The journey thus far...

I've decided to start writing a blog to talk about my path to freelancing/self-employment in the Digital Design world. I have a regular job now that isn't too bad, but it's not my dream job either. Self-employment as a digital designer is my goal, and this blog is going to be my medium for discussing my journey there.

For starters, I'll give you a little bit of background on me. I've always been interested in both art and computers, with the two topics constantly struggling for dominance in my brain. The natural solution would have been to get into computer arts long ago, but I hesitated. I think part of it is that 20 years ago, computer art looked...well, computer generated! We've come a long way since then...but I'm getting ahead of myself!

In High School, I studied both computer and art. I'm a graduate of the class of 1990, so computer-wise, I was trained on larger systems with now antiquated languages. The PC was just coming of it's own when I graduated and left for the Air Force.

You would think I'd gain computer knowledge there, but lets just say my job didn't involve computers at all! I'm not sure how much more I should/could say, but it's not like I was a spy or anything cool like that. Anyway, I spent a good 4 years of my life in the military trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. The answer came to me while on temporary duty in Germany back in 1994.

I was at someones housewarming party (or something like that) where some of the kids were showing off some trading cards. They happened to be Marvel Comics cards, showing the various characters and such. It reminded me of my own youthful love of comics and one-time dream of becoming a comic book artist. Then it all hit me. I had this skill set that I wasn't even using! What the heck was wrong with me? The start of my path became clear.

I left the military later that year (with an Honorable Discharge, I didn't get thrown out!) and moved back home to Northeastern Pennsylvania. I took a horrible factory job. I had to finish paying for my car! It didn't take me long to realize that I hated the factory job, and regardless of where I worked, I'd be miserable. I needed something more. So, once the car was paid off, I enrolled in the art program at a local community college. It turns out this was one of the best decisions of my life!

I thought I was a pretty decent artist before I went to school, which I was, but there were many that were better. It was sometimes discouraging, but many more time, inspiring. I met a lot of great people there, learned the difference between a great art teacher and an artist who teaches, and drastically improved my skills. I didn't really want to leave, but it was only a 2-year school, so I couldn't drag it out forever. Fate stepped in and pretty much forced me out anyway...

I graduated in 1998. My graduation present (ok, not really, it's a joke!) from my girlfriend at the time was the news that she was pregnant. Starving Artist is not a good profession for a prospective father, so I had to put my hopes and dreams on the back-burner for a while to do what was best for my family to be. Later that year, on Christmas Day to be exact, our daughter was born, and she was and still is beautiful in every sense of the word!

I moved through a few jobs, eventually finding one that paid pretty decent and satisfied at least part of my interests, that being computers. Still, it lacked creativity, and that side of me was crying for attention. To satisfy it, I again returned to school, this time, and online college. Further, I finally merged my two interests and enrolled as a digital multimedia design major. It had it's ups and downs, but I learned a lot about the software tools and how I can use them to bring my ideas to life. Like many of us, I'm still learning! I graduated from the school late last year, so here I am, armed with a Bachelor's degree, but still at the same job.

Long post, eh? Sorry...I had some things to get out! Anyway, this is my starting point. I've done some little things here and there which I'll cover in future posts, but overall, from this day forth, I'll be blogging about my journey. Here you'll share in my successes and failures, and I hope you'll comment along the way!