<p>I am a transferring student with two years of education at a liberal arts college. Now I am going to a big university (Ohio State University) and I still don’t know what direction to go in. I have tried astronomy, business, pre-law, and radiology. I either failed horribly or lost interest in each decision. The only thing that has stuck with me was philosophy which I am truly passionate about (but it won’t do me any good).</p>
<p>All my life I have been very creative and I have been drawing characters, scenery, and technology since I was in kindergarten.I have always been extremely good at visualization and creative writing, I am thinking about becoming a creative director for film, video games or animation but I don’t know how to get started. It seems all the majors at my school don’t offer the curriculum I want for these fields. I need direction and badly, nobody seems to be able to tell me anything useful because I don’t know any people in similar fields. And OSU does not have the best art department so I’m afraid I will go unnoticed.</p>
<p>Basically I need ideas tailored to the info I have given,because I don’t even know if this is what I truly want to do and if it is I don’t know how to get started. Please don’t tell me to just think hard about it because I may just have a stroke (it’s the only advice I have been given).</p>
<p>Please give me thoughtful advice, I am struggling with the direction of my life and nobody seems to be able to help me.</p>
<p>I would focus on two themes: experiment with your greatest interests, and seek out expert help.</p>
<p>Now that you’re at Ohio State, you’ve got access to their career counselors. If I were you I’d make an appointment to go see one. They’re trained and deal with this dilemma on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Realize that film, video games and animation are relatively competitive areas. If this is what you really want to pursue you might need to transfer again to a university that is strong in these areas. Meanwhile if Ohio State has classes in the areas of your interest, take a few and see how you like it and how you do. An alternative is to take advantage of summer: your local community college might have classes directly in your area of interest. You can try one and see what happens. If it causes you to want to get serious about an area you can then make your plans accordingly. Also, community colleges have career counselors as well. They tend to be very good at helping to answer the question: ‘where do I go next’.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I agree with Deuga7 that the areas you proposed are very competitive. However, video games and animation have a discipline in common - Computer Science. Learn the technology to do those things.</p>
<p>Creative director is a rather vague job description for these industries and certainly not a position that you will likely get right out of school but rather one that you would work your way up to. Determine if you are more interested in film, video games or visual effects/animation and go from there. For info on VFX related jobs, this book may help: <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Job-Computer-Graphics-Advice-ebook/dp/B000PY4A7A”>http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Job-Computer-Graphics-Advice-ebook/dp/B000PY4A7A</a>
For film/vfx the type of job descriptions you may want to look into are Production Designer, Set Designer, Art Director. For games also Game Designer, Game/Story Writer, and the various Art Department lead positions (also for animation).</p>
<p>If you are interested in the creative side, don’t get sidetracked by the technical side unless you are more interested in becoming a programmer. You will need strong design, composition and color skills. Also necessary will be a strong understanding of the story process in either film or games. </p>
<p>If your current school doesn’t offer much, your options are either to transfer to a school w/ a game/animation program or choose the most creative major you are interested at OSU and find some online classes in the area you are interested in. There are many great industry classes found on the internet these days. </p>
<p>Duega7’s suggestions about checking out your local CC’s are great. The extreme popularity of the field has resulted video game/vfx programs sprouting up like weeds. </p>
<p>I’d like to add that animation jobs are constantly being outsourced to Canada, India, China, and so forth. (For example: <a href=“Sony Pictures Animation Will No Longer Animate Its Films in the US”>http://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/sony-pictures-animation-will-no-longer-animate-its-films-in-the-us-100102.html</a> ) When you’re young moving about may not be an issue. But then later on you have to account for travel fees, rent, and family, both current and future additions. Would moving place to place be worth it then?</p>
<p>Not to mention that there are so many “animation” schools nowadays that the competition is through the roof. So even if you move to LA (biggest animation capital in U.S.), you’d be hard-pressed to find any relevant job.</p>
<p>I’m only an 18 year old college student, and I am slowly realizing that most studios don’t respect animators as artists but rather as means to make more money. I’d love to make some animated movies and the like, but I am too “artsy” and would probably die out in the real world.</p>
<p>I am not sure about major in computer science, however. Yeah, it’s “practical”, but a part of me is saying that doing such a hard science would neuter your creativity, or be done in indifference because of that creativity. (Like, I can’t become an engineer, no matter how much safer it is than art/ writing, because I dislike calculus, chemistry, and physics.)</p>
<p>Definitely talk to those counselors/ advisers; they’ll know more than me.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the feedback!</p>
<p>I have found two majors that may suit me. I am thinking about majoring in Arts Management and doubling up or minoring in computer sciences. I feel that this is would be fairly marketable and with proper experience could take me to where I wish to go.</p>
<p>Does this sound like a good plan? And if so what might my future prospects be?</p>
<p>What is Arts Management?
