. In some cities, the internet is getting good enough to make this possible too. The thing that sucks is that if you look to the part of the field where remote work becomes more of an option, you're competing with India, Philippines, and the rest of SE Asia. There's no way to not get gutted there by being undercut if you live somewhere in the U.S. unless you somehow make a name for yourself where clients would seek out what you do. Also if you're not in the business of wheeling and dealing to be savvy at the full business end of marketing, freelancing doesn't work out too well. You need something else as a day job, unfortunately that it a huge time sink that takes away from keeping in practice.
No, an art education will not get you a job if you just go get the education. No, it isn't easy to make money as an in-depended artist. No, you weren't robbed while you were there, you were robbed of opportunities to do things differently. Being an artist is a profession that is difficult, where you need a community and you are constantly on your toes on where you are going. Though you feel robbed and mislead, the art community is vast and wide, and you being one doesn't mean it will be easy to do the thing you want to do most. I don't know what you expected or what you did while you were following your studies however, I do wish you had taken the time as a student to go out and socialize with other artists and studios, I wish you had taken up something other than animations and do exhibitions. I wish you had just done a job that just pays well while you were in the background working your ass off on your passion projects that you could have definitely gotten the money for to work on it in a larger scale. But mostly, I wish you had not made this video where all you talk about is money and you wanting to just make money with this. Yes you need to put food on your plate, pay for your utilities, and keep living a life, but art shouldn't be a ''business venture'' until you are in the moment and sustainable to be able to do so. Art is movement, art is putting your thoughts and passing them on. It isn't the same, it never worked the same as a blue collar job where you just sign your name and do the thing you studied for. I don't know how you went and did this, but please, don't give up on your dreams. You just need to focus and stop thinking things will come your way because you got a piece of paper. The hard part wasn't getting to that academy, the hard part is doing this.
I’m a self taught artist and I prefer full time artist and business of selling arts. But I’m a beginner of arts tho. Just do of what you love to do and good things will come around. And never give up. Cheers 😎😎😎🔥🔥🔥
The first statement you say is the complete opposite of what I've always been told about art and music too. I'm told it's not an easy career, impossible to make a living, need to have a plan "B", extremely subjective and competitive.
I actually loved the end of the video. It makes me think you're pretty happy with what you're doing. I guess what you're saying is that all jobs have their own issues and once you pick one, you might never know what happens on the other side. I appreciate you sharing your perspective too.
Yup, life is full of nuances, and I think we're all prone to think the grass is greener no matter which side we pick. Thank you for watching until the end 😊.
I work as a 3d artist and got laid off in july with 400 0thers, and I'm still trying to get a job. The market is trash at the moment. stupid ceos who think the covid game bubble will never burst and over hired everywhere.
This is a very down to earth and truthful video, hopefully many many people will see it and think about the valuable information here. I was on my own by 19 years old and knew by about 5 years old Art is my life, but by 13 years old I also realized more or less what this video main concept is sharing. To me, illustrators, animators, designers, etc. are not necessarily artists, but still it’s a work area that is normally not easy to make wealth nor a good stable income. If you do not have parents or the so who will faithfully and permanently back you up financially and you love art and making art, please chose a career that you like, but where you’ll have a stable income and dedicate the rest of your time to YOUR ART. Otherwise you might never ever even create true art, but just products for companies or clients and live a financially stressful and exhausting life. Life is short, stress can make it hell and shorten it even more. Please, do first your research and consider your budget, no matter if you are 10 years old or in your 50s or even later. Drawing, painting, selling your stuff, etc. does NOT make of you a true artist, it’s is art that lives in your whole being is what makes you an artist, but if you use your life wasting time and effort trying to be what industries and others tell you to be, you miss the life Chance to be who you were meant to be. Imagine Van Goh or Vermeer trying to paint stuff that sells well and changing their art to fit the market? They’ve never reached the mastery they did. Instead, they had people supporting them or in the case if Vermeer, they did other jobs and painted less but painted TRUE ART.
First off, I love your video visuals and your refreshing perspective! It was fun to watch! I went to animation school, did freelance gigs here and there, but at the end, I needed a job for stability. I’m lucky to have a 9-5 job with benefits, weekends off, etc. and make the time to do art the way I want to! I’m much happier creating art that pleases me and post on social media for fun. I feel bad for my art colleagues who are struggling in LA and witnessing the collapse of the animation industry.
I grew up an only child. I spent most of my free time in my fantasy imaginary world. I loved drawing and writing, so I created my own stories. I never wanted to "study art" but I was told I needed to have some kind of studies. I never was a good student, don’t get me wrong, I’m literate, I can think and judge for myself, I’m resourceful, but I’ve always been an autodidact. So I was not a good student simply because I followed no one’s orders but my own. I got into my art degree. They wanted me to become a book illustrator. Those were the only viable, "secure", money-making jobs for artists like me. I hated it, I finished that degree, but I never actually felt it mattered much. I have plenty of manual skills, sewing, crafting, woodworking, ceramics, pottery, anything manual, I’m the best. But I’ve actually never "worked" as an artist because it makes me miserable. I just cannot do art for others. So I’m now stuck and rethinking another profession might be worth a look, I have plenty of skills and at this point anything that allows me to live works, but everything is all kinds of fucked up I don’t even try anymore. I became that stereotypical miserable mediocre artist I disliked, oh well 😂 at least I’m proud that my art is still by and for me ❤ it is the only thing I have
Thanks for sharing, I think one of the most unspoken requirements for an Artist I'm also noticing is living with a partner (or family member) with a stable full time job. I wish someone with a lot of reach could do an anonymous survey on art income for artists on social media, (and their largest income stream) to give us a dose of reality, because as artist's we are especially prone to letting our imaginations get away with us. Like you said, we need to become more money minded.
I think you would get a very skewed result. It's possible people making less would not want to share or don't care to participate. And income varies by country and field (art is a very broad field).
Can confirm, the fact that my wife is in the medical field, allowed us to keep our heads above water while I struggled in the VFX industry and finally managed to escape. The moment I was able to find something stable, we managed to thrive. That would have been impossible if I would have stayed in the vfx industry.
@@jozdrawsinprada Given how much smoke and mirrors already surround art income, I would agree that it's likely a high number of people that wouldn't be willing to share, but I'm not convinced it would skew the results to the point of creating an illusion of success in the art world. My thought process being is that there are only a handful of artists who are super top earners, whilst there are hundreds of thousands of artist's living paycheck to paycheck. Just by the amount of people that make up the pool of the latter, I think it would make up for the number of people not willing to share info. Maybe the results hardest to obtain would be the artist's with an incongruence, e.g a high social media following with a relatively low income, and these are probably the most significant of all the pairings. That being said, I do agree that it would be difficult to generalise based on how different the art fields and countries varying income. The more I think about it, It's probably too much research for an individual artist to take on really 😆 Loving the refreshing honest video's and I appreciate your response!
@@Crick2x9 Thanks for sharing, I respect it, I imagine it was an incredibly tough choice to make given how much we have to invest into an art career. Do you still make art in any capacity for yourself, or is there no time?
I found out that, perhaps, many jobs can be beneficial to one`s own life. I wanted to be an artist, doctor, geologist, gardener ... and 1000 more different jobs. Ended up being a cop. What my current job helped me understand is that many different paths have many different benefits... you have something to learn from anything that happens in your life, so it`s never a lose-lose situation. Now, while I work as a cop, I am studying to become a psychologist and I`m learning how to become an artist too. Honestly ... I like it... and I can see how, if I were to become an artist from the beginning, I would have missed out on some lessons from what the whole police thing thought me.
I feel for you. I once dreamt of using my artistic talents to work in CGI for films This was at the time when CGI was in its infancy (yes I'm old!) and I was excited with the possibilities. It all came crashing down when a few artists told me that it was either "feast or famine", there was no guarantee of the next job and it could be cut-throat. Being a brand new dad and house hunting at the time I couldn't live like that and stuck to my job. Do I regret not following my dreams as an artist? sometimes. Do I regret my decision to keep my job to provide a stable income and household for my family? No, and I would do it all over again. Good luck to you.
This is only the case post AI scraping era, that's 2023 onwards, earlier it was quite stable. You should also stop this narrative of "being grateful and privileged to do art". Its not a privilege. This is just some guilt that people who are JEALOUS very JEALOUS of your skills make you feel. If they wanted what you had so bad they would have fought for it but they decided not to risk it and listen to their parents instead. You took the risk to choose this field and are still surviving it despite it being harsh and no one is stopping them from entering this field, They can just lift a pencil and start drawing.
Let me tell you a bit about my experience. I understand your frustration because living off art is very complicated these days. I’m Colombian, currently living in Canada. A few years ago, when I had the option to start my career, I wanted to be an illustrator, and that was my plan. It was like the dream of a young person about to start university studies. However, I think I was lucky because my father was very honest and direct with me. He told me, "If you study a career related to art, you won’t get a job; you need to think beyond that and look at the job market." In the end, I gave up studying illustration, and since I was good at math, I ended up studying computer science. I don’t regret it because now I have a good job. I still draw a lot; it’s my passion, and I do it in my free time. I’d love to publish a comic and make animations in the future, but I would do it more as a passion because, honestly, having a successful career as an artist is very difficult. My advice to young people is to first look at the job market and assess how many job opportunities are available.
