[fukifino]

Hi folks,

I'm a 29 year old computer programmer, and modesty aside I think I have a moderate amount of talent for art, I just lack a lot of skill.

Lately I've been pretty disenchanted with my chosen field of work, and am thinking about changing careers to something that makes me feel more fulfilled/rewarded. Of my other 2 interests (music and art), I think art is probably the more likely venture for me.

I have no college experience worth speaking of.

I currently work full time, and have enough bills that continuing to work full time is a must (at least for the next year until my car/bills are paid off).

Sooo, given all that, and given that I realize that this will be a long term goal (ie, probably taking at least 2-4 years of time before I might even think about trying to get some freelancing work), where might one start? Given my limited amount of time (probably night classes at the local Community College along with working on my own), does anyone have any advice on how I should best approach ramping up my skills to the level needed to produce professional art?

I took a drawing class at my local CC once that helped me out tremendously, but then I spent a long time not drawing and am only recently back on the art kick. It's also really hard to get life drawing classes at night (I've never taken one before).

You can see some of my old sketches (from early to mid 90's mostly) here.

Some of my latest experiments/drawings can be found at DeviantArt here.

If you have any advice on other places I could ask this question, advice on how I should go about attempting this change, or any other advice, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks for your time.

[cheney]

[bearsclover]

You have plenty of talent, and it just needs to be refined and "ramped up." I would continue to take the night classes at the local college. Life Drawing, Painting, Design�just take the classes you can. Practice is where it's at. You'll do fine.
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.

[oDD]

i say go for it, as times passes it's getting harder and harder to change your life. Remeber as bearsclover said lifedrawing class is very important. It will teach you alot and the fastest way possible. Watch other people work here, try to see how they solve problems in art that you are struggling against. read other people comments. There is enough knowledge on this forum alone.
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portfolio | art blog

[AndyT]

Yeah go for it.
I'd get involved in different projects ... start a daily sketchbook for example or join the middle class.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=7

Right now there's not a lot going on. But there are many good links and tips already ...
it's evolving ... plus It doesn't cost anything.

Also you only wrote art! What kind of job do you want?
Conceptual art related? Are you interested in fine arts?
Or Illustraiton? I'd read all I could find about the jobs there are.

This thread for example:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6649
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http://www.conceptworld.org

[Drunken Monkey]

I am in exact same boat as you. I am 23 and have also been doing programming since high school, for past 4-5 years. The story goes pretty much the same� got into it cause it was cool at the time, but really there is no fulfillment in it� picked art up about a year ago again and now am pretty fanatical about it.

I see you are in South Cal. I assume you are closer to LA than me, so driving down to schools like http://www.laafigart.com and http://www.vilppustudio.com/private%20classes.htm is less of an issue. You could attend pretty often. This is what I am doing now� it helps tremendously.

Maybe think about entering a four year college, like ACCD or Center for Creative Studies in Detroit or similar. I am planning to go study industrial design in one of these depending if accepted or not. Seems like the only programs that produce well rounded entertainment artists.

Hope you find this helpful in some way.
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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity" - Sigmund Freud

[Drew]

Have you considered working with modelling? With your strong technical background it'd be a shame if you didn't explore this area. There are people who write shaders and stuff like that full time. Even if that doesn't interest you, in my opinion you need to refine your goals. You don't have to have an exact job in mind.

I can't get to your work at devianart, no idea why. If I could see it it would make it a little easier to help you out.

[fukifino]

Thanks for the info/advice/encouragement guys and gals.

I've been looking online today and both of my local CC's are offering night time Life Drawing classes this coming semester (beginning January), so I'm gonna go for it. Gives me time to try to remember how to draw with charcoal (ugh..hehe).

And Drew: I'm not sure why you can't get to my devart page..I just tried the link and it works fine..might have been down when you tried or be a routing issue?

As for modelling, yes I do have some interest in it. I've experimented a bit with Maya and 3DStudio. But I think, at least at this point, I'd be more comfortable doing standard illustration type stuff. Besides, I'd rather have a strong foundation in that before I decide to switch focuses.

