I think you'd be an amazing concept artist... Maybe start by contacting gaming companies... I don't know, blizzard, riot... Stuff like that; I know for a fact that blizzard is looking for concept artists for their game overwatch at the moment.

For environmental preservation, you may want to look for companies working on sustainable energies, ecological restoration, etc... I personally kinda would want to work in this field once I graduate (then again I know I'd be happier as a concept artist, but I'm just not good enough). Look for companies around Raleigh, NC. It's the research triangle and there may be something for you :) I've heard places like Germany have great field of research as well!

I know you're gonna make it! Set short goals that will set things in motion, you need to find that spark, and I wish you the best of luck with that. (Don't do what I'm doing, having no direction is awful)

See, concept art is really interesting to me, but incredibly intimidating because I know next to nothing about it. I like designing outfits and characters and monsters too but anything regarding weaponry/vehicles/architecture is... eek. ~__~ I might do some more research, but it's definitely a competitive business to get into, which is frightening for someone like myself who knows nothing haha.

I'll have a look at some of those, thank you!

I would kill to be a concept artist, it's probably one of my dream jobs... Being responsible for putting ideas into paper is probably one of my favorite things ever, and I wish I could do it professionally... Don't worry too much about machines and stuff.. It's what I'm half decent at and its honestly all about details, if I can do it, you sure can too! Also here's the links or blizzard:

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/compan.....ers/index.html

Im not sure about companies because im not in the same country, but graphic design, animal studies, veterinary nursing, game design/developing, animation courses, professional makeup (ie: fake scars, intricate face painting and stuff), courses in general art, are a few of the things ive been personally looking at.

We seem to have rather similar study intrests :3

I actually find sFX makeup so cool! I've always wanted to try it. I'm SUPER clueless, but it might be fun to buy some appliances and see what I could do haha. Game design/development is such a huge umbrella I haven't explored enough so I'll look more into that too. Thanks!

Just done what you like and found other way to be better. All time.

Have you ... tried to get a patreon ? You could of course upload your art on it (for free, or at a price for the full resolution, something like that) and get supported to do what you do, but it also could help you for the "teaching" part of you activities : since it's basically monthly payments etc. etc.

dunno, it's just an idea

I've certainly thought about it and the idea is really appealing, but it definitely takes a huge audience to make any kind of discernible income with it. I'll probably look more into it down the road. :)

Well, it's quite sure that you won't make a very big income at first, but at least you'll probably earn something. and it also always depends on the prices you put on it for the pieces/services you'll offer.

I mean I always wanted To try video game designing, because it includes the subjects that I absolutely love: Art and video games. The thing is that I think you have to learn animation and all those programs to be a game designer. But if you wanted to be an art teacher, all you have to do is know how to teach art in your own style and you're home free. It's really about how much you are willing to go to achieve what you want I guess, hope that helps! ~A

If you want to work with your art there are some ACTUAL COMPANIES who post to the job listing board on deviantart. Gaming companies looking for certain aspects of concept art, logo companies looking for new staff members to work with, graphic designers, all sorts of things. Building a portfolio and perusing the forum there might be something to consider. There are actually some well known concept artists and Marvel artists who started out from the DA forums.

I noticed Patreon was mentioned, however I know that there are a lot of people being scammed off of Patreon since people can bail out of paying you at any time... It's a little rough and not guaranteed. I started up a few patreons for friends and have learned, POST, POST, POST. You need like constant content updates in order to succeed. If time restraints and constant activity is a little difficult for you because of your schedule, you may consider trying something else.

You might consider making an artbook for an animal protection awareness kind of thing. If you can find it in you to put together some hard copies of something, comic book stores will sometimes have local artist galleries and sell things.

ALSO greeting cards! You can sell greeting card designs. You can find a huge list of greeting card companies who buy designs in the Artist's Market book found at a local bookstore. Market books are lists of companies, contacts, and a freelancers guide to getting in contact with organizations who are always accepting submissions. If you find the Market books (there's also a Writer's Market book too, since you said you like writing! Typically your writing and art can sell from anywhere from $15 for prints and short magazine snippets to $300 for illustration submissions and essays. That's just an average price point. Obviously the better the portfolio and prior references the higher the payout.) Back on the subject of greeting cards. I had a friend who lived in Salem, Mass. who was telling me about how there are TONS of little shops in her town geared towards tourists. They would pay like $15 for a box of 10 printed cards of witches and halloweeny themed merchandise from local artists for thier "original greeting card" designs and art prints. Tourists towns are ALWAYS ALWAYS eager to deal with local artists for product and merchandise to sell.

Really great ideas here, thanks so much! The greeting card idea is super cute. I'll check out the forums, too!

I am not sure because I know art is one of those things that is hard to find a career for, most people do it for supplemental income in addition to another regular job. If you want to do the art teacher route and lack a teaching degree, you might need to apply at universities as an adjunct which can either be in digital mediums and/or traditional depending on the university.

I'm actually talking to my highschool art teacher (close with someone who teaches at a college) who will be getting back to me about the steps necessary if I were to go down that route, so I'll find out whether or not that's the path for me soon.

Honestly teaching art is really not that bad so long as people want to participate

If you're looking to do something art related for a career, you can look into graphic arts (doing decals and whatnot), or even look into doing custom paint jobs on vehicles.

I tried doing graphic art/logo type stuff in highschool and unfortunately I absolutely hated it. :( Shame because that's where a lot of money is haha

I see you mentioned teaching. I'm a teacher, and went through a short program that allowed me to get my teaching license and be certified as "highly qualified." Granted, I majored in my area in which I teach, the program's only for teaching licensure.
I love teaching, despite me complaining about it. There are a lot of politics involved, but it's definitely a great experience if it's something you're interested in. If you could get certified to teach art I think you'd love it. We offer different levels of art where I teach, including IB, all of the possible AP art classes, beginning, intermediate, and advanced.
I'd pursue teaching if that's an area of interest. I absolutely love it, and it's so gratifying when you are helping others explore something they love!

That sounds really interesting! Is this an online course?

no, but I bet you could find something online! The program I did was actually 5 weeks long. It was meant for someone going in as lateral entry (meaning they didn't have any teaching experience/student teaching, they got their degree, did this program, and got their license to teach after teaching for a year or so. They had to make a portfolio of teaching to get their license).
I did this program anyway but instead of going in lateral entry, I spent an additional semester student teaching so my license would say "highly qualified."
The program itself was only five weeks. Each week crammed a semester of an education class in five days. It went from 8AM-4PM. The first week was pedagogy, second week was lesson planning, third week was like...oh, student accommodations and discipline, i cant remember them all. Honestly, it was a joke and didn't prepare me for teaching, but it got me my license since I already had a degree in history. Found a job, fell in love with teaching (minus the politics).
A friend of mine is taking online classes to get her teaching license, though, so it must be an option! :) I think--and i could be wrong--to pursue education in a college setting you have to have a master's at the very least? Maybe in the subject area you're teaching, not necessarily in education? Not sure. I dont know where you live but if you want to note me, i'd be happy to give you the college info of my program and i can contact my friend and see where she's taking courses online too :)

I've done a lot of thinking and I actually think I'm going to go down the game design route. Thank you so much for your advice though! I didn't even know you could do such a thing, so I'll be keeping this in mind if I change my decision. :) Appreciate it!

no problem, game design sounds awesome!