At least you have the pro skillset, many don't git gud enough, many more have to keep it as second and not main source of income. The headache, accountability and hard work involved in art jobs is extremely unrelated to what they are paid for. Art taught me frugality (poverty yay!) and thankfully my main personal interests (philosophy and economics paid off to leverage it). With wealth now I no longer stress about getting shit art gigs.
It's probably true that there is some survivorship bias at play here, we hear from the people who have done well, not from many who haven't because they were never given the attention and light to tell their story, though I'd also say that kinda applies to many other fields as well not just art, as some other comments poitned out other fields often have similar issues. I think what you said towards the end is a common issue people tend to have which is when given two different choices one maybe slightly more appealing, and we take the more appealing one and find out there are struggles involved in it, we wonder if the other path would be better, the truth of the matter is there is no way to know unless you've lived both honestly, and I'd take a guess that both are probably equal more or less in terms of the struggles, unless you get into an industry that is very very secure for next 50-100 yrs but then you run into the problem of it being oversaturated so the issue comes up of only so many people being able to do it. I think so much of it comes dow to economical issues, we need an economy and job market that is able to give a fair, reasonable, and livable wage, though sadly that seems like a dream.
I was never able to get into the industry, so switched career. Creative wise, I never wanted to work for a studio or work on someone else's idea, so I didn't try hard to get in. There wasn't many opportunities in my area either. There was a period that I was flat broke trying to get in the industry and hated that I had to rely on others financially. I went back to school and got a Computer Science degree and am now a Software Developer. I now work remotely and never work overtime, so I have a lot of flexibility. Surprisingly, I like my job. Been on the fence about getting back to making art. I also feel like I wasted a lot of time chasing this dream.
What I did was I ended up getting a stable job and switched to part time after making a decent amount of saving. That way I don't feel pressured if things go south, and if I ever start to run out of money, I can always switch back to the stable job. I definitely don't want to burn myself out chasing my dream.
This video popping up on my feed is crazy. My best friend from high school decided to pursue a career in art, i think he actually worked for a studio in California for shows or games and always told me he was making good money but recently for thanksgiving i reached out and it seems like he got layed off and couldn't stay in california as a result. I stalked their art account online and found out they don't even have a big following. I'm not too sure how art as a career works since my wife is a "sticker artist" and makes about 6 figures a year after tax but an actual industry artist cant afford an apartment in california is genuinely concerning. I'm not too sure if i'm being paranoid here but with AI art being the industry standard (or so i'm told, before being layed off my friend said his job was just cleaning up ai concepts.) i'm not sure if a career in art is even viable anymore. stay safe everyone and goodluck!
If some promises you anything it’s a lie . Can you be happy creating art and being broke -yes! Can you be unhappy with loads of money: absolutely. The only guaranteed promise anyone can give you: things will change . How one reacts to change is another story.
I feel my perspective will help you. I was working as a coder for 15 years and hated it. I enjoyed that women would think I was rich and it was something cool to say but in my heart I am a designer. I would always chat with the designers and be jealous. If they messed up a design, I would fix it in the frontend and get a taste of the career I should have chose. 3 years ago I quit being a dev and became a designer. I have enjoyed every minute. I think people need to pursue their passions and if the pay sucks, look around for different employers, or even different industries. I know animation is more specific and that sucks because the supply/demand thing has placed you in a position where you are unfairly not getting the work you deserve but I'd recommend expanding your knowledge of adjacent fields, jobs and that are still within the same skill set or maybe to move over to web (a lot more money is here). So you can find more stable income. You could also do what my sister did and just work in a post office, she seems to love her life. Although I don't live in the US and apparently it's a great job in AU... which is a weird thing to say.
I think a more accurate take of the "Starving Artist" trope is that a Starving person can have just as much talent as a Trust Fund Baby. You can be rich and be an amazing artist. You can be poor and be an amazing artist. An art career would be much more forgiving to someone who was always destined for financial security in some shape or form regardless of what profession they choose. It's much more risky for poor or working class people who were always going to be on a short leash as far as budget, resources, or opportunities.
I was only ever told that it would never work out but I've always had a passion for it so I don't care, I don't even care if people think I'm bad at it because thinking that way only means you'll never improve.
As a junior in high school should i be worried? I am an aspiring art student who strives for smth art related as my future, im also very scared of ai taking over too... Im thinking of going into animation for game design, art is also the only thing im good at
I try to tell my students that they shouldn't be artists unless they literally have no choice. It should be like a curse. Personally, if I don't spend most of my life creating visual art, or something similiarly constructive and creative, I would not be able to survive emotionally. When I slack on my personal work, I get sick more often, I lash out, get moody, because I don't know how to express the emotional intensity going on, without transforming it in to some kind of painting or animation or something like that. In this sense, I have no choice but to make it work. You know the old buddhist phrase: life is suffering. We will suffer no matter what, the key is to find the kind of suffering we can tolerate, or is meaninful enough to tolerate. My work is also unapologetic enough that over time I could get jobs where they ask me to be myself, then my career helps me to process negative emotions and transfer it in to visuals that somehow make money. I couldn't ask for a better life. But yeah, for many years I always understood the risk I was taking, my strategy was to keep my cost of living extremely low. This was easy when I was still living with my mom, but later I still prioritized living in less desireable neighbourhoods, rarely eating out, forgoing any kind of materialism or lifestyle goals, so that my income as a freelancer dwarfs my expenses. 1 month of work equals 2 months of expenses. Over time, if I work consistently for a few years (which has been the case recently) then I can either invest for retirement or take a significant amount of time off. But since I have the curse of an artist, even on my time off I will be making a lot of work, for myself, which feeds back in to my "career", gets me more professional work in the long term. It just feels like the right life for someone like me. But it's really a specific type of person, usually deeply troubled people who go on this path. I thikn it was Naval Ravikant who said in order to be succesful you must find the thing that you love to do obsessively while others hate it/can't tolerate it. The art industry is oversaturated with passionate people doing the same thing, but this creates a tough situation where only the absolutely most obsessed (often mentally ill) people will survive. Such that actually most artists seem to hate the industry,leaving only a minority of cockroach-like, ultimately narcicistic beings like myself who can manage to do well, survivng/thriving in the radioactive wasteland.
I think we need more open discussion around art jobs and the reality of how difficult and exhausting it can be. I firmly believe the only people who should pursue a career in art are the people who could do NOTHING else with their life. People who love drawing simply for the sake of drawing, and not people with too much ambition, because it WILL be crushed. I would like to believe I am this type of person, and I guess time will tell if I really am. I'm in art school right now but I've never really been under the illusion that the art industry is as rosy as people say it is, but I'm pursuing it in spite of that. My life will be harder than it has to be because of this decision, but I'm okay with that. But people should not be misinformed about what they are getting themselves into by people they trust online as educators. I've seen a lot of people drop out of art school (design program) when the realize how fast paced and intensive it is. It's not easy, but a lot of people came in expecting that they would go in, learn all the skills they needed to draw their OCs and have fun with friends, and maybe meet somebody who they could get a job from. Art school is NOT that. It's fucking hard, and I was expecting it to be hard, and it was WAY harder than I knew it could be. These is no reason the art industry will be any different, don't trick yourself into believing otherwise. On the other hand, the art industry right now is suffering from the same issues that every metropolitan focused/desk job is right now. AI is currently hitting the software engineering market way harder than the art industry and it's not even funny. Seriously it's not pretty. My friends in compsci and software engineering are just as, if not more worried and disillusioned as us artists and it's really scary to see the whole tech market die in real time. People are getting laid off left right and centre from jobs they were told have been secure for decades, and people are graduating into one of the worst job markets of the past few decades. Artists are not alone in our job struggle. Job security in general is a myth, one that the art industry is not immune to. There are incredibly uncertain times, and it should be no surprise to people that creative jobs are some of the first to be hit by shitty circumstances. I don't want to say that the people saying the industry is great and has tons of jobs are lying, because from their perspective it's true. The past 20 years have been so much better for working artists than it ever has been, but they are a little blinded by the success and privilege they've enjoyed this part decade. Things are getting worse again for everybody, creative jobs are just one of the first to suffer. For those of you like me who see no other option and are pushing ahead in spite of this, good luck and I hope we can make it somewhere. I believe there is hope for those of us determined and lucky enough to make something out of our passion. Don't be afraid to look around for other options, and stay informed about whats happening in the world. It will not be easy.
yeah the whole industry is full of lies, especially all the artist grifters who promise so many desperate artists that they can do it by getting their overpriced course. fuck the whole industry. drawing for myself ONLY.
Art is like expensive furtiture people just want chipboard prices for furniture that looks good but is mass produced to the lowest passable standard, the market for art these days seems to be on par with cheap furniture and AI is for sure not helping in this regard, its tech bro nightmare fuel, coke christmas ad is perfect example. But never to late to develop a side hustle
As a teen I had to choose, art or science, as I liked both.So I decided on science I just didn''t have faith in art as a career. Do I sometimes still wish I could be a profesional artist...yeah sometimes, but it's fine as a hobby to me. When I feel like doing art. It's just for fun and I like that.
i was a graphic production artist, mainly print related stuff, i dropped it cold-turkey , walking away one day from underpaid and only slightly secured day jobs in companies selling products, with internal art departments.. but my decision was more health-related and technical keep-up. if a person cannot physically and mentally handle up-to-the-minute stressful job deadlines with a stack of print job orders on their desk like flipping digital hamburgers , along with thoroughly knowing all graphics software programs and commands and skills so fluid like water that need to go to press by the afternoon, they should do something else for a living less complex if the pay is the same. Graphic design schooling is always better in the classroom where you learn to come up with ideas and have creative time to get projects done , but quite a different story in reality if you're on the production side and very little creativity is being done just swapping out different product photos selling that week or month and pushing ads and flyers and catalog pages through for product sales. All stress.
