Well guess who decided to pop back up, it's me! (cue applause) Been gone from you deviants for a couple months due to lack of focus...and new drawings. Seeing as how it's September, it's back to school, so I should have more stuff up soon. Probably. Hopefully.

Anyway, on to my topic. Like I said, it's time for me to head back to school this month (tomorrow, actually). What makes this year different is that it's my senior year in high school, and it's a huge turning point in life. What to do, where to go, what do I want, these are the questions that run through my mind and the minds of my peers. Obviously, since I'm on this website, I have an interest in the arts. But just having a passion for something is not enough, or so I'm told. You see, I have in mind to go to an art school after graduating this year. It's my goal, my ideal. And while there I want to increase my skill so that I can have a career in an artistic field. Another goal, another ideal. Of course, as wonderful as it sounds, it's far from easy.

This has been an issue with my parents, becoming more pronounced as I approach the end of high school. They are worried about me going into a field that isn't lucrative enough. I lost count of how many times I've heard them mention the figure of the starving artist. Yet is this really such an honest figure anymore? There are many on this website that make a profit from their art. Whether it be from selling their works, to doing illustration, design, concepts, artists can, and will make money. On the flipside, there are those who are as passionate about their art, yet they don't incorporate it into their career.

So how does one do it? I know that my parents are trying to help, they are worried that I'll waste a good education by not being successful. So how can I abate those fears, put those worries to rest, or at least make them less uneasy. My question for you deviants is:

How can I be a successful artist?

Sure, a Google search for art careers would help a bit, but I want to hear from the mouths of fellow artists. Tell me our thoughts, your ideas, your goals. Or maybe you think that art should be for art's sake, it shouldn't serve as a means to a means(money) to an end. Let me know what successful artist means to you. I'm listening.