Can you become a graphic artist with a G.E.D?
I am 17 and I am currently going to nightschool but will not have enough credits to graduate this year and I just want to become a graphic artist I am really good at photoshop and I can draw really really good I win a bunch of competitions locally
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Once you complete your GED, you can go on to further your education and be whatever you want to be!
Good luck!
I used to know some people in the admissions departments at a couple of Art Schools I won’t name but the bottom line was as of 1992 your portfolio and your ability to pay (with financial aid) was more important at these (tone-y) institutions than your high school diploma. Start working on your portfolio now. If you are able to take night school art courses and aren’t doing so, you really want to have someone with an Art Ed degree advising you. Ironically a community college is likely to be more of a stickler about completing High School — I had a teacher in college who got her BFA and MFA with neither a GED nor a Diploma. So in theory if your portfolio is good enough you could get into Art School Right Now.
Most places don’t want people just dropping out of high school so they try to make getting a GED more difficult than getting a diploma (I just had to show up in 1972). Most colleges are inundated with students because of America’s disinvestment in education since the sixties but they are well aware of that and use several indicators to decide whether you are likely to succeed.
You may meet a few idiots working for institutions (and definitely employers) who will put you down for that, but the best advice is don’t believe them. In the private sector they can sometimes get away with imposing their prejudices on the companies, but in schools if they do that their employers lose money — both in fees and hopefully in donations after you graduate. So get over it.
Once in school, if you want to do graphic design, there is the student newspaper and there is usually a graphics department which does banners and such. Even if you have to work during the year the experience you can get from a job in either will be as or more useful than your coursework (and your coursework is very important). You really don’t have to go to the best institution to get the best education in the subject (I’m assuming you don’t have friends with studios where you can learn on the job). And there is definitely nothing wrong with a GED especially in what is a crafts field.
Its all about your level of talent. I did graduate High School and only went to a technical school but so far I have not had a job where they even cared about my educational background. The only thing they were concerned with was my portfolio and level of talent. Which is smart because if your looking for a good graphic designer, I’d much rather have some one that has real world experience over school which teaches you very little anyway about the real world of design.
I’m sitting here at my current position with designers that went to design schools that cost them up to $100,000 and here I am with my 2 year degree that maybe cost me $8000 and we’re making the same money and in some cases I make more because they are not talented.
So my advice to get started is, volunteer your services for no charge and build up your portfolio. maybe try and get an internship some where to get your foot in the door and prove yourself which will also build up your portfolio. Your still young and have plenty of time. Its all about the portfolio! Just something to think about.