If you could go back in time, do you think you'd still have chosen art as a career path? I'm currently going back to school for a second time to pursue something in the health field for stability > passion, and keeping art as my hobby. I tried to do art full-time and it led to so much stress that it sucked the joy out of it for me - I'm a very anxiety-ridden person so the uncertainty that the field came with really made me take a step back and reevaluate for the future. I'm not happy about spending the rest of my life in healthcare either as it's not really an interest for me - but the future scares me, inflation scares me, not having enough money to retire and make it on my own scares me. I've come to terms with doing art on the side for now, but that 'what if' or 'you could've went all in 100% and you could've made it but you didn't, and now other people are living that dream' does plague my thoughts every now and then. I just don't want to live with a whole bunch of regret.
I think about that all the time. It's possible no matter what I would've always ended up in an art career even if I picked another path. But there are so many variables that it's hard to say. I can say for many of my friends and myself, we are most certainly not living the dream even if it looks like we are with our art careers. I did make a video about the "dream job" specifically from my POV as an artist who did make it if you're interested in watching (I've linked it below for you). If you do watch it, I hope it quells any apprehension and regrets you might be having. Best of luck on your education! Dream Job Video: ruclips.net/video/dgtCw-iG6J8/видео.htmlsi=oY2mK67C2ODA5i-s
In your previous videos you show yourself being an Art Director at Nickelodeon working in an office. Was that only a temporary position? I want to know because I am at the time in my life where I have to choose a career. I thought Art Director might be a good choice but I am worried about the process of constantly searching for new work. I would rather get a job with a permanent position.
art director is hired by project, it's not a permanent position. Ideally you also have to have on your belts years of experience with art, being an art senior.
Once you realize that some artists are born on 3rd base and act like they hit a home run, you embrace some kind of part time and make time to make art. You also have to accept a lower standard of living.
In my day, Studios and galleries were the biggest gatekeepers of them all, if you didn’t come from the right institution or have the right art degree the door was closed to you. The Internet, as we know today did not exist.
As an artist i never expected to earn my life this way, especially in the field of avant garde and experimental cinema ! As a result i work as a city gardener, to stay independant and free from any money issu, to grant my economic stability, because there is no way avant garde will be get recognised by society in your own time periode of life ...
Your parents haven’t told you constantly how art is not a career, but a hobby? My dad is very gifted in painting and vector digital art. He went to art school too. And now he uses his abilities to make graphics for his physic articles. That’s where he uses his talent and has a secure job as a phd graduate in physics. I myself wanted to study art related subjects, but choose not to, cause everyone wants to be an artist nowadays. It’s impossible to compete and not get fired eg because of a pandemic. Your parents, teachers etc should‘ve know better and not to encourage this all positive image of being an artist
There's a lot of meaningful discussion in the comment section and I want to thank those who shared their story and thoughts. I enjoy seeing POV's from different sides, but remember to also be kind.
I can tell some people didn't finish the video and ran to the comment section to lecture me. I appreciate the attempt at advice 😅, but I am doing much better in my career as of current. I think there's value in sharing the unpretty stories, especially because being successful from the start in this business is very rare. But those are unfortunately the stories the industry prefers to prop up. I wanted to share my story as a way to provide transparency and so that others wouldn't feel alone in their hardship. Yes, it is possible to overcome many of these hurdles, and I hope to make a follow up video sometime in the future on that. This video is not meant to dissuade others from pursuing art, it's a forewarning of the difficulties to be ready for. And as evident at the end of the video, there is no right answer because everyone is different.
For those of you asking who told me all these positives about an art career...pro tip: it helps to read the title of videos you watch 😉.
I watched one of your videos similar to this one months ago. I am clicking on this video after watching Whiplash for the first time last night. I think there are a lot of psychological motives that are similar.
It's weird that you got told only the positives of the art career- I feel like growing up I was told nothing but "art isn't a job" "art isn't a career" "you're not going to have any money if you become an artist"
Yeah. It was treated like a big risk. “Well you can do it if you must but you should qualify in something more secure as a back-up!”
Definitely. It was always seen as a big risk. Every resource I looked at basically said it was a big risk, and the whole starving artist thing was always floating around -- excluding Art Schools themselves, because they have to say that they are actually able to get you jobs and such or people would choose cheaper alternatives or just not bother at all. But it really doesn't take much or long to find out from sources outside of the schools themselves to know it was a huge risk
That said, every industry has sort of become very risky in terms of job security. Even Big Tech has those issues. Projects end, stuff can fail and get cut, and you're just going to have to go looking elsewhere for stuff unless the company you're working at is really good at managing and moving employees around to places where they are needed so they don't have to keep looking for new jobs all the time
@@gaereksworkshop I think what she's talking about is you only hear the positives from other /artists/, especially those in the industry who "made it" and are comfortable. The average joe who has no idea the difference between fine art/illustration/graphic design/animation is almost always going to say its a risk because their idea of an artist is someone who paints all day and relies on selling original artwork at galleries when that is not the average person in an artistic field. There are plenty art jobs that are just regular 9-5's that people do not know about because they are not privy to how art careers work.
@@gaereksworkshop it’s all a scam really, it’s all nepotism, and connections. Rarely an artists comes from literally nowhere. They always somehow relate to someone who knows another someone… and go on and so forth.
@@lagunitoast Yeah... maybe. One of the resources I read was on freelancing as an artist from someone who was making a living as one, and it'd cover how insecure the job was. But you'd have to find a way to make do. Always. And the writer was literally making do because she suffered an injury that was keeping her from doing her art stuff, which was why she even decided to write a book on how to make it as a freelancer and published it. And that book is more than a decade old now, which I picked up to read at a library. There were definitely resources, but I guess you might not see them around all that much. Though to be fair, maybe freelancing doesn't quite count as 'industry' by more rigorous definitions
And to be fair to the more positive promotions of an art job... things were better before (to some degree), across the board for all industries for job security. Believe that was also mentioned a bit too in the video. So it might not have necessarily been a complete lie, but if the same thing were to be said today...? Yeah, no. Nuh uh. Delusional. Too much has shifted nowadays that you can't guarantee anything with art. Especially AI shenanigans going around that's messed up so much because of how the more significant portions were implemented/introduced
I am a designer myself and I completely agree with you. It's completely true and if by December i don't get a full time design job i will be leaving this career. I will do any other job. As being a freelancer and having to worry if I would get clients or not isn't living. I rather clean floors and live peacefully. But I really wish I get a full time job before the new year. I still have a few interviews left. I let destiny decide for me.
Wish you the best on your endeavor!
Graphic designer in the same boat. Time to pivot
well with AI it's not ver promising
3d modeler dealing with the same thing here. 😢
I kicked destiny in the balls and told it I was going to do something else. Hope the best for you.
Technically no career is safe. My family told me as someone living in Asia that English majoring had a future. Now we're being replaced with ChatGPT. Pretty much the only things that won't go away are trades like carpentry and plumbing, and eateries. Office jobs all have bleak futures.
Many trades also faded away - people who made watchmakers for example ...
@@cokecan6169thats the thing I was trying to tell the public a few years ago when first chat gpt arrived. And robots.
Like dont you realize robots and ai will not replace the poor working condition jobs? Theyre gonna take all the comofrotable jobs. Any office job, any excel spreeadsheet, any sale and trade, any manager literally ANYTHING we use the pc for. The only jobs that are left are the ones that are really hard to replace or have budget reasons not to use robots. Like picking up stuff, security guard, cook, waiter, all the low paying bad jobs.
How do they not realize is beyond my understanding. We will have millions of no job poor people. Either they will all die within a few generations and the wealthy people will move away like in Districts Hunger games. Or the long time inbetween will lead to massive civil wars
Yes, however many fields are much safer in comparison. Art is a luxury good, and those are always the first to be cut. Being a plumber is much safer and in the current world, a better financial decision even if it is not “dream worthy” my B.S in Graphic design science made me $13.25 an hour, a month after getting my associates in Hydraulic technologies I landed a job for $29.00 an hour with full benefits. :/ My art degree cost 68k my industrial automation degree cost less than 20k…
I am on the opposite side; out of fear, I didn't choose to pursue my degree in fine arts but decided to look for formal jobs. I have been in the field for 12 years, and I want to leave it. Common jobs also have instability, which comes from the current economic downturn, exploitative work environments, and the demands of meeting unattainable budgets. That's why I understood that instability is a constant in life, but I prefer to face it through what makes me feel alive and not from a desk in an soulbreaking office.
That’s really interesting thank you for sharing your unique experience
I think with recent events, yeah, once stable jobs have become quite unstable. I see tech people basically doing what we do in animation, apply like crazy and get no replies.
This is exactly what I was thinking as I was watching the video, though I don't have much experience, I've heard of many stories, and even more stories of people with degrees even having difficulty getting their first job, getting exploited, getting paid very lil compared to the work, I very much agree with your perspective of instability in terms of finance seems to be a consistent issue, if you aren't making 6 figures with no risk of being laid off. I think the truth of the matter is financial security is very rare and only a very few people actually have it, most people are struggling to get by, and can barely have any savings, this is sadly just true for majority, at least to my understanding.
