My younger daughter was a talented artist, even when she was a little girl. Unfortunately, her father and I knew a number of failed or semi-starving artists. After seeing how they lived—-hand to mouth, driving cars that broke down every six months, sharing apartments when they were 42 years old—-my daughter decided to go into East Asian languages and ended up teaching in Japan for three years. When she came back, she said she’d made a mistake and wanted to become an artist. After working for several months developing a portfolio, she was admitted into a professional art school and went into digital animation. Now she works in the video games industry. Has her own apartment, drives a newer car, and more importantly, is happy to go to work every morning. So never discourage a kid from following her passion. Those who work hard enough at it and are really good at what they do can succeed.
My younger daughter was a talented artist, even when she was a little girl. Unfortunately, her father and I knew a number of failed or semi-starving artists. After seeing how they lived—-hand to mouth, driving cars that broke down every six months, sharing apartments when they were 42 years old—-my daughter decided to go into East Asian languages and ended up teaching in Japan for three years. When she came back, she said she’d made a mistake and wanted to become an artist. After working for several months developing a portfolio, she was admitted into a professional art school and went into digital animation. Now she works in the video games industry. Has her own apartment, drives a newer car, and more importantly, is happy to go to work every morning. So never discourage a kid from following her passion. Those who work hard enough at it and are really good at what they do can succeed.