I don't really belong here

[artistsdad]

Really, I don't--ya'll just came up on google when I was looking for graphic design forums. I'm just an interloper who finds ya'll quite interesting.

Actually, I was checking into the business to see what my daughter may have in store for her. She's a junior in high school and seems to be headed your way. I don't have a artistic bone in my body, so I figured I would pick your brains a bit on what we can do to help her out at this stage. She's going to votech (advertising design) 1/2 days and high school the other 1/2. Along with working part-time and being the "official seamstress" for a couple of her friends' bands

I asked a few questions on one of the forms here and was intrigued by the responses...soooooo I just sorta nosed around for awhile and found a rather warped group of folks--I like warped!

It's been interesting to find many of the complaints about your jobs seem to be universal these days--management expecting too much out of too few whilst they Imanagement) sit on their arses counting their nose hairs.

Hope ya'll don't mind if I stay around and interject now and then.

[cmont]

We don't mind one bit, welcome to the forum! Feel free to ask whatever you want. I think you'll find tht a lot of us are in different places of our careers when it comes to GD (Im still in college but I do freelance) so you'll have a good cross cut of people to talk to. Alot of us specialize in certain areas so you can have an idea about how broad the entire field really is. Most of all though, enjoy your stay!

[urstwile]

artiststdad, please stick around, and have your daughter join too, unless you think we're too warped for that.

I've read some of your posts, and you've been a very nice addition to the forums. So welcome. :)

[balou]

What a great Dad! Welcome and ask away. There's a broad range experience and industries represented here. And remember it's human nature to complain more than to praise - a lot of us love our jobs and what we do but this is a good place to vent. ;)

[artistsdad]

Urstwile--What?!?!? Have her join here? She would be mortally embarassed if she knew I was writing about her. And besides--the web is so old... You have to be able to be texted (is there such a word?--there is now) these days to be acceptable.

I've considered taking and posting pictures of the walls in her room (her favorite canvas for drawing/(and now the beginning stages of) painting), and I may yet. Should we refrain form painting over them when she goes to college (PLEASE let her go to college of some sort..) just in case she becomes famous?:rolleyes:

Since I'm dad and she's in high school, I, of course, am as dumb as a bump on a log. I have been toying with the idea of checking in with a couple of the (apparent) female types around here to see if they would be interested in corresponding with her, sorta as sounding boards for her, but I don't know if she would follow through. Like I said, the web and email is outmoded these days. ("Why, when I was a young'in, I had to wait hours for pages to load on my computer...we colored them by hand because the web was only black and white...I remember the 1st time I saw the ol' www--it was just plumb amazin' what could be done...and we had to keep the squirrels fed so the computer would keep working--when they quit running in that litle ol' wheel, the computer went out..why, I was so slackjawed when I moved up to the big time with my 56k modem...I tell ya, these young whippersnappers just don't appreciate what they've got these days.") Sorry, got a bit off course there. I just think it would be good for her to have a real world viewpoint from someone who's been there/done that. In the meantime, I just jump in now and then.

Thanks for making me feel welcome!

[Riya]

You get bonus points for being a cool dad. I was never allowed to draw on my walls. Your daughter will appreciate it later.

[budafist]

Your daughter is lucky to have a dad that takes an interest.

we colored them by hand because the web was only black and white

lol :D I love it!

[balou]

One more bonus point for using the word "whippersnapper." :D

[urstwile]

Urstwile--What?!?!? Have her join here? She would be mortally embarassed if she knew I was writing about her. And besides--the web is so old... You have to be able to be texted (is there such a word?--there is now) these days to be acceptable.

