Being a Fine Arts Major at ASU in the 1980s

Nowadays whenever people start talking technical stuff, or math, I tell them that I was a Fine Arts Major, and they usually stop. I actually have made some good progress with what most people call "Left Brain Thinking", like making sure that I pay bills, go to appointments, but it's not easy, and it never has been. Creating art is easy for me, and a pleasure, and my goal at ASU was to learn how to turn it into a living, which is how I ended up as a graphic designer.

There are a lot of ways to describe someone who is a "Right Brain Thinker" - you could call them creative, or artistic, or daydreamers, or flakes. They tend to have their head in the clouds, are not good at paying attention, and the whole time you're talking to them they're probably doing a drawing of your head in their minds. Well, that's me.

Yes, it took me seven years to get my four-year degree, but not for the reasons that may spring to your mind. I wasn't partying all the time, I was just taking a lot of classes that interested me. I was, of course, required to take classes like drawing, painting, and even pottery (yes, I learned how to throw a pot), but I would often just take more classes without giving a thought to the total of number of credits I needed to graduate. When I got close to it, just by feeling the years go by, I guess I did the correct paperwork to get a diploma. I do have a diploma, but I have no memory of how I got it. I didn't go to graduation, they just mailed it to me.

All of you "Left Brain Thinkers" are probably wondering how someone like me even functions in the world, and I don't blame you. Many creative and artistic people just flounder. I decided at an early age that I wanted to be a commercial artist, not a starving artist, and although it was unpleasant, I took classes in accounting, marketing, business, advertising, that sort of stuff. I also befriended people who were older and wiser than me, and knew stuff about how the world works.

When I started teaching graphic design, in the '90s, I saw a lot of people like me. Wonderfully creative, but absolutely clueless as to how the world works. At the college where I taught, we emphasized what we called "professionalism", which was really just learning how to be a responsible adult. Of course creativity was encouraged, but that comes naturally - showing up on time doesn't. Some of the most wonderfully creative people simply couldn't figure out what day it was, or what time it was, and they not only couldn't make it to class, they would have never been able to make it to a job interview. I often told these people to not let someone else take a job away from them simply because of the difficulty of finding a building, and being somewhere at a certain time.

I've always leaned heavily on technology. I'm not wearing a watch in that photo up there, but you can see the "watch tan" on my left arm which meant I always did. To this day my watch tell me not only the time, but the day and date, and I lean very heavily on my computer to help me with "Left Brain Thinking". 

As a graphic designer I gained a reputation for hitting deadlines, and for that people paid me. But my main concern was always my art, which is graphic design, and in order to be successful as a commercial artist, you have to do both.

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to: