Create Personal Art While In College

Getting a fresh break into the industry as a professional artist seems daunting. Plenty of artists lack to knowledge on where to start, especially those newly graduated from university or the art institute. While colleges teach artists the technical skills, they don't teach the skills to get artwork out on the market and into games and moves.

The pursuit to a creative career needs to start while going through college. College assignments don't impress hiring agents—they've more than likely seen the same assignment before. The artwork created outside of class—personal art—attracts work that an artist would enjoy.

Why Creating Personal Art Gets The Job:

• Personal artwork typically gets more time and care from the artist
• An artist stays inspired with personal work instead of burning out on assignments
• The hiring agent looks for fresh ideas to bring into the company
• By creating what artists are passionate about, the artists attract work they are passionate about. 

Making A Long Term Project Has Benefits
Cory Godbey suggested in his blog post Personal Work: Making It Count that creating a long term project with a series of pieces shows possible clients what you enjoy. By showing what you enjoy through a long term, you showcase your technical skill, your own creative ideas, and attract work that you enjoy.

Finding the time to create personal artwork may seem difficult while managing classes. Take the time to fill a sketch page a day to generate ideas as a start—the next step to create the piece is just a step away. Continuing with the sketch to finish, the piece has snowballed to completion. Then, create the next piece to your series and you have solid work to put in your portfolio.

While going through college and trudging through the workload, take the time to enjoy personal pieces. Those projects should be fun to attract fun client work. By creating pieces you find fun, you attract and build a network that finds the same subject matter entertaining.

Cooperstein, Page. (n.d.) Artists Share How They Make Money While Doing What They Love. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/8-ways-an-artist-can-make-money-2013-11.

 Godbey, Cory. (November 13, 2013) Personal Work: Making It Count. Retrieved from http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2013/11/personal-work-making-it-count.html