How do i get my parents to let me be a comic book artist?

[Randumbz]

I've wanted to be a comicbook artist when i get older for the past 2 years (i'm 14). But i never told my parents or anyone else because they think that art is stupid and pointless and that all artists are poor. They think that pretty much every job other than doctor or lawyer is a dumb job (ironically, they aren't doctors or lawyers :/. Also, i hate science and law sounds boring). Whenever they ask me what i wanna be, i tell them idk. So my mom bought me a huge book filled with careers and told me that she wants me to pick 2 by the end of the week. What do i do? (i was thinking that maybe i should make a powerpoint showing how great being a comic book artist can be)

[HABE]

This isn't an either/or choice. You can do both.

You would actually be far more successful in comics with a technical background. Programming and computer skills are already becoming must-have talents for comics artists. They would also allow you to expand into animation and other related fields that might interest you later. By the time you're in college, a comics artist without these skills will probably be unemployable.

Other sciences are also golden. If you want to write science fiction or fantasy, there's no better source of knowledge or inspiration. A lot of people with law degrees become writers of crime and detective novels.

Worst-case scenario with science, tech, or law: You have a well-paying job that gives you the freedom to make all the comics you want. There's no downside.

The Powerpoint presentation is a good idea if you think they might be open to an art degree. But telling your parents you want to be a comic-book artist is like saying you want to be a profession basketball player when you're only 5'5 and can barely dribble right now. They will see it as the one in a million chance it really is. You can't fight that logic, so you might want to try to look at your choice in terms of what profession might help you pursue your interests and make your parents happy at the same time.

At 14, whatever you pick this week will likely change a dozen times over the next few years anyway, so don't sweat it that much. I doubt your parents will hold you to it. And if you work hard at teaching yourself art, drawing every day, and showing them your dedication and potential, in a few years it might be easier to convince them to send you to art school instead.

[Randumbz]

This isn't an either/or choice. You can do both.

You would actually be far more successful in comics with a technical background. Programming and computer skills are already becoming must-have talents for comics artists. They would also allow you to expand into animation and other related fields that might interest you later. By the time you're in college, a comics artist without these skills will probably be unemployable.

Other sciences are also golden. If you want to write science fiction or fantasy, there's no better source of knowledge or inspiration. A lot of people with law degrees become writers of crime and detective novels.

Worst-case scenario with science, tech, or law: You have a well-paying job that gives you the freedom to make all the comics you want. There's no downside.

The Powerpoint presentation is a good idea if you think they might be open to an art degree. But telling your parents you want to be a comic-book artist is like saying you want to be a profession basketball player when you're only 5'5 and can barely dribble right now. They will see it as the one in a million chance it really is. You can't fight that logic, so you might want to try to look at your choice in terms of what profession might help you pursue your interests and make your parents happy at the same time.

At 14, whatever you pick this week will likely change a dozen times over the next few years anyway, so don't sweat it that much. I doubt your parents will hold you to it. And if you work hard at teaching yourself art, drawing every day, and showing them your dedication and potential, in a few years it might be easier to convince them to send you to art school instead.

thanks dude

[C_You]

Turn 18. Unless you want them to pay for your further education, what your parents think about your career choices will become irreverent, other than possibly causing some awkward situations at family get-togethers.

In this job market, if you're going into art, I would advise against limiting yourself just to comics. (Then again, I always advise against limiting yourself artistically). Just about everything art related means going into a hugely over-saturated field. Do not have just one skill.

Also, part of growing up is realizing that sometimes your parents were right. Another part of it is being ridiculously thankful that you were not bound to the career choice that you made when you were fourteen. I am 26 and downright angry at my father for not dope slapping me when I was 19 and tell me that changing my major from computer science to political science was a bad idea. I'm in my second year of law school, and it's definitely one of those love-it-or-hate-it occupations. I'm in law school because it's really all I can do with a useless degree (And I was top of my class). I might win in the end because law school is crazy kinds of fun. But enough abut me. I should have majored in comp-sci.



