<p>I would love to go for a major in the arts. Mostly computer and 3D animation and special effects, but I also have a high interest in drama and various studio arts. </p>
<p>However I have this affliction with money. I want a career that pays well, the problem is that most art careers don't make a lot of money or have stable employment. </p>
<p>How do you major in any form of art knowing this?</p>
<p>I want to get past this reservation, but I have his far been unsuccessful.</p>
<p>I think you need to have a plan A and plan B that you can implement. Plan A is the training to support yourself which could be some type of computer degree or even CAD type training so you know you can find work. Then you can pursue the major of your choosing knowing you could always support yourself while you are waiting to get work in your real interest area. There will likely always be up and down times with a creative major.</p>
<p>A friend of mine was an actor/playwright who did data entry in NYC in between gigs. It paid well. L.A. if full of waiters who are actors. But think creatively. Come up with the Plan A type of job you won’t dislike, that you are good at, that even in hard times people still seem to want and need eg computer repair, SAT tutoring. Good luck.</p>
<p>Magnetic, as you create your plans, please consider the woulda, coulda, shoulda factor. If you know what makes your soul sing and don’t pursue it, you will always wonder if…</p>
<p>Since you are young, you can go back to school for additional degrees or classes if plan A doesn’t work out. The happiest people I know pursued careers at the intersection of talent and desire. Money generally follows.</p>
<p>To be frank, the fact that my kid chose to pursue a BFA sometimes frightens me. Three things reassure me that it will be ok. 1) he truly loves what he is doing 2) he is frugal, not acquisitive and can live on a shoe string if need be and 3) he is realistic about his opportunities to work as a sculptor and knows that he needs to acquire skills or certificates so he can work as a teacher/computer programmer/welder or all three in order to survive. The job market is so grim out there that I also think if he were a “business major” or “english major” I would be even more worried. In many ways, the skills he is picking up as an art student are more likely to lead to employment than if he were to choose a generic major at our local state U. Do I wish that he had decided to pursue an engineering degree with a minor in art instead of the reverse? Not really…he needs to try this route or else he will always wonder what could have been. So…if money and things mean a lot to you, perhaps you need to consider if you can be happy with long stretches of living with a very limited budget, are willing to do almost any job while you work like hell to find opportunities to use your creative talents and you are willing to face potentially years of rejection and dead ends…actually, this could describe the early professional lives of most people successful in their middle years–I don’t think many careers are “easy” and guaranteed to provide you with a good income without some up front hard work and lean years. In other words, if you are fixated on money then you may be facing some real challenges and disappointments in almost any career. You must find something that you enjoy doing because being poor, at least for a stretch, is pretty much a given if you don’t inherit money…</p>