And since the question has come up of what area I'd like to get work in, I suppose that I haven't really looked into how the art field is broken up. As stupid as it may sound, I want to do Fantasy and Sci-Fi illustration. I figure, I wanted to be a game programmer, but didn't, and don't enjoy business programming. I'm not going to enjoy advertising art, etc...if I'm going to bother to try to make art a career, I might as well focus on the area that actually interests me.

I figure, given the choice (which I know is a luxury few in the art world get, especially when starting), I'd like to do illustrations for RPGs/CCGs/Magazine Covers/Book Covers. Most likely as a Freelancer (although employment with an RPG or CCG company would probably be great experience...maybe eventually be an art director..haha...thinking big now, aren't I?)

Anyways, again, thanks for the posts.

[Wren]

I turned 29 about this time last year and just like you, looked at my life and realized i was not where i wanted to be. I've wanted to be an artist my entire life, and there i was 29 and not drawing anything except random doodles during phone calls. So when i got laid off from my job one month later i decided to take the plunge and go into freelancing.

The first few months didn't go so well. I thought that since no one knew who i was and that i wasn't as good as other artists i admired, that i had no right to ask for any pay. So I took on projects for "exposure" and "experience" and in the end got absolutely nowhere with it. I wound up wasting my time and effort on things that never happned. What was worse than the fact that i didn't get any money was that I didn't grow as an artist. My skills were no better for my "projects" than they had been when i left school and all i had learned was that the world is full of dreamers with no clue about how to make their dreams a reality.

So, discouraged and disillusioned, i took the advice of another freelance artist and did something radical. I weeded out my gallery of all but about 10 of my best drawings and started to respond only to paid jobs. A few weeks into this new approach, I landed a contract for a single 1/4 page illustration. It was a rework of something i had already done, but i did it so quickly that the client asked me to do 7 more. I finished those only to be asked to do 12 more and i soon as i finished those he asked for 15 more. In the end, what began as a $15 job turned into one that netted me nearly $600. But the amazing thing was that, in the span of about 4 months my drawing skills went from this level of quality to this level. And i got paid for all of it.

I've now contributed to nearly half a dozen publications, i've done a book cover and have contracts to do more, and am now expanding the genres i handle to include sci-fi as well as horror and fantasy. All of this has happened in 6 months.

The catalyst that turned my hobby into a career was not my skills, or my formal art education (which i have little to none of) it was my attitude towards my art. The moment i started treating it like a profession, it became one. Now granted, i don't get paid a lot for doing it and i'm not bringing in enough income from it that i could afford not to take a part time job when i was finally able to find one, but now that i am doing it, i intend to continue until i can make enough money to support my family with it. And so long as i maintain my speed, quality and professionalism, i have no doubt that i will be able to rely soley on my art one day.

Now, I've taken a peek at your portfolio, fukifino, and while there are things you can learn (after all, no good artist ever stops learning), i think you could easily get paid for your work right now. There is nothing wrong with improving as you go. In fact, I have never found anything that pushes my skills further or faster than doing work for clients. It's too easy to sluff a job halfway through because you aren't getting paid for it anyway. But, i tell you, having money on the line is a real motivator.

These are just my personal experiences on the subject. Everyone is different so my approach may not work the same for everyone. But i'd be willing to bet that it's much more successful than people realize.

Anyway, best of luck. I hope some of my rambling helps. Feel free to PM me if you'd like some tips specific to getting into sci-fi/fantasy illustration. I'd be happy to point you in the right direction.
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SASart Studios

[bearsclover]

Wren has excellent advice. And inspiring advice!

But education is important, and since you live in the S. Calif. area, you won't have trouble getting a good education.

I think your local colleges are the best way to go. Both Otis and Art Center have night classes, but they're expensive. Expensive. But, later on they might offer a specific class with a teacher you like, or offer a specialized class that you want to attend. So they are worth remembering.
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.

