CAREER INFORMATION > CAREER OVERVIEWS
ANIMATION & COMPUTER ANIMATION
Animation is the process of drawing sequential pictures which, when assembled, form a moving image over time. In the past, this work was done by hand with teams of artists creating literally thousands of drawings for a cartoon, ad, or film. These days, more and more animation work is done on a computer which can speed up the process while also increasing the complexity of the images and the lengths of a film. Consequently, there has been an explosion in the field of animation, with many more people employed in it now than ever before. Strong, facile drawing skill is a must for entry into this field, as is an ability to work on the same project for an extended period of time with a team of other artists.
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ARCHITECTURE
Architecture is the process of creating the three-dimensional spaces we live and work in - ranging from houses to schools to offices to stores. The work involves a combination of creativity, spatial ability, drawing skill, and knowledge of materials, structures and construction methods. There are many good books written about architecture so we have not profiled that field here. In the Resources chapter of this book, you will find contact information for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), which publishes an excellent guide to the study of architecture. We also recommend the book Architect? A Candid Guide to the Profession, by Roger K. Lewis, MIT Press.
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ART DIRECTION
Art Direction is a branch of graphic and communication design which has an over-arching aspect to it. Art Directors are, in a sense, visual choreographers, seeing to all aspects of large-scale graphic projects. Magazines, television stations, and most large corporations usually employ Art Directors to ensure consistency, creativity, and an overall “look” for all the visual products created by the company. Art Directors almost always start their careers in graphic design or commercial art, and then combine that ability with good management skills. Leadership skills are also necessary, because an Art Director is usually supervising teams of artists, designers, and photographers.
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ART EDUCATION
Art Education is a field that combines your visual skills and teaching ability to help students of all ages learn art and design. A large portion of this field works in the K-12 arena, where a solid and relatively broad visual education is required in order to cover a wide range of subjects for all students. There is also considerable teaching taking place in colleges and universities, museums, and community centers across the country. Salaries and working formats will vary accordingly in this field. Most formal teaching jobs will require graduate degree as well. Over the next decade there is expected to be a very large demand for K-12 art teachers, as the school-age population increases and current, older faculty retire. (Art Therapy is a related field in which a specific graduate degree is required.)
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CARTOONING
Cartooning is the creation of stylized or simplified drawings for the purpose of telling a story, making a point, or making people laugh. One form of this work is the editorial or humor cartoon, such as seen on the Op Ed pages of newspapers or in magazines such as the New Yorker. Another familiar form is the comic book; dramatic or fantastic stories told through a series of drawings. Good drawing skill obviously is essential in this field, as is an ability to make those drawings expressive and engaging.
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CERAMICS & CLAY
As we suggested at the start of this chapter, ceramics is an area with many outlets. It can range from exquisite, complicated single pieces of sculpture to useful mass-produced household items. Clay can be manipulated in ways that most people cannot imagine. No matter what the end product, working with this material involves not just a solid three-dimensional ability, but a technical knowledge of how clay and glazes function.
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COMPUTER GRAPHICS & DIGITAL IMAGING
Unlike other art forms, computer art is a relatively new development, paralleling the rise of the personal computer starting in the mid-80s. The recent dramatic increase in computing power has made this technology ubiquitous in our daily lives and in art and design fields. Digital design was once limited to graphics and publishing, and often functioned as simply a faster and more mechanical version of traditional graphic design. But over the last decade, the field has evolved to stand on its own as a distinct area of work, and now also involves new and interactive media as well (see that career area below). Regardless of the technology used, electronic art has as its foundation the same skills in composition, color, typography, and communication as all other areas of design.
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DRAWING
Drawing is probably be the oldest art form in existence. Today, it is not only a basic means of communication and idea development among artists and designers, but still an fine art form in its own right. Like painting and photography, it can be an expressive and personal, communicative and provocative, colorful and varied.
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ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Environmental Design is an area that extends interior design in broader directions, often with elements of architecture and graphic design included. As the name implies, it involves creating the entire environment of a space, whether inside or outside. Much of this work is in commercial projects, where it may cover lighting, signage, traffic patterns, furniture, and much more - in short, anything that shapes a space for human use. Three-dimensional and spatial abilities are key in this field, as is an understanding of social and human processes.
