Work (getting paid) or Practice as a student?

Doodlok

Dear lovely people of Polycount,

The annoying Korean kid with bunch of dumb questions strikes back! 

And pretty much, the title is the question. 

If you, as a student who is still developing skills, have limited time, would you rather focus on keep on building skills or find some freelance gigs and use those as opportunities to grow?

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Here's bit of my context. I'm 20 years old right now, and I finished first year of my University. But being Korean and all that, I'm currently under military conscription and have my time from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM full-on working in the office. 

When I come back home it's about 8pm (including having quick dinner), I usually spend about 5~6 hours practicing my art everyday and go to sleep at 2. During weekends I just keep on arting. I'm currently under Asian time zone (UTC +9) so communicating with people in Europe or States is bit hard. 

Ever since I embraced this lifestyle (its been like 6 months? I got this motivation from joining the polycount hehe) I feel like I improved quite a lot, but there came a moment where I felt all these improvements were futile if I wasn't working professionally. Not saying Im already good enough to work, but I seriously lack in professional experiences. I did couple of freelance illustration when I was in school but those were all because other people asked me to do it for them (with payment and all that) 

And this lack of professional experience is giving me some sort of distraction or insecurity whenever I practice, especially when I see people around me younger than I am taking commissions and stuff. Not that I'm financially worried because the office job pays me good enough to survive, but it's just an insecurity.

Should I be actively searching for freelance gigs and use those experiences to build my skills and resume? or should I focus on just keep on building fundamentals? 

miguelnarayan

I wouldn't say drop everything you're doing and only work on paid gigs. But If I could slap my old self, I would, for this very same question you're asking... You can do paid work, meanwhile it gives you work experience which is never a hurting factor when you are applying for a full time position later, you get feedback from the client which you wouldnt normally get from your sketchbook (because you are both, client and you working towards making the same work exceptional).

I relate to this because when I started out I had a more colorful style that blended with dark scifi, I was copying a lot of Fallout and Bethesda, and there was a market for that, I could get freelance gigs but I chose not to do it. I was stupid, because if I had taken the jobs, I would have evolved much more, and get a better portfolio... and of course, there's money involved too. You get paid. ^^

So, recap, I wouldn't worry, you're young, but work on your own drawings as well as look for work maybe 50%-50%? There's real market experience you may be missing out.

RyanB

If you make assets and sell them on an asset store you can practice and get paid at the same time.

thomasp

i'd stick with practicing or - as RyanB points out - practicing and then monetizing my own work until you can schedule your days more freely. any freelance gig requires commitment and it usually comes with deadlines and the need to communicate during office hours.

so they interrupted your studies for military service? nice... while that may suck for now in the long run it's probably better than having to do it sometime after uni - which happened to people in my battalion. digging foxholes together with people 10 years your junior who call you gramps did not look like fun.

Doodlok

@miguelnarayan @RyanB @thomasp

Thank you all for your advice! I will look for some freelance gigs (none of them seem to want me at the moment I guess I'll take that as my work is not good enough yet?! ) to the degree where it won't hurt my studying and learning. (It'd be super cool if I can find a gig tho)

And @thomasp yepp, I could have postpone it until I graduate university but I didn't want to waste my working visa after I graduate and I sorta just wanted it to get out of my way, and it sorta gave me break and really gave me perspective on what I need to work on to improve mein skills.. so positive side to everything I guess.