Artists don’t have to starve. At least, the 34 comic book illustrators, tattoo artists, graphic designers, and journalists who presented at the Creative Arts Career Fair seemed decently well-fed.
High school students from 12 schools all across Kansas flocked to Free State on Tuesday, Sept. 25 to learn from people who turned their passion into a profession.
“I saw Kelly Furlong, a senior graphic designer who designs museum layouts and Matt Jacobson, a professors at KU who’s a filmmaker,” Senior Teanna Totten said.
Totten has always been interested in graphic design and the career fair further whetted her excitement. “The fair helped me know where I should go to school, what classes to take in high school, and how to break into the field.”
From jewelry makers to art curators to interior designers, the field of graphic design is on the rise. “I always just thought of computer graphics, but after meeting Kelly the museum designer, I learned you can take graphic design and make it 3-D,” Totten said.
Seeing successful artists reinforced Totten’s goal of becoming a graphic designer.
“[My parents] are pretty worried about me wanting to pursue a career in graphic design,” Totten said, “but it was interesting to hear what the Hallmark people said.”
Hallmark artist noted that graphic design jobs are more prevalent than most think.
“Everything is designed by someone,” Totten said. “That includes everything you see at the grocery store, like cereal boxes, bottles of Tide–all of that is designed by someone.”