Careers for Creative Thinkers

By Thea Van Schalkwyk

Not many school leavers are aware that art as a ‘gateway’ subject, just like science and mathematics, can enable them to become top earners. This guide introduces over 30 well-paying careers for creative thinkers by transposing the reader into the shoes of an actual practitioner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thea Van Schalkwyk
• Release date: Sep 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370754366

Thea Van Schalkwyk

My name is Thea Van Schalkwyk. I am an art consultant and art educator.I was born into the world of creativity. I was introduced to the intriguing and often complex world of artists and their beautiful creations at a very young age. This foundation lead me to study art at university and also to teach art. I learned about the business side of art thought the family gallery and was lucky enough to work with many great artists. I now own my own art consultancy and have a special interest in career development for those interested in art. I provide special career guidance to learners with creative minds and have written a guide called Careers for Creative Thinkers to make school leavers aware of the many career options available to those who might not specifically be into, or enjoy, mathematics and science.The guide is almost like a journal of conversations I have had with more than 30 international visual arts practitioners that are currently benefiting from rewarding and well-paying careers. I use a novel approach to make the reader experience a day in the life of each practitioner – by means of a simple 30-minute fun project capturing the essence of the career.Learners from all around the world are responding very positively to this new fun guide!For the younger children I have developed a series called 'Lucy and the Fairies' READ & DRAW which consists of 5 individual short fairy stories where the child is invited to listen to the story and then make a drawing of it. The drawings can then be sent to my creative art website at Hotskills: www.hotskillsblogblog.wordpress.com for a positive, encouraging reply (for free).Hope that you too will find my career guide and activity books valuable and fun!Kind regardsThea van Schalkwyk

Book preview

Open your eyes to the world around you…

What do you see? A world filled with color and art! Just look at the modern cities we live in today – the high-rise buildings, the electronic billboards and the glitzy shop windows, or just look at the people in the streets – the trendy labels they wear, the expensive jewelry they buy and the electronic devices they amass. Just about everything contains elements of art!

We live in a world where there is a growing demand for goods and services provided by those blessed with the gift of creativity. Art as a ‘gateway’ subject, just like science and mathematics, can enable school leavers to become top earners.

Today, people are willing to pay for stylishly designed goods and consumer items with visual appeal – and equally, many people are forging lucrative careers from delivering innovative solutions and creative designs.

Art is everywhere and it is here to stay!

About this guide

This guide is for school leavers who wish to use their creative minds to earn a good living. It aims to reveal some of the many opportunities out there in the world of art and design that could provide a fulfilling career as well as an above-average income. This is achieved in a new way – by literally transferring the reader into the lives of existing artists and designers who are enjoying the benefits of an interesting and lucrative career as we speak.

By participating in a special mini project, you will be placed in the shoes of a specific art practitioner for 30 minutes.

This will put you in a position to evaluate a number of different careers objectively, and then narrow down a list of potential career options – until you can pinpoint the one that is just right for you.

How to use this guide

Here are a few pointers on how to use this guide. The guide is based on an exciting new approach which will ensure realistic assessments of the chosen careers, whilst having fun at the same time.

People will often say: My job ...it’s great! I love what I do! and neglect to mention their daily frustrations – the impossible boss, problem clients, difficulty with the selling of products or simply the soul-destroying monotony. We need to be more critical than that – and really make sure you do not only understand what a career is all about, but also what a day in the life of the practitioner actually feels like. After all, this could be the opportunity that determines how happy you are for the rest of your life!

The more you put into this guide – the more you will get out of it.

I am lucky to constantly meet individuals who have very interesting professions and who live well above the breadline. They all work hard and are good at what they do. I have had open discussions with them over the years to find out more about their lives and their work, and have developed an understanding of what it must be like to be in their shoes (and studios!) on a daily basis.

The individual practitioners of each career option developed a short 30-minute mini project. This captures the essence of the good as well as the bad. It is designed to give you a quick, very representative feeling of what that job is really like.

Start off by simply reading about all the interesting careers in this guide – and meet all my wonderful friends (oh, by the way, to protect their identities I have changed their names). This will put you in a good position to shortlist some of the careers you think you might be interested in. You can explore a few or go through all of them. Make a note of those which have immediate appeal to you.

Now, dive in and start doing the 30-minute mini projects provided at the end of your shortlisted careers. These compact little projects were specially designed so that you will need nothing more than an A4 sheet of paper, a pencil and 30 minutes to complete it. Sometimes you will also need access to the Internet, but that is in the minority of cases.