Are you more interested in the management side of things like managing art/tech teams or producing?
Or are you more interested in producing the artistic assets (2d or 3d) for a film or game?
Or are you interested in preproduction artwork, production design, story design or game design?
Or are you interested in technical side of game implementation, technical support tools or developing technical tools for games and film?
And finally do you think you would be happier working in a small mobile games / small studio company, or as a cog in the large machine of a AAA game title/VFX studio? </p>
<p>Figuring those out will help you narrow the type of fields you should consider majoring in and make you more employable in the area you are interested in upon graduation.
The other option is to choose any major that aligns with your current interest, and then look for more training or internships in the area you want to pursue. </p>
<p>I say take off from school for a year. @devteampowell - you sound terribly confused and seem to have priorities that go against your interests. Pursue your passion or pursue a high income. You put yourself in an either or situation. A lot of money can be made in the art world but it takes a lot of talent, passion and drive. There is no easy paycheck which is why most people drop out from trying before ever making any money at it. There are wealthy actors, musicians, producers, playwrights, writers, illustrators and animators. They didn’t make it overnight but stuck with it until they got there. No formula but hard work, lots of practice and tons of talent.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is this, you have a hobby, not a passion. You seem like all you want to do is earn a good salary. For that most degrees will do but you don’t enjoy most degrees. Take some time to figure out what makes you tick - hike thru Europe, work the shale oil fields in South Dakota, sail the Mississippi, hitchhike cross country. Find out what thrills you most. </p>
<p>I know, I know. You can’t take time and do all this. You’re too busy trying to establish a wonderful career that makes you a ton of money, gives you prestige and ensures you’ll never be bored or lonely or dependent. The only thing is that to have all that, you need may need to step out of the bubble you grew up in and do something completely different, crazy and exciting. Variety will get you over the humdrum of choosing among many majors only to fail or drop or just grow bored of it all.</p>
<p>Wow, that last reply was snarky. I didn’t get the impression the OP was looking for big bucks, just some direction.</p>
<p>I do agree however, some time out of school to regroup might be good, as well as saving money by not paying for classes that might not do you any good in the long run.</p>
<p>Sorry for snark, it wasn’t really directed to the OP personally. </p>
<p>I see so many young people going through the motions of getting a degree with no passion, no true direction, no purpose behind it. I’m not a get a degree for the sake of a degree type so seeing kids wasting time and money on a such a pursuit simply because their parents say so, or because everyone else is doing it, or because it’s the only way to make good money, or believing there is no other choice, etc., gets under my skin. </p>
<p>That’s the source of my testiness that may have shone thru in my previous post, not the OP personally. I think, @redbug119 , you will see some of what I’m saying in the OPs comments. Where is the passion behind getting a degree? He sounds reasonably intelligent but absolutely confused and misdirected, like someone desperately trying to figure out how to get the large square peg into the the small round hole. I’m simply saying to stop, reevaluate everything from the beginning whether you should even be in college (stop trying to force the square peg into the round hole in the first place vs asking for advice on how to make it work). And to have as many life experiences as possible before making any commitment to one course or another as a way to speed up maturity and to gain clarity.</p>
<p>Lastly, some kids have very little passion for anything that takes hard work, sacrifice and commitment. This kid needs to test his limits in that regard, to find out who he really is. Some kids are terribly lazy in this regard and looking for a life of luxury without having to earn it-the path of maximum gain and least resistance. I think its good to get out into the real world to disabuse oneself of these notions and to come to grips with life as it is, not as we wish it would it would be or as mommy made it for oneself.</p>
<p>I do get what you mean. My daughter has a friend that fits the no passion, just passing thru life scenario. College was paid for by insurance money (his dad died), and he went to CC but half-heartedly. Meanwhile a good friend of his and my DD’s was so angry because he was just drifting thru life, throwing away the opportunity that the friend wished he had had. He does need to take some time off and figure it out first. I’ve seen too many kids in college biology classes hating it, but there because “my parents say I have to be a doctor”.</p>