Calling all Graphic Designers or People with a Career in Art...

Would you recommend Graphic design as a career? I need to get trained up and get a good paying stable job by the time my little man hits school (2yrs old now...so need to start studying ASAP) but I don't want to stifle my inner artist and this field is kinda calling to me...
What other good jobs can an artist aspire to?
I've been a pretty flakey gypsy till now..qualified in Remedial Massage, waaay too many years in hospitality and making pretty good money doing henna and face paint but now that I am facing being the sole provider for my child I need to start looking at getting a profession...and I'm not going to put my hands through full time massage again and NOT going back to hospitality....
So I know there are quite a few on here that are graphic designers. Any tips..uni/college etc would be much appreciated...

I have no real input here- not the kind you're looking for on the magic of graphic design anyway. But I will say that, if I had to design my dream job (other than FP of course) it would be an elementry school *art* teacher- Lousy pay, I know... but teaching jobs have stability, benifits, and a work schedule that syncs with your needs. Besides feeding your inner artist, what are the other Musts that you need from your career?

I applied for several graphic arts jobs after my part-time one went to full time and I ran into an education wall. Literally, they were asking for AT LEAST an associates and bachelor's preferred...these were for part-time, $10 an hour jobs.

To be fair, I'm in one of the most educated areas around so they can ask for it and get it. I would check your area ads and see what they are asking for. Actually call HR departments and tell them what you are planning and what they would expect.

Other than the job market problems, I enjoyed graphic arts because I got to be creative everyday. It was a little hard working for someone else because they thought they were designers and wouldn't let me do my thing but I enjoyed the challenge. Graphic arts is a work horse art...you might have to make 100 name labels in a few hours and a brochure in a day. Usually there is not much time to be creative but if you can live with being busy and coming up with interesting things that come your way every once in awhile, then it's a good deal.

Good luck.

D.

Being a face & body painter has worked well for me. I've also taught art before. That said, it can be difficult to make money as an artist(hence the term "starving artist"). Make-up is a good field that fits in with what we do.

I guess you need to do some soul searching on this one and be REALLY honest with yourself. Graphic Design is an artform in itself. I can manipulate those programs, but am I an artist as in could I work for an agency or run my own business-NO WAY. I have worked for several ad agencies after college as an account exec. and believe me Graphic Arts is nothing to be jumbed into lightly.

I would take and intro class and get the instructors HONEST opinion as to your skills. He should be able to see right away whether you could make it at this.

-Metina

I have a degree in Visual Communications...graphic design/fine arts. I learned some Web design at the time, but not enough to run with it. My problem nowadays...I had a graphic design job, but was laid off a couple of years ago...is that I don't know web design. It's not as horrible as it sounds..learning how to make a website isnt all that bad,not with Dreamweaver. If you go the graphic design route...become a web designer as well or your resume will fall short, and some tech geek will get the job instead. You NEED to know how to navigate a website, how to update it, how to redesign pages,all that crap. And Denise is right, you will have days of nothing but labels, business cards, flyers, etc..depending on the company and the client. But I loved it as I was soooo busy every day, and I did get to be creative quite a bit. Also, another field that is related is marketing...they make more than the designers, and if you have that qualification as well, you're golden! When most companies around here look for designers, they want someone to be able to start up an amazing campaign for this or that, design it, and implement it from start to finish.

Soooo, if you have those three majors under your belt, you will be golden and then its all about getting your foot in the door with your amazing portfolio that you will have by the end of school. I wish you luck in whatever you do!! And NEVER stop painting or drawing...our talent is something that no one can take from us, and we can always come back to it, so keep it fresh no matter what!

What I have personally found that may or may not be relevant to you!

My sister has a ton of degrees and a masters in art. She still has to have a full time job to support herself. She makes next to nothing in her art and at the age of 44 I believe she is still paying off student loans.

And education investment that cannot pay for itself or only qualifies you to say 'would you like fries with that' is arguably not the best investment. The interest you would pay on the loan compared to the earning dollars may not pay off. Do job availability research for your area to see if it is a wise educational investment. Education is an investment that can never be taken away, is always benificial on a resume no matter what the subject, but making the wisest investment may be something to consider.

I am a full time artist and hard work, promotion, networking, being professional and running it like a biz, not as a hobby but maintaining a HUGE joy in what I do and people often note my passion at what I do, means that I do just fine. I am actually trained as a legal assistant and I learned some web design so I could do my own page. I learned many things so I could do them myself and save where I could.

This does not answer your question because no one can answer what is best for you...but these IMHO are points to consider!

Making it as a full time artist is like trying to become famous being a singer or actor. Luck plays an equal part to skill and with no hard work, nothing will happen and even when you put in your all.......few will 'make it'. AND never give up! It can take years to build your full rep!!!! I didn't start art full time until into my 40's!

Letmepaintyou is right. Many graphics jobs I saw open (I was only looking part time) were for someone who could do web design and manage a website on top of regular design work. I was doing that with my job even though it was part time and even though it was a CMS type system (a lot like WordPress) knowing just HTML helped tremendously because the programs I was using were so "buggy" and so I'd go in and fix the code.

She's also right about marketing...that, to me, was the fun part. Coming up with a campaign and then seeing the response to it was a kick in the pants.

D.