[oDD]

Wren thanks for sharing your expirience, very motivating. You are a great person
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portfolio | art blog

[fukifino]

Wow, that's some great info, Wren! Thanks a bunch! And I appreciate your comments on my portfolio (even if I disagree ).

I still think I need at least a little formal training and definately some time. Either way, I'm staying at my current job for at least a year to pay my bills and such. BUT, I will try to use this time to work on the things that will help me make the change. In particular, I will definately need to work on the speed with which I complete pieces (I'm a pretty darned slow artist, hehe).

But thank you very much for that information! It give me a lot of positive energy.

And thanks for the info, bearsclover, I'll keep those in mind if I have time and funds to take a more advanced class.

[bearsclover]

Yeah�Otis and Art Center are fabulous, but (IMO) they are too costly for "basic" classes (begnning drawing, etc.). But sometimes they'll offer a class with a "famous" teacher that you'll just have to take, or a specialized class covering some subject that fascinates you. Otis and Art Center are great for that kind of stuff. (And of course, if you want to get your degree in art, they are great for that too!)

Some years ago I took some classes at Glendale Community College (if you are anywhere near Glendale, check out this school�good art dept. and ceramics dept!). Anyway, the beginning drawing and Life Drawing classes were taught by awesome teachers. One of the Life Drawing teachers also taught Life Drawing at Otis. Same teacher, same curriculum (I presume) as at Otis, but at Junior College prices. That's the way to do it.

I've taken a lot of classes at a lot of places (including Otis) and in my opinion, a lot of these Community College Life Drawing classes were just as good. Also, a few years ago I took a Life Drawing class at a "Community Center" here in Hooterville, and that teacher was awesome. AMAZING. The class was dirt cheap, and yet the instruction was top-notch.

So, I guess I'm saying that the "pedigree" of the college isn't everything. You can get some good education at more humble institutions. (But, you'll also get some less-than-spectacular education there too. Gotta be selective.)

Good luck to you, and listen to Wren's advice too. There's no reason why you can't be getting more education and getting your portfolio out there.
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.

[Edge]

Guys you are an inspiration. Its been a while since ive seen this site and finding this posting was great....Im not alone. Im in the same boat, maybe even worse. I used to draw comic genre art back in the 90's.For the past 3-4 yrs I havent touched a pencil until yesterday...I gotta admit it feels great. I see my skill has deteriorated and I have no talent at CG art yet. How long did it take you guys before the work started looking good again? What are you guys using? What about 3d art how does one get started in that? Fukifino, I saw your work its pretty damn good, I think youll make it much sooner than you realize. Wren, great story, you seem like a cool guy and I think your kahunas to take the plunge will completely pay off. I gotta say though I saw all your art and I 'm jealous...I might just have to quit ...

[spooge demon]

I might sound like a smartass saying this, and maybe it doesn't apply to you, but it really helped me. Get rid of the TV (physically gone) and games, and in my case no more golf.

I switched my career path about 5-6 years ago after I saw that matte work would be changing/disappearing. I wanted to diversify, both for better chance of employment and less boredom. But my figure skills were pretty lame. It has worked out, matrix was the last mattes I will ever do.

Goto Vilppus sessions, no excuses! For 5 years, every week. You can be in the hospital or the class, nowhere else:)

The school makes less difference than the teacher.

[fukifino]

Thanks, Spooge, you're so right. Fortunately I don't watch TV...but damn those video games. Even after affirming to myself I'm going to make this change, I still find myself spending more time either browsing all the great work here or on Concept Art, or playing those damned games. :/ Since it's obvious I have no willpower, I must uninstall! Of course, that won't help me with my web browsing habits. Hehe...*smacks self*

[retard]

Craig, do you mean physically attend his classes at the American Animation Institute in North Hollywood? Or will the correspondence courses do? My guess is that the correspondence class can't compare to actually working in the same room with Vilppu and the models. Say the word and I will move to california and spend the next five years attending these classes! I am one hundred percent serious!