I've considered taking and posting pictures of the walls in her room (her favorite canvas for drawing/(and now the beginning stages of) painting), and I may yet. Should we refrain form painting over them when she goes to college (PLEASE let her go to college of some sort..) just in case she becomes famous?:rolleyes:

Since I'm dad and she's in high school, I, of course, am as dumb as a bump on a log. I have been toying with the idea of checking in with a couple of the (apparent) female types around here to see if they would be interested in corresponding with her, sorta as sounding boards for her, but I don't know if she would follow through. Like I said, the web and email is outmoded these days. ("Why, when I was a young'in, I had to wait hours for pages to load on my computer...we colored them by hand because the web was only black and white...I remember the 1st time I saw the ol' www--it was just plumb amazin' what could be done...and we had to keep the squirrels fed so the computer would keep working--when they quit running in that litle ol' wheel, the computer went out..why, I was so slackjawed when I moved up to the big time with my 56k modem...I tell ya, these young whippersnappers just don't appreciate what they've got these days.") Sorry, got a bit off course there. I just think it would be good for her to have a real world viewpoint from someone who's been there/done that. In the meantime, I just jump in now and then.

Thanks for making me feel welcome!
LOL, artistsdad, well I shudder to think. In fact, if I had been thinking at all, I wouldn't have even recommended it. Not that it would be a bad thing, but I guess it could be kinda weird. :rolleyes:

Anyway, you're a great dad for taking an interest, and please do stick around. She won't listen to a thing you have to say anyway, so you might as well learn some hip lingo to throw out at her when she least expects it. :)

[Broacher]

You can always just throw your teen off a mountain top.

Artistsdad, I've a daughter in the same age bracket who's prowling the college and university programs in preparation for a career choice. She's one of those A+ students in nearly everything but to be honest, she's far more interested in working creatively, with her hands--and in theatre.

This last weekend she took in a student's package for a big theatre company we have here which included a good tour of the props department. It's the first thing she's gone to where she could really visualize herself doing the work for a career. She also had a great chance to talk to the props director, a young woman, who answered all her questions and advised her on the best schools, and shared her e-mail address. It was a very valuable step. Person to person, in the workplace-- a very valuable experience for young people looking into career options.

One more thing-- don't be too scared by all the rants and gripes you read about here. Sure there are issues-- but that's true in just about everything you look at. I'm sure if you visited a doctor or lawyer or accountant forum, there would be just as many (per capita) complaints about the lack of respect, the long hours... the crowded tee-off schedules. Okay, well... almost as much.

For all it's faults as a career, design work offers so much more than a lot of other kinds of work does. It may not always reward innovation, but at least it recognizes it as important. It's also one of the few careers where you get a chance to explore and talk to a lot of other professionals as part of your work.

If there's one word of advice that I'm trying to get into my kid as well it's don't be afraid to roll in as many business courses as you can accommodate into your career plans. As with any creative profession, there's often more myth than reality floating about --especially the one about great talent is all you need. The sooner you understand basic business principles and protocols, the faster you'll succeed.

And if you do paint over those walls-- be sure to take some good photos first.

>>I don't have a artistic bone in my body<<

Bones are not much use to artists these days. The key is flexibility.

Also, I suspect that even if you don't have an artistic skeleton, there's something in the way you write that indicates to me a lot of artistic 'connective tissue'.

Tissue. That's what we'll both need once the tuition bills come in.

Good luck!

[panzer]

yes i go back abit myself artists dad you had squirrels eh

well to run my old computer i had Boy George on a treadmill with wires stuck up his callipygian and it cost me a few pennies to run and it wasnt very good now with all these new artists like "muse and whatever they can make pcs go a lot faster

nowadays with all this gigabytes its simply amazing

ahhhhhhh the old vic 20


(runs away from men in white coats back back i say)

[Broacher]

Vic 20 [snort]. Pup.

This was actually my very first PC: http://oldcomputers.net/sol-20.html

Only I couldn't afford the fancy case or keyboard. No case, and a surplus keyboard from another firm. And I had a whopping 8 kilobytes of RAM to play with (4 of which were dedicated to the BASIC OS).

As for a monitor-- it was a 10 inch used black and white 'portable' TV converted by getting into the guts of it. I bought mine in 1977. No hamsters were harmed in its construction.

