My father went to Art School in India, and despite being an incredibly gifted documentary photographer -- he even won a Magnum Photos Prize in India for his works on the Indo-Pak War in 72--, he bared scraped by. Eventually he ended up working at night to take the GRE, TOEFL Exams and came to America to get his Bachelors in Engineering.
Right from childhood (I was born in America), he groomed me to be an Engineer also, despite seeing a talent in me also for art (fine arts) and sports (basketball). I was angry (at him) as a child, but now, I am very grateful.
What lot of these articles also fail to mention, is that a "Career in Art" is mostly scrapping by for 90%+ of the graduates. We only see the top 10% or so and think it's great money, fame etc etc. They also fail to mention that during economic downturns (think recession every 8 to 10 years) the 1st thing that consumers will cut back on, is in the art, luxury area. So even very successful painters, artists will see drastically reduced income during these times.
Right from childhood (I was born in America), he groomed me to be an Engineer also, despite seeing a talent in me also for art (fine arts) and sports (basketball). I was angry (at him) as a child, but now, I am very grateful.
What lot of these articles also fail to mention, is that a "Career in Art" is mostly scrapping by for 90%+ of the graduates. We only see the top 10% or so and think it's great money, fame etc etc. They also fail to mention that during economic downturns (think recession every 8 to 10 years) the 1st thing that consumers will cut back on, is in the art, luxury area. So even very successful painters, artists will see drastically reduced income during these times.