Struggle in the Beginning

As a recent college graduate, I've encountered a familiar position that I found myself in five years ago when I graduated high school. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I didn't know how to get there. Well....here I am, I made it. I graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in Computer Graphics Technology. I just moved out of my college apartment of three years back into my parents' house an hour away from where I was.

During my time at school, I learned a vast amount of knowledge regarding software, hardware, and the attitude of working hard and creating great things! I always made time to work on my art. I've always had a natural drive to create, and create is what I did ever since I was in 7th grade. But, when I reached my junior year of college, I knew I had to increase my output and the quality of it greatly. I did this all the way up until I graduated. As soon as I got one project done, I began brainstorming of how I can make an even better piece next time. This kind of work ethic is how I've been able to produce splash sequences for an architecture firm, a bourbon label for a distillery, and an interactive art demonstration within just the past year. It's crazy how I didn't realize how much I've done up until I just wrote that sentence.

So here I am now. What is my plan? What do I want to do? How will I achieve this?

The honest answer is "I don't know". I have a calling to freelance as of right now. I enjoy the feeling of having the power to do what I want to do, to a certain degree. I love variety, and I believe adding variety to my work makes me a better artist, and a better person. I do plan to become something bigger than myself. Does this mean I'll work somewhere, or for someone? It could. I don't have an interest in becoming just another solider of the army of artists. I want to be a rebel. I want to be the one who catches the majority of people off guard with my work and my ideas. As I said earlier, I made an interactive art demonstration with a group of three other students for my senior design project, and that project opened my mind to the idea of experiencing art in a multitude of ways.

To put it simply. I want to make a difference with how people view art. I love technology and I love art. How can we fuse them together in different ways? Is it possible to blur the lines? I'm just rambling now like I always do. In the next few months, I hope to have enough money saved up to move out of my parents' house and start my adventure with my girlfriend. I may continue down the freelance route, or not, we'll see.

To end my first and hopefully not last blog post, I'll offer this piece of advice that I constantly struggle with. Don't look off too far into the future. Of course plan for the future, but the now is what matters. Do what makes YOU happy. Work hard and make time for loved ones. And deep down we all know what we want out of life. Recognizing this  may be difficult but we all know.

Peace.
Andrew Rose