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FASHION DESIGN
The simple definition of fashion design is that it is the invention of the clothes we all wear all the time. However, that does little justice to the complexity and creativity involved in bringing clothes to the marketplace. Fashion design involve a sensitivity to tastes and trends, to construction techniques and fabric characteristics, and to shape and color. It is the process of drawing these various components together to create something new and exciting for people to wear. This work can be done on a relatively small and personal scale, where the designer can be responsive to the individual customer. Or it can range up to the sophisticated and large-scale activities of Seventh Avenue, where life can be hectic and competitive. Good drawing and color skills, plus a knowledge of fabric and form, are essential.
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FILM & VIDEO
Like many other areas of art and design, film and video can encompass a wide range of formats and approaches. At one end of the spectrum are fine arts-oriented films and videos. At the other end are full-scale Hollywood productions such as “Good Will Hunting” (directed by Gus Van Sant, a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design). And in between those are video installations, independent films, documentaries, and many other variants of the same media. Accordingly, describing the work environment in these areas is rather difficult, since it covers such a wide territory. Imagination and technical knowledge are pre-requisites here.
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FINE ARTS
Fine arts is really a huge area encompassing almost everything that artists create for themselves. We have given it a separate heading below in order to focus on aspects of fine art that do not easily fit into the standard categories of painting, sculpture, and so on. The people below have found new ways to combine various aspects of fine arts or have created entirely new avenues for their own work, all of it growing from a solid visual arts foundation. For all of them, fine arts is an expressive process, a way to say things or to provide commentary on our daily lives.
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FURNITURE DESIGN & WOODWORKING
As with ceramics above, this is an area that can range from single objects in a crafts or fine arts mode, to mass-produced pieces sold through commercial showrooms. Much of the work, particularly in smaller quantities, is done in wood, while the more commercial work is often produced in metal and plastic as well. This field requires a thorough knowledge of the materials being used, coupled with a strong three-dimensional ability.
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GLASS & GLASS BLOWING
Here too, as with other crafts areas, work in this field ranges from individual, personal “fine art” pieces to large-scale projects and multiple pieces for commercial clients. And here, too, the employment opportunities cover the same wide range. In glass, the artist’s visual abilities (color and form) combine with a technical knowledge of how the material performs during use.
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GRAPHIC DESIGN & COMMUNICATION DESIGN
This is one of the largest and most diverse of all the visual fields. Often called graphic design, it is now frequently referred to as communication design or visual communications, to more fully suggest the central role of communication in this field of work. Graphic design can cover virtually anything — including ads, magazines, signage, Web site, packages, or corporate identity systems — that involves combining words and images to communicate something to others. A strong sense of composition and color are essential, but so is experience in communication theory, sociology, and problem-solving. Some professionals in this field work on their own in a free-lance mode, although many work with others in offices (large or small) for corporate clients. (See also computer graphics above.)
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ILLUSTRATION
Illustration is the process of applying an image (usually drawing or painting) to a communications problem, usually for an outside client. Great skill in drawing and painting are central to this area of work. Projects can range from Op Ed illustrations, to drawings for ad campaigns, to images that accompany magazine articles. Illustration is a relatively diverse field — it can come quite close to graphic design, in that it can sometimes involve the use of typography and page layouts, and it also can come quite close to fine arts in that a drawing or painting may be nearly indistinguishable from non-commercial work.
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INDUSTRIAL DESIGN & PRODUCT DESIGN
Industrial or product design combines a technical/mechanical ability with skills in three-dimensional art and problem-solving, to create objects that answer customer and client needs. As a recent cover story in Time Magazine demonstrated, the designer can touch all aspects of our daily lives. Cars, household appliances, medical equipment, computers — nearly any three-dimensional object — can benefit from and be improved with designer input. As with graphic design, work in this field can be varied; solo and freelance-based, or part of a larger design firm.
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INTERIOR DESIGN & INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
Interior design and interior architecture touch on virtually every aspect of the shape, color, and usefulness of interior spaces. Although often thought of as limited to residential design, in fact much of the field is involved with commercial design for offices, stores and institutions. This design work requires knowledge of lighting, furniture, manufacturing and materials, regulations such as the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), computer aided design (CAD), and specialized client needs. As with most other design areas, the settings can range from single-person practices to large, diverse offices with many designers.
