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I'm Very Good At Art And Await To Become A Professional. Any advice?

When I was 8-years-old I had to enter a picture or painting in an art contest. After a few days I had finished a picture of my cat, Catniss(I had a chose of 8 other cats but I went with her). My mom told me it looked exactly like her. I asked other people too if it looked like a real cat and they said yes. So I entered that into the art contest and won 1st place. I still have that skill and I'm trying to improve it and would like to use that skill in my career.
#artist #drawing-and-painting skills #animal-lover #art #fine-art #graphic-design
P.S. I have exactly 25 pets total.

art artist graphic-design fine-art drawing-and-painting animal-lover
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Ellen’s Answer

Wow Leah, sounds like yo have two passions, animals and art! You don't say how old you are now, but it's good that you have identified a field where you have an interest, and where you have an ability. The art field is really big, everything from artists who produce "fine art" to artists who work as graphic designers, to artists who work in fashion deign and illustration, to artists who illustrate books of all kinds, to artists who work in industrial design, to artists who work in interior design....I think you get the idea, its big.

From your description of winning first place in the art contest when you were 8 years old (congrats, by the way!), it sounds like you like to paint and draw? You love animals? You might look into working as an illustrator, and you might specialize in illustrating animals for books, websites and so on. Just an idea, but if yes, you'll want to work on your skills, and if you are in middle or high school, you should take studio art classes for traditional art skills, but also some computer graphics classes, so you can be up on the latest technology. Many illustrators use both traditional art skills and well as computer programs in their work. As a teacher in a middle school, I tried to prepare my students for both areas, since I knew that the computer graphics classes were very popular in high school and in colleges.

If you do want to specialize in illustrating animals, then be sure to take biology classes in high school and in college. Practice drawing your pets, with 25 (!) you should be able to come up with some really nice drawings, which you could turn into paintings.

This is all I can suggest for you, based on my knowledge an experience. You might want to talk to your art teachers at your school about your interests and see what they say, and also talk to your science teachers , they might have some insights or suggestions about how illustration is used in their fields.

Best of luck!
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Cuong’s Answer

Hey Leah,


It's impressive that you know what you want to do at this point. Most people fight the artist in them to find a professional that isn't related to themselves at all. It happened to me and it was because where I lived, I thought doing art isn't quite possible for a real job. In a somewhat way, it was true but I wrestled with myself and did not see any other way. But somewhere down the years being a computer science major, I decided that, I wanted to do something I love. So, I decided to pursue something like graphic design, motion graphics, and animation.


If you really like to draw, I would definitely look at animation. It won't be easy, hours and hours of drawing frame by frame. Even with graphic design, it isn't easy without consistency.


Overall, try and look more into design work. It's art in another form and I find it very enjoyable.


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Law’s Answer

Hi Leah. As Ellen mentioned, biology and anatomy classes would benefit you greatly in this pursuit. However, the best thing you can do is continue to draw each day, and don't worry so much about a likeness, or perfection...sometimes the journey, and its eventual mistakes, give you direction for the things that will make it your own. To put it another way, just be yourself, and keep working at it.

One final thought...a likeness is a likeness when it comes to creating art. However, representation of a subject can be captured in many ways, and sometimes, a likeness is only one aspect. Look deeper for the essence of your subject and find what makes them THEM. That hidden aspect, if rendered in your work, can make the difference between a nice work, and one that is sublime. That moment that you , the artist, and your subject become one.

All the best to you in your endeavor.

~Law
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