When I graduated highschool and decided that I was going to go to college for art, I was scared that I would end up like the seemingly stereotypical "starving artist." I learned along the way that this is indeed a myth. First of all, if you look around you right now, everything you see, an artist had to first create it. Whether it was your pizza box, the candy wrapper on the floor, or your really nice plasma tv, an artist first conceptualized it. Therefore there is always a job market for artists. Yes, some of them might not be as well-paid as other jobs, but that is with every job.
The thing worried me most was that I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I knew that I wanted to own my own art business, but I didn't have a niche nor the means to finance it. I felt as though I was slowly becoming that starving artist stereotype. However, I never regretted my degree though. I loved that I chose graphic design as my major. All you really needed to succeed as a graphic designer is knowledge of certain softwares (mainly Adobe), color theory, and a solid portfolio website. I took out loans in school along the way to help get me all the tools that I use today to create my art. Once I graduated college, money was no longer an issue because I had all my tools. I started experimenting with different sectors in graphic design and found that I enjoyed the graphic art side a lot more, and that became my niche.
My problem and the problem that I had noticed with designers and art students in general is having the motivation to start without anyone telling you. I had to force myself to quit my job where was I making decent money as a starter job, because I knew that if I didn't I was going to stay there even longer than what I wanted to. Sometimes you have to leave something good to get something better. I felt as though, I had to make my
business work because I had nothing else to fall back on. I'm not going to lie it was scary, but it was the most rewarding thing I had ever done in my life. It made me realize that if I want something bad enough and that if I was serious, I would work for it.
I learned that I had to work for my food. And just because I was working super hard didn't mean that I was starving, it meant that I was hungry for more exciting things to come in the future.
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