In short: do what you want to do, but do not limit yourself.

[corruption]

Think about what you like and pick some things based on it. You further your interest in that area, and you would probably of focused your comics in that direction as well, so it doubles as research for your comics!

14 years old. That puts you in year 9, right? I guess your mother is pressuring you now so you can pick electives in those fields. When it comes to electives, I recommend art electives, and ones where you study how to make stories.

One thing I have learned is that trying to learn this stuff from public education systems is doomed to fail. In General English at my school, we never even covered character development or plots, let alone subplots. All we did was read a few books and go over the characters motivation to do things, and very poorly at that! I learned more in a month of reading a few books on writting stories and making comics then I did in my entire school life!

To sum up the last paragraph, do your own research! Don't trust the education systems!

You want to be a comics book artist, then get some practise here on Smackjeeves and you can use it in a portfollio.

[desideraht]

Lol, they don't have to let you. Just do it in your free time! You can still have a "real" job and stuff and go to school. If you make a comic people like and make some money off of it, you might be able to do it for a living. I would highly suggest having a "plan b" too, though. A job to always fall back on. Most of us do NOT make comics for a living, even if we're really good at it.

Follow your dream, even though it might have to be just a hobby. You love drawing comics, so do it! Just take care of your other business, too.

A lot of parents do think it's dumb if you don't make a ton of money, but honestly, just do a job that gets you by. You don't have to be rich to be happy. You just gotta be able to take care of yourself and do something you like. Work hard on art and keep in mind that they call us "starving artists" for a reason. You will need another job.

You're only 14... nobody really knows what job they're ACTUALLY going to do when they're 14. When I was 14, I wanted to be an archaeologist and an Egyptologist. Now I know that's basically impossible and even if I study it very well I will likely only get to be a professor, not a person who visits the actual sites (I wanted to be digging the holes and analyzing the ancient messages).

Your parents are stupid for thinking you can figure this out at such a young age. But maybe pick two things you wouldn't MIND doing. Because yes, you will need to have several ideas. People rarely get the job they want right away, but you need a job as soon as you're an adult. You need to make money while you go to school whether it's for art or something else.

[Randumbz]

Turn 18. Unless you want them to pay for your further education, what your parents think about your career choices will become irreverent, other than possibly causing some awkward situations at family get-togethers.

In this job market, if you're going into art, I would advise against limiting yourself just to comics. (Then again, I always advise against limiting yourself artistically). Just about everything art related means going into a hugely over-saturated field. Do not have just one skill.

Also, part of growing up is realizing that sometimes your parents were right. Another part of it is being ridiculously thankful that you were not bound to the career choice that you made when you were fourteen. I am 26 and downright angry at my father for not dope slapping me when I was 19 and tell me that changing my major from computer science to political science was a bad idea. I'm in my second year of law school, and it's definitely one of those love-it-or-hate-it occupations. I'm in law school because it's really all I can do with a useless degree (And I was top of my class). I might win in the end because law school is crazy kinds of fun. But enough abut me. I should have majored in comp-sci.



In short: do what you want to do, but do not limit yourself.

I probably should've mentioned that i also want to write move screenplays and create an animated series (wow, i sound like a dreamer lmao).

Lol, they don't have to let you. Just do it in your free time! You can still have a "real" job and stuff and go to school. If you make a comic people like and make some money off of it, you might be able to do it for a living. I would highly suggest having a "plan b" too, though. A job to always fall back on. Most of us do NOT make comics for a living, even if we're really good at it.

Follow your dream, even though it might have to be just a hobby. You love drawing comics, so do it! Just take care of your other business, too.

A lot of parents do think it's dumb if you don't make a ton of money, but honestly, just do a job that gets you by. You don't have to be rich to be happy. You just gotta be able to take care of yourself and do something you like. Work hard on art and keep in mind that they call us "starving artists" for a reason. You will need another job.

