People might think your major is a walk in the park, but you know the struggle is real. Whether it's visual or fine arts, things can get tough. Don't listen to the critics (unless it's for a class) and keep doing you.
1. Supplies are really freaking expensive.
OK, you can find some really cheap art supplies but they're never the brand your professor's require you to get or the quality of supplies that would make your work look even remotely good. Paying $30 for a set of five 2 oz. acrylics, plus sketchbook, plus a palette knife, plus paintbrushes, and everything else: bank account drained.
2. Caffeine is your significant other.
Contrary to popular belief, art isn't that easy and it takes a really long time. Whether it's a studio art project or digital project, art projects take a really long time. To get through the long nights, caffeine becomes your best friend. After getting little to no sleep, and consuming excess amounts of caffeine, your state of mind is definitely off. But this is how the best art is made, right? Let's just keep telling ourselves that while we get another coffee.
3. You hope that you still have friends after all of your projects are done.
Sometimes, you have to hole up in the studio to get all your work done, only emerging in the very late hours of the night. When this happens, you can go without seeing your friends for days at a time. When you finally finish it all, you start to worry if your friends even like you anymore (even though you know they do).
4. The dreaded rainbow pinwheel of death.
Graphic design majors, I know you feel this one on a spiritual level. You're in the middle of a project with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Indesign open simultaneously, and when the rainbow pinwheel pops up you might as well take the loss. Trying to open these programs on a PC? Don't even get me started.
5. Flash drives are your lifeline.
You have at least three flash drives and probably an external hard drive too. If any of these break, your life is pretty much over. All the hard work is gone and there's a strong chance there's nothing you can do about it. I can guarantee your professors won't be sympathetic because you should have had a backup, right?
6. You're proud of your work until you have to show everyone.
Most times, when you love a project you're working on, you don't love it when you have to put in it front of the class and professor for critique. The comparison is the bane of every art major's existence. What you loved the night before suddenly becomes not so great when you put it next to all the other projects. It's hard not to compare yourself, but remember someone else in the room is probably envious of what you made.
7. Most of your clothes have stains on them.
Remember the last time you dressed nicely for an art class? Yeah, me neither. More than likely any clothes you wear to an art class are goners. RIP favorite jeans.
8. People always ask to look at your sketchbook.
More often than not, we just don't think our art is good enough to show people. It's nothing against you.
9. Portfolio reviews.
Aka: search all night to find the work you thought you still had and praying for the best. You're used to being critiqued, this will be a walk in the park right? *walks out holding back tears*
10. Everything looks good on screen and then you print it out...
Work on screen: 10/10. Work after it's printed out? Not even close. The colors are off, the picture is pixelated. I swear, professor, it didn't look like this on screen. Ugh.
11. People always asking what you want to do after college.
You never know what to say, so you're just like: "uhm...make art?"