Not only that but people with “stable jobs” are not immune to being laid off. It happens, the stability people are looking for aren’t always in your typical 9 to 5. Gathering in everyone individual experiences - you may come to a conclusion that ALL the paths are a gamble.
I have this exact same perspective, having studied art then chosen a "safe route" job to fill the gaps. No job is safe!
This is the real perspective I’ve been waiting for. I noticed very early in that the ones saying the ‘starving artist isn’t real’ and similar are all from people who made it. The absolute top of the ladder that have so many connections available to them. If not that, art is never their main source of income- its content creation. I forgot who said something similar I think Proko, but part of this business is making yourself a brand if you’re not affiliated with a big company (even that is having issues). I don’t want to do all that. I’m saving art as my special side thing because it’s too heavy of a job for me
It absolutely is. The industry only gives platforms to those who made it. And they gladly accept because they want to build their brand.
Right, people lying others to make a cheap buck on youtube. Sadly tons of so called “artist” do that and most likely they themselves gave actually made no true art pieces, just products that sell and win them followers. That’s not ART, that’s the art of lying to fools.
Here's the sad part, all those people who "made it"? they having been "making it" for almost a year. Things are REALLY bad right now.
They don't lie because it'll shatter our wholesome dreams. Art schools (at least in the US) are for profit and they need to keep the lie alive to keep making obscene amounts of tuition money. Thankfully I ignored what my school was saying and assumed it was going to be tough after graduating and had always planned to be self-employed. I'm an artist through and through and I was prepared and determined to make art as a career work, bracing myself for hardships. I somehow have made it work by being self-employed and running my own business, but it is tough. I was able to (barely) afford a house with my partner (who is also an artist). It's possible, but unfortunately not all of us are going to make it. We don't rest and it's a hustle BUT honestly, I rather not be doing anything else even with the stressful parts.
The wholesome dreams part is actually based off an industry taboo. It's extremely frowned upon in the industry to discourage anyone from this career on the basis that we are stepping on their dreams and changing the course of their career decision. But yes the bigger picture is profitability. Education is a big sub-industry within art.
and now many large schools have closed. Crazy!
My parents had no idea and they were still right. "Do a real job"
I had severe burnout 3 years in and left for good. I would recommend NO ONE this career and job. Honestly its a miracle jow we still have comics, movies, animation, videogames.
Its paid criminally low and they treat you like shit.
Now I work in medicine. And yes its dry but I can atleast enjoy art on the evenings and weekends. Heck I can even sacrifice a bit of sleep and go without worries to work. Knowing I cant mess up doing simply what I am told to do.
Working now feels like holodays compared to before because I can turn off my head from bad thoughts
keep strong
It’s a real job but the problem like in any field it’s over saturation. Once you have a bunch of people willing to the job regardless of pay. It drives the price down.
Similar story here. Wanted to do art for a living but parents kept insisting I take on a "real career" if I wanted to have a good life. To be quite honest I was never too confident in my own skills as an artist so I gave in and did that. Almost a decade later, I'm a resident in my last year of residency. I've tried to draw here and there where I can squeeze some time but it's been tough. Hopefully that does change a bit after residency.
I took a network engineering major with an accounting and animation minor and just... all kinds of industries are oversaturated and treat people like toilet paper.
You are far from alone here, but the grass is just as green on the other lawns now, too.
That's the sense I'm getting too 😕.
I agree, but I have a feeling this is a more recent phenomenon for other industries and for Animation has always been the case and it's been getting worse.
Exactly my thoughts, this isn't just an issue with the art industry.
You mean network engineering and accounting isn't working out for you either??
They're every bit as saturated!!
There's no problem *finding work,* the problem is getting a respectable income from it once you do. And it's just as feast-and-famine!
When you finally score a good gig or contract, you're still scoping out an additional 6mo to a year of expenses for the inevitable merger/acquizition, wave of layoffs and creative terminations, and game of musical careers.
These are definitely topics my wife and I reflect on as we are both animation industry artists as well. I started working in animation a decade ago and found more consistent success bouncing back and forth between LA Hollywood and the NYC advertising industry. We decided last year to pull the plug on living in the city and moved back to my wife's hometown near Chicago to buy a house and to bet on remote work to sustain our lower cost of living. Thank you for sharing your story. It takes a brave person to do this! I'm also starting my youtube channel uploads in the next few days. My backup plan is to diversify my talents into photography.
Funny enough I know someone who is planning to do something quite similar! Appreciate you watching, and wishing you all the best with the big move.
@@jozdrawsinprada Thank you! We already moved and bought a house which I'm also using as my photo studio! We'll see how the photo business will go! So far tho, I've gotten to collaborate and meet some amazing locals!
Only a very, very small number of artists achieve real success. And when I say success, I don't mean social media likes and followers-I mean earning money, being fully booked throughout the year, and things like that. I was also an animator, and it was horrible... All the uncertainties, making good money on one gig just to cover the months I’d go without work, this rollercoaster of anxiety and financial instability, it all broke me. So, I dropped everything because I was approaching 35 years old, and I asked myself: "Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life? Until I’m too old to do anything else?"
I went back to the IT field (which I worked in before becoming an animator). Today, I’m in a managerial position. I know I’m not completely safe here either, but I earn enough to save money, make investments to secure my future, and spend on artistic hobbies (just so I don’t stop doing something I enjoy). Honestly, it was the best decision I ever made. The constant anxiety about being out of work, the pressure to "break out" in the industry, the despair of bills piling up and not knowing if I could pay them... Social media numbers don’t put food on the table.
Today I still do art, drawings, paintings, even dioramas, but only for myself only, my art account on the socials is abandoned for 4 years now, and you know whats funny? Was this year that I received a DM about someone asking me for a gig... like... 4 years later, I didn't even bothered to respond
The problems with art career misinformation has to do with art schools. It is not in their best interest to say that commercial art in general is a very crappy deal for artists. There is also the other insidious factor of "rockstar artists" you usually see them in the form of film directors. The problem is people don't realize that this is the equivalent of becoming a rockstar. You are statistically predetermined to FAIL. I learned to appreciate the boring and mundane. It is steady, predictable, you can plan. I find hilarious how people complain about working in a corporate environment. Bruh, studios are way worse, it just looks and sounds "cool"
I think people just suffer from imagining the grass is greener on the other side because they're unhappy. But it's hard to say they'd be happy if they were on the opposite side.
Japanese term ikigai: It’s an idea to
1, list what you love to do
2, list what you’re good at
3, what the world want
4, what the world is willing to pay for
yeah and it has been proved to be bs and social conditioning in order to have overworking sl4v3s
I've decided to be fulfilled with art by making it solely for myself, struggling to turn it into a livable career would only make me come to resent it as another form of stress. I would blame the inadequacies of my art for my failures making an already unhealthy relationship with my art worse. I do leave the door open for opportunities that arise, but I won't rely on it to pay my bills.
Well said. The question is IF it could provide you a living would you be able to keep this perspective? That is the trick ; )
@@seanodanielsart I'm not sure, I would definitely prefer it over my current job but I'm going to school for higher education in the medical field so I can't say that for sure for the future. I can only look at it as what if's but if it were livable I would only hope the job doesn't suck the passion of art away from me, if not I would love to live off my art.
@@viheart I’m curious how much your art/drawing skills will help you in medschool? I’ve met a few pre meds who say their ability to draw helped them understand and remember complex topics immensely .
@@seanodanielsart I'm going into Sonography, I have surface level knowledge of the human body from studying anatomy in art which has helped me a bit with my prerequisites. Along with pretty good observational skills from years of practice, so I have a keen eye for detail which I feel can help me in this field.
thanks for sharing your experience and welcoming us into your very neat and clean space. It sucks how little our society values art.
I'm glad you think it's neat and clean because it is not 😂.
@@jozdrawsinprada So clean and so minimal, chefs kiss*
The fact that I've been feeling depressed about not being able to get into the industry or use my art for a job in some way, I know that this is the reality of having the job. Sucks that we have to sacrifice everything to have a job we enjoy. I'd have to move to a place I never wanted to live and possibly be looking for a new job constantly.
A few years ago, a woman who was an animator for Disney spoke about why she left. The entire art community united as one to bash the girl. They all told on themselves by saying they don't get paid enough, so why should she. I see tons of videos of artists of all different stripes saying how hard it is to be an artist. The ones that do well are also really good at social media.
I remember that controversy 😅. The thing is a lot of people agreed with some of her points but didn't back her because she said "don't go into animation".
@@jozdrawsinpradawhat's the artist name ?
ahhh this hits so close to home for me. I'm luckier than most already but the instability and volatility of this career gets tougher and tougher every year it seems
It really does 😞.
If you have the fortune of having your parents look after you. Please please please remember. They won't last you forever and so wont your health. Please, please do not procastinate your income and retirement plans, dont wait until it's too late. There's a reason people retire early in this career, at one point your body breaks and you have to use your hard earned money to deal with all the stress that accumulated over the years and which would be by then eating your body away.
art industries are incredibly exploitative like any other job but they thrive off the "passion" of their young workers. It's not talked enough about how unsustainable this work is as a long time career for the vast majority of workers. Many will burnout by the time we hit middle age and neglected physical, social and mental health catch up with us. im so much more happier working a chill 9-5. Plus I create a crap ton and get excited to work on my art everyday more than i ever did when i was doing it "professionally."
