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Career advice in art/architecture?
Currently, I am an 18 year old North Carolina college student. I was wondering if anyone out there might be able to help me with sorting out a career path. You see, I am caught between two choices, and am not quite sure which I should/could pursue. My two interests are art and architecture (more specifically on the later, architectural history and preservation). I am currently self-employed as an artist. I deal primarily with pen and ink media, and do mainly architectural renderings and drafts, as well as illustrations (several examples are attached here). I am self-taught, and am always trying to improve my talent with the personal study of Victorian engraving practices. I have been in several local shows and maintain a steady amount of private commissions. While I love to draw (buildings mostly, as the examples show, but other forms as well), and consider myself to be fairly artistically inclined, I also enjoy architecture on a material scale. I have always been fascinated with historic preservation (you could almost call it an obsession), and would thoroughly enjoy a career in the field. Therein lies my problem. Do I lean towards the art or the architecture? I've been told I by people in both areas I could do either, but I'm still not certain. While I love architecture, I despise math. I also dispise modern design, so going to school as an architect or draftsman seems unwise. I have been told there are thousands of professions within the umbrella of preservation, but I know little about them. If there is anyone with knowledge of the field, I would greatly appreciate your imput. If there is any way I could go into a profession in preservation in which I can use my art, I would be more than interested in finding out more about it. Here are some examples of my artwork: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3460108682_aa60381da4_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3230/3086240916_99de251c74_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3535/3228711583_dbfe8a7f67_b.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3163/3085408239_463027c4fa_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/3086884537_ce814b42fb_o.jpg
Public Comments
- Wow! Those are really wonderful drawings. Personally, I'd like to see you get into illustration for children's books. These remind me just a little bit of David Macaulay's drawings. He did those Castle and Roman city books. You could also do portraits of buildings in your style, too. Keep going with this, you're so good!
- I think your style would be particularly well suited to illustration of books. If you don't like math and you don't like modern design I would not go to architecture school. They are not going to let you keep such a narrow focus. And while draftsmanship is still important for sketches, most of your work in architecture will be on the computer. I don't think there is much demand for hand drawn plans any more. So unless you enjoy designing on a computer forget about architecture. I also don't would assume that you would benefit more in art school from having an art history major or study history instead of art. Your style seems to be pretty set, and not all teachers will want that. you need to sit down and ask yourself what you want to get out of art school. A wide variety of techniques and inspiration of a lot of different art styles, then art school may be for you. If you just want to keep your style and have the formal qualification its not worth the bother. Unless you want to teach what really counts is your portfolio and you have that already. There are companies which specialize in historic preservation and you could check with them what kind of people they employ. You should be aware that it's a narrow field. I also expect that they need expert carpenters, blacksmiths, people with general contracting skills and restaurateurs. Business administration might be another field which could lead to working in preservation. I would also recommend to look through resources like this: http://www.preservationdirectory.com/preservationgeneralresources/GeneralResourceListings.aspx?catid=124 and figure out what kind of jobs are on offer in this field. Figure out which ones really attract you and then what kind of education you need to get this specific kind of job. There are so many different ways to participate in preservation, it's not just one job suits all.
