Hey, /ic/. Gimme some guidance here. I'm a 20-year-old CS

Youll be bouncing back and forth for a while and thats normal. Your motives behind each path need to be pretty clear tho tbh.

My only advice is do one or the other but choose now.
saying
>oh but I have CS as a backup just in case
will just mean you suck at both.

I do cs for a living, and draw art for a hobby. I doubt I'll ever be a professional artist but I'm good enough to be happy with it.

The great thing about CS is that you can find a 9-5 job meaning you have LOTS of free time and LOTS of extra cash thanks to your high paying CS job.

but if you truly want to do art, you'll have to focus a lot more time on it, so just drop cs and live off art. despite what some people like to claim, if you try hard enough you can always get your foot in the door, even if it means taking a below minimum wage internship.

>>2248102
Thanks, I got that feeling exactly. It's that I find CS particularly hard or anything, it's just I don't get off to the idea of open-source, and I don't spend my Friday nights debugging and jerking off to like, breadth first search. And I feel like I SHOULD if I'm doing CS? But I just feel like I can't just drop out now. I'm 12k in debt currently, so I guess that's not too crippling, but it'd be a major life shift, definitely. I'd almost want to go to art school just to avoid the stigma of being some NEET or some dropout with a minimum wage job living at home. At least I'd be at "college" and "doing something" despite the extra debt I'd be accruing.

>>2248094
I've been bouncing back and forth for the past year or so, really. And I feel like I should make a significant choice NOW before I let myself become some really awful jack of all trades with regards to art and CS.

>>2248127
>spend all night debugging
>jerking off to breadth first search
a lot just depends on where you can work.
where I work, your 8 hours hits and you're out. you don't spend all night debugging or you're fired.
and personally I just treat cs as a math so maybe my view is different than yours, but for the most part I have the tools I need and my work is just a series of challenges I accomplish with tools using critical thinking and my own solutions.

but for your run of the mill cs major, as long as you can program you're set. there'll be lots of debugging and its a boring job a lot of the time but you get lots of money and its relatively easy.
If you're not 100% certain you want to be in art then I'd say just stick with cs.

but imo what you like should always take priority, there's no point in living if you're going to be doing something you despise when you know exactly what it is that you want to be doing.

>I have another 2 years left, and I figure I'll get some bullshit CS job afterwards to pay the bills while I focus on art.

You will still have bills if you follow your art dream. But you might not have a job to pay them with. Stay in CS.

>>2248135
>>2248135
I get what you mean, yeah, on both counts. I just need some sort of plan. I guess my options are to just drop out and get some sort of job to pay off my loans while I live at home, presumably. But I get anxious just thinking about what a tool I would look like to everybody I know. That makes the most sense financially, but I dunno if I could survive being cut off from any semblance of a social life ever again, I'd probably fall into some sort of depression and regret it. I know how stupid art school is but at least I'd be in a productive environment and would be able to network better than I'd be able to just sitting at home right? But, ugh, the debt.

>>2248141
You're very right. Am I already shit out of luck? I feel like if I stay in CS I'll just have to give up art anyway.

>>2248086
Sup anon, when I was 18 I had a full time job and was a full-time student, at a community college. You have time to draw, you're just not managing your time wisely; I think. Just draw dude. If you're the kind of person who gets drained from school, you should just draw on winter/spring break. But you should really look into how you manage your time

>>2248154
I do have poor time management, but I dunno if it's THAT poor. I'll look into it. What was your major if you don't mind me asking?

>>2248180
pre engineering that would, hopefully, go into mechanical engineering. I actually plan on dropping out so I can live a life of art; and maybe drugs

Don't do shit you don't want to do, you won't excel it in it if that's the case.

I'm not suggesting you go to school for art, or even that you should focus on art that the expense of other things, but if you go to class every day for CS and hate it, you won't be happy with CS.

If anything, find a job you can tolerate while you do art. I don't agree with the NEETs on this board who do art at the expense of their livelihood or exploit their parents, but if art is your passion, find a profession that permits it until you can find a way to do art as your profession.

Either find a profession that is your hobby or find a profession that affords you the ability to pursue your hobby comfortably. I'm a CS grad and I can tell you that generally speaking you won't be debugging things into the dead of night hating your life. Why don't you try to do something that's a marriage of the two like front end development or something user interface related?

>>2248086
>tfw I'm going to school for animation, but I'm taking ics courses so I have other skills because I'm very aware that it's hard as fuck to make it in the art industry

Sounds shitty anon. Sorry to hear your troubles, I'm in luck I guess, I enjoy both art and programming... I guess the only advice I could maybe give is to make games. Or find a way to blend the two. Like right now I'm writing a flocking algorithm in Javascript and creating sprite sheets to animate each individual fish (also making birds). Once I get it all pinned down in 2d I'll move it over to 3d and make models and do it all again in unity. It let's me build a portfolio and also work on both skills at once.

what the fuck is cs

>>2248470
Nevermind I guess it's Computer Science

>>2248470
Its counter strike

>>2248476
brb, going to re-read the thread while replacing cs with counter strike in my mind

The way I see it, you like both, so just do whichever. You'll have time for both in your life.

