Elysian Shadows

I've thought long and hard, and come to a conclusion, or lack of conclusion, that I have no clue what I want to do in life. I'm not sure if this is much of a conversation starter, as there really is no meat to it.

But, oh well.

I'm assuming that the majority of people on this forum are either in a higher grade than me, or already out of school. So what are you interested in, as far as a career? Yes, I understand that this website is devoted almost entirely to video games and their creation, but this still leaves questions. Do you honestly believe you can make a living out of this interest? If not, what do you plan on doing?

My only real profitable interest in life is visual art. I spend a large chunk of my time creating what I call art, and I enjoy seeing other people's work as well. If possible, I'd like to do something that would allow me some creative freedom with my art. I like the idea of illustrating books, possibly children's books, such as Goosebumps. Realistically, I see no future in this. You need to be extremely skilled to make it anywhere with drawing and painting, and I'm just not.

You?

I have a list of things that I want from life. I know exactly what I want, exactly what I desire to achieve, and I have well-defined ambitions.

Yes, I really do think that if I try hard enough I could make a living out of video games. I'm not really betting on it, though. I'm going to school to be a Computer Engineer. This could either lead to me entering the game industry or me doing something unrelated like designing graphics cards or wireless headsets or anything relating to computers.

I don't really want to join the game industry as just another programmer. My dream would be to release an online game with my friends and live off of it. I don't even have to make much money off of it, the achievement itself, and being my own boss would make it worthwhile.

I'd like to do cover art for CDs and video games and such

My only real profitable interest in life is visual art. I spend a large chunk of my time creating what I call art, and I enjoy seeing other people's work as well. If possible, I'd like to do something that would allow me some creative freedom with my art. I like the idea of illustrating books, possibly children's books, such as Goosebumps. Realistically, I see no future in this. You need to be extremely skilled to make it anywhere with drawing and painting, and I'm just not.

Maybe you should talk to Karkash (she's doing the graphics for our game.) She's attending savanna college of art and design atm, and in this area she's probably pretty well educated. I'm not sure if you're a member of private development--Have you seen all the freaking awesome graphics and art she's done? So long as you don't interfere with her working on our graphics set, I doubt she'd mind answering questions. Try PMing her?

As for me...Programming is a passion for me. Software, game, language, I don't care--It simply invokes a part of the brain that little else does, and I find it entertaining. I'm decent at it. Then, recently, I've begun to find that other things do release the same passions, and I've found that I like engineering, and circuitry. It interests me. So yeah, I find myself in a similar position as Gyro: after highschool, I'm hitting college and becoming a computer engineer. If i become a game programmer, kewl, if I design military test equipment, kewl as well. Game development is a hobby that I'll continue probably wherever I end up, I'm not really looking to make it my career.

I'm not a member of the private development forum..
And I have no questions, actually. I wouldn't even know what to ask, as I don't know what I want to know. But thanks for the advice.

I can understand where your comeing from Wutai. I too am persuing a life in the art feild. I will be starting at Nossi Collage of art. The best thing is that they offer job placement.
But yes if you want to get anywhere in the art feild you deffenetly need to stand out from the crowd, but now a days the only thing I can think of that one can have a carrer at is advertising.
I suppose my real goal in life is to become a comic book cover artist. I am too impatient to do the same thing over and over but I can see myself doing covers, and maybe some illastration on the side.
Unfortunetly visual art is probubly the only real tallent I have. Its obvious I will never be a book writer or a journalist. Just look at my superb grammar and spelling skills.
I have also put some thought into doing consept art for games and movies. Dont know if any of this will ever pan out but hey never know unles I try.

Yeah, I'm decent at writing, but I doubt I could make a career out of it. Same with art. They're my only real talents, and I'm not even that talented at them.

I'll probably go to college, get a real job, and do art on the side. If my hobby ever takes me anywhere, then wonderful. If not, I'll enjoy creating art just the same

Yea, I will probubly still get a job that involves visual arts, maybe advertising or something and do my other stuff on the side. So some freelancing.

had that same prob. what i did is try tons of new stuff. i freakin hated, sucked at some. but found out what i really liked to do from trying all sorts of stuff out. my interest is in the design aspect of art. i also want to go to SCAD. (same collage as Karkash, the girl making the games graphics). +don't worry, it took till 10th grade for me to find out that i wanted to make the designs, not be the person to model them. i was just trying something different+ discovered a career interest from it unintentionally.
but my thinking is find something you love to do + you wont have to 'work' again, technically speaking. lol. look at something you like to do over the money. don't waste time doing something you hate because that wont make you happy, if at all in the long run. even if you think that what you want to do wont work, if you want it bad enough, you can probably find some way to make it work. (since you're into art you already have some creativity). you do have some sort of control over your own life after all. have you even seen some of the crazy ways people can make money!? its crazy endless. =P

I wouldn't go to SCAD for design. It's great for art but for design there's a lot of really great, less expensive, less demanding colleges out there. Actually, the college I was at in hays (Fort Hays State University) was one of the leading in the nation for graphic design, and oddly enough was a community college.

Good colleges are easy to find for your specialized wants, just make sure you aren't overpaying for it.