How do I get through?

>>243320
What you get your degree in doesn't mean shit once you're back in the real world. Your portfolio is everything. The most important tool at your disposal is who you know. Make contacts, develop relationships, never stop improving yourself and honing your skills as a creative professional. This is one of those weird fields where having a degree can actually set you back a little bit, so be careful.

My parents were never supportive either and expected me to fail. I didn't even bother going to college past an AA at a local community college. Then I was making about as much as they ever did by my early twenties. I'm not telling you not to go to school, that's dangerous advice. My point is that you kind of just have to carve your own path to some extent. Make friends in the industry in your area; they'll get you your jobs, gigs, etc. and you'll learn from them. You'll become a better designer by working under better designers, just like any other trade. You might have to do soulless production work for a long time, there's no shame in that. It doesn't mean you've failed as a creative. It just means that's where your skills are needed right now, for this season of life. You'll be able to apply those skills to creative design work.

Learn. Never stop learning. Be fueled by a lust for knowledge and experience. Learn Adobe products inside and out, well enough to teach other people how to use them. Study artistic techniques. Learn to understand minimalism and when it's useful and when it's not. Learn to recognize barriers between information and people's understanding of that information, then remove those barriers cleanly. Provide solutions. Play a lot of video games, and study their art of conveyance, how they subtly inform the player/user of what to do without (ideally) tutorializing and causing frustration. Work fast. Work efficiently. Build confidence through experience. This is how you build a career as a designer in visual communications.

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>>243396

>It just means that's where your skills are needed right now, for this season of life.

Fuck anon, that's some heavy stuff.

10/10 almost made me cry

>>243397
agreed, 10/10

>>243397
Aww. I'm sorry buddy, didn't mean to be a downer. I just don't want OP to lose hope or think less of his value as a designer just because of the opportunities available to him. Sometimes you gotta take what you can get for a bit. You could have an excellent skill set but no one's giving you the kind of work you'd prefer for a while, you know? Don't feel bad about taking the work that comes for a while as you hone your trade. There's honor in that.

>>243402
No, compadre. Not what I meant.

Tried to say that your text was inspirational and hade a huge impact on myself. One of the most genuine post I've ever seen on this site. I hope you pass on this knowledge to as many people as you can, because this is gold.

I'm cracking my good bottle of cognac today, just feeling so inspired.

Thank you, friend.

>>243320
Same guy who wrote the big paragraph, and the response to the anon with the dog image. I hit the character limit in that first post. I'll try to be more concise this time.

OP, I can only speak from my own experiences, but I hope this is encouraging and helpful for you.

Don't be afraid. Right now you're probably feeling pressured to make these huge, life altering decisions that will define your future, and potential for financial stability and the peace that comes with it. These decisions are not as permanent and decisive as you think. There is always a way out, but that way out might seem scary and uncertain. Because it is. That fear you feel? The one that keeps you up at night? The one whose grip you can't shake out of? That's normal. All of your friends feel it too. Especially the ones that you think have everything put together. Use that fear as a motivator, but don't let it own you, and keep you from enjoying life.

Man makes plans and God laughs. Things probably won't go the way you think they will. And that's okay. You'll be all right. Keep working on improving yourself. That's how you create financial value as a designer, you get better. Learn from people that are better than you. Study on the Internet. Embrace a music scene you're into and be influenced by the art and design coming out of it. Get to know those artists and designers if you can. Work. Take shitty gigs from shitty clients and learn from it. If there are too few opportunities in your area, move just outside a better city so you don't pay ridiculous rent. Move to Tacoma and work in Seattle. Move to Petaluma and work in San Francisco. Move to Vancouver and work in Portland. Put up with a shitty commute. Be humble. Be flexible. Above all, be patient.

When I was 18 I was working for $12/hr as a glorified intern. When I was 21 I was working for $10/hr as a project manager. When I was 22 I got hooked up with a decent contracting agency and started making almost $70k/yr for easier work

>>243405
Thank you. That means a lot to me. I feel like I don't know much, but I hope that what I do know can be helpful. I'm having a glass of bourbon in your honor, pal.

>>243407
Character limit again

My point is that everyone's path in this line of work is quite different. Mine was unorthodox and kind of dumb. I think I just lucked out. That said, when I look back at the work I was putting out when I was 17/18, it's embarrassing now. Don't measure yourself against the coolest stuff you see on Bēhance. Measure yourself against yourself. Push yourself to learn as much as you can in the pursuit of becoming great at what you do, and you can absolutely make a stable career out of creative work. I wouldn't say I'm a "great designer" by any means. I've got a long way to go and so much to learn. I'm never comfortable settling in that. I want to learn as much as I can from as many people as I can. I'm not saying "be like me", this is just what has proved helpful for me in trying to build a career, and I hope it can be beneficial to you as well. I'm sorry I'm typing so much, OP. I just really wish that someone had told me all of this stuff when I was your age.

I'm in the same boat as you OP. I'm hoping someone could give me some advice too.

Since I was about 6 or 7, I loved to draw animation/anime characters as well as cars, animals, everyone said I was good at it, but I always found flaws in every thing I made so ended up scrapping it.

I love drawing anime characters, creating new characters with different personalities, abilities, I have a whole story planned out in my head.

I also wanted to do architecture since I liked designing houses on things like Sims and always looking forward to the finished product.


I think animation, character game design or something like that might be the best for me based on my skills/talents? Does it all fall under general graphics design?

>>243470
I wouldn't call that graphic design per se, but there are some similar principles at work. Rules and influences of art in all forms can profoundly inform design techniques. I'd suggest watching Gary Hustwit's documentary trilogy; Helvetica (typography), Objectified (industrial design), and Urbanized (civil engineering), and see if those sorts of disciplines interest you. That might help you define the differences between design and art.

Dude, I have the same problem... I'm 19 years old from Mexico and I'm studying Programing, but I just realized that this is not for me, I'm going to step back from school 1 year, I'm going to work for pay me the university because is private and more $ I would love to live and work in the US or Canada there's all the things I love.

>>243397
Bob Ross /10

>>243642
Thanks, I... Think...?