“Any Plans For After College?”

I’m more than positive we all have heard the saying

“What do you plan to do after college?”

And I’m not sure if this directly applies to you all specifically, but for me, it always ends up being followed up with

“Oh I see, but thats such a difficult field to find work in; you’ll be struggling your whole life.”

(A mild exaggeration, but you get my point)

As someone who wishes to go into the creative field, you’d think I would know how the job market is, right? Especially after studying for 3 years (almost 4) to better myself for this field; yes I am aware. I am aware that this field is very open ended and not as demanding. I am aware and prepared to not immediately have a job waiting for me after college (unless some magic miracle happens), but I have been told countless times that it is ok. And it really is!

Several illustrators graduated from college without work waiting immediately for them.  Calef Brown for example took a year off to just step back and re-evaluate his style.

In fact many artists take breaks to figure things out and its really ok. I really just wish people would stop telling me things that I already know. Granted they all care about me and want me to do well, but telling me

“Oh you are going to be so poor!”

But as of now that isn’t going to stop me from doing what I enjoy; yes its a struggle to create creative and good content, but life is a struggle, tell me something I don’t know.

That being said I am already thinking about part time jobs/careers that I could do that will allow me to earn some sort of income. This may sound silly, but if I can, I would like to work as a Librarian.

*S C R E E C H*

A librarian!? I know, I know, that is basically saying I want to be a teacher and we all know how the educational system treats them and how “well” they are paid. It’s crazy I know, but for me, it just seems like something I could do. Specifically if I can become an Elementary School Librarian.

While yes older kids frighten me because I feel like I have to impress them and make them think I am “cool” (damn I am old), but its a judgement complex I have thats a whole other thing. If I could get a job as an Elementary School Librarian, I think it be pretty fun and a great way to share and pass on creativity through stories.

“Well why don’t you be an Art Teacher?”

Because art isn’t exactly an easy subject to teach; I have realized that through past experiences and seeing how my current professors are doing. Though it is still very rewarding, I don’t think I have the organization capacity to be a teacher teacher.

As a librarian I could encourage the joy of reading and pass along the magical worlds that exist beyond the pages (cheesy; I am aware). I remember going to the library about once a week, give or take, back in my Elementary School and how much I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was so calming and we would always start with our librarian reading us stories before we would be set free for about 20-25mins to browse and choose up to 3 books we wanted to check out. Everything was so well organized by genre, difficulty level (indicated by colored stickers on the spines) and had such a vast amount of options. I remember actually finding several hidden gems that I went back and looked for to re-read many a times, even today I am collecting ones I loved to read.

The more I talk about it, the more it seems very plausible and enjoyable. Just think, a freelance illustrator who wants to create children’s books, I could create different stories to read to classes; illustrating and creating my own self publish books just for them. Not only that, but I could recommend so many classics and pass along ones that I was always a huge fan of. So if you really think about it, I am kind of indirectly doing what I originally wanted to do as an Illustrator; just in a different approach to it.

We can only wait and see what happens I suppose, but overall, I know life is going to be a struggle. Life was never meant to be easy; I have to take it one day at a time.

What did you all want to be when you grew up? Are you doing that now? Please feel free to share 🙂