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MULTI-MEDIA & NEW MEDIA
This is a broad, new, evolving area incorporating combinations of computers, video, television, and interactive media. As a field with somewhat blurred boundaries, it has some basis in the fine arts but mainly makes use of design skills and computers. Communication is usually at the center of this work, so students are aided by a knowledge of graphic design and visual theory, as well as computer software.
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METALS & JEWELRY
Like the other crafts areas described above, light metals and jewelry offer many possibilities for working and creating. Some people concentrate on making unique objects for a single customer. Others move into larger-scale designs for a wider market, such mass-produced jewelry or table settings. The work settings parallel this format, ranging from single-artist studios to larger companies. But in all cases, a knowledge of the materials must combine with a sophisticated sense of form and style.
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NEW GENRE & PERFORMANCE
This field first appeared in the 1960s as a melding of sculpture and theater, driven by artists who wanted to escape the static limitations of the pure sculptural object. It has now expanded further to encompass site installations and video and almost any other new medium, and so remains a diverse and fluid area of the fine art. Some work created in this area is quite temporary; that is, it may only exist for the duration of the performance itself, with only the memory of the experience lingering. Other work is more lasting and is now being collected by museums and galleries. It is often humorous, often challenging, and almost always “tells a story.”
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PAINTING
One of the oldest art forms, painting is constantly evolving as a means of investigation and expression. This field captures the full range of visual expression, from assembled, built-up, large-scale, almost three-dimensional abstract works, to traditional figurative oil paintings, and everything imaginable in between. Almost always this is a solitary undertaking, involving considerable time alone in the studio. Like other fine art forms, success and fame can come quickly to some people or they can be elusive and slow to arrive for other artists. In the end, regardless of remuneration, it is the pleasure and the challenge of visual expression that drives all painters.
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PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography is the process of fixing an image in time. In the past, this was done on a piece of film exactly as the artist saw it. Now, however, many artists also alter and manipulate their photographs, or use digital cameras and other new technology to produce all manner of images from light. As a field, photography is also quite varied, ranging from fine arts-based work that appears in galleries to commercial photography and photo-journalism. Naturally, employment opportunities are just as varied.
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PRINTMAKING
Printmaking — whether intaglio, lithography, silkscreen, woodcuts, or other formats — is a process of transferring a drawing to a form of relief and then to multiple hand-made images. At its core is drawing and color, although photography is often used now as well. As with other fine arts media, this is a personal and expressive art form driven by the artist’s individual interests. Work is usually sold through galleries and other commercial venues, and will also appear in museums.
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SCULPTURE
Sculpture is fine arts work executed in three-dimensions. It can be large or small, personal or political, realistic or abstract, but it is always about manipulating material (mass) and the space around it. Galleries or museums are typical avenues for showing this work, but sculptors can often support themselves with private and public commissions of their work. An understanding of form and color and spatial relationships is critical to this endeavor.
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TEXTILES & FIBERS
This area can range from screen printing on flat textiles, to weaving with threads and yarns on a loom, to assembling three-dimensional pieces with various fibers, and from unique crafts pieces, to commissioned constructions, to large-scale textile manufacturing. It almost always involves use of color and composition, and may be done in connection with furniture or interior designers as well. Employment opportunities range from individual craftsperson to commercial designer.
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TRANSPORTATION DESIGN
Transportation design is a specialized offshoot of industrial or product design. Although often thought of as simply car design, this area of study now is broadening to include other forms of transportation such as motorcycles, buses, recreational vehicles, and even bicycles. It combines some mechanical and practical knowledge with artistic three-dimensional abilities. The work is most often with corporations, either as a staff designer or as a consultant to those corporations.
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OTHER SPECIALIZATIONS & RELATED FIELDS
Some areas of art and design are quite specialized and rare, and therefore are not given a full review here. This would include areas such as art administration or gallery administration and museum studies, which combine art or art history knowledge with administrative or management skills. Medical Illustration (drawing and painting in service to the medical professions) is another highly specialized area offered by only a handful of schools. Toy design is a new and growing area - previously related only to traditional children’s toys, it now includes computer and interactive game design. Many artists and designers also move into tangential areas such as theater, music, art history and criticism, and creative writing, a few of whom are profiled below.
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