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no matter if it’s in art or life in general,” Twohill says.

Artists can also build up confidence by showing their artwork to other people, whether it be in a critique, an art show, or to family and friends. Showing works to other people helps the artist gain confidence by allowing them to hear criticism and suggestions on what could be improved and compliments on likeable elements in the art piece.

“I think criticism is important because I can always better my art,” said Samantha Lewis, freshman art foundations student.

Art shows also help with confidence, as they can get awards and confirmations that their art is actually good. It can also help out with future jobs.

Yet, future’s for artists are strange and not a straight forward process. It’s a competitive business and artists can often fall into difficult financial times. This can lead to nagging parents telling their child to get a better paying job.

“Parents are worried about you making money. They’re worried about their child being successful which, as a parent myself, I understand,” said Daron Wojnowski, art teacher.

Sure, this may happen. Some parents are not supportive of an art career. Wojnowski said not only is unsupportive parents driven by the likelihood of their child’s success, but it also could be cultural, religious, or gender specific backgrounds that drive them.

However, in recent years parent support of art careers seems to have grown. In the digital illustration survey, 12 out of 18 people said they were planning on going into an art career, and 11 of those 12 said they had supportive parents.

Though someone may have supportive parents, they still must be determined and have the motivation to be an artist or they’ll be swept away with the waves and fall off the boat.

“I think that if somebody is really motivated in the arts and they show their work ethic and passion and skillset than art is something that could really benefit them in the next level,” Twohill said.

So, what now? If students want to go into the arts what types of jobs are there to go into? Well look around.

“All this beautiful stuff around us is created by artists,” Wojnowski said.

Everyday objects are developed by some type of artist. Calendars, posters, packaging, clothing, television, advertisements, decorations, name something and more than likely an artist helped design and create it.

There are many different types of art jobs, some of the more common ones include animators, fashion designer, graphic designer, illustrator, make-up artist, photographer, web designer, and many more.

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has four main categories of artists: fine artists, multimedia artists and animators, craft artists, and art directors.

Fine artists are made up of painters, illustrators, and sculptors, basically anyone who makes traditional art is qualified as a fine artist. Fine artists typically are what people think of when they hear the word art. They strive to get into galleries and their work is based on commissions.

Multimedia artists and animators are mostly computer-based artists, they work with game designers and film companies to produce motion picture films.

Craft artists are 3D creators. They create many household decoration items from vases to fabric. Typically, craft artists sell their work at stores or craft shows.

Art directors are jobs that focus more on advertisement and design. They create the many of the ads seen both digitally and on print, like signs, newspapers, and magazines.

Many artists, especially fine and craft artists, work freelance and don’t have a set paycheck. They typically play it by ear and base their earnings off of commissions that come to them. However, some artists work for companies that will set a specific paycheck.

The highest paying art jobs are typically are with the art directors, followed by multimedia artists and animators, fine artists, and craft artists. According to the BLS, art director’s highest annual salary in 2015 was $101,990, multimedia artists and animators made $73,000, fine artists made $54,170, and craft artists made $35,710.

So what jobs can high school or college students do? Most students settle on freelance while still getting their education, lots of students do not have time for a full-time job.

“Current students have shared with me that they do commissions for friends and family and even neighbors,” Albright said.

Students can also be recruited for internships, though most times they are not paid or paid very little. Even though it’s not creating works, art students looking for a job can also work in galleries and help set up art pieces. This helps finance the artist and they can even look out for people willing to take commissions. There are more fun jobs for artists to make some extra cash, Albright said some of her students will do face-painting for parties!

Students knowing what field they want to go into is a start, but actually making it as an artist in that field is a different story.

“Students need to be cognizant that any job, any career, you’re going to have to fight for it,” said Wojnowski.

Confidence is especially important in this stage, if the artist doesn’t have the confidence to show their work to art critics or gallery workers, the art can’t win prizes, be bought, or go up in galleries. They must make themselves known to the art world to survive as an artist, without confidence they can’t do that.

“I think as artists we have to be kind of like cheerleaders of ourselves. We have to be able to promote and get our ideas out there, get our work out there, get our dates and our shows. We have to be able to be a public relations person on top of designing,” Twohill said.

Now, the recent generations have some help. They can post their work on the internet and social media which helps spread their art out to as many people as possible. It allows the user to get feedback from the audience and they no longer have to go through the tedious process of getting into an art show. Artists can even get work over social media. Some people will ask for commissions based on the work they see on an artist’s social media and can pay the artist over the internet through accounts such as PayPal™.

However, artists can easily lose control over their art work if it’s on the internet. If the artist has a well-liked piece, internet users can share the image many times and the credit for the work is lost. Internet users also have plenty of software to remove credentials as well. They sometimes will crop a logo out of a picture before they post it online.

If someone decides to have a business or post some of their artworks on social media, they must be aware of this because someone will most likely do this them. However, if an artist isn’t as bothered by this, jump on and set sail for a whole new world of art.

The artists have made it. The boat is sailing. They are bigger than those low self-confidence and mental health waves. The seagulls don’t bother them anymore. They’re knowledgeable about the types of art and tools they can use to get there. An artist holds onto the rail. The salty sea wind blows in her face and she’s filled with determination. She is going to make it as an artist.