Quote Originally Posted by shootingstar View Post
*I make this remarks because as a teenager my parents actually were trying to DISCOURAGE me from taking more art courses in high school and mucking around at home with paints. Imagine the occasional teen arguments where I cried and argued long and hard. You have to remember they wanted their children to excel in established well-paying professions, because we were poor. So yes, I stood up to them...by ignoring them and took over 6 art courses in high school. I didn't give a damn about rebelling in terms of drugs, booze, sex. Art was the most important thing to me at that tender age.
I spent most of my childhood studying art - everything from oils to graphite to colored pencil. We were pretty poor too so I only got to choose one after-school activity at a time. I always picked art. But before the dawn of the internet most illustrators and commercial artists that I heard of/talked to were eeking by, some with secondary jobs to support them. I was good at all the typical college prep stuff so I made the call to give up art and concentrate on something that would make me money. It's taken me over 15 years to realize that might have been a mistake... Now I feel like I'm starting from scratch and re-learning how to see the world as an artist. It's a slow process for me, but I like to think it will all come back eventually, like riding a bike.