(no subject)
Got my first rejection e-mail... from a freaking minimum wage retail job that wouldn't even interview me! FML. Spent the morning moping.
I'm a 25-year old college graduate who can't even get an interview for minimum wage jobs. I'm enrolled in a trade school that will get me skills I need to pursue a career in something I care about, but I can't afford to stay enrolled long enough to get those skills. I have no idea where I'm going to be this time next year and can only hope I'm not on the streets. I thought I was smart in saving enough for a full year of study and that I'd be able to find a day job before that was up, but I guess that was stupid of me.
My gut feeling says that at the end of 2013 I'm going to have to try to find a region in the US where I have the highest chance of getting full-time employment of some kind and then risk the last of my finances moving wherever that is.
I've decided to start focusing my art on working towards a children's book illustration portfolio ASAP. This is not the field of illustration I would ultimately like to be in, but the kinds of illustration I am interested in (YA/fantasy or sci-fi book covers and game illustrations) all require an insanely high skill level and extremely realistic style in either digital or oil painting. Children's book illustration, on the other hand, has almost the opposite requirements, where everything is extremely stylized and unrealistic, and mixed media and watercolor still live on. Expressiveness, composition, and flair > technical skill. I think I can figure out how to stylize and dumb down my art a hell of a lot faster than I can figure out how to paint a realistic masterpiece, so it seems like this is the quickest path to take. I'm not one of those people who has a really distinctive style, though, so trying to force my way into one will be tough. Time to start experimenting!
My favorite traditional children's illustrator of all time is Ivan Bilibin. (also one of my favorite artists ever in general)
His stuff's about a century old, though, so times have changed, haha. He's also way more skilled than most modern children's illustrators seem to be. :| I'm going to spend some serious time in the kids' section at book stores this weekend to see what's in these days!
I'm a 25-year old college graduate who can't even get an interview for minimum wage jobs. I'm enrolled in a trade school that will get me skills I need to pursue a career in something I care about, but I can't afford to stay enrolled long enough to get those skills. I have no idea where I'm going to be this time next year and can only hope I'm not on the streets. I thought I was smart in saving enough for a full year of study and that I'd be able to find a day job before that was up, but I guess that was stupid of me.
My gut feeling says that at the end of 2013 I'm going to have to try to find a region in the US where I have the highest chance of getting full-time employment of some kind and then risk the last of my finances moving wherever that is.
I've decided to start focusing my art on working towards a children's book illustration portfolio ASAP. This is not the field of illustration I would ultimately like to be in, but the kinds of illustration I am interested in (YA/fantasy or sci-fi book covers and game illustrations) all require an insanely high skill level and extremely realistic style in either digital or oil painting. Children's book illustration, on the other hand, has almost the opposite requirements, where everything is extremely stylized and unrealistic, and mixed media and watercolor still live on. Expressiveness, composition, and flair > technical skill. I think I can figure out how to stylize and dumb down my art a hell of a lot faster than I can figure out how to paint a realistic masterpiece, so it seems like this is the quickest path to take. I'm not one of those people who has a really distinctive style, though, so trying to force my way into one will be tough. Time to start experimenting!
My favorite traditional children's illustrator of all time is Ivan Bilibin. (also one of my favorite artists ever in general)
His stuff's about a century old, though, so times have changed, haha. He's also way more skilled than most modern children's illustrators seem to be. :| I'm going to spend some serious time in the kids' section at book stores this weekend to see what's in these days!