>>2248470
Christmas songs

>>2248470
cock sucking

>>2248086

I am a musician and CS major, 30 years old. I went through the exact same thing. I have floated around and found the most lax day job (work < 30hrs a week).

I have a good enough paycheck that I can now study / take lessons with real artists (as opposed to college professors).

Not too many years more and I will probably figure out how to be a contractor and work as little as possible to make time for art.

Figured out how to live minimally while having a secure paycheck so I can more easily transition into an art career in the future.

Dealt with all my self-destructive behaviors more quickly, because of having stable income and access to mental health and a good standard of living.

Maintained my artistic identity because there wasn't pressure to make my art more marketable early on.

Once you get to 30 you realize you have a huge amount of time to kill before you die and it is plenty of time to make your artistic dreams a reality. And so the most important thing is really to preserve and cherish your inspiration and your desire to make the world a beautiful experience for others.

I know people on both sides of the equation-- music majors and then people like me who worked hard and have lucrative jobs. By and large the music majors are naive and not in a good spot. The day-jobbers are all successfully building their art career while they work on phasing out of (or balancing with) their day jobs.

That said, I am driven enough that I might have actually been more successful if I had just studied music. I don't know. I kinda doubt it because I probably would have gotten wrapped up in the "lifestyle." As opposed to being a CS major and learning how to work hard and keeping relatively out of trouble.

>>2248086
I'm a cs major too and in going to stick to it, art is too much of a risk even if I like it more than programming.

>>2248573
>>2248665
>I am a major cock sucker and I'm going to stick to it

>>2248086
Don't you have to take up internships and contribute to open source projects and basically spend all your free time coding just to get a job nowadays?

>>2248690
OP here, that's the impression I got too. Can anyone confirm?

>>2248685
theres good money in cock-sucking.
But I bet youre too worried about your "artistic integrity"(LOL)

>>2248713
I can confirm that's not true.
I have an internship paying a little over $20/hr and I've never contributed to anything and have no past experience and am in my second year of college.
CS has a major job deficiency atm, easy as fuck to get a job.

>>2248762
to clarify this, while it is an "internship" its and internship with a confirmed job at the end and the internship pays a decent living wage so I consider it more of a pre-job job.

>>2248718
it was a joke dude, read the other comments to get the context

>it was a joke, not a dick, don't take it so hard

>>2248086
I'm quite the opposite of OP's situation. Currently studying in a shitty art course while practicing fundamentals and anatomy outside of study, while having no hope of getting a job anyway. I'm deciding whenever or not to go with another interest like biological science or engineering while doing art on side, but I believe I fucked up my future anyway. Anyone else in a similar scenario?

I was in your exact situation when I was around 20 years old.

Your first mistake is getting a CS degree to pay the bills. You need to be at least passionate about something to learn it for a few years.

I am currently a CS major. I actually enjoy learning about technology. I also draw a lot as a hobby. To me a greater world exists beyond the ability to draw. You just need to feel the same if you actually value academic intelligence as well.

Why did I choose CS degree instead of an art degree? Well that's because art degrees are useless. For learning to draw, you are better off taking non-credit courses at ateliers that teach actual drawing skills at places like Grand Central Academy, Watts Atelier, or 3 Kicks Studio. Or go to your local community college and take non-credit life drawing classes(they're a lot cheaper). Today's art curriculum is bloated with crap that doesn't actually teach drawing skills. You want take the full-on-I-want-to-learn-to-draw courses.

That's what I did. I used to take atelier lessons every weekend on top of being a full time student.

I also don't want to commercialize my artwork. I want to draw what I want and get paid for it if so it happens, and I have made a few hundred dollars so far. If you become a professional artist, drawing is going to become work like any other job and sooner or later you are going to get tired of drawing things you don't want to draw. But it depends on why you want to draw. Do you want to work as a commercial artist or do you want to draw things you want to draw? Do you want to move out of your parents house and live on your own where you can get a spacey home to set up your own little studio?

>>2249004

>Art degrees are useless. For learning to draw, you are better off taking non-credit courses at ateliers that teach actual drawing skills at places like Grand Central Academy, Watts Atelier, or 3 Kicks Studio. Or go to your local community college and take non-credit life drawing classes(they're a lot cheaper). Today's art curriculum is bloated with crap that doesn't actually teach drawing skills. You want take the full-on-I-want-to-learn-to-draw courses.

that's a lot like how it is with most creative industries these days

specialized training + certification seems like the way to go these days, college itself is way too fucking streamlined. plus the former makes it way easier to get work experience earlier.

