Hi Amanda! I loved the talk you gave a month ago or so at Art center. I forgot to ask, how did you deal with those types of comments that suggested you to "find a different niche that wasnt character design" or " character design is a really hard job to get"? That's all I keep hearing from both faculty and industry people but that's the only thing I want to focus on becoming. How do you keep yourself motivated or what would you suggest to do in that position? Thanks!
Well, thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it! :D
So, what you can do is one of two avenues if you’re hellbent on character designing no matter what. Avenue 1: If you 100% want to character design, and can feel that you’re on the right track in terms of skill and meeting industry standards and making designs that would work at various studios, just block out the noise and KEEP ON GOING. I reached a point at Art Center where I more or less just started ignoring things my teachers said. haha. Not everything, obviously, but I started listening to my own wants/desires/goals more than teachers’ harping about the importance of assignments I knew were unrelated to my career aspirations. So, I just kept looking at what the job I wanted would require of me, and swung, swung, swung to hit that.
The second avenue exists if you’re not quite on the right track yet - like you want to be a character designer so badly, but you’re still not in the vicinity of industry standards and the skills required. If that’s the case, assess what else you’re good at and enjoy doing (maybe it’s props, color, layout, etc), and try to get a job doing that thing. Then, while doing that job, JUST KEEP ON GOING with character design practice till you find yourself in avenue 1. haha. That’s really it. Only you can stop yourself. This second avenue is relevant if you need to get a job immediately, and can trade some of your other skills for work that pays the bills. But as you go, just keep chipping away at character design.
Art’s a learnable skill. You tell you when to stop. That’s important to remember.
The other BIGGEST thing to remember, however, and I believe I talked about it while doing the lecture you attended: you HAVE to be realistic about and conscious of your art. I think people get held up saying, “But I worked so hard, and no one is hiring me,” but their work doesn’t realistically meet industry standards. It has to. It HAS to. Somewhere on my path, something clicked and I was able to analyze what people who had this job were doing right, and I could then break it down and find my own way with it. I also had a clear view of the kind of stylization my work needed to have to fit with the companies I desired. These realizations gave me goals I could work toward meeting, so I no longer felt aimless or like I was just just drawing mindlessly.
SO HATERS GONNA HATE. haha. Just keep what you want in mind and wooooork for it! Hope that helps!
