OUAN502 - Creative Career

I want to spend the next year finding what I am best at creatively, from here I can attempt to look for studios and places specifically that I can go to and attempt to work to. Currently, I don't have a goal as to which studio I want to work for or which job I want to do specifically, but I do know I want to tell story and communicate visually.

I want to use this time as a student to do what I have been doing and exploring different avenues of the industry so that I can hopefully discover what I truly want to do by the time I leave and start looking for opportunities within the industry. I think as well as this, I don't have a studio or company I want to work for because I'm aware of the fact that perhaps working as concept artist isn't as straight forward as getting a job at Blizzard entertainment and designing characters for their games all day, but is a lot of work and an incredibly demanding job. So, I want to know I'm capable and prepared to do the job I want to do as well as establishing myself before aiming to work for top companies. What I mean by this is that larger companies want people who know their stuff, I always have to remind myself of the extent that a creative job stretches out. For example, a concept artist or pre-production artist will have to know about the world and understand materials, biology, physics, history and all of these different fields in order to create good design. But I think this principle applies to so many areas within the creative industry - film making, illustration and even animation needs a lot of knowledge and requires a constant willingness to learn not just about animation or illustration but about the world and the way it works. The better understanding of as many different areas such as this, the better and more successful I imagine I will be. One of the biggest things about a creative career that I also think about often is it is vary rare to be working for yourself, and so often is the case that you are working for someone else, so a client or an employer for example. This means that you don't draw and create what you want, you create what other people you want. Clients may want something you don't enjoy doing and you may work on projects that you're not enjoying but it is your job and just like any other there may be days that you don't enjoy. Overall, I'm trying to maintain an awareness that although this is something I enjoy doing and I like to do, it is a job after all. I suppose a good test to see if you are fit for the industry is to spend a long time creating something, and working on it despite the difficulty and hours it takes to complete. All the time while the project is being working on making sure not to share it with anyone - not on social media and with friends, or perhaps share it five years from now because that is essentially what the industry is like the majority of the time, very much a hidden industry. So if this is still an enjoyable process and a fun experience then I think that would be a sign to me that I would suit a career in the creative industry.