CAREER RESEARCH PAPER
Introduction
After a lot of searching and struggling to find a career that truly suited my skills, I decided that I’d really love to be a cartoonist or comic illustrator. I’ve always wanted to write my own comic series, since I dearly love both creative writing and drawing, and have spent a great deal of my adolescence simply coming up with stories and writing them on my computer. I have a file cabinet full of sketchbooks over the last six years or so filled with drawings of all sorts of characters that I had been creating, not just in image, but in history and personality as well. Over the last two years, my girlfriend and I have been creating an in-depth storyline for a comic series that we’ve come to sincerely love, and all this time it’s been my dream to see the tale we’ve created come to life. As an artist, I live to conjure stories and people that a reader in the real world can fall in love with. I feel that the job of a cartoonist or comic illustrator is my ideal career, because would be able to both write and draw my characters and the fantastic worlds that they venture through.
After a lot of searching and struggling to find a career that truly suited my skills, I decided that I’d really love to be a cartoonist or comic illustrator. I’ve always wanted to write my own comic series, since I dearly love both creative writing and drawing, and have spent a great deal of my adolescence simply coming up with stories and writing them on my computer. I have a file cabinet full of sketchbooks over the last six years or so filled with drawings of all sorts of characters that I had been creating, not just in image, but in history and personality as well. Over the last two years, my girlfriend and I have been creating an in-depth storyline for a comic series that we’ve come to sincerely love, and all this time it’s been my dream to see the tale we’ve created come to life. As an artist, I live to conjure stories and people that a reader in the real world can fall in love with. I feel that the job of a cartoonist or comic illustrator is my ideal career, because would be able to both write and draw my characters and the fantastic worlds that they venture through.
Career Overview
Primarily, a cartoonist will draw short, daily comics or images in a brief format that is intended to give the reader a quick laugh, while a comic illustrator will work on graphic novels or illustrated stories that are meant to be longer and more engaging. Both standardly require the ability to draw in a distinctive style and to come up with clever, memorable dialogue for characters to orate. A cartoonist may be requested to draw cartoons and comic strips for magazines, newspapers, films, television, advertisements, books, newsletters, and greeting cards, and usually lend their skills routinely to a company that pays them a salary. Some cartoonists will illustrate stories or ideas that other people have invented, but often, a cartoonist will create his or her own story and make the entire concept into a comic themselves. On the other hand, comic artists often work in cooperation with other artists and writers on full-length graphic novels, or in production with animation companies as storyboard artists. Works such as Spiderman and Batman, comics that have become widely famous and expanded over many realms of the entertainment spectrum, started out as the drawings and writings of a comic illustrator.
Primarily, a cartoonist will draw short, daily comics or images in a brief format that is intended to give the reader a quick laugh, while a comic illustrator will work on graphic novels or illustrated stories that are meant to be longer and more engaging. Both standardly require the ability to draw in a distinctive style and to come up with clever, memorable dialogue for characters to orate. A cartoonist may be requested to draw cartoons and comic strips for magazines, newspapers, films, television, advertisements, books, newsletters, and greeting cards, and usually lend their skills routinely to a company that pays them a salary. Some cartoonists will illustrate stories or ideas that other people have invented, but often, a cartoonist will create his or her own story and make the entire concept into a comic themselves. On the other hand, comic artists often work in cooperation with other artists and writers on full-length graphic novels, or in production with animation companies as storyboard artists. Works such as Spiderman and Batman, comics that have become widely famous and expanded over many realms of the entertainment spectrum, started out as the drawings and writings of a comic illustrator.
Education/Training
To train to become a comic artist, I’m planning to go to Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Within the vast amount of majors that the school offers is an undergraduate program called Digital Media, which specializes in both 2-D and 3-D animation, motion graphics, interactive design, and most importantly, digital imaging. Taking the Digital Media courses could sincerely help me hone my Photoshop abilities in order to make comics on the computer. I’m hoping to get at least a bachelor’s degree, and might go for a master’s degree if it’s available and if time allows. There’s plenty to study, as the Digital Media program includes a vast number of courses involving art history and major studio work, along with supportive studies including figure drawing and coloring. I’ve been to see the campus and Kendall, and even had an interview with a woman who was part of the selection board at Kendall. The school is quite impressive, pleasantly calm and introverted (only having a class of just over 1,400 students), the facilities are modern and plentiful, and the work I’ve seen that students have created absolutely exalts the education standards at the school. My mom has been trying to talk me into going since I was about four years old, and though at the time I didn’t take her seriously, I can now clearly see why she wanted me to attend.
To train to become a comic artist, I’m planning to go to Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Within the vast amount of majors that the school offers is an undergraduate program called Digital Media, which specializes in both 2-D and 3-D animation, motion graphics, interactive design, and most importantly, digital imaging. Taking the Digital Media courses could sincerely help me hone my Photoshop abilities in order to make comics on the computer. I’m hoping to get at least a bachelor’s degree, and might go for a master’s degree if it’s available and if time allows. There’s plenty to study, as the Digital Media program includes a vast number of courses involving art history and major studio work, along with supportive studies including figure drawing and coloring. I’ve been to see the campus and Kendall, and even had an interview with a woman who was part of the selection board at Kendall. The school is quite impressive, pleasantly calm and introverted (only having a class of just over 1,400 students), the facilities are modern and plentiful, and the work I’ve seen that students have created absolutely exalts the education standards at the school. My mom has been trying to talk me into going since I was about four years old, and though at the time I didn’t take her seriously, I can now clearly see why she wanted me to attend.
Summary
The initial reason that I wanted to take this class was to see if I had a genuine interest in and aptitude for graphic design and digital illustration, and I’ve found that I actually like it very much. There are some things that can be accomplished with a computer that simply can’t be done with just a pencil and a sheet of paper. Granted, I’m able to put a lot of my pencil drawing skills to use, such as in the perspective drawings that we’re working on now and the concept drawings that we’ve done in the past, but I’m thrilled to find out how much I love working with computers. I’m really starting to get the hang of Photoshop and working with digital elements to make impressive work, so now that I know I have the potential to be great at this, I’m confident enough to pursue it. I know I have the motivation: my blood has been boiling with the near-desperation I feel to create comics for many years now, and I’ve spent my entire life just drawing, creating characters, and writing stories. Being able to tie them all together will give my existence as an artist real meaning and purpose.
The initial reason that I wanted to take this class was to see if I had a genuine interest in and aptitude for graphic design and digital illustration, and I’ve found that I actually like it very much. There are some things that can be accomplished with a computer that simply can’t be done with just a pencil and a sheet of paper. Granted, I’m able to put a lot of my pencil drawing skills to use, such as in the perspective drawings that we’re working on now and the concept drawings that we’ve done in the past, but I’m thrilled to find out how much I love working with computers. I’m really starting to get the hang of Photoshop and working with digital elements to make impressive work, so now that I know I have the potential to be great at this, I’m confident enough to pursue it. I know I have the motivation: my blood has been boiling with the near-desperation I feel to create comics for many years now, and I’ve spent my entire life just drawing, creating characters, and writing stories. Being able to tie them all together will give my existence as an artist real meaning and purpose.
Bibliography
- Careercruising.com. "Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator." Www.careercruising.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <https://www.careercruising.com/Careers/JobDetails.aspx?LoginID=31ad6172-ea11-45e4-accc-f1cf133bbb18->.
- Kendall College of Art and Design. "(Various Articles Referenced)." Welcome to Kendall. Ferris State University, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <http://www.kcad.edu/>.