01-14-2017, 09:42 PM
I feel you so hard. My father really pressured me towards STEM fields, I tried to go into Biology in college and was failing horribly, so I switched to English. I figured it was marginally more practical than art, though I still took one art class in college because I wanted to even though it didn't count toward my major. That's the only actual art class I've had excepting a pottery class I took in high school even though it didn't really count toward my diploma. It's a trend I guess.
After I got out of college, I got a technical writing job in an office that produced science and technology curriculum for middle and high schools. I ended up having a literal psychological breakdown due to the stress of getting up early (I'm a night owl by nature), losing sleep (again, night owl), the morning meetings (social anxiety), being stuck in a small cubicle all day under harsh electric lighting, not fitting into the culture (it was predominantly extremely conservative Christians), and facing ethical dilemmas like being told that I had to tell kids that climate change and evolution were just theories.
After I quit that job, I've just had a bunch of odd jobs I could have gotten straight out of high school. I currently work long hours at a somewhat stressful, low-paying grunt work position. I finally realized now at age 33 that art is more along the lines of what I wanted to do with my life, but I'm grossly lacking in skill because I've mostly just done it on and off on my own. I'm not quitting my "day job" (I work night shift) anytime soon, but I've made the commitment to myself to start seriously studying art in most of my spare time and I'm just going to see where it goes.
Sorry, I don't talk much verbally so I tend to ramble in text. But the point that I was trying to get across is that I feel you and know where you're coming from. Now as for helpful suggestions, I have known several artists on and off over the years who have made a living off of their art. There are a lot of options. Some sell their fantasy art at Renaissance Fairs and conventions. Others make money off of some combination of things like freelancing, taking commissions, receiving contributions through Patreon, selling prints of their work through sites like Etsy, selling merchandise with their work printed on it through sites like Redbubble or Society6, or doing Youtube channels with art tutorials or streams of their art. I've known two artists who made quite a considerable amount of money doing commissions and sexually explicit art in the furry community. One of said artists even had enough subscriptions on his pay site featuring his explicit artwork that he was able to afford to buy a house. Another artist worked as a tattoo artist. Sure, all of it may be more unpredictable or unconventional, but it's still people making a living off of their artwork. Some of it would work just fine for supplemental income as well.
Ultimately though, as far as what you do, I highly recommend doing whatever you think you'll least regret. You fear regretting trying and failing, but you will also likely regret later not giving it a try and will wonder what might have happened if you did apply yourself to pursuing an art career. Just throwing that out there. As I understand it, most people later in life end up regretting NOT doing things more than they end up regretting DOING things.
After I got out of college, I got a technical writing job in an office that produced science and technology curriculum for middle and high schools. I ended up having a literal psychological breakdown due to the stress of getting up early (I'm a night owl by nature), losing sleep (again, night owl), the morning meetings (social anxiety), being stuck in a small cubicle all day under harsh electric lighting, not fitting into the culture (it was predominantly extremely conservative Christians), and facing ethical dilemmas like being told that I had to tell kids that climate change and evolution were just theories.
After I quit that job, I've just had a bunch of odd jobs I could have gotten straight out of high school. I currently work long hours at a somewhat stressful, low-paying grunt work position. I finally realized now at age 33 that art is more along the lines of what I wanted to do with my life, but I'm grossly lacking in skill because I've mostly just done it on and off on my own. I'm not quitting my "day job" (I work night shift) anytime soon, but I've made the commitment to myself to start seriously studying art in most of my spare time and I'm just going to see where it goes.
Sorry, I don't talk much verbally so I tend to ramble in text. But the point that I was trying to get across is that I feel you and know where you're coming from. Now as for helpful suggestions, I have known several artists on and off over the years who have made a living off of their art. There are a lot of options. Some sell their fantasy art at Renaissance Fairs and conventions. Others make money off of some combination of things like freelancing, taking commissions, receiving contributions through Patreon, selling prints of their work through sites like Etsy, selling merchandise with their work printed on it through sites like Redbubble or Society6, or doing Youtube channels with art tutorials or streams of their art. I've known two artists who made quite a considerable amount of money doing commissions and sexually explicit art in the furry community. One of said artists even had enough subscriptions on his pay site featuring his explicit artwork that he was able to afford to buy a house. Another artist worked as a tattoo artist. Sure, all of it may be more unpredictable or unconventional, but it's still people making a living off of their artwork. Some of it would work just fine for supplemental income as well.
Ultimately though, as far as what you do, I highly recommend doing whatever you think you'll least regret. You fear regretting trying and failing, but you will also likely regret later not giving it a try and will wonder what might have happened if you did apply yourself to pursuing an art career. Just throwing that out there. As I understand it, most people later in life end up regretting NOT doing things more than they end up regretting DOING things.