You're only 14... nobody really knows what job they're ACTUALLY going to do when they're 14. When I was 14, I wanted to be an archaeologist and an Egyptologist. Now I know that's basically impossible and even if I study it very well I will likely only get to be a professor, not a person who visits the actual sites (I wanted to be digging the holes and analyzing the ancient messages).

Your parents are stupid for thinking you can figure this out at such a young age. But maybe pick two things you wouldn't MIND doing. Because yes, you will need to have several ideas. People rarely get the job they want right away, but you need a job as soon as you're an adult. You need to make money while you go to school whether it's for art or something else.

I'm positive that i want to do this though. I've been practicing how to draw pretty much all the time for the past two years. None of the thing swe learn in school really interest me at all (mostly beacuse I'm really smart and understand everything without paying attention or studying). I'm actually pretty good at drawing NOW, so my skills will be off the charts in 3 years when i graduate from high school. I don't really care about whether or not i make a lot of money, but I have a plan, and if it works out, I doubt that I'll be poor. It does annoy me though that my parents don't really like any job i say I'm interested in (example: I lied and said that i wanted to be an architect and they said that was a dumb idea)

[archia]

Ha, you remind me of me when I was fourteen :')

There's no real security in art unless you're insanely talented/lucky. You may not care about money now, but you definitely will when you're no longer living under your parents roof and all the things you took for granted (e.g. a fridge that always has food in it) won't be there anymore. A lot of the artists you see on the internet don't do art as a full time thing. They'd have another job, and freelance art on the side.

If you're as smart as you say you are, stick to science and computer related things. I think engineering and IT are the big earners, and there's always a job for you. You can work to get the money you need while you up your skills to be a comic book artist. The only way you'll be employed as a comic book artist is if your skills are at a professional level. They don't take you on and train you up, you have to be able to work at a high standard straight away. You don't take a job as a brain surgeon if you aren't ready to perform brain surgery etc etc.

Remember, your first job won't be your dream job, and it won't be your only job. Just think of it as a tool to sustain yourself while you work on your art.

I don't really care about whether or not i make a lot of money, but I have a plan, and if it works out, I doubt that I'll be poor.

I'm interested to know what your plan is, now. (:

[Randumbz]

Ha, you remind me of me when I was fourteen :')

There's no real security in art unless you're insanely talented/lucky. You may not care about money now, but you definitely will when you're no longer living under your parents roof and all the things you took for granted (e.g. a fridge that always has food in it) won't be there anymore. A lot of the artists you see on the internet don't do art as a full time thing. They'd have another job, and freelance art on the side.

If you're as smart as you say you are, stick to science and computer related things. I think engineering and IT are the big earners, and there's always a job for you. You can work to get the money you need while you up your skills to be a comic book artist. The only way you'll be employed as a comic book artist is if your skills are at a professional level. They don't take you on and train you up, you have to be able to work at a high standard straight away. You don't take a job as a brain surgeon if you aren't ready to perform brain surgery etc etc.

Remember, your first job won't be your dream job, and it won't be your only job. Just think of it as a tool to sustain yourself while you work on your art.

I don't really care about whether or not i make a lot of money, but I have a plan, and if it works out, I doubt that I'll be poor.

I'm interested to know what your plan is, now. (:

but when i graduate i want to go to this comic art school call "the Kubert school". A lot of famous artists went to that school, and according to their website, over 90% of the alumni are succesful . That school teaches you pretty much everything you need to konw about the job, and all you need to get in is to be a high school graduate and show them a good art portfolio. So basically, i'd definitely get in lol. I am really smart, but science classes bore me to death which is why i can't have a science related job.

[trenton_dawn]

Art schools are really expensive, though. I looked up the Kubert School and the tuition for the first year is $18k, not including art materials or housing (source). Any scholarships might be able to mitigate this somewhat but that's still a pretty significant hit, especially considering you'll likely have to foot the bill, given the disposition of your parents. You don't have to make a career out of a science- or tech-related job, but it can definitely go a long way toward getting you on your fiscal feet.

