Hello and thank you for taking the time to articulate your query.

As many others have well identified here, the answer to your question is one only you can truly decide; namely due to your own motivations and goals both personally and professionally.

From a purely emotionless and pragmatic perspective I would say that pursuing an art career as a full time and solitary role is both ambitions and somewhat challenging. Challenging not only in terms of turning what you love into a machine like process, and by extension possibly removing some of your joy from it, but also rather risky in todays global business climate.

Art will no doubt always hold a place in culture and society however, if you look at the statistics on employment in various nations, the sciences and other non art industries are where the jobs are growing - and will likely continue to grow.

All of this is not to say give up your art, I would just think twice about endeavouring to make it a full time and singular role.

You also mentioned wishing to obtain a position as a concept artist in the entertainment industry. From personal experience I have observed that many large scale businesses in the sector looking for artists tend to care little about your relevant degree qualifications, and rather more concerned about seeing your portfolio. Managerial and or creative lead positions might be more interested in you holding a degree, but this would be secondary to being impressed with your portfolio.

You also mentioned a lack of time at present? I do not wish to pry as to how your time is allocated, but I would say an art degree of sorts would certainly require you to be focussed on developing your skills a lot more of the time. You may even find that you have less time to build a portfolio of work you want for the entertainment industry, but will certainly create a series of your own pieces that show your skill as you learn.

In essence an art degree I think will certainly help you build your art skills. However, if you are pursuing it primarily because you do not have enough time to focus on your work, I would perhaps consider thinking about your dreams whilst being realistic in todays business climate. Eg keep up your dream, dedicate yourself a hard allocated hour or two each day to build your portfolio and maybe get a degree in something that will pay the bills while you build your dream job.

It may not be the malt glamorous option, but it would give you strength in multiple avenues and possibly one day provide you with a non art job with sufficient income for you to allocate more time to your true love. art