slowDown Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 A few years ago I decided to go back to school. Volunteer firefighting led me towards a real interest in medical trauma care. Fast forward 3 years. Back at school, old, but doing well(3.7 GPA). My advisor at my college is pushing me to apply to top nursing programs, UCLA, UC Irvine, etc. This past semester however, I took basic drawing as a requirement. My art instructor has said repeatedly that she does not understand why I am a nursing major and not an art major. I said because raising kids as an artist is rough, and I because I would like to keep the passion of doing what I love for me, and not for what is expected of me. Curious to know if anyone on here is pursuing their artistic skills as a means to support themselves and others. or if the real satisfaction is in creating for the sake of creating? :thumbsup::handpointdown::handpointup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fist 666 Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I worked in kitchens for almost a decade. I loved cooking and culinary arts. I was obsessed with it. Eventually I burned out. I had a conversation with the last chef I worked under (James Beard award winner, pretty serious chef) and he said he almost never cooked at home, that he did it all at work and had for so long that doing it at home was almost completely foreign. I've had similar conversations with a few other chefs in the years since. I also know tons of chefs that cook at home all the time and love every minute of it, no matter where it is. I feel like it depends on who you are, if you are okay with poor/inconsistent pay for so much work. Mucho trabaja no much dinero. It took me a few years being out of the industry to get back to really loving cooking at home. All this being said: Round 2 of me being in school and I'm switching majors from Architectural Engineering to just Architecture because of my passion for design and arch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortFuse Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I think whats really important no matter what your direction is that you live within your means. That can make it easier when living on little. I also think people dont realize that living happily doesnt mean living heavily with goods, toys, etc. BUT I can honestly say that living for passion vs pesos is a tough one. Maybe its an ignorant/ill-informed view but I have always thought "art school" was a pointless pursuit. I did it as a major for 2 years, albeit my focus was not 100% because of wanting to be a late night graffiti person, but in the end I saw that it would do nothing for me. Like many "starving artists" I worked/work in the restaurant industry. FOH. 5 years past with me doing nothing artistically. I mean not nothing entirely but a few dismal doodles. Ceramics is a hard and expensive avenue to live off of. I think though that when you live for the passion the pesos might need to be earned through something passionless. My mother who has had a successful web based business through her creativity has always had the outlook that in the end you gotta prostitute yourself lol. If its something that you dont want to do, it sucks, it makes you sick, and it lacks your creative touch BUT it sells THEN you must do it to support yourself. Ive been able to bring in some income with my hand lettering but I hate that its doing cliche quotes. When I did silk screen for Tshirts I used to swear I would never do trendy quotes or stuff youd find at Spencers Gifts. I can say I havent done a tshirt in a long while but Ive sure sketched those quotes on a board... Keep the heavily decadently artistic drenched work for those who will appreciate it or for your own personal admiration. As for the public, the now very dull and dumb public we have in our world today, give them what they want and make them pay your bills to get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Man Banned Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Think it was Confucius who said if you enjoy what you do it's really not work. But, they never said it would pay. If you enjoy medical trauma I'd say stick with it. Anyone could be an artist (of some sort), but not everyone can handle medical trauma. There's a crapload of starving artists out there. I know a few people who went to art school, learned some good technique, have done some cool jobs, but I'm not so sure that any of them would claim to be living comfortably. Some of the ones with fancier jobs, it all seems like some serious biting and following trends to me, so I don't know if passion is so involved at that point. Unless you're being hired strictly for your creative abilities and have free artistic reign (which can be hard to get), you're going to be working for someone else's approval, direction, etc., and that can drain some of that passion. To me, it feels more honest to be under a bridge or on a train line in the middle of nowhere doing what you want for yourself. For me, it may be better to take an art class for myself and to learn a new technique, but to apply it to what I'm already doing as my own thing. Good topic here, good luck to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hua Guofang Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 I like my job. Took seven years of education to get it though. I enjoyed my education. My job has nothing to do with art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakfast menu Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 i took my current job with the understanding that it'd pay enough to afford rent and paint and a lawyer when shit gets bad, and give me enough flexibility to, say, take a half-day and go spray if i want. so that's what i do. it's unrelated to painting entirely - that's for after-hours. painting and work probably take up 70 hours of the week, sometimes a little more. i don't really have time for a lot of things - TV, girlfriends, dogs, 8 hours of sleep a night - but these are things i don't care for all that much (though a dog would be cool). there have been a lot of good comments in here about creative disciplines as a whole. it's my experience that above-average creative people usually end up forced into average work that appeals to average people - because there are way more average people who are buying your shit, or shit in general. personally, i've done a handful of commissions over the years. i don't like them too much. i think it's because i am a selfish person and want to paint what i want to paint, where i want to paint it, when i want to paint it... knowing that i cash a paycheck every two weeks and having the ability to go out and do spots in my free time + have money for the rest of my life (even save some!) makes me pretty happy. not struggling is really really nice. my friends trying to make it as artists are still struggling, and it looks pretty painful. this could all change someday, too, but right now, it's worth it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schnitzel Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 I tried to make a change from media buying/planning to pursue my artistic side. but the world has a great way telling you if you're not up to scratch talent wise. I do my creative stuff on the side and count down the hours until the weekends. sadly now that my kid is a bit older my creative time is limited to the 90 minutes between his bed time and mine. as a result my output is limited. work for the pesos paint for the sanity 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.