Very relatable video, was comforting lol. I always figured I had no need to retire because I plan to do art until I die, but you raised a really good point about retiring to work on personal art only. I never considered that. Shout out to all artists out there fighting through the uncertainty and instability of the industry. It's an insane life and I think we all have our doubts. But I also know that for as much pain as being an artist has caused me, it also is the only thing that never abandons me when I am alone, sad, or feeling down. It is a blessing and a curse.
That's okay. Remember the guy who was drawing on the wall in the cave a few thousand years ago. I think he also had a hard time making ends meet.
Yeah I heard he died hungry 💀
There are lots of things you can do with art that has more security. You can become an Art Teacher, you could be a tatoo guy or gal, you can airbrush cars and motorcycle helmets there's lots of things you csn do with art. You just gotta think outside the box.
I worked as a graphic designer for about 2.5 years now. For 6 months I worked at a job that ended up letting their entire team of designers go in favor of hiring overseas designers for half the pay of 1 designer there (we were paid $13/hour). And my current one (which I'll be leaving soon) has treated me like garbage. Their nice people, but create the most toxic work environment for anyone there and constantly treat me like a 2 year old that doesnt know how to design, which the 1st job also treated us like this (though more so towards my coworker since she was the team leader). Its stressful as hell, and what once gave me some life and purpose to see a client admiring what you created, now doesnt make me feel anything...i now hate art and would rather do anything else besides it in order to give myself some peace of mind. I have several other colleagues who have both had experience in a stable local design job and those who've had freelance design work and all except me have since quit the industry for how much they belittle and harass us, not for our design work, but for us as a person as if we dont matter. Sorry for the rant yall, i just needed to get it off my chest. Thanks for the video, it really hit me deep. ❤
I remember when I was 20, some famous digital artist was saying that you can easily make 8000k to 9000k a month doing art commissions for big companies :) I believed them .
Art has always been a difficult industry, as it is viewed as a 'fun' industry, so there is quite often more artists than work to cater for them. But since the 2008 crash, work has become much more rare, and with everything being so insanely expensive, your paycheck runs out way sooner than before. Before, a paycheck woud have you covering the essentials, saving, and maybe a holiday once a year, now, it barely covers the rent. It doesn't matter if your in art or any other field at the moment, either way you would be finding it extremely difficult to making ends meet. At lest you are poor doing something you love, rather than poor and in a job you hate. *I miss animating :(
Nah, if I'm going to be at a job I hate, I better be at least rich 😂. I think this industry is hard because it isn't straightforward. You don't simply apply and get the job. You don't stay at one company for 10 years. There's no metric for what good art is, it's all subjective.
@@jozdrawsinprada I get what your saying but plenty of people are in jobs they hate, and are still poor. I think all uni courses sell you on having a job after the course to get their numbers up , and money in, , but the cliché of a poor artist exists for a reason. I liked your choice of video content that accompanied your message.
I appreciate your honesty about your feelings throughout your process of chasing your dream.
Pro tip: work towards a career that pays good and is in a stable industry and do art as a hobby or as a side hustle. You’re welcome!
I second this. Went into trade and now I can actually afford to live AND do art.
I was in art school more than 30 years ago, and now the industry is so saturated with talent and also in flux. I am moving from ANIMATION production to teaching at a college level as the opportunities of the past no longer exist. I saw this downturn coming right before COVID-19. It is easily the worst time I have ever seen. The introduction of AI and everything it entails has created a fear for future animators. It is indeed a difficult time, and there is no way to tell how it will pan out. For all of you newbies I wish you the best for your future endeavors.
I feel this. I got laid off 2020 from a corporate art job. After that I been freelancing, but it's hard. I have a toddler and it is hard to freelance now. We plan for another baby later on. I'm not sure if I'll go back to a regular 9-5 or keep freelancing. I thought about going back or find a different job. My partner is the breadwinner.
No one also talked about how isolating a working freelance artist job can be sometimes.
I know!! I love being alone and somehow it felt super isolating for me too. I took up a job as a host at a restaurant to make extra money and meet new people, ended up taking a bartending course and working as a server, I’m making a bit more money, finally gaining some sense of stability and feeling a lot happier. I do my art projects on the side now and have no pressure to perform or answer to people that have no idea how difficult it is to do design work and constantly try to scam you to get you to work your ass off for less money. Currently, I either don’t pick up the phone or just advise all the people that want to hire me to go do the design work themselves with Canva, Fiverr, Upwork, Chat GPT, you name it! Im like: Yes!! Go ahead and get everything you want done for .50 cents by a guy in the other side of the world! They truly don’t need me at all and I couldn’t be happier! 🙌✨
i think this video is fascinating because I have never heard anyone speak positively about the art profession. i exclusively heard I was going to be poor and miserable. i have a disability that would've made it nearly impossible to succeed in stem so I ended up reluectantly doing design in college. now all I hear are cs majors saying they can't find a job either.
Aunt Margaret and an actual working artist are going to say different things. Depends on your crowd, but I'm specifically talking about the professional crowd.
@@jozdrawsinprada the "professional crowd" is full of people who spend hours online talking about their "precarity."
Suffering and art have a very close relationship I've come to understand in my creative journey.
I was only given negatives of the industry before I joined, told very small number will succeed comfortably, it only made me more determined to get in lol. So there is no winning.
The point isn't to say don't pursue art. It's to say here's what you are signing up for, full transparency. If you still wanna do it, then more power to you 👍.
Wow i have never heard anyone say that art had good job security. Thats like the first thing everyone warns you about (usually)
I am quite advanced in my creative career, probably one of the more productive / prolific in my generation. After 20 or so years, I have been thinking about a couple of things.
First is this Jungian idea of a Type, in our inception of careers we are given a template, but the reality is that the template is someone else, and not the individual, to say that the path is straight, it is likely that the hero is on the wrong path.
The second idea is endurance, so I started endurance training in my early 30s after reading Murakami's memoire. I was able to shift and expand on the temporal frame of reference.
These are not specific things that I can talk about clearly, but more like driving in the woods in deep fog... But I think it is these deeper and none specific deep psychological explorations that has allowed me to excel.
I think I get what you mean.Jung said it directly like this: “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”
Then it's only natural to resent the person who carved this path for you, you have given your power away to them.
Realistically, any truly impressive artists' path will be full of turmoil but the reason it works out is that the process of creating art is actually an antidote to its own poisonous byporoducts (the uncertainty, the instability, resistance), such that when the artist encounters these moments of doubt they simply create something new that embodies that doubt. Every negative and positive emotion is an ingredient for the alchemical process of art. You simply keep creating. Forever.
"...wondering if I'd be happy choosing an art career"
You probably would have as the grass tends to seem much greener. I say that as someone who is in that boat currently. I went down a different path from art (not even art adjacent), and while my finances are stable and my job is 'conventional' I do exactly that, I do art in my free time but I wonder if I would have been happier in an artistic career. And it gnaws at me.
This is a side of the industry that seems criminally underdiscussed though so thank you for sharing! It's conversations like these that make me a bit accepting and appreciative that I'm at least able to do art as a I would like in my free time even though it's not a career
I think so too. Sometimes I daydream about a parallel universe where I chose a different profession. But it's hard to say I wouldn't become unhappy and swap into an art career eventually.
Thank you for watching. I really enjoyed reading your comment ☺.
Same 😢 I chose a more financially stable career path and while it's stable... it's really dry and I feel unmotivated. Just drawing on weekends and evenings make me feel so free and happy. I do sometimes wonder if I will "make it big" if I pursued art... guess I won't know haha
Hey this is a very real conversation and thank you for being so candid about it all. Been struggling with this for many many years. Mostly because I really want to also have a healthy life as well. But art makes it impossible with its deadlines in its summer and lack of projects in its winter. Its tough. But keep on keeping on :)
W video. Feels very cathartic to hear somebody with a similar experience .Also I like ur desk setup
I'm sitting here, adhd paralysis in full swing. Can't even bring myself to paint even though I love it.
And you're cleaning your place when it's already completely spotless
I can't process... :(
There's a reason I don't show you the other side of the swiffer 😅.
@jozdrawsinprada there's a reason I consider what you don't dare to show "spotless" 😂 I'm far from the worst but I'm self aware enough to know I'm also far from the standard you seem to hold 🥲
Majoring in industrial design just freshly graduated last year, it’s very difficult to get a stable job especially in design / art field. I love this field, it’s my passion and dreams but the reality is not common and not so supported here in my country, i try and take any chances from applying for masters scholarships and jobs but none of them accepting me. After almost a year, this november i got a job but not as a designer but a very average office worker in a small town and will start working on December this year.. i will take this chance as a learning opportunity and experience for me to step up my career and education, i wont give up on my dreams!
It's a very hard decision to pivot away from your goal, but even getting any job at the moment is hard, so do give yourself some credit for landing somewhere. Best of luck to you!
The art industry here feels like the exact opposite of most salaried healthcare jobs. Contract healthcare is a real thing for allied healthcare, though, so the hustle thing that you mentioned I completely understand. As for feeling cheated and the industry's instructors exaggerating the industry/career, it was also similar in my case despite being in healthcare.
That's really interesting to hear. I know someone in healthcare and one time I heard for picking up an overnight shift, it was a $1k paycheck. That's hard to pass up as unhealthy as that sounds.
