In order to be an artist or writer, should I go back to school?

[mommyshoppinghabit]

I have a bachelors degree in biology, which was a field I did not want to study in the first place. Fast forward 12 years and two kids later, I have a little experience in fashion marketing and a few writing courses under my belt. I'm creative and really good in writing. I know I am artistic but don't have the training to put my visions down on paper or any other media for that matter. My kids are now 4 and almost 2 and they are already both in school 6 hours a day but as it is I find it still so hard to manage my time well. I just know there's very little prospect of careers in either of these fields so is it worth it to go back to school for these two subjects? I know I could just wing it without a degree but in writing, if I send out inquiry letters to magazines, who will want me to write for them w/o any other publications having published me? And in art, would I have to enroll in a full time undergrad degree? There's a bunch of good art schools in the city near me. I'm interested in mixed media and video and possibly fashion design. I could just teach myself, but like I said, not great at time management and I'm quite a perfectionist to boot. Not to even mention that neither of these fields compensate very well, not that that is a major motivation for going back to school/work. Could someone please advise?

[GuildJenn]

The first thing you need is some focus.

If you're not good at time management, please don't become a freelance writer. You can be the best writer in the world but if you consistently miss deadlines lots of editors will not work with you. I'm an editor (web) and I know!

You're right that as a freelance writer your clips would be more important than a degree, and traditionally you could start by working for a very local publication for peanuts and working your way up. But right now the industry is in chaos so it's hard to know what to tell you. I would anticipate that as magazines go belly-up and websites still barely pay for themselves when they pay everyone peanuts, freelance rates will either stagnate or go down. So I don't think riches are necessarily in the future. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

I do know writers who have leveraged a blog in order to get paying gigs, and the great thing about that is you can start one free (other than your time) any time, but I don't know how common an experience that will end up being. Whatever you do please don't publish on eHow and then call yourself an expert. By the way it's a query letter, not an inquiry.

If you're looking for an actual job in a fashion magazine on the editorial side then fashion design would probably be a benefit, or going to work for a stylist. But be warned that those jobs are not super family-friendly; they involve not only showing up 9-5 for work but showing up for events, shows, etc. It is really really fast-paced.

Now I'm not a graphic designer or an artist, but I think good graphic designers are worth their weight in gold, so that might be something to look into, and I think in that case a good post-secondary programme in design that teaches all the standard tools and software would be a great idea.

[craft_media_hero]

Art classes are soooo much fun! And you can learn to DRAW! Or paint or whatever you are interested in. You may have to take the pre-reqs where you learn a lot but don't get as much creative choice before you get to the really good stuff, like the figure drawing or mixed media. IMO, yes, you can get "better" by reading books and just practicing drawing a lot, but I really do think that having a mentor to show you the tricks and classmates to talk about your work with is really important and will grow your skills much faster.

I can't speak for writing; I don't have experience working with that. I did go to undergrad for studio art and now art history. I LOVED the BFA program, but it was a lot of really hard work, and I had to make some difficult choices concerning my family (like dd being in daycare for some pretty long days) during the last couple of years, where it got really intense. Whether you choose to go for the whole enchilada or not is a tough decision, but taking one or two classes a semester can be fun, low pressure, and VERY educational. That way you can get some pre-reqs under your belt, build up some nice pieces for a portfolio, and then decide if you want to keep going.

Whether you need a degree or not is dependent on where you'll be applying. I know people who work full-time in the arts and only have an associates or are undegreed. I do think that my BFA gives me an edge on my resume if I'm going in cold to a position where the people wouldn't already be familiar with my work, not to mention all the practical stuff I learned during the classes.

If you have those great art schools around you, and you are able to take a class or two at a time, then go for it! It's not likely that you will regret taking an art class, if you are interested in it!

[*MamaJen*]

Well, I'm a newspaper editor, and our freelance budget is pretty small, but we do hire some freelancers. It's true that you need clips to get writing gigs. If you're serious about wanting to do it -- and please don't start if you're not sure you want to follow through -- then it's relatively easy to get published in small or local publications. Is there a free parenting magazine, a small local newspaper, or something along those lines in your area? Maybe a locally oriented website? Contact them and offer to do some writing for free. Let them know what kind of topics you feel you could write about, or tell them your areas of expertise. Then you may be able to parlay those clips into paid freelance work. I get people coming in pretty frequently offering to work for clips, and take some of them up on the offer. But often I can tell they weren't really serious about it -- they frequently don't follow up.
The experience is really helpful too. There are many different styles of writing, but if you're talking about doing long-form magazine stories, that is a craft. Even if you're a naturally talented writer, it's rare to be able to sit down and write a top-notch story in magazine style with no experience. You don't necessarily need classes to do it, but on the ground experience helps.
We're a medium-sized paper. I wouldn't offer someone a paid freelance job if they didn't have any clips. I probably would let them try to write a story unpaid, and run it if it was decent. Depending on how they did, I might or might not offer them more work.
But in general, it never hurts to ask.

[schreiberwriter]

A few thoughts.....

Just because you feel disorganized with your current workload doesn't mean you can't become more organized or wouldn't be more organized in a different environment. I'm a good example of that.

A journalism degree can be very helpful. I don't have a journalism degree but work with those who do and see that they learn different writing style, the mechanics of writing well and critical thinking skills. These skills can equip someone to go many different directions.

Proposal writing is a skill set that is in demand even in this economy. Many times, it can pay the bills. It's sales writing as well as technical writing. With your background in biology, you would adapt well to proposal writing in the health care field or a medical writer perhaps.

Blogging is an excellent way to get yourself writing, connect with other writers. Blogger is an easy to implement platform for blogging. PM me if you want more info.

good luck