So for the longest time I made myself believe I wanted to be a doctor of some sort. So I got through highschool and started college majoring in biology. But now that a year has almost gone by I'm starting to realize that that is not the career path for me, not because the work is too hard, but because I have no ambition for what I'm doing. I'm just going through the motions, and I really feel like that you should, at the very least, have a faint feeling that you are accomplishing something while working towards your major.

So now we move on to animating and I really feel as if I want to learn, but that is the problem I want to learn. Not increase my already good understanding of, or try to learn techniques that I haven't manged to learn from my experiences alone, but LEARN from scratch, all the basics of animation. I have decent art skills and very little animating experience but I still feel as if I want to try to go to an arts college for animation but I'm afraid of two things. First of all, is it a good idea to go to college for this without any prior knowledge? One couldn't have never drawn a day in their life and decide that they want to make a life out of art could they? Wouldnt that be the same for animation? Secondly, if I were to go out and get this degree would it even matter at this point in the game? I mean, im pretty sure I understand its all about your demo reel but still would it be a waste of time getting it? A barrier that handwork alone would can rarely pass?

I may sound extremely uninformed, and that is because I really, really am. I have no clue what to do with my life at this point and I just have this one hobby. Ive always thought to myself that I wanted to create stories, but writing was never enough for me, it wasnt visual enough. An engaging show will always beat out an amazing book in my eyes, and ive always appreciated animating but it was never something I could learn until quite recently. I just dont want it to be a total waste of time, do any of you think an Animation BFA is worth going for?

if you're looking for a career where the you'll be doing something that you love to do, then I think you should make an effort to fall in love with the idea of being a doctor again. Switching from one thing to another completely different thing because you're tired of the first thing is very risky. Considering that you haven't really been animating that long, you never know whether you'll eventually get tired of it like you got tired of pursuing your initial dream.

Getting tired of things is very normal, so I think you should instead try to find the interest that you seemed to have lost first. Why did you want to be a doctor in the first place? What pushed you to choose that major? Speaking as a person who had his major chosen for him, appreciating what you have is sometimes hard, but it's not impossible. I never cared for my major before I was made to choose it. In fact, I hated it. But now I managed to somewhat appreciate it, so I can imagine that someone who actually once had passion for what he's studying will eventually rekindle that spark.

It's absolutely feasible, but if you have very little animation experience I don't know why you would delude yourself into thinking it's a good choice for you.

IMO you'd be better off pursuing a trade and keeping animation as a hobby. If you have very little experience with it you shouldn't be asking yourself if it's feasible to financially support yourself with it, you should just be practicing and seeing what you can do. You're like 10 years ahead of yourself.

The animation industry is tough. It's competitive as fuck and if you aren't VERY skilled you'll end up drawing inbetweens all day getting payed a little more than minimum wage for a few years before you move on to bigger and better stuff. If you're willing to take the risks and hardships then go for it if you think it's worth doing what you love.

However, judging by the fact that you have or are about to graduate highschool, and have zero~very little experience animating, I'd say you're better off going for another degree, keep animation aside until you finished you're degree. You don't need art school to get good at animating, a lot of professionals haven't. Once you're done with your degree you can basically do whatever. You got good at animating? Great! Try your hand at it. Things didn't workout for you and you're not making a good living? You still got a degree to support yourself for the time being.
I started animating/drawing seriously 3 years ago and I still got this year and next year to graduate, and I'm kind of confident that I will be able to make a living off of animating. Yet I've decided to pursue a degree in architecture as a back up plan if the art/animation field doesn't work out.

Perhaps you can ask your counselor (each school must have one if I'm not mistaken), Darknesspawn. They're there for a reason, to help.

Quote from Smile

Why did you want to be a doctor in the first place?

Well, thats the problem, there is no concrete reason why I chose it. I did somewhat better in all my science clases than my others and it sounded nice when people asked me what I wanted to be. So college came around and I thought I would just try to do what ive been telling people for so long. Ive never thought of much else and I needed to go to college (at least thats what everyone is telling me) so there was no definitive "spark" just an idea.

Quote from Chai Matthew

Perhaps you can ask your counselor (each school must have one if I'm not mistaken), Darknesspawn. They're there for a reason, to help.

I'd rather ask people who have a passion for animating. The counselors are always going to tell people to stray away from art degrees in favor of more steady careers.