@@jozdrawsinprada Sounds like a travel nurse in the U.S.! In the U.S., healthcare workers are much better compensated. Here in Canada, it's kind of bad, unfortunately. That is a fair point regarding compensation, and if I could redo things, nursing would definitely have been at the top of my list if I had to do health care again. An extremely versatile profession that you can easily pick up and stop if needed (e.g. for child rearing, family emergencies, etc.)
I think healthcare's biggest problem that art (I feel, please correct me if I'm wrong) is burnout. Working with a system that doesn't play well and not allowing practitioners to provide the care they want to provide for their patients because of the barriers to care.
@@jozdrawsinpradaOh yeah, I think our healthcare overall is better (U.S. drug prices are crazy!) but it is more nuanced. I think in terms of imaging,managing chronic diseases, and elective procedures, the U.S. is better. A large part is that only primary care is funded by the provinces and that the healthcare is province dependent (not federal). In the last 5-10 years, in some of our provinces, wait times have gotten really bad that there have been increased deaths due to ED wait times. Haha sorry for the rant. 😅
I'll watch the your video on overworking! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side… I've daysreamed a bit to think how life would have been like in another field.
Thank you again for your videos!
Healthcare is always in demand, no matter where you go. It really should be a viable career, but it has been parasitized by those on the administrative and insurance end of things that suck the economic lifeblood away from both those providing the care and their patients. Also it's far from an easy job for those doing the actual care end of things.
@@pauljs75 No kidding and I believe the U.S. is much worse (the assassination of the United Health CEO is a testament to that). We have three managers, and only one of them does her job properly. The rest are just roadblocks or speedbumps.
You'll always have a job in healthcare, but usually one that causes burnout and is stress-inducing.
I got a certificate in UI/UX design through the University of Utah. That was two years ago, I’ve done freelancing and applied to 100+ jobs in design. I currently do IT, there’s no jobs in design unless you have 5+ years of experience but how am I supposed to get that 😂
Hmm that’s not entirely true. I graduated and had no experience and was able to crack into the industry as a UX/UI designer. There are many jobs in UX but you need to stand out with solid work. They care more about your portfolio and skills than experience, and tbh a certificate isn’t enough time to build solid UX work. Keep working at your portfolio and grinding your design skills and I’m sure you’ll land something eventually. But yeah the design industry is very competitive, once you break in it gets easier from there.
moral of the story: you need to have guts and love for whatever you do in life
It's so refreshing to see this. We're about the same age but I entered animation a little late. I'm in a great studio now - for the time being - but I noticed my previous studios had "agreements" in contracts to not discuss salary with colleagues. They knew it would create contention because some were being paid fairly while they would very obviously undercut those who didn't know any better, which I didn't at the time. I've since married, bought a home, and started a family but it limits me more to working from home because I live so far from the big cities studios usually set up shop and we've made sacrifices like our second vehicle. Sometimes it's volatile and scary, and I see former colleagues who have married within the industry which, especially these last few years, has been a VERY scary ride for them. Thanks for your honesty. I hope we can all continue supporting and educating each other.
I think it's illegal to prevent discussion of salaries 😮. Thank you for watching and leaving your thoughts!
I think people should spend a year working in a warehouse before they decide to pursue any career. It teaches you how to tolerate being miserable, which I believe is an important life skill to have.
And it really makes you think if you would rather do anything else for the same pay or less.
Retail would also be a good job to experience; it teaches you how to deal with entitled clients and inept superiors.
Call center will also do it. I worked there for over a year and it was the most miserable time of my life. Long hours, crazy shifts and difficult customers.
Some people never do. I guess that's why I'm still looking for the next thing. Speaking as a navy veteran and trying to figure out a way to escape my current small factory machine operator job.
I relate to your struggle and thank your telling this part of the story. im 59, NYC art school graduate and its very annoying to hear those who say. "you're just not trying hard enough...", or other cliche's for success when you are doing your best. I finally took a job in a completely different field of work and im presently retired from that work and doing fairly well. some things haven't changed despite the years. I still do art but for fun and relaxation thank God. Still, I wish u success, stability, and job security. There is a path for you, sometimes life adjusts your destiny for you.
The field would be more viable if it weren't so stupidly tied to location. A person could live decently in one of the Carolinas, Tennessee, or Wisconsin on what is a mediocre income in California. Or perhaps like a king in Iowa, Mississippi, or West Virginia. In some cities, the internet is getting good enough to make this possible too.
The thing that sucks is that if you look to the part of the field where remote work becomes more of an option, you're competing with India, Philippines, and the rest of SE Asia. There's no way to not get gutted there by being undercut if you live somewhere in the U.S. unless you somehow make a name for yourself where clients would seek out what you do.
Also if you're not in the business of wheeling and dealing to be savvy at the full business end of marketing, freelancing doesn't work out too well. You need something else as a day job, unfortunately that it a huge time sink that takes away from keeping in practice.
No, an art education will not get you a job if you just go get the education. No, it isn't easy to make money as an in-depended artist. No, you weren't robbed while you were there, you were robbed of opportunities to do things differently.
Being an artist is a profession that is difficult, where you need a community and you are constantly on your toes on where you are going.
Though you feel robbed and mislead, the art community is vast and wide, and you being one doesn't mean it will be easy to do the thing you want to do most.
I don't know what you expected or what you did while you were following your studies however, I do wish you had taken the time as a student to go out and socialize with other artists and studios, I wish you had taken up something other than animations and do exhibitions. I wish you had just done a job that just pays well while you were in the background working your ass off on your passion projects that you could have definitely gotten the money for to work on it in a larger scale.
But mostly, I wish you had not made this video where all you talk about is money and you wanting to just make money with this. Yes you need to put food on your plate, pay for your utilities, and keep living a life, but art shouldn't be a ''business venture'' until you are in the moment and sustainable to be able to do so. Art is movement, art is putting your thoughts and passing them on. It isn't the same, it never worked the same as a blue collar job where you just sign your name and do the thing you studied for.
I don't know how you went and did this, but please, don't give up on your dreams.
You just need to focus and stop thinking things will come your way because you got a piece of paper. The hard part wasn't getting to that academy, the hard part is doing this.
No one in the history of civilisation has said artists are financially secure! The starving artist is even a trope!
“6 figure salary” in LA….is just “not drowning”
I wish people could understand 6-figures isn't a lot in a HCOL city!
I’m a self taught artist and I prefer full time artist and business of selling arts. But I’m a beginner of arts tho. Just do of what you love to do and good things will come around. And never give up. Cheers 😎😎😎🔥🔥🔥
The first statement you say is the complete opposite of what I've always been told about art and music too.
I'm told it's not an easy career, impossible to make a living, need to have a plan "B", extremely subjective and competitive.
Whoevwr told you that ...loves ya..
Whoever told her? Wanted her money
I actually loved the end of the video. It makes me think you're pretty happy with what you're doing. I guess what you're saying is that all jobs have their own issues and once you pick one, you might never know what happens on the other side.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective too.
Yup, life is full of nuances, and I think we're all prone to think the grass is greener no matter which side we pick. Thank you for watching until the end 😊.
I work as a 3d artist and got laid off in july with 400 0thers, and I'm still trying to get a job. The market is trash at the moment. stupid ceos who think the covid game bubble will never burst and over hired everywhere.
This is a very down to earth and truthful video, hopefully many many people will see it and think about the valuable information here. I was on my own by 19 years old and knew by about 5 years old Art is my life, but by 13 years old I also realized more or less what this video main concept is sharing. To me, illustrators, animators, designers, etc. are not necessarily artists, but still it’s a work area that is normally not easy to make wealth nor a good stable income. If you do not have parents or the so who will faithfully and permanently back you up financially and you love art and making art, please chose a career that you like, but where you’ll have a stable income and dedicate the rest of your time to YOUR ART. Otherwise you might never ever even create true art, but just products for companies or clients and live a financially stressful and exhausting life. Life is short, stress can make it hell and shorten it even more. Please, do first your research and consider your budget, no matter if you are 10 years old or in your 50s or even later. Drawing, painting, selling your stuff, etc. does NOT make of you a true artist, it’s is art that lives in your whole being is what makes you an artist, but if you use your life wasting time and effort trying to be what industries and others tell you to be, you miss the life Chance to be who you were meant to be. Imagine Van Goh or Vermeer trying to paint stuff that sells well and changing their art to fit the market? They’ve never reached the mastery they did. Instead, they had people supporting them or in the case if Vermeer, they did other jobs and painted less but painted TRUE ART.
First off, I love your video visuals and your refreshing perspective! It was fun to watch!
I went to animation school, did freelance gigs here and there, but at the end, I needed a job for stability. I’m lucky to have a 9-5 job with benefits, weekends off, etc. and make the time to do art the way I want to! I’m much happier creating art that pleases me and post on social media for fun. I feel bad for my art colleagues who are struggling in LA and witnessing the collapse of the animation industry.