Another thing you'll want to consider is what their website means by "successful". Do they have more specific details? That figure could include people employed in non-comic art jobs such as graphic design—not to say that graphics design is a bad field, but would that be something you'd be okay with?

[Randumbz]

Art schools are really expensive, though. I looked up the Kubert School and the tuition for the first year is $18k, not including art materials or housing (source). Any scholarships might be able to mitigate this somewhat but that's still a pretty significant hit, especially considering you'll likely have to foot the bill, given the disposition of your parents. You don't have to make a career out of a science- or tech-related job, but it can definitely go a long way toward getting you on your fiscal feet.

Another thing you'll want to consider is what their website means by "successful". Do they have more specific details? That figure could include people employed in non-comic art jobs such as graphic design—not to say that graphics design is a bad field, but would that be something you'd be okay with?

i really want to do comic book art, but i wouldn't mind doing graphic design either. Their website shows you some of their alumni and their art

[phoenixgem]

Hey guess I'll just put my 2 cents in here since i remeber being at the stage your at all too well.( being only 3 years past it)

just for clarification I live in England so I'm going on that educational system, this may be differnt from yours I'm not sure in what ways.

At 14 I was at the point of of picking my GCSE options the first proper qualifictaion you get here I guess (I'm assuming you're at this point that's why your parents are so keen to find out your carrer plans?) anyway at this point I didn't want to go into comicing specifically (I wasn't sure what I wanted at 14) but I still loved drawing, so I took art. I also took Product/Graphic Design (products for a year,hated it switched to graphics, loved it) and ICT because I loved those subjects and I was good at them, which at that point was the critea really. but I digreess..

My advice would be to take a course in art (again I don't know how your educational system works, with us at 14 we had maths, english, science as maditory subjects then 4 subject options of our own choice) If yours is simlar and you want to take this further take art, because you will need a strong foundation in art if you want to do any kind of design or illustraive job, its pretty inaviodable. then just draw in your spare time. If you survive the art course then you can make a more educated chioce on your carrer as it will serve as a taster. If you still love it go for it, if your sick of it lesson learned, and you never have to mention it again once youve gotten your next set of qualifictaions =)

HOWEVER: Do not place all your eggs in one basket, have, and prepare for a plan B, (and a Plan C if your organised.) as your plan A (the Kubert school) might not go to plan.

As for your parents I completely understand where they're coming from, my parents were the same and I imagine most are. All parents want their child to be finacially secure, not having to struggle to pay the bills etc, so the doctor, lawyer thing comes into play because they are a widely known as being high paid, and artists are known for being poor, they're just looking out for you =). your parents might not know anything about the industry ethier but that's fine too, they can't know everything about everything (this is a referance to the archietect thing, since I'm going to take a guess that theyre not going to know the steps that you'd need to take to get there and the potenial 80k salary you can earn at top levels)
But don't sweat it much your young! got your whole life ahead of you and what not you have years to decide what your going to do and plently of time to change your mind if you need to.

[Randumbz]

Hey guess I'll just put my 2 cents in here since i remeber being at the stage your at all too well.( being only 3 years past it)

just for clarification I live in England so I'm going on that educational system, this may be differnt from yours I'm not sure in what ways.

At 14 I was at the point of of picking my GCSE options the first proper qualifictaion you get here I guess (I'm assuming you're at this point that's why your parents are so keen to find out your carrer plans?) anyway at this point I didn't want to go into comicing specifically (I wasn't sure what I wanted at 14) but I still loved drawing, so I took art. I also took Product/Graphic Design (products for a year,hated it switched to graphics, loved it) and ICT because I loved those subjects and I was good at them, which at that point was the critea really. but I digreess..