Quote from Darknesspawn

I'd rather ask people who have a passion for animating. The counselors are always going to tell people to stray away from art degrees in favor of more steady careers.

I'm not getting an animation degree, but I feel like I can offer some perspective as I've been through similar.

I was an Honors student who, while not at the top of my class, was always up there. This pretty much meant that everyone I knew pushed for me to go into a field that would be considered "respectable," namely lawyer or doctor (and in some cases, engineer). My interests have always been extremely varied, but what I've always had the deepest interest in have been things which allow me to be creative. Reading, writing, animating, drawing, stuff like that. I also played more games in the day, so when it came to it, I originally said I'd just become a lawyer (Ace Attorney, you bastard, I wanted to be like Godot ;-;).

Now, as I progressed, I found that the path to be a lawyer was tedious, tiresome, and it didn't fit my personality at all. I'm not studious. I'm not patient. I hate wearing suits all the time (but damn do I look good in a vest) and learning Latin is interesting, but not fun. Essentially, it was something restricting, but everyone around me kept pushing for it. Then, during a college fair, I found out about Johnson & Wales, and I noticed something about myself I hadn't before: I love food. Moving from there, though, I discovered something else about myself: food is an amazing medium. With food, I found I could express myself, unleashing all the creativity in me, but without nearly as much strenuousness or tediousness. That revelation has sent me down the path I am now following, to become a chef and hopefully, a restaurant owner.

My advice is to look into the different fields a doctor can take. There may be a reason you picked it as a career that you're unaware of. Are you interested in how the body functions? Are you curious about creating new prosthetics for the handicapped? Study yourself, and see if there is anything that calls to you in the field. If not, then yeah, you should look into another. Just getting a degree is not the path you want to take. Find what you feel connects with you, get the skills to progress, then look into it and find ways to progress outside of just what you learn in school. Here, I've already earned 2 certifications, I'm looking into culinary competitions, taking work in cooking to refine my skills in the industry and create a name for myself, and I've already learned from a successful chef who owns his own restaurant (and has a second one open elsewhere) just how competitive yet tightly knit this field is.



TL;DR
Look more into the field of medicine/biology to see if anything connects with you, even some small aspect. If not, then see if animating really connects with you. Look for ways to expand your skills in animating, and be sure that connects with you before you go at it full force. You've gotta know you, before you know what you want to do.

Just so you know, once you'll become a professional animator, the thing that you love doing will have no emotional value considering that you will be animating to make living. The thing that you're doing just for fun won't be fun anymore because you'll be forced to animate for over 8 hours a day. Sometimes over 12 hours. And if you're commissioned, the commissioner might or might not accept what you have made for him and leave you with no money and it will be his right to do it. Plus, like other said, unless you're really, really, REALLY skilled, you won't get the payment you wish for. The elites of animation usually get about 25000 per month from what I've been told. The other, on the other hand, get the quarter of it.

I'm not saying this to discourage you, but I'm just letting you know what will be waiting for you. You can still be a doctor and do what you like in your free time. Something to support your artistic desires financially.

Quote from sifterpivoter

Just so you know, once you'll become a professional animator, the thing that you love doing will have no emotional value considering that you will be animating to make living. The thing that you're doing just for fun won't be fun anymore because you'll be forced to animate for over 8 hours a day. Sometimes over 12 hours. And if you're commissioned, the commissioner might or might not accept what you have made for him and leave you with no money and it will be his right to do it. Plus, like other said, unless you're really, really, REALLY skilled, you won't get the payment you wish for. The elites of animation usually get about 25000 per month from what I've been told. The other, on the other hand, get the quarter of it.

I'm not saying this to discourage you, but I'm just letting you know what will be waiting for you. You can still be a doctor and do what you like in your free time. Something to support your artistic desires financially.

While I understand where you're coming from, I don't fully agree with saying that making a career of what you enjoy will make you enjoy it less.

Remember Darknesspawn
The most important thing that you have think is: money
Because to be honest,
Everybody have thought about another job but then...
They remember the money.

He can think about his passions while also thinking about the money.

It's called Selling Out.


No I'm serious, if you love animating, then prepare to Sell Out. Alot. Man's gotta eat after all so as sifter has implied, you're going to hate what you do at some point before you love it.