I grew up an only child. I spent most of my free time in my fantasy imaginary world. I loved drawing and writing, so I created my own stories. I never wanted to "study art" but I was told I needed to have some kind of studies. I never was a good student, don’t get me wrong, I’m literate, I can think and judge for myself, I’m resourceful, but I’ve always been an autodidact. So I was not a good student simply because I followed no one’s orders but my own. I got into my art degree. They wanted me to become a book illustrator. Those were the only viable, "secure", money-making jobs for artists like me. I hated it, I finished that degree, but I never actually felt it mattered much. I have plenty of manual skills, sewing, crafting, woodworking, ceramics, pottery, anything manual, I’m the best. But I’ve actually never "worked" as an artist because it makes me miserable. I just cannot do art for others. So I’m now stuck and rethinking another profession might be worth a look, I have plenty of skills and at this point anything that allows me to live works, but everything is all kinds of fucked up I don’t even try anymore. I became that stereotypical miserable mediocre artist I disliked, oh well 😂 at least I’m proud that my art is still by and for me ❤ it is the only thing I have
All students should understand the ROI of going to school. Only your teachers get paid by art. Strange unrealistic expectations.
Thanks for sharing, I think one of the most unspoken requirements for an Artist I'm also noticing is living with a partner (or family member) with a stable full time job.
I wish someone with a lot of reach could do an anonymous survey on art income for artists on social media, (and their largest income stream) to give us a dose of reality, because as artist's we are especially prone to letting our imaginations get away with us. Like you said, we need to become more money minded.
I think you would get a very skewed result. It's possible people making less would not want to share or don't care to participate. And income varies by country and field (art is a very broad field).
Can confirm, the fact that my wife is in the medical field, allowed us to keep our heads above water while I struggled in the VFX industry and finally managed to escape. The moment I was able to find something stable, we managed to thrive. That would have been impossible if I would have stayed in the vfx industry.
@@jozdrawsinprada Given how much smoke and mirrors already surround art income, I would agree that it's likely a high number of people that wouldn't be willing to share, but I'm not convinced it would skew the results to the point of creating an illusion of success in the art world.
My thought process being is that there are only a handful of artists who are super top earners, whilst there are hundreds of thousands of artist's living paycheck to paycheck. Just by the amount of people that make up the pool of the latter, I think it would make up for the number of people not willing to share info.
Maybe the results hardest to obtain would be the artist's with an incongruence, e.g a high social media following with a relatively low income, and these are probably the most significant of all the pairings.
That being said, I do agree that it would be difficult to generalise based on how different the art fields and countries varying income. The more I think about it, It's probably too much research for an individual artist to take on really 😆
Loving the refreshing honest video's and I appreciate your response!
@@Crick2x9 Thanks for sharing, I respect it, I imagine it was an incredibly tough choice to make given how much we have to invest into an art career. Do you still make art in any capacity for yourself, or is there no time?
@@AxiOll I also want to know about the time aspect. most job nowadays drain time and energy to create art in spare time
I found out that, perhaps, many jobs can be beneficial to one`s own life. I wanted to be an artist, doctor, geologist, gardener ... and 1000 more different jobs. Ended up being a cop. What my current job helped me understand is that many different paths have many different benefits... you have something to learn from anything that happens in your life, so it`s never a lose-lose situation. Now, while I work as a cop, I am studying to become a psychologist and I`m learning how to become an artist too. Honestly ... I like it... and I can see how, if I were to become an artist from the beginning, I would have missed out on some lessons from what the whole police thing thought me.
I feel for you. I once dreamt of using my artistic talents to work in CGI for films This was at the time when CGI was in its infancy (yes I'm old!) and I was excited with the possibilities. It all came crashing down when a few artists told me that it was either "feast or famine", there was no guarantee of the next job and it could be cut-throat. Being a brand new dad and house hunting at the time I couldn't live like that and stuck to my job. Do I regret not following my dreams as an artist? sometimes. Do I regret my decision to keep my job to provide a stable income and household for my family? No, and I would do it all over again.
Good luck to you.
This is only the case post AI scraping era, that's 2023 onwards, earlier it was quite stable. You should also stop this narrative of "being grateful and privileged to do art". Its not a privilege. This is just some guilt that people who are JEALOUS very JEALOUS of your skills make you feel. If they wanted what you had so bad they would have fought for it but they decided not to risk it and listen to their parents instead. You took the risk to choose this field and are still surviving it despite it being harsh and no one is stopping them from entering this field, They can just lift a pencil and start drawing.
Let me tell you a bit about my experience. I understand your frustration because living off art is very complicated these days. I’m Colombian, currently living in Canada. A few years ago, when I had the option to start my career, I wanted to be an illustrator, and that was my plan. It was like the dream of a young person about to start university studies. However, I think I was lucky because my father was very honest and direct with me. He told me, "If you study a career related to art, you won’t get a job; you need to think beyond that and look at the job market." In the end, I gave up studying illustration, and since I was good at math, I ended up studying computer science. I don’t regret it because now I have a good job.
I still draw a lot; it’s my passion, and I do it in my free time. I’d love to publish a comic and make animations in the future, but I would do it more as a passion because, honestly, having a successful career as an artist is very difficult. My advice to young people is to first look at the job market and assess how many job opportunities are available.
Thank you for creating and posting this. It reflects my experience so well.
At least you have the pro skillset, many don't git gud enough, many more have to keep it as second and not main source of income.
The headache, accountability and hard work involved in art jobs is extremely unrelated to what they are paid for.
Art taught me frugality (poverty yay!) and thankfully my main personal interests (philosophy and economics paid off to leverage it). With wealth now I no longer stress about getting shit art gigs.
Im new to this channel, wonder how much the Nick AD salary is?
It's probably true that there is some survivorship bias at play here, we hear from the people who have done well, not from many who haven't because they were never given the attention and light to tell their story, though I'd also say that kinda applies to many other fields as well not just art, as some other comments poitned out other fields often have similar issues.
I think what you said towards the end is a common issue people tend to have which is when given two different choices one maybe slightly more appealing, and we take the more appealing one and find out there are struggles involved in it, we wonder if the other path would be better, the truth of the matter is there is no way to know unless you've lived both honestly, and I'd take a guess that both are probably equal more or less in terms of the struggles, unless you get into an industry that is very very secure for next 50-100 yrs but then you run into the problem of it being oversaturated so the issue comes up of only so many people being able to do it. I think so much of it comes dow to economical issues, we need an economy and job market that is able to give a fair, reasonable, and livable wage, though sadly that seems like a dream.
Exactly.
I was never able to get into the industry, so switched career. Creative wise, I never wanted to work for a studio or work on someone else's idea, so I didn't try hard to get in. There wasn't many opportunities in my area either. There was a period that I was flat broke trying to get in the industry and hated that I had to rely on others financially. I went back to school and got a Computer Science degree and am now a Software Developer. I now work remotely and never work overtime, so I have a lot of flexibility. Surprisingly, I like my job. Been on the fence about getting back to making art. I also feel like I wasted a lot of time chasing this dream.
What I did was I ended up getting a stable job and switched to part time after making a decent amount of saving. That way I don't feel pressured if things go south, and if I ever start to run out of money, I can always switch back to the stable job. I definitely don't want to burn myself out chasing my dream.
Art is what you do for you. Design is what you do for your paycheck.
This video popping up on my feed is crazy. My best friend from high school decided to pursue a career in art, i think he actually worked for a studio in California for shows or games and always told me he was making good money but recently for thanksgiving i reached out and it seems like he got layed off and couldn't stay in california as a result. I stalked their art account online and found out they don't even have a big following. I'm not too sure how art as a career works since my wife is a "sticker artist" and makes about 6 figures a year after tax but an actual industry artist cant afford an apartment in california is genuinely concerning. I'm not too sure if i'm being paranoid here but with AI art being the industry standard (or so i'm told, before being layed off my friend said his job was just cleaning up ai concepts.) i'm not sure if a career in art is even viable anymore. stay safe everyone and goodluck!
If some promises you anything it’s a lie . Can you be happy creating art and being broke -yes!
Can you be unhappy with loads of money: absolutely. The only guaranteed promise anyone can give you: things will change . How one reacts to change is another story.
I worked as an art director/designer for years. it's difficult to find that first job. Usually a small firm is easier to break in. Do'nt give up!!
It's called the american dream because you have to be asleap to believe it. Wellcome to capitalism.
I feel my perspective will help you. I was working as a coder for 15 years and hated it. I enjoyed that women would think I was rich and it was something cool to say but in my heart I am a designer. I would always chat with the designers and be jealous. If they messed up a design, I would fix it in the frontend and get a taste of the career I should have chose. 3 years ago I quit being a dev and became a designer. I have enjoyed every minute. I think people need to pursue their passions and if the pay sucks, look around for different employers, or even different industries. I know animation is more specific and that sucks because the supply/demand thing has placed you in a position where you are unfairly not getting the work you deserve but I'd recommend expanding your knowledge of adjacent fields, jobs and that are still within the same skill set or maybe to move over to web (a lot more money is here). So you can find more stable income. You could also do what my sister did and just work in a post office, she seems to love her life. Although I don't live in the US and apparently it's a great job in AU... which is a weird thing to say.
I think a more accurate take of the "Starving Artist" trope is that a Starving person can have just as much talent as a Trust Fund Baby. You can be rich and be an amazing artist. You can be poor and be an amazing artist. An art career would be much more forgiving to someone who was always destined for financial security in some shape or form regardless of what profession they choose. It's much more risky for poor or working class people who were always going to be on a short leash as far as budget, resources, or opportunities.
the once art careers have been taken over by Marketing people since 1970s.
I was only ever told that it would never work out but I've always had a passion for it so I don't care, I don't even care if people think I'm bad at it because thinking that way only means you'll never improve.