My advice would be to take a course in art (again I don't know how your educational system works, with us at 14 we had maths, english, science as maditory subjects then 4 subject options of our own choice) If yours is simlar and you want to take this further take art, because you will need a strong foundation in art if you want to do any kind of design or illustraive job, its pretty inaviodable. then just draw in your spare time. If you survive the art course then you can make a more educated chioce on your carrer as it will serve as a taster. If you still love it go for it, if your sick of it lesson learned, and you never have to mention it again once youve gotten your next set of qualifictaions =)

HOWEVER: Do not place all your eggs in one basket, have, and prepare for a plan B, (and a Plan C if your organised.) as your plan A (the Kubert school) might not go to plan.

As for your parents I completely understand where they're coming from, my parents were the same and I imagine most are. All parents want their child to be finacially secure, not having to struggle to pay the bills etc, so the doctor, lawyer thing comes into play because they are a widely known as being high paid, and artists are known for being poor, they're just looking out for you =). your parents might not know anything about the industry ethier but that's fine too, they can't know everything about everything (this is a referance to the archietect thing, since I'm going to take a guess that theyre not going to know the steps that you'd need to take to get there and the potenial 80k salary you can earn at top levels)
But don't sweat it much your young! got your whole life ahead of you and what not you have years to decide what your going to do and plently of time to change your mind if you need to.

thanks for the advice (i like your icon by the way lol). I was thinking about majoring in art and something to make my parents happy like business, but no other school i've looked at so far seems as good as the kubert school and they only teach art type stuff. So maybe I should go to college, get a part time job to save money, get a degree in something random, then go to the kubert school?

[mockingbirdflyaway]

First things first - you don't need a degree to be an artist, whether it be comic book or otherwise. Keep that in mind.

I've never heard of the Kubert School, but then, I live across the continent from it, so it'd be fair to assume you've never heard of Emily Carr University, which is the art school in my city. The difference is that Emily Carr is an accredited uni, and I don't think Kubert is. (Accreditation is an important factor, because it means if you discover you want to switch schools or your drawing hand gets cut off and you need to transfer, it means you can take your credits from one school and move them to a different one without having to start over from scratch.) And from the sound of it, it's a technical "teach you how to do art" school, which makes me even more suspicious, because art school shouldn't teach you. It should improve your stuff and get you contacts and critical ability.

I would be very leery of going off ONLY the website of a non-accredited school. Very leery. Do some research. Email or call any alumni you can find and ask them.

I knew when I was 14, I wanted to have a creative part-time job, like novel writing or being an artist. But having lived in hard-core poverty during those years, I really learned MONEY DOES MATTER. My dad (a single parent) ended up unemployed for 3 years. Part of it was him being under so much stress from divorcing my step mom that he couldn't work, so he was laid off. And then when he found a new company to work for after several months of job hunting, that company had a massive, year-long strike, so even though he was employed, technically, he couldn't earn any money. Since there was me and my two siblings, money was really really tight. So it might not matter when it's just you. But if you want to have a spouse or kids, it does matter. You need to be able to support them, full stop.

You should do your best to follow your dreams, of course. But you can't pretend it doesn't matter.

However, I would have a serious talk with your parents about the "doctor/lawyer" only route that they're pushing you towards. I don't know what tack to take, but a general "My parents, I love and respect you, and while I understand that you want the best for me, I want to make it clear that there are other professions where people can make a comfortable living" (No doubt, they'll be like "Oh yeah, which ones?", so have some graphic design and technical art career stats ready. If they're more accepting of melodrama, ask them if they'd rather pay for you to live in a mental institution, because that sort of work would make you too depressed to work at all.

I wouldn't use script-writing or anything TV or film related as an example, because most of those are purely "Work-your-ass-off-and-put-in-tons-of-unpaid-time" type of jobs before you EVER make steady money type of jobs - not that they're bad, but they're NEVER easy when you start out and you have to be really willing to swallow your pride. .

[Randumbz]

I don't think I really care what happens anymore :/