Career Daze(d) and Confused
Chapter: The Comic
People seriously underestimate the amount of work that goes into having a ‘cool’ job. I’ve seen this in both students as well as from other folks who think what I do is ‘easy’.
While juggling teaching, freelance graphic design work and cartooning are all immensely enjoyable to me, these tasks are definitely not easy. The grass is always greener, as someone once said…
How do you counter someone’s argument that your job is easy? Sound off in the comments below…
-Krishna
P.S. I’ve posted the PSD file for the inks to my Dog-Bot character if you want to have a character to practice coloring with. Post your colored version (in JPG format) in the new forum thread when you’re finished coloring it – I’d love to see what you can do with it! :)
These beautiful and intelligent people wrote
Tell me what you think!
Jason Reed
June 6, 2008 at 1:23 amI tend to deal with customers directly. I can tell a lot of stories about dealing with what the customer originally said they wanted (because they really had no idea), and after we build it to their specification they don’t like it and so we have to come to some sort of happy compromise.
Eliza
June 6, 2008 at 1:58 amHee hee tell them there are actually jobs called “video game tester” and “animation checker.”
Graham
June 6, 2008 at 7:07 amI get this sometimes and I usually suggest they take my programming course. Not many takers :) Actually most of the people I deal with are there because they tried to do something themselves and got stuck/confused/hopelessly lost so they are grateful for the help and amazed at how easily I fixed their problem (when I do!). Great for ego polishing!
eddie
June 6, 2008 at 8:13 amI think when people see you havin fun or it looks like fun to them they automatically think it’s easy and your really not working hard or that it’s easy. Yes I think it comes easier for us because that’s our talent but they totally disregard the prep work and details that go into doing what we do! Whether it be art, writing, heck even sports or music for that matter. People always tend to look at the glam side and never the work side of “entertainment” (for a lack of word)…. my two bits.
Dale
June 6, 2008 at 8:57 amYour words ring true.
Dave Bergschneider
June 6, 2008 at 10:49 amVery true Krishna. I have been designing and developing for 10 years now and always people think it is easy work because 1. We make it look so effortless and 2. They always wanted to be able to do it themselves.
Blasted powerpoint users think they can keep up….lol
Theala Sildorian
June 6, 2008 at 1:19 pmI learned in high school I didn’t want to be a programmer. When you can’t get Basic down, then you realize you are meant for other things.
My students think I have things easy because “I know so much”, and don’t seem to put much work into anything I do. What they don’t get is it took me over 20 years to learn everything I know, and my love of laziness taught me to work smarter, not harder.
They call it “work” for a reason. I adore my job, and love going to it every day. But it’s still work. :D
madbard
June 6, 2008 at 1:59 pmWhat do you tell your students, Krishna?
krishna
June 6, 2008 at 2:02 pmI show them the process of what goes into taking something from concept to final design. Many of them are shocked to know that I go through multiple multiple pages of concept sketches in my sketchbook before I embark on anything digital.
Working ‘analog’ affords me freedom to really create and push ideas around before I commit to something on the computer. I emphasize that it’s important to do something right, and how imperative it is to plan before executing…
Axion
June 7, 2008 at 7:26 pmThere is so much pressure on kids to “get into a career that you have interest.” A lot of times, this translates to “My only real hobby/interest is video games. I guess I should do a career in that?
We need to bring back job fairs.
ryan
June 8, 2008 at 1:45 pmHow do I counter someone’s argument that your job is easy?
without my experience my job (as a designer) would not be easy. Without (I cannot believe I am about to say this…) my odd education path my job would not be easy. BA in business/communications MFA in computer art. So yeah it is a mix of experience and education that makes my job “easy”. I love what I do though, so that makes me even more productive and is a different answer to a different question all together.
Mad Luc
July 25, 2009 at 8:15 pmIf it helps, I’m 18 and planning on making cartoons, and i know how much work it is. Already four years of hard work learning scriptwriting, a lot of time learning how to draw, and 6 years minimum of collage ahead of me. Bt it;s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid, so I’ll do the work involved/