As a junior in high school should i be worried? I am an aspiring art student who strives for smth art related as my future, im also very scared of ai taking over too... Im thinking of going into animation for game design, art is also the only thing im good at
I resonate. I am taking up illustration and 3D modeling and I am loosing energy to keep going.
We come from a very different background. In my life absolutely everyone from family to friends were telling me that you can't make it in art.
This career is for people bold enough to make it work . Go work at wal mart if you want a stable life . I’d rather be an artist than bored
I try to tell my students that they shouldn't be artists unless they literally have no choice. It should be like a curse. Personally, if I don't spend most of my life creating visual art, or something similiarly constructive and creative, I would not be able to survive emotionally. When I slack on my personal work, I get sick more often, I lash out, get moody, because I don't know how to express the emotional intensity going on, without transforming it in to some kind of painting or animation or something like that. In this sense, I have no choice but to make it work. You know the old buddhist phrase: life is suffering. We will suffer no matter what, the key is to find the kind of suffering we can tolerate, or is meaninful enough to tolerate.
My work is also unapologetic enough that over time I could get jobs where they ask me to be myself, then my career helps me to process negative emotions and transfer it in to visuals that somehow make money. I couldn't ask for a better life.
But yeah, for many years I always understood the risk I was taking, my strategy was to keep my cost of living extremely low. This was easy when I was still living with my mom, but later I still prioritized living in less desireable neighbourhoods, rarely eating out, forgoing any kind of materialism or lifestyle goals, so that my income as a freelancer dwarfs my expenses. 1 month of work equals 2 months of expenses. Over time, if I work consistently for a few years (which has been the case recently) then I can either invest for retirement or take a significant amount of time off. But since I have the curse of an artist, even on my time off I will be making a lot of work, for myself, which feeds back in to my "career", gets me more professional work in the long term. It just feels like the right life for someone like me. But it's really a specific type of person, usually deeply troubled people who go on this path.
I thikn it was Naval Ravikant who said in order to be succesful you must find the thing that you love to do obsessively while others hate it/can't tolerate it. The art industry is oversaturated with passionate people doing the same thing, but this creates a tough situation where only the absolutely most obsessed (often mentally ill) people will survive. Such that actually most artists seem to hate the industry,leaving only a minority of cockroach-like, ultimately narcicistic beings like myself who can manage to do well, survivng/thriving in the radioactive wasteland.
I think we need more open discussion around art jobs and the reality of how difficult and exhausting it can be. I firmly believe the only people who should pursue a career in art are the people who could do NOTHING else with their life. People who love drawing simply for the sake of drawing, and not people with too much ambition, because it WILL be crushed. I would like to believe I am this type of person, and I guess time will tell if I really am. I'm in art school right now but I've never really been under the illusion that the art industry is as rosy as people say it is, but I'm pursuing it in spite of that. My life will be harder than it has to be because of this decision, but I'm okay with that. But people should not be misinformed about what they are getting themselves into by people they trust online as educators.
I've seen a lot of people drop out of art school (design program) when the realize how fast paced and intensive it is. It's not easy, but a lot of people came in expecting that they would go in, learn all the skills they needed to draw their OCs and have fun with friends, and maybe meet somebody who they could get a job from. Art school is NOT that. It's fucking hard, and I was expecting it to be hard, and it was WAY harder than I knew it could be. These is no reason the art industry will be any different, don't trick yourself into believing otherwise.
On the other hand, the art industry right now is suffering from the same issues that every metropolitan focused/desk job is right now. AI is currently hitting the software engineering market way harder than the art industry and it's not even funny. Seriously it's not pretty. My friends in compsci and software engineering are just as, if not more worried and disillusioned as us artists and it's really scary to see the whole tech market die in real time. People are getting laid off left right and centre from jobs they were told have been secure for decades, and people are graduating into one of the worst job markets of the past few decades. Artists are not alone in our job struggle.
Job security in general is a myth, one that the art industry is not immune to. There are incredibly uncertain times, and it should be no surprise to people that creative jobs are some of the first to be hit by shitty circumstances. I don't want to say that the people saying the industry is great and has tons of jobs are lying, because from their perspective it's true. The past 20 years have been so much better for working artists than it ever has been, but they are a little blinded by the success and privilege they've enjoyed this part decade. Things are getting worse again for everybody, creative jobs are just one of the first to suffer.
For those of you like me who see no other option and are pushing ahead in spite of this, good luck and I hope we can make it somewhere. I believe there is hope for those of us determined and lucky enough to make something out of our passion. Don't be afraid to look around for other options, and stay informed about whats happening in the world. It will not be easy.
yeah the whole industry is full of lies, especially all the artist grifters who promise so many desperate artists that they can do it by getting their overpriced course. fuck the whole industry. drawing for myself ONLY.
That's why I've always refused to teach art, why would I do that to someone?
I'm a Graphic Designer with a Masters Degree in 3D Animation and... yeah. Worst decision I ever made was following this path.
Asking out of curiosity; why do you say that? I am looking to go into 3D/CG.
@vondahl972 Not enough job opportunities, bad salaries.
Art is like expensive furtiture people just want chipboard prices for furniture that looks good but is mass produced to the lowest passable standard, the market for art these days seems to be on par with cheap furniture and AI is for sure not helping in this regard, its tech bro nightmare fuel, coke christmas ad is perfect example.
But never to late to develop a side hustle
As a teen I had to choose, art or science, as I liked both.So I decided on science I just didn''t have faith in art as a career. Do I sometimes still wish I could be a profesional artist...yeah sometimes, but it's fine as a hobby to me. When I feel like doing art. It's just for fun and I like that.
i was a graphic production artist, mainly print related stuff, i dropped it cold-turkey , walking away one day from underpaid and only slightly secured day jobs in companies selling products, with internal art departments.. but my decision was more health-related and technical keep-up. if a person cannot physically and mentally handle up-to-the-minute stressful job deadlines with a stack of print job orders on their desk like flipping digital hamburgers , along with thoroughly knowing all graphics software programs and commands and skills so fluid like water that need to go to press by the afternoon, they should do something else for a living less complex if the pay is the same. Graphic design schooling is always better in the classroom where you learn to come up with ideas and have creative time to get projects done , but quite a different story in reality if you're on the production side and very little creativity is being done just swapping out different product photos selling that week or month and pushing ads and flyers and catalog pages through for product sales. All stress.
If you could go back in time, do you think you'd still have chosen art as a career path? I'm currently going back to school for a second time to pursue something in the health field for stability > passion, and keeping art as my hobby. I tried to do art full-time and it led to so much stress that it sucked the joy out of it for me - I'm a very anxiety-ridden person so the uncertainty that the field came with really made me take a step back and reevaluate for the future. I'm not happy about spending the rest of my life in healthcare either as it's not really an interest for me - but the future scares me, inflation scares me, not having enough money to retire and make it on my own scares me. I've come to terms with doing art on the side for now, but that 'what if' or 'you could've went all in 100% and you could've made it but you didn't, and now other people are living that dream' does plague my thoughts every now and then. I just don't want to live with a whole bunch of regret.
I think about that all the time. It's possible no matter what I would've always ended up in an art career even if I picked another path. But there are so many variables that it's hard to say. I can say for many of my friends and myself, we are most certainly not living the dream even if it looks like we are with our art careers. I did make a video about the "dream job" specifically from my POV as an artist who did make it if you're interested in watching (I've linked it below for you). If you do watch it, I hope it quells any apprehension and regrets you might be having. Best of luck on your education!
Dream Job Video: ruclips.net/video/dgtCw-iG6J8/видео.htmlsi=oY2mK67C2ODA5i-s
In your previous videos you show yourself being an Art Director at Nickelodeon working in an office. Was that only a temporary position? I want to know because I am at the time in my life where I have to choose a career. I thought Art Director might be a good choice but I am worried about the process of constantly searching for new work. I would rather get a job with a permanent position.
Don't know about other countries but normally Art Director they contract by project. So if the project end, your contract end too.
art director is hired by project, it's not a permanent position. Ideally you also have to have on your belts years of experience with art, being an art senior.
Once you realize that some artists are born on 3rd base and act like they hit a home run, you embrace some kind of part time and make time to make art. You also have to accept a lower standard of living.
1:30 Thankfully I've managed to build up a strong network of industry friends so its not as dangerous when in terms of looking for new work.
In my day, Studios and galleries were the biggest gatekeepers of them all, if you didn’t come from the right institution or have the right art degree the door was closed to you. The Internet, as we know today did not exist.
As an artist i never expected to earn my life this way, especially in the field of avant garde and experimental cinema !
As a result i work as a city gardener, to stay independant and free from any money issu, to grant my economic stability, because there is no way avant garde will be get recognised by society in your own time periode of life ...
"Starving artist" is a thing for a reason. Nobody is selling art jobs as some lavish, rich lifestyle.
Do you mind if I make a reaction video to this? I think this is a great topic to talk about.
You have to have been living your entire life under a rock.
What makes it worse is living in L.A while being an Artist/Designer. EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE
Your parents haven’t told you constantly how art is not a career, but a hobby? My dad is very gifted in painting and vector digital art. He went to art school too. And now he uses his abilities to make graphics for his physic articles. That’s where he uses his talent and has a secure job as a phd graduate in physics. I myself wanted to study art related subjects, but choose not to, cause everyone wants to be an artist nowadays. It’s impossible to compete and not get fired eg because of a pandemic. Your parents, teachers etc should‘ve know better and not to encourage this all positive image of being an artist