I need some help with finding some online courses for Graphic Design because i graduate high school in a few weeks and I really wanna be a cartoonist post grad. Do online courses need to be joined before the fall? can they be taken year round? please help!

Man... Given my personal experience, I would strongly advise against a career in graphic design. Major in something else and take some side classes if you want to learn how the softwares and stuff work.

Lee wrote:Man... Given my personal experience, I would strongly advise against a career in graphic design. Major in something else and take some side classes if you want to learn how the softwares and stuff work.

How come?

Because the competition is fierce beyond words. Finding a job in the field that pays decent is just this side of impossible. I'd suggest to get a more steady bankable job and hone your design skills for a freelance side business.

^ i agree with that note

art is a very challenging field both in school and at work... not to put ur skills down and all and im sure ur ubber talented and really wanan get into the graphic design field but yeah - graphic design can be done without majoring in it? i would suggest learning how to use softwares that can hone ur skills in - not a teacher telling u oh thats a pass or fail ... i dunno thats just me on taking courses i know i can do better on the side.

during highschool and selecting a course: it was either classical animation/illustration or architectre/intertior design... logic stated that a more stable job and bi weekly paycheck and benefits - will derive on a stable field - i wish i couldve gone to comics when i was younger but then i wouldve starved..... literally...


as for graphic desing online course - yeah go for it! im not saying its a bad move - just saying its a tight field XD



i still suggest learning the programs - by that i mean get a course on say photoshop, 3dmax, illustrator - so that once u know how to use the software u can create whatever art/design u want

^ Those are pretty good points but It's not like I'm gearing up for a profession now, I might try getting a job till I get more experience and can make a career from that and stuff.

If I did it all over again I'd get a computer science degree and MINOR in animation. Reason being companies like Pixar constantly make their own programs and plug-ins for their programs.

So not only being useful to them as an animator but as a programmer..... more marketable.

Alas it's not to be... I can't stand math.

So I guess I'm suggesting find something that will support you getting to where you want to end up but will allow you to live if you fall short of your dream.

After taking photoshop class at AI, I realized that is one program anybody could teach themselves. Get the "Classroom in a Book" and it'll basically give you an easily understandable run down of the basics. When you want to start doing fancier stuff, look for tutorials online.

Lee wrote:Man... Given my personal experience, I would strongly advise against a career in graphic design. Major in something else and take some side classes if you want to learn how the softwares and stuff work.

Lee wrote:Because the competition is fierce beyond words. Finding a job in the field that pays decent is just this side of impossible. I'd suggest to get a more steady bankable job and hone your design skills for a freelance side business.

Lee is right. I have a degree in art with a concentration in graphic design, and I can't find shit for a job. I'm lucky to be processing data at Macy's. Everyone and their brother wants to be a graphic designer, and NOBODY wants to pay for design services anymore. And getting a job is all about who you know in this field, and even then that can only get you so far.

Sapphire Gypsy wrote:If I did it all over again I'd get a computer science degree and MINOR in animation. Reason being companies like Pixar constantly make their own programs and plug-ins for their programs.

So not only being useful to them as an animator but as a programmer..... more marketable.

Alas it's not to be... I can't stand math.

So I guess I'm suggesting find something that will support you getting to where you want to end up but will allow you to live if you fall short of your dream.

THIS is why I want to get my Master's in Computer Science. But with the way my life is going lately, I'll be lucky to know what general region of the country I'll be living in by next year.

Just to warn you, I have an Associate's in Graphic Design and a Bachelor's in Computer Art and it took me 8 years to get a job in that field. If you live near a bigger city, that might help only because there are more design houses, but it is an extremely tough field to get a job in.

I say go for it. lol. If you make yourself the best, you'll find a job. If you want to do it, do it full steam ahead, and do it every day, and hone your skills and be able to blow people out of the water. Seriously, it's like any art type thing. There is honestly no great grade A actor who goes unnoticed and lives a life bagging groceries, unless it's his own damn fault. If he doesn't put himself out there, sure he won't do it. But if he does, and goes after things, he'll make it. No one is going to turn him down because Johnny Depp already exsists.

So thats my advice. Go for it. But only if you're the best graphic designer ever.

lol but on a side note - u dont have to be the best to get things done :P like getting in the field - there will always be someone better :P fact! but just give it a shot

as for taking online course - check out some of ur local colleges first then go nation wide search - like from prov of bc or manitoba or even ontario - toronto has some really good graphic design courses



as a very side note i know of 4 people that took or taking graphic design

my youngest sister is going to her year one graphic design (4 year course) this fall - i actually encouraged her to take something up - she was interested in art and design so it was a match - there is a bachelor's degree she wants to do get into next year soo its a longish road but 4 years will fly by - lol


soo MY advise is go for it and good luck NO harm in trying right

Worst case scenario, we can collect all the Graphic Designers from PoP! and make our own design house.