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Okay, I've come across a rather interesting dilemma. Right now, I'm a biology major at Arizona State University. My hobby, for those of you who aren't aware, is 3D graphics. I've been doing it for a few years now, and I've gotten pretty good, at least according to what people tell me. I've never taken any art classes, so everything I can do I taught myself or learned from tutorials or by asking people at the 3D Commune. Anyway, I was talking to Morgana a couple weeks ago, and she asked me why I don't just do computer graphics and animation for a living. I mean, do I really want to go through 4 more years of school after I finish college (which will be another 2 and a half years anyway)? I've always wanted to be a doctor of some sort or another, and right now the field that most interests me is dentistry. This graphics thing was just something I started to do for fun. I mean, I love doing it, and I love creating pictures and models, but I never really felt that I would do anything with it. It's just a hobby. But if I could actually make a living doing 3D graphics/animation, something I enjoy, that would make my life so much better. Here are a couple images to give you a sense of what I can do. I figure, if I do suck at it, there's no point in considering a graphics career anyway, right? (As a side note, the pictures featured here were chosen by Morgana, so I'm trusting her judgement in this matter). Just click the thumbs to see a larger pic.    
 
Now, the problem is that I don't know exactly how much of a living I can actually make as a computer graphics artist. From people I've spoken to on the 3D Commune, it's not really an easy field to break into, and a number of the artists I talk to are having financial problems. On the other hand, I have no guarantee that I'll make it into dental school (though my 4.0 average should help...), or if I'll even want to stick with it once I'm there. I really want to have some financial security, but I'm not really sure I want to get stuck in a job that I'll hate going to every day. I'm not really sure about this, but I think my plan will be to stick with the biology degree, and keep an eye out for a computer graphics job. If I can find a decent one, I'll give it a try. If I can't find one, or I decide I don't like it, I'll still have the biology degree, and I can then go for dental school. (Oh yeah, as a side note, Morgana tells me I'm an impersonal bastard. I don't think I'm in much of a position to argue. I think this comes from writing way too many college papers...and I'm only in my second year. English papers, sociology papers, literature papers, lab reports, etc. Well, suffice to say I can write a decent academic paper, but my writing style is now extremely impersonal and pretty much devoid of interest. Such is life.)
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