Is studying art a bit risky?

johnny6 · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:14

Go for it, worst case scenerio you get a job mixing paint at B&Q.

Efour · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:16

Do what the hell you want and pay it back later, one day, maybe.

Participant · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:28

johnny6 said:
Go for it, worst case scenerio you get a job mixing paint at B&Q.

That's a pretty terrible worst case.

Dave · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:36

johnny6 said:
Go for it, worst case scenerio you get a job mixing paint at B&Q.

I mixed paint at Focus (RIP) before I went to study Engineering, with no formal arts education. OP can already do that unless B&Q have more stringent rules about who mixes the paint, of course

Tephnos · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:42

Studying art is definitely risky. I'd do the degree that gives you better career prospects and money. Then, only then, if you still want to do art, go for it. At least you have a good safety net to fall back on if it goes bell up and you can't get a job doing it.

Participant · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:43

Art is something you can do at weekends in your beach house in Florida, paid for by doing a proper degree.

Dave · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:45

Moses said:
Maybe that's why they went bust .

Thankfully whenever paint was returned (generally people wanted more made up that they had made somewhere else, and the colours didn't quite match) it always turned out to be someone else who messed it up rather than me. I like to think that if you had your paint mixed by me, you had it mixed by a professional (who could follow simple instructions on the screen)

shifty_uk · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:47

Robbie G said:
Do you want to be a productive member of society, making a real difference, or someone that makes interesting patterns on pieces of canvas?

I'd much rather strategically design the ins and outs of a spaceships in hollywoods next biggest sci-fi flick(that's an extreme example

).

Thanks for the comments fellas! Like I thought initially, complete my current degree, continue to work on my portfolios and if all fails creative wise, I'll have a relatively rounded qualification to fall back on. If I want to study illustration in the future, that's always an option post-grad.

Tephnos · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:50

I always felt like getting into art is achieved by having a good portfolio. The only thing school really does (that you cannot self teach) is get you connections, so why bother? Spend your free time not doing science stuff building up the portfolio.

As a matter of curiosity, is your degree a specific science, or just general science?

shifty_uk · 14 Oct 2011 at 14:59

Those were my initial thoughts! It seems to be just a couple of years spent drawing, getting critique and connections - which wouldn't really help with the industry I'm trying to break into anyway.

It's mostly the physics relating to how technology works.

Must head out but cheers for the input guys!