The aim is to do as well as you can, but most importantly, to consider all the different additional aspects mentioned in the brief. Think about the aspects that will energize you and fuel your imagination while you do the mini project, but also think about those ‘real-life’ aspects mentioned in the brief that will raise your stress levels such as ‘problem clients’, unrealistic management expectations, deadlines and budget constraints.

These factors were specifically added to help you weigh up the ‘positive’ versus the ‘negative’ aspects of that specific career.

You should constantly ask yourself while you do the mini project: Can I do this? Can I do this year in and year out for the rest of my life? Will I continue to enjoy this and get better at it as I go along? Is this me?

Sit back and answer these questions once you have completed the mini projects (be very honest with yourself):

Do the aspects of this career really interest me?

Does this career include aspects I know are ‘not me’?

Can I do this long term and stay energized?

Be careful not to get too excited about the positive aspects of the mini project. Force yourself to think about the inevitable everyday negatives that will be part of it. Try to balance the pros and the cons in your mind. Remember, the actual results of the mini project are not as important as how it makes you feel…

The golden rule is: Listen to that little voice inside you!

Now, dive in and have fun!

Chapter 1: Games Developer

Would you like to work in the super creative field of computer game development? Can you come up with new ideas on how to improve current computer games? Would you enjoy working on your own or within a group aimed at bringing the next great computer game to the world? Do you see innovative new computer games make the headlines and think, This is me! This is what I want to do!

Then … read on!

Description

A games developer uses art, design and animation programming to create, develop and produce games for social media or online entertainment, interactive games on personal computers, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and arcade games. Even though this is a fast-paced industry, it may take a couple of years to fully develop a product ready for marketing. Games development is often an ongoing process with enhancements (or sequels) built on previous versions. It requires innovative minds constantly thinking about how the game’s ‘life’ can be extended by keeping it relevant and engaging.

A games developer has many roles, needs to consider many aspects and is normally a specialist within this field. Typically, the games developer needs to think about all the individual phases of producing a marketable end product. This includes developing the central idea or plot, choosing the characters and the settings, creating the different levels and scenarios, programming and animation, testing and fine-tuning, packaging and marketing

Meet Ju-long Kuo, a games developer

Ju-long is a former student of mine. I taught him while working at a private school in South Africa about twenty years ago. His father was a diplomat for the Chinese government and the family returned to China two years later. I remember ‘Ju’, as I call him nowadays, as a witty and bright-eyed student who was not particularly fond of art history, but consistently scored high grades for both art techniques and composition. When he was not creating actual artworks, he doodled, creating his own cartoon action characters. He also loved sneaking out of the dormitory to go play computer games at the arcade at the shopping center close to the school. This lead to some very concerned teachers and a few phone calls to his parents. I however never doubted Ju’s artistic talent and knew he would one day build a great career based on his phenomenal skill.

By chance I reconnected with Ju recently via social media and was happy to learn that he was now a very successful games developer in China. He also travels the world to help young gamers interested in computer programming and computer game development. He was happy to contribute towards this guide as he is very keen to see more young entrepreneurs enter the exciting world of computer programming and games development.

In his own words: It is so exciting! Every step of the way is a small adventure! And to launch the final game is like launching your own movie! Ms Thea, maybe you can give this a try one day!

What you need to know

Ju-long has a foundation qualification in animation, but said that any relevant or related degree or qualification would suffice. He said that some of his friends and colleagues have qualifications and training experience in multimedia design, software engineering, interactive media, computer science, computer games development or design, graphic design and even mathematics or physics.

The majority of game developers are graduates, even though some employers may consider you for a position if you enter with relevant experience only (you therefore do not necessarily need a degree).

Ju said there are many types of game developers and they carry a wide spectrum of job responsibilities. These include programmer, artificial intelligence researcher and specialist, concept artist, designer, 3D modeller and audio specialist. Over and above designing the game logic, you also have to produce and edit the ‘artwork’ and you have to do critical quality testing and control to ensure the software performs reliably.

He said the really

Reviews for Careers for Creative Thinkers

[Vanessa S · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I like the attempt here to offer up ideas and a taste of each one to someone who might be interested in what options might be out there for creatives, but honestly this book was not very insightful, helpful or actionable. And It was also disappointing to see the continual repeated recommendation of going to college which I personally disagree with (see "education of millionaires" book for a contrasting perspectives on this )
Note for improvement: I would have liked to see more than just one example of what the suggested career might actually look and be like and of the day to day grind of it, like the intro promised and failed to deliver.