Illustration by Megan aka animationbits

animationbits:

I want to share a little story with you just on the off chance that someone may be going through the same thing right now.

I started drawing cartoons and anime around grade 8 after I met up with a friend from elementary school whose art I admired greatly. I lived with my mother at the time and I was VERY blessed to have a mother who was also an artist and completely supported me - which was included but not limited to, borrowing record of lodoss war dvds from her co-workers, photocopying how-to-draw anime books ( all in japanese at the time, they wernt released in english yet), and always giving me helpful crit with every pic I drew. Art was a GOOD thing and there was always support for me to be creative.

This is usually the case when you’re younger. At least when it comes to drawing cartoons - its cute, its fun , its childish - just like you! When you’re of a certain age you get lots of support for making silly stories, characters and pictures.

Then , like some of you, I hit an age where suddenly it wasn’t appropriate anymore. At this point I was living with my father and stepmother and suddenly im in a world where it was weird for me to create fantasy worlds and draw cartoons. I was 18, I was just done school, what am I going to do with my life? This is a rough patch for lots of people when you’re starting to gain your independence and you’re still living under your parents roof. Theres lots of clashing opinions as to what you should be doing. For me this usually resulted in the fact that I spent more time drawing then socializing which , to my parents , was not ‘normal’. One talk with my father he had tapped the paper on the table in-front of me and said ‘THIS , this is whats keeping you from growing up - all these cartoons’ . Owch.

I totally love my father and my stepmother ( ok maybe I was a bit miffed at them at the time) but they based (at the time) success in life as what they had done. It had worked for them so it would work for me - seeing deviations as this as possible failures. If you’re in a similar situation in life with parents that don’t really see with you eye to eye on if creative endeavors are best for your future you’ll hear a lot of this kind of rhetoric. You need to grow up, you cant make money on art, when will you get a real job - ect ect. Shit sucks, but don’t give into it. Most of the time this talk comes from people who don’t KNOW of the art industry but base things on very surface conversations or stigmas like ‘starving artist’ . Now, with that being said you still need to be SMART about the job you’re going into ..if an artistic career is what you’re seeking - look into what job demands are like, how many years of schooling people who made it have, what the industry is like . Ask questions, do research , find the best path for you - don’t blindly throw yourself out there in hopes that luck will get you by. There are some artistic careers that are VERY hard to get into , but know what ones they are! Its not impossible to get a career in art,animation,design,film, but be savvy about it. Growing up is not about the content you draw, or the style - its about taking responsibility for your life. So when someone tells you to stop drawing cartoons because they think its childish, take comfort in the fact that there’s a whole industry out there thats based on this ‘childish’ talent and its waiting for yah.

(via fredseibert)