What are you determined to be?

Even though I currently live in America I struggled with this too. Last two years of high school they start hounding you. If you don't mind me asking Mr. B do you reside in Germany? I have family over there, and lived there for a while and this sounds familiar.

Anyway as for the topic at hand, when I was 18 I wanted to be an artist. I got my AA in fine arts. But those two years where spent listening to people tell me that I will never gain a job in my field, and that I am getting a degree that is useless. I wasted two years of my life when I changed my major to psychology. I knew what I wanted to be when I was 18 and I should I have stuck to it. After getting a job in a behavioral health hospital, I snapped. I snapped the day a women with extreme depression left one of our art group therapy sessions and started crying. I talked to her, it's part of my job, she told me how she wished she had finished her degree in art instead of switching to psychology. She was a successful individual, but she wasn't happy. It hit close to home.

So what did I want? Money? Success? A respectful career? Or did I want to be happy?

I choose to be happy, switched my major back to Art history and hit the ground running. Per my mothers advice I published my comic online. Per my fathers advice I got an internship at an art museum. I'm currently taking a Portfolio class which is teaching me how to write grants, and apply to Artist Residencies and make an artist website. I'm apply for art shows, and will be in a curated show sometime in December that is connected to my portfolio class. It's a start, and I'm currently in starving artist mode, where we survive on my partners income mostly, but she's supportive and so are my parents. I wish I had never listened to the cousins, aunts, uncles and strangers that said I was getting a useless degree. I would have been done already if i hadn't.

Find a decent staff job in the animation/3D field with real benefits and a salary you can actually live on :L

I wanna be the very best~
Like no one ever was~

Pokemon intro reference aside. I'm aiming to be a "Creative Entrepreneur". Plan to establish multiple income streams and create a life that allows me to creatively express myself to the fullest. Its one of the reasons I'm interested in the business side of things with Art. Recently a lot of things are starting to 'click' for me.

For example I'm being to understand that a webcomic doesn't need to turn over revenue month after month but instead represents an opportunity to develop a social media following that you may be able to monetize at a later date.

Yeah... still have a lot to learn... but its exciting!

my goal is to become a storyteller, a writer, a director, someone who makes stories that people enjoy,

my big dream is to make a story in all major fields of media, writing, comics, film, television, animation, games, music, even theatre. i want to at least dip my toes into every facet of the creative world, i want to write to sustain myself financially sure, but i wouldnt stop trying to tell stories if it didn't make me a single penny.

i want to be a storyteller, and im determined to tell as many stories as possible, to be concise~

my realistic dream: having a home with a good job and being happy =P
my unrealistic dream: owning a successful Latin american AAA video game studio.

I like that one quote about giving yourself verbs instead of nouns, so that your sense of self isn't tied up in what you do. Instead of striving to be a writer, strive to write; saying "I am creating art" instead of "I am an artist," -- that sort of thing! I don't often remember to do this, but I try to keep this idea in mind.

So I can't say who or what I want to be, but Lord willing I'm very determined to tell my story! I realised a while ago that my goal really isn't to have a job in art, it's more about the specific work that I wanna make -- so if I have a day job that I can find some small amount of joy in and it gives me enough time to make the work I want to make, that seems like a really good outcome to me. ;u;

Professional Manga Artist

@UbePie Germany? I wish! I'm from Serbia. And props to you, your story is something that I aspire to, in a way. Just living your life the way you know you should, without letting others dictate its course. Best of luck with your future ventures.

@shazzbaa You put it so, so well. Both paragraphs. Words to live by.

I don't think I'd be adding anything new by mentioning my own life story.

• Oddball degree, check.
• Difficulty making it in the working world, check.
• Starving artist mode, check.

I'm sickened with the way the modern world works. I know the system works and I know things will get better but right now we're going through a rough patch. And I can't wait for the future.

Would anyone be interested in a crossover event? I don't mean with me specifically, but I've got this idea that I'd like to see in action. It's a way to generate buzz and cross-pollinate everyone's subscriber count. I know that similar things have been tried before, but this time there's a couple of new technologies involved.

that's cause when someone hears artist they think Painters and comic book artist that, sadly, don't have a bunch of money and can be a really unstable job (except if you work for one of the big comic book companies like DC and Image), but they forget the other careers in the background that need art skills, like logo/marketing, concept artist in Movies and video games, story board artist in most animation studios plus background artist and character designers, their are many more but the list is so long that I would just bore ya

I like this. Apparently, it's a good motivational tool for giving up bad stuff as well. Instead of saying "I can't blah blah blah" you say "I don't blah blah blah" so it's a decision rather than something forced on you. Maybe that's the same principle? Not, "I want to be a writer" but "I write".

I used to want to be a professional writer. I still kind of do but not in the same way. The way I imagined it was that I'd strive to write my first book then it would get published and I could write the next ones from home with the money from writing keeping me afloat.Then I made friends with published writers and they'd achieved what I wanted to achieve and still needed day jobs.

It was an eye opener.

