Good for you. Thanks for making the world more beautiful. Good luck!
I plan to leave tech to pursue art
51–60 of 154 posts
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#52The grass is always greener! :-D I smile because I left commercial art back in the 80's to become a software developer! More power to Laim and I hope it works out well for him, but I have my doubts. Working as a full-time (especially on-staff) artist answerable to an Art Director sucks!! Artists are not respected, paid terribly and just generally considered disposable. At least that's how it was in my day. Again, Lia…
I stood at a fork in the road, so to speak, when I was kicked out of the house and had to decide whether to pursue art or tech (I enjoyed both). It was clear to me tech would pay the bills — the art I could do in my spare time. Retired (am I?) now, I can do all the art I want.
The problem is that by the time you are retired you are most likely so unplugged from the cultural zeitgeist that fuels art that you can’t possibly be good at it. You can’t possibly create anything meaningful that would speak to people who really consume art, because those people are young. They’re a few examples of outsiders who buck this trend but it’s a little presumptuous to think you’re as good as them. So now you do “art.”
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#53I'm sure you'll do some thinking on the philosophy of art front. To name a few recommendations: Adorno's Aesthetic Theory (1970) and Dewey's Art as Experience (1934).
> Art [as a creation] does not imitate nature, it imitates a creation [or nature, in a Spinozian meaning, which is but an eternal activity of creation], sometimes to propose an alternative world, sometimes simply to amplify, to confirm, to make social the brief hope offered by nature. (John Berger, "The White Bird")
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#54Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#55Funny, I left art for tech. Making art is intrinsically rewarding but doing it for money can be absolute hell. Best of luck to op.
I did the same, hah. Not because of the money though; I made a decent career and money in art (television and film), but because of the wind of change I felt from within. I'm no foreigner to tech though, in-fact that was my first calling and have always kept it on the side (even had a small startup and a successful exit). Now, art is my on the side thing and tech main. I agree with OP you cannot make a career without going all in. I felt, for a time being, I made a career as far as I could in art without making sacrifices further which I didn't want to compromise on. There's art and then there's commercial art. I was in the latter.
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#56As a technical person, it’s an interesting time to do this given the change that’s coming from “generative art” tech. I’m 30 years (and one exit) into my career in tech. Still thinking about being a rock star… or at least learning to play guitar well enough to share it with people. I still struggle with the question of whether to follow passion or money. I recently had an exit as the CEO of an HR Tech company. I’d lo…
Why not do both (or all 3 including music) at the same time while giving yourself 2-3 years to start slowly ramp up your focus on the game dev or music side as you keep on learning while reducing your involvement with the management work?
I'm personally someone attempting to find a balance between my full time job, music & game dev/3d graphics. I don't see the latter two paying off any time soon but I see myself doing them for the rest of my life. The one thing I can say that after attempting to give it a go for 2+ years, a certain type of synergy between the different goals start to emerge. Skills & ideas I gain in one area help me do better in the other two in unexpected ways.
The experience & skills you've gathered from running a company would not go to waste and can be your source of strength. And just starting by dipping your toes is the best way to find whether you'd really enjoy being involved in these areas.
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#57Hi! I'm the author of this post -- it was an unlisted draft that I shared with a few friends, was planning to rewrite most of this before publishing. Please forgive the rough edges Main changes I'd make to this article - Agreed with others that I might be naive, but I'm 20 y/o and now's the right time to shoot for my dreams rather than settle - I'm applying to animation school soon (Sheridan). I started coding when I…
You are 20 and talking about a career change. You are going to do great!
I learned to program in art classes at USC and UCLA. While you may go analog, it’s likely your tech & art skills will blend somewhere down the line.
Check out UCLA MFA Design Media Arts program [1]. Casey Reas [2] teaches there. He co-created Processing at MIT [3]. Arduino programs are called “sketches” because the Arduino IDE derives from Processing [4]. Art & tech always push each other forward :-)
[1]: https://design.ucla.edu/programs/mfa
[2]: https://arts.ucla.edu/single/casey-reas/#!
[3]: https://medium.com/processing-foundation/a-modern-prometheus...
[4]: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/connecting-arduino-to-p...
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#58Take a few hours to mess around with Stable Diffusion before you do this. It is a really bad time to become a concept artist.
It's a tool, come on. It'll do no more 'damage' than template sites did for good designers.
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#59All power to you, OP! Art and self within changes a lot when its also your job; Here be dragons.
Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art
#60Hi! I'm the author of this post -- it was an unlisted draft that I shared with a few friends, was planning to rewrite most of this before publishing. Please forgive the rough edges Main changes I'd make to this article - Agreed with others that I might be naive, but I'm 20 y/o and now's the right time to shoot for my dreams rather than settle - I'm applying to animation school soon (Sheridan). I started coding when I…
Enjoy your studies! Sheridan is a good place. As a third option, you'll find many opportunities in the industry as a hybrid artist/coder "TD" jobs if that area holds any appeal. Larger salaries are possible if you are dedicated and are willing/able to travel to where the high profile work is being done.
My only advice would be to research the available jobs, and if you can, visit a studio or two so that you are going into this with realistic expectations of the industry you are about to enter into. Keep sketching and good luck with your portfolio!