Can I have a career on animation and comics without earning a degree through self-study?

Question

I will now graduate with a degree on Elementary Education. I am just wondering if I could be an animator with just pure talent. I can't really afford a course on animation. One professor on Fine Arts suggested me to self-study instead of entering a degree in fine arts because he said it is more practical since we could learn from a lot of books.

You may wonder why I took up the course education. I took it because we have a preschool and they wanted me to run it one of these days. But that won't really stop me from producing my own comics. I'm just wondering if how I could do it.

Answer 1

I think a degree in comics or illustration maybe a possibility but animation will be a lot tougher.

Animation is a more technical field and harder to self-study. Not only would you need all the equipment that is necessary to practice but there's a lot of principles and technical knowledge where taking courses would benefit you greatly.

However, for comics, definitely there's many different ways to get into a career without education.

The traditional method would be to make up a portfolio and then send submissions to all the major comic book publishers and hope to get hired as an artist. This method is all about practice, perseverance and hard work. You simply have to keep working at your art skills until your portfolio is top notch and then get your work noticed. It's a hard process and even some of the biggest names in comics had to submit dozens of times before they got their jobs. They would submit to the companies and hit all the major conventions to get pros to critique their work. I have friends who have tried this, they're all amazing artists but none of them have succeeded yet, so it's a tough undertaking for sure.

If you want to do your own book though, you'll need to self-publish.

With the internet, any person can self publish simply by writing a webcomic. Practice and once you get your art skills up, try your hand at writing your own comic, scanning it and then putting it up online. I tend to think the biggest issue with webcomics launching your career is that you have to be very good to begin with, otherwise you're just lost in a sea of other webcomics. You also have to handle everything yourself - from writing, drawing, inking, color (if you want) and typesetting. There's no one there to critique you so you can't really grow as much and it's hard to make money doing webcomics for a living without a big readerbase.

You could also always try to self-publish a real book. But unless you know you're ready, this is a huge financial risk. But a lot of people do it anyway. You can also try to hunt down an indie publisher or a small press comic company or even pitch a book to a traditional publisher if they're willing. If you're interested in doing this, you should go to a comic convention, particularly the ones dealing with Independents, Small Press and Alternative comics. Meet lots of creators and ask some questions to see if it's what you want to do.

Here's also an website you can read if you interested in breaking into the industry :
http://www.soyouwanna.com/SITE/syws/comics/comics.html

Good luck!

Answer 2

Actually, the answer to your question would have to be in two parts. Yes, you could enter into the comicbook field without a degree. I have been a comics illustrator for approximately 20 years on talent. It is a different story with animation. Practically all animation is done on computer now, with software that normally costs $5000 and up (which rules out self-teaching). So, formal training is pretty much the only way you're going to get access to the type of software you would have to become familiar with.

Answer 3

yes, you can. my former brother in law free-lanced based on his portfolio. he has done an inside cover on one of the first sugar ray albums and he has collaborated on DC comics more than once. if your art is good enough, they don't care about your education. get together a good portfolio, and in this day and age i'd set up a website as well. have some cards made up that have your website on them as well.

good luck! it's hard to break into as an unknown, but you can do it.

Answer 4

YOU MIGHT GET LUCKY!!!