Greetings from Ethereality

Hello. New guy here.

I'm a bit of an odd case.

I'm what some call "Jack of a trades," although I don't like the second part of that phrase, which is "master of none." I'd like to think after all these years of having a career in multiple creative industries, I'm at least a professional in some of the things I'm passionate about and have dedicated my life to. (You can check out my portfolio at my website: www.ethereality.info.)

In the early days, I was a comic book creator/writer/artist, and I had my own series that was my full-time job for a few years. Although I also worked as a freelance artist, I never wanted to be an artist-for-hire; my aspiration was always to create on my own terms, expressing my own vision.

I also have an on and off affair with the music industry. I played in an industrial band, wrote songs for popstars in Taiwan, and composed scores for video game and film.

The only thing that saved me from starving to death as an artist/writer/composer was taking jobs in the CG-related industries such as video games, film/television, and animation. I worked as a writer, director, director of photography, and art director in those industries. To date, those are still the most lucrative jobs by far when compared to everything else I've done.

I had a fling with photography as well, and did some professional work for clients in product, location, corporate, and food photography.

I also did some teaching (and still do) of art, in both art schools and online. I currently teach an art workshop for CGSociety.org called "Becoming A Better Artist: Critical Knowledge and Techniques For Today's Artists"

I've been published as an author for non-fiction (d'Artiste: Digital Painting, which I co-wrote with three other artists), and in comic books (A dark fantasy series titled "Enchanted" in the 90's). I've been interviewed several times by CG-related magazines in the last ten years or so, and my artworks have been published often as well.

So why the hell am I here in a writer's forum?

Well, you know how people swear they love their children equally? I don't believe that--just look at Sophie's Choice.

I love writing, music, and film/television more than any other creative mediums, mainly because they convey the 4th dimension while other mediums cannot. While comic books and video games can convey the 4th dimension, comic books doso in a way that feels a bit clumsy to me (I'm saying this as a comic book creator/writer/artist who lived and breathed that medium for almost ten years), and video games are almost always more game-play focused (except for a few story-driven genres like RPG and classic adventure games). And while I love video games, I don't particularly love making them (again, saying this as someone who's worked his way up to studio art director position in the game industry).

Amongst the top three creative passions (writing, music, and film/television), only music and writing are endeavors you can accomplish without needing to rely on other people, or deal with an overwhelming amount of politics and interpersonal issues. I don't need to say more about the film/television industry because, it's common knowledge how complicated it is due to how much money is at stake with each project.

So that leave just writing and music. I'm a bit of a lone wolf by nature, so regardless of what I'm doing to put bread on the table at the moment, my private creative passions tend to be solitary endeavors. Over the years, regardless of what industry I worked in, music and writing had always been my private sanctuary. Unfortunately, they are also the two passions I have that are the least likely to make a full-time career out of--at least one that pays well enough for me to call it a comfortable living. So, they remain my passions, and I flirt with commercial projects when they come my way, otherwise I do them for myself, just to keep my soul from withering.

At this point, the pragmatic side of me stopped believing it's possible to make a comfortable living out of music and writing, but the idealistic side of me is still hopeful. I suppose I'm kind of lucky I have my skills as an artist to fall back on (imagine that, another traditionally starving profession can be relied on as a backup--how ironic. But people who said that back then couldn't have predicted video games, animation, and movie special effects.)

But I have to continue, because I create just as much for myself as for the hope that I could make a living at what I love the most. Sometimes I think maybe it's a good thing my passions are private endeavors, since the headache of commercialization and making a living won't have a chance to taint the love of creating. Or maybe that's just what I tell myself to feel better.

I'm sure many of you share similar feelings.

Anyway, that's me.

BTW, this is my first time joining a writer's forum, although I've been a veteran in other creative forums like music, art, photography...etc. I'm currently one of the moderators at CGSociety.org.

Thanks you, guys!

BTW, I was just wondering, do some of you post in other writer's forums too, or you just stick to this one? Are there any real differences between the few largest writer's forums (in terms of forum culture and usefulness)? I had a hard time choosing which forum to join, and although I signed up for a few, this is the one I chose to do a formal self-introduction.

Lunatique said:

BTW, I was just wondering, do some of you post in other writer's forums too, or you just stick to this one? Are there any real differences between the few largest writer's forums (in terms of forum culture and usefulness)? I had a hard time choosing which forum to join, and although I signed up for a few, this is the one I chose to do a formal self-introduction.

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No one wants to give it a shot with this question?