#bfa

DAWWW I'm honored you're coming to me for advice!! I'll try to do my best and give you for full run down:

WHAT YOU'LL WANT TO DO PRE-COLLEGE:

I try to tell this to anyone who is thinking about going into college - if you have the sneaking suspicion you have any form of mental/physical illness, PLEASE try to get it diagnosed and treat it now. College acts like a sort of stress-test to your body with all of the new changes it's introducing. If you have anything underlying, it WILL exasperate it. For example, after my first year of art school, I had a bad mental breakdown and couldn't draw for the entire summer because of how burnt out I was. I wasn't medicated for ADHD yet, so I spent sooo many nights doing all nighters and sleeping mid-day bc I couldn't start tasks that I lost the ability to do an all nighter again. So many of my classmates dropped out/failed bc their bodies couldn't cope and they didn't know how to course-correct and treat their issues. PLEASE, go get medicated before it really starts to matter!

Regarding your AP classes and college credit - excellent! It's good that you're starting now, because it will save you so much money lol. In my case, I had the options to either a) cover the class entirely and take the next class in the sequence, or b) have it cover the cost of said class, but still take it. I chose the latter bc I was told it was good to learn what your school considered it's fundamentals, and I don't entirely regret it lol. Something REALLY important to do now, though, is look at the schools your applying to's websites and check what college credits they'll accept. Art schools, since they're private, are infamous for not accepting a lot of college credit lol. Most likely, your AP art credits will cover your first 1-2 intro art classes, your AP Lit/Lang credits will cover a few of your required writing classes, AP Math (ex. Calculus AB) MIGHT cover a required math class, and anything else will filter into your misc. credits. So please, check their websites, and if they don't have it, email the school directly. Pester the right people until you have a solution! As an exercise, check out CalArts' transfer credit policy and see where it takes you. This is also an important time to look at their course sequence, aka what classes you have to take to get a specific degree/major/etc. This is what ppl on tiktok always yell about when discussing their career advisors not telling them they're missing a credit. While some blame is on them, that is mostly YOUR responsibility to take care of - career advisors wade through hundreds, sometimes thousands of students: they're GOING to miss you if you did not specifically request their help. Again, CalArts course sequence exercise for y'all. (As a cheat, go to page 107 for art course requirements. Here's another easier to read page as well, though most of the time you'll be scanning pdfs lol)

Regarding your portfolio - also excellent! It's both good for scholarships, and as a requirement for many art schools. If/When you submit a portfolio for either a scholarship or a school, my biggest advice is this - go onto the school/program's website and check their specific portfolio requirements if you haven't already. The biggest reason students get their portfolio rejected is because they didn't follow the directions and thought it was a "suggestion" lol. For example, my school had you include very specific drawings, like "draw a realistic shoe in perspective" or "include at least one page of figure drawings from observation". As an exercise for those of you out there, try reading through CalArts' portfolio requirements. If you have the stomach anon, try attending a portfolio night at your school, in the community, online, or with a professional artist you trust. You'll get some good feedback if you're worried about the quality of your work.

Regarding scholarships - awesome!!! Keep applying to a bunch of them, even ones you don't think you'll get, because it'll save you so much money!! Also keep in mind that there are all sorts of ways and paths you can take to save money and do college your way. For example, my old high school college art program professor took a bunch of community college classes to cover credits (since it was cheaper to take them elsewhere than the art college), and took a job as a firefighter for a few years before going in. Another example, my bff decided to spread their credits across 5 years so the course load wouldn't be as heavy, and they could work a little more during the week/weekend. Just know - if you need a gap year of need to take a less usual route to better save money and preserve your sanity, do it! And start thinking about it now, so you and your parents can come up with a plan to best financially support you. My tuition must've risen by like, $1000 every year due to inflation and bullshit, so plan for some financial pitfalls and emergencies.

COLLEGE:

Make the most out of your college experience by attending classes, getting to know your professors/communicating when things go wrong, get along with your classmates, and go to guest talks/career/industry events. Obviously don't burn yourself out, but between building your portfolio and grades, NETWORK!! Oh my god, network, be in the room with people you want to work with, talk with industry professionals, meet new people, get your name out there, NETWORK! It is one of the MAIN ways you will get a job in these industries. People always talk about how art is a career/industry for asocial people when that is the BIGGEST LIE in the world! Build your social skills, learn how to talk to people, it MATTERS A LOT!

CAREER BREAKDOWN + WORTH:

Considering worth, it really depends on what specifically you want to do. To be completely honest with you - TV/Movie animation and Game is very competitive, and the industry (specifically tv) is in a rough spot post-covid, and may stay like that since we're probably heading into (if we aren't already in) a recession. If you don't know what a recession is, research the dot-com boom/bubble burst, and the 2008 economic crisis. The AI boom is looking strikingly similar, so do keep in mind that you wanna make some smart financial decisions whilst pursuing your dream.

If you're looking into character design/storyboard artist/animator routes, here's what I remember from college:

Character Design: SUPER competitive. You'll often need to know both good illustration practices, and 3D modeling. Need to be good at iterating a lot of different ideas in a short amount of time, and be able to listen well/understand your art director's design rules.

Storyboard Artist: Also VERY competitive and fast paced. You'll want to study anatomy and figure drawing, and get really, really good at perspective and understanding the camera/good composition. You need to be good at drawing fast, and drawing well. Positions in the US is small compared to Canada/Europe, and the pace tends to churn through people within a few years. If you love it, go for it, but have a backup plan for if/when you burn out. Pay is really good, but at something of a tradeoff - you'll get paid a very good salary, but you'll need to sustain off of it for a few months in-between contracts. VERY central to California and Canada, so be prepared to move.

Animator: Depends. If you're a 2D animator, that doesn't really exist anymore in the US outside of small niche projects - that's become your storyboarding position. You'll need to move to Canada or Europe to find 2D work, and you can bet they're probably going to prefer citizens over immigrants for the position, unless you're being sent over by contract from a company. The only real 2D cases I can think of that I see listing for near me are like, motion graphics. If you're a 3D animator though, you're in luck! TV/Movies/Game/Marketing are always going to need a good 3D animator, especially if you have a niche or 2 your competition doesn't have. This can look like Character Animation, Creature Animation, VFX systems, Cloth/Simulated Animation, Tech Art, etc etc.

I know this looks... grim, but that's the current state of the industry, whether we like it or not. And, from my experience, your interests may shift around the more you explore in college. I went in wanting to be a character designer and animator, absolutely hating painting, to becoming a concept artist/visual developer, and having some interests/strengths in art direction and character rigging. If you do go to an art school, try to keep an open mind. Don't pursue something just because it'll make you a lot of money, either - your dream matters. Just know it might take a while to get there, and/or it may not entirely be what you expect.

If you wanna go indie instead and do your own projects/sustain off of commissions and the like: A few years ago, I did an experiment at a big convention - I went up to every independent comic artist and illustrator I could talk to, and asked how they sustained themselves, and I got roughly the same answer: I have a main money-making job, and I do my passion project (comic/illustration/animation) on the side, usually because it doesn't make as much money. To a young person it sounds bad, but as someone who's in this position now, it's not inherently bad. It may not be my perfect job, but I don't have to stay like this forever. I can apply to anything or change my path, go corporate, etc etc. Point is, you don't have to pick one thing to do forever and stay like that forever. Keep an open mind, and explore.

Hey! You know that project I’ve been working on? About Shanidar One in his childhood? Well- it’s finally here! Almost-