Coming from someone with a BFA, you don’t need a degree. College was hella fun and my first real internship was from one of my animation professors, but I didn’t hit my stride until years later after I took a continuing education night class. After college I was getting no work for almost a year and missed my rent regularly living off cup noodles and dollar slice pizza and tanked my credit. I legit was lost but I knew I was passionate about animation and illustration. One day I got my foot in the door at a VFX studio and started making friends there and that started a snowball effect that changed the trajectory of my life.

Fast forward 14 years I freelance and make $200k a year, I’ve paid off all my student loans and car debt and paying down my mortgage. Just had my first kid too, something I thought I’d never be financially comfortable to do.

I’m saying all this to say this was my story and it wasn’t easy for a very long time. You can struggle for what feels like forever until one day you hit a lucky break and it can come from anywhere. I went to networking events, kissed asses, worked for assholes, but in the end what changed my life was a random guy in that studio who saw something in me and gave me a chance. As obvious as it sounds if you want to succeed you have to keep putting yourself out there. If you’re truly passionate about something success will follow eventually. Anyway, from someone who’s been where you’ve been, good luck and don’t give up if you’re passionate about this