[Drorain]

Mr. Dad, Its great that your interested in doing this for your daughter, I wish her the best. Its awesome she's in the voc. school, she's actually probably learning more than some people are in the colleges. I have mentored my little brother a little bit, he wants to get into video game design. I have guided him into taking the graphics program at his tech. high school so he could learn some of what is in the creative process, there is a great amount of overlap between the industries. Plus it's something to fall back on. In my experience his teachers are giving him instruction on programs, and how to run a press, these are very important, but they aren't teaching him the finer aspects of the actual design process. This is where college may help.

If you have questions about schools, ask away, we've all been through a variety of schools, some 2 year, some four year...some have learned simply on the job.

Good luck to you, and welcome to the forum

[morea]

what? This forum is about graphic design? Man, how embarassing.

;) Just kidding of course, artistsdad. You're very welcome to stick around! It's a fun place to get your crazy on, don'tcha think? :D

[(gra-ph!c-D'sig-nah)]

Welcome dad to the forum of forums!

[Broacher]

I just wanted to say that I don't really belong here either.

(kinda like Groucho saying any club that would have him as a member...)

[Logo-Mechanix]

Definitelt a cool dad, my dad always said how are you gonna make a living drawing pictures. Just for the record, dad in my world is an ex marine, Vietnam era. Once I started school and got better and better dad became one of my biggest supporters. I was still not allowed to paint on mt bedroom walls though. You will notice by the multiple fields represented around here that many industries probobly some you have never heard of employ people of our profession in one capacity or another. And yes we are a weird bunch but what artist isn't, at least I have both ears, for now.

[artistsdad]

ya'll make me seem like a jeenyus or sumpin':o ... I guess my wife and I are rebelling against the way we were raised--"because I SAID SO!" We decided early on to pick our battles and not sweat the small stuff. And we're still looking for the instruction manual the hospital said they would send when we brought the first one home. The second one has obviously been different model.

The walls can always be covered with another layer of paint. what's the big deal there?

Ya'll got me on earlier computers. I think my first was a TRS-80, if I remember properly. Wife wanted it--made her happy playing pong a few times. We've wasted more money on other things.

Daughter may not end up doing anything with this stuff. At least she's got an idea of what she wants to do. I still don't know what i wanna be when I grow up...

I just wish I could get her to take her high school more seriously (it's not MY fault that all the teachers are stupid and the administrators are incompetent--but I have to deal with the fall-out from it.) And having met with her teachers a couple of times, in one case, she is a very astute young lady. She has one teacher that I think wakes up in a new world every--ooh, shiny...!

Dang, I talk too much:o . Gotta go to work.

[Red Kittie Kat]

Sounds to me like your daughter has a pretty kewl Dad ;)

I don't belong here either ... but they put up with me for some unknown reason :D

Don't go anywhere darlin ... we like having ya around http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/RedKittieKat/smilies/bighug.gif

[daSnarf]

Hi there and good posts!

[Craig B]

Yup. Welcome. It's great that you take an interest in and foster your daughter's creativity.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

*karibu* artistsdad!

Lot's of big sisters on here to help out. You are a very cool dad.

All my dad said to me was "You decide what you want to do, and I will support you..."
When I made my choice he was apprehensive not quite understanding what Graphic Design was; he tried to steer me towards a career in banking!

[panzer]

i belong in an asylum for the seriuosly deranged but in a weird genuis proper gorg kind of way

any one for cricket
bye i must catch the bus im early

[Broacher]

I heard an interview with Ellen Burstyn on NPR yesterday. She's just published her memoirs. Sounds like a great read. But what a troubled life! Non-supportive mother, absent father, abusive step fathers. Robert Siegel asks her this very good question about whether or not her troubled upbringing helped her become a better actress.

She responded that it did help her achieve an emotional depth that others from perhaps, a more supportive background, would have trouble finding. She went on to say that she tells her acting students, "The time will come when you will thank your mother and father for your difficult upbringing."

Here's the interview, if anyone's interested: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6388248

[Exodus]

Sorry, I'm late getting to this thread. Even though you've been here awhile, Welcome! You must be a cool dad to join a forum to help your daughter! Maybe you will be inspired to design something of your own... then you can show your daughter and amaze the hell out of her!

I still don't know what i wanna be when I grow up...

Maybe this is it... ;)