So I thought it was better to get a job I wanted and could get now (which I did) and keep writing and drawing on the side. It's working out quite well I think. It's quite low maintenance so I spend about 20 hours a week on projects. Maybe something will come of it and maybe something won't but I've still done a lot of stuff.

I want to work for Pixar or own my own animation studio

im determined to get top grades at my btec and at uni, and become a published graphic novellist!

Ever since I first saw 2d animated movies (disney and non-disney) I always wanted to draw and animate. I used to draw a lot when I was younger, but then I fell out of it for a few years but after I got my first tablet I came back to art. Now I'm really pushing to be an animator and concept artist for a game or animation studio, preferably Pixar or Laika (because Laika is f*cking awesome)

I want to be an influencer. I like doing memorable stuff and having stories to tell and lessons to share that motivate people to take a risk on what's in their heart, instead of just sticking with things that have a high probability of success.

You know, I looked at myself honestly and my answer was "I'm determined to get my work into Weird Tales and Chaosium. I'm determined to be the kind of person X, Y, Z famous artist I've followed forever would actually pay attention to and be buddies with."

Well that's bullshit, right? I'm 36, not in high school.

SO! My goal as of today is to be so satisfied with the work I'm doing that I genuinely do not care about, or need, particular people to notice and admire me. Running after a successful magazine or artist will do nothing for me if I'm not personally sucessful already.

Most people would probably find this weird but I want to try and sell cloth menstrual pads aimed at trans people as well as try and make people less scared about talking about periods

I've grown up surrounded by pads, periods and well just everything to do with the female reproductive system because of my mother who sells them. I've always been surprised how periods were seen to be something you could never talk about and it was almost seen to be disgusting. When we did sex-ed at school I was the only one that really knew anything much about both reproductive systems most people barley knew anything about their own and were extremely embarrassed to talk about it. The teacher talks to use about periods and showed us examples of products used. The things she showed us were disposable pads and tampons, having my mother make cloth pads and basically is the go to person for testing menstrual cups i was highly offended when the teacher didn't mention either of them so straight away I put up my hand and asked about them, i got a few strange looks as no one had dared ask any questions before hand and i was effectively telling the teacher she didn't know her stuff. She seemed a little flustered or at least thats how i remembered it and told the class that yes there are reusable products and then told me that she didn't think that they were that common or easy to get to i preceded to inform her about the internet and shamelessly promote my mother's site which has lots of pad makers in a thing kinda like ebay or esty but much smaller and just pads and stuff.

I even wrote a letter to the pad company U because in the period info pack they gave to the school they only advertised their own products and again didn't say anything about any of products. I didn't ever end up sending the letter which is a shame really because it was honestly disgraceful

As I got older I learnt more about the LGBTQ+ and started watching loads of video about trans people and reading loads of books (and a few comics). Recently i watched a video called "What if guys got their periods (some do)" as well as another which was a skit thingy done by a trans boy. That made me think. It had never really occurred to me that ftm people had periods, like i knew they did but i never thought about until then really and it made me think, I don't remember ever having seen or heard anything about any trans sellers or buyers and there has only been one person who didn't have a feminine name but I knew she was female so yeah. That made me think that mostly menstrual product makers always tend to always use colours and images that are commonly associated with femininity like pinks and pastels and flower/floral patterns and that most of them refer to their customers as women. I can understand why, most of their customers are women but i started wondering is this why there seems to be a lack of trans customers? Or is it maybe that people who are ftm and still have periods simply don't know and/or don't want to use cloth pads like plenty of women.

I don't know how the cloth pad community would think about me or my focus and id likely get hate but i want a place where ANYONE can buy pads without having to feel uncomfortable. If you're a guy wanting to buy floral pads I don't care, if your a lady wanting to buy pads with monster trucks on it I don't care. I know hate has been given to a male before because he tried to make menstrual cups and didn't know what people wanted but I've grown up around pads and I've helped my mum plenty of times making her's I know what I would be doing.

Basically I want to do as much as I can to do with making trans people more comfortable (both ftm and mtf and any non binary people) and teaching people about cloth pads.

I know that most peoples here have said things to do with art and this question was likely meant to be to do with art and stories and comic and stuff but I thought i would share what I am determined to do.

MUSIC CUE: Predator Soundtrack - Grim Discovery

The MERCENARIES are stalking through the jungle.

DUTCH: "What's got Billy so spooked?"

BILLY: "There's something out there waiting for us."

CUT TO: The PREDATOR decloaks out of sight of the team, but in sight of the audience.

PREDATOR: "Is it that time of the month again? Are you tired of pink and floral print?"

DUTCH (O.S.): "If it bleeds . . . we can kill it."

The PREDATOR holds up a medical-grade silicone cup with one clawed hand.

PREDATOR: "Introducing Yautja-brand menstrual cups. They won't slip out when you're running through the jungle. They won't slosh around when you're trying to hide from the enemy."

DUTCH (O.S.) : "Pretty high-tech shit for some half-arsed mountain boys."

PREDATOR: "Available from quality online stores."

CUT TO: The MERCENARIES are still stalking through the jungle.

BLAIN: "I ain't got time to bleed."