>>2248470
I was thinking critical studies or counter strike...

>>2249004
So.. I'm stuck. God fucking damn it, this is awful. Looks like I get to slave away for another 6-7 years to maybe cultivate a nest egg so I can maybe start to think about art again. Until then I'm just a shitty programmer with shitty art.

>>2248086
Same here, OP.
I'm graduating in Computer Engineer in a couple of months, but what I really want to do in my life is art/animation/comics/storyboards.
A couple of years ago I thought to drop everything and start an animation school, but I (thanks to my gf and to my parents) decided to stick with CE just to be able to find a (shitty) job that pays my bills while I'll take courses and work on my art.
I know that it's very difficult stick with something you don't fully appreciate and love, anon, I feel exactly like you (and tbh this comforts me, ahah, you're the first one I've "known" in this situation), but I think I made the right choice. Think about it: if you drop your CS major now you've wasted two years of your time, you'll have to start all over again, you don't know if you'll succeed (sorry, but it's true for everybody) and you won't the income you need to live a decent life. Obviously if you, like me, are not confident with your skills and don't know how your art career could possibly end.
Thank you for this thread anyway, I think I needed it.

>>2249004
>But it depends on why you want to draw. Do you want to work as a commercial artist or do you want to draw things you want to draw? Do you want to move out of your parents house and live on your own where you can get a spacey home to set up your own little studio?

Not OP but what do I need to do if I want to be on my own asap?

>>2249101
or you can just finish loomis and be a professional artist in less than a month.

I was in a similar situation as you OP, except I got out of it earlier without debt (just barely). I entered a CS program purely because it's what my parents wanted to see from me, but I struggled finding the motivation to go class for a subject I didn't care about. I tried to make myself think I could cultivate the necessary passion for it out of nothing, did the work to get the grades, but I felt dead inside. The gap between myself and the students who were there because they wanted to be became drastically evident to me as time went on. In my spare time I was studying figure drawing and painting, not math and programming.

I eventually admitted how I felt to my parents, and they were surprisingly understanding (thank god), but their one inflexible condition was that they wanted to see me working towards a degree no matter what.

That said, I'd only say drop out if it feels like you'd rather be throttled than continue going to classes, and you're really sure it's not just burnout. You seem capable enough to at least get the degree if nothing else, and it'll give you some kind of fallback.

Seems cs and art are more connected than I thought.

As a kid I always had a strong interest in computers and art. I continue to go back and forth about which I want to go to college for since I have equal passion for both. I feel like if I go to cs I'll regret not doing art but if I do art I'll regret not doing cs. I've battled with this for years. I don't care about money and getting a job I just want to do what I enjoy the most. Problem is I've had a taste of art and programming and LOVE both. I still don't know what I'll go to college for since it seems like I'll regret my choice either way.

>>2249128

Definitely not get an art degree. The main reason to get a CS degree is because the field is lucrative right now and it's one of the majors that will likely land you a job with just a bachelors degree. I imagine this is the reason so many people here are CS majors. But expect to work hard. That means quitting video games and not procrastinating too much.

If you do get into CS, find an internship and work on a personal programming project. These things will add significant value to your resume and raise your chances of getting hired by a lot. You will probably work on some projects while taking programming classes, and it's probably easier to extend off from these class projects into your personal projects then to start something from scratch. Remember, you have to be at least passionate about CS because you're going to have to learn constantly since CS is a very dynamic field. Most important of all, always remember that you only have one life to make things right.

So if you want to be on your own ASAP, the answer is obvious and that's money because need money to move out. The best way to get that is get a degree that will actually land you a decent paying job.

It's not abnormal to keep work and art separate. I remember reading about an artist who was a construction worker during the day and works for Wizard of the Coast on his spare time.

>>2248086

Maybe consider game development?
this could be a good union of both

>>2248086

if you want to do art just do art

>>2249004
> if you become a professional artist, drawing is going to become work like any other job and sooner or later you are going to get tired of drawing things you don't want to draw
> being so afraid to succeed in your passion
> implying you won't get tired of a job you chose out of confort

>>2249101
go on social welfare and practice art your ass off

COWARDS

>>2249173

Better to work and get tired in a passion that pays better than the other way around.

>>2249101
make your own game faggot

>>2248180
>I have poor time management but I dunno if it's THAT poor
>literally wasting time on a Cambodian picture roll diving board

Conflicting testimonies

>>2248086
I'm exactly the same way. I major in biology now, but i don't care about it as much as I do art. I did go to art school for a year and was getting better and making art all the time, but it was work also. I don't really miss it though because there was so much more self-doubt and dread I was constantly experiencing. I'm at the point now when i know that i have to provide for myself financially and art is likely never to work for my advantage in that way. You can always be a sunday painter, i guess. Maybe eventually you'll be happy with where you're at.