Re: FLASH: OT: Your Professional opinion...

[David Gary]

Neil O' Rourke wrote:


> I second that opinion. I dropped out of school at 17 and I'm climbing

> the ladder much faster that people with degrees and dimplomas.


That really depends on what your doing for a living. Some careers dont

neccessarily need degrees.

Some do. Someone that has mastered Flash hasnt gotten a degree in it however the

person that

can use the technology effectively and on a professional level usually has a

degree or some type of art

/design training. Flash wont make you an artist anymore than a pencil will. Its a

creative _tool_ just like anything

else. Its suprising how many people think it will. The net is full of "web

designers". The ones that have the backgrounds

and degrees standout. "Self teaching" and experimenting will only go so far and

its great to help in creating your

own style. but the fudamentals of harmony, balance, color, texture, technique,

usually stand out first for those who have

had training or years of experience in the creative field. Its like anything else.

Experience shows, period. Surrounding yourself with people in the industry is

important, but it wont make you a great designer anymore than hanging around

Dorthy

Hamill will make you a great ice skater.


 I would not advise someone who has been studying a particular trade and fixing to

get a degree in that trade

to "Drop out" just because they've had access to photoshop or learned how to use

Flash with no former art skills.

Design is a cut throat industry and its hard enough for even the best designers to

make a good living. "Everyones" a designer nowadays. When my plumber comes to fix

the toilet at my studio and sees my illustrations hes usually an illustrator too.


I dont want to discourage anyone from being creative. Its a great escape

especially when creating your own visions,

but when your creating someone else's vision and doing it for a living, its

sometimes not such a great escape. In some cases

I'd rather be on a Plumber's listserver trying to figure out how to fix my toilet.

If you have no formal art/design/graphic

training and want to be creative, make it a hobbie and keep your day job or

seriously consider pursuing what you have had training in.


> I'm still

> finding it hard to break into the web development scene. My main area is

> graphic design and everything has been self-taught, I'm learning Flash

> and Dreamweaver at the moment so I'm hoping I can branch out into some

> kind of web thing without having to learn and programming languages.


I would advise mastering one skill and trying to become the best in that area.

Jack of all trades dont eat everyday. Thats why their are production companies and

web

design firms. Everyone has their specialty and there are a billion people out

there that think they

can "do it all" because they have a 'puter and a telephone line. If your trying to

become a great "Flash guru"

then hire someone else to do any hard code or maintaining. If your background is

artistic, be the artistic

part and trade your skills with the "coders".  If your a "techie" or coder, do all

web surfers a favor and stick with coding

and trade your skills with a "creative".


> Dropping out was the best thing I ever did, but I must admit, I was

> lucky to get my foot in the door, once you're in though the sky is the

> limit!


Your right, you were lucky, but your one of the very few.


Simple. If you want to become an illustrator or designer,  goto design or art

school as early as possible

and surround yourself with the best people you can. Then you just might, honestly,

be able to make a living

at it.


-DG-



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