making a living out of "doing it for the art". naive?

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am i naive and childish for thinking like this? i bought a decently powerful PC, because i want to get into the game development and animation field. i also downloaded a bunch of software. drawing, music, game development, animation, video editing. i haven't touch them much because, while i enjoyed working on this stuff in school, i'm worried that i won't be able to make a living out of this. i could join a big triple a studio or popular animation studio, but i feel like i won't have much creative freedom with those companies. i'm fine living in a cheap apartment if i have more creative control of this stuff. I've been planning on being a project director at least once (which is why I've bought the parts and downloaded the software) but i also am not very social. I've always been fairly shy and honestly, a bit of a doormat, so i'm worried that i won't be able to be a good director. But everyday I think up ideas for games, animations, comics, series, films etc. that I just can't get out of my head. I need confirmation if i'm just childish and dumb for thinking this or if i can actually make it.

also i'm not sure if i should go to school for this. i heard it's pricey and not worth it, but i also heard otherwise. i thought that i would just learn all this through articles and videos.

How are you getting your money these days?

If you don't have much savings, or you don't have a safety net such as supportive parents, I would, at least at first, get a job, preferably in something you like to do.

In the meantime, you could accumulate contacts based upon the work which you want to do, sell some of your stuff so you could establish a "word of mouth" reputation, and, in general, use your creative pursuits as a productive "hobby."

The best thing to do is to get a day job to support yourself, and do your art as a hobby. Whenever you get paid that changes your freedom to do what you want. But, if you do it as an unpaid hobby and give stuff away on the Internet you have much more creative freedom, though even that isn't unlimited.

so in other words no

Making a living out of art is not naive. What those two are telling you is to get a good job to support yourself first while you make art. Like a good part-time job. That way you can focus on your animating great films.

Actors had to be waiters and actors before being professional actors.

i understand... i have a part time job currently. and it doesn't have to be exact, i can work at a bigger company after some time thinking, but i really don't know what i would do with my life if my dreams don't work out...

You don't have to worry about your dreams or life if you have a good job to fall back on. You have to be able to make at least your state's cost of living to survive.

Being an animator means have to fail and succeed animating many times to get animating right. A college is going to help you organize your thoughts together, speak with professionals, and question your abilities.

I've been passionate about film for years, and I can understand where you are coming from. It is the same world with filmmakers.

Your asperger's is not going to affect your ability to animate, and in fact it may help you animate better because aspie's have an attention to detail. Animating is mathematical and detail orientated. Aspies thrive on math and details. In terms of worrying about leadership skills? Ha, I lead a friend of mine who really hated math to pass his math class by leading by example.

In fact to prove us that you can animate why not show us some of your work?

Oh and go to art school that way you don't make straight-to-dvd crap like the drop-outs and anti-art school folks who constantly use famous people as examples.

i haven't made anything noteworthy yet. my laptop is horrible at this stuff so i had to build this desktop

I'm a professional artist.
Have had my work exhibited in art galleries, museums, and solo shows including a local City Hall.
Have won awards, including Best of Show.
Currently sell my artwork online, made two sales this past week.

... and ...
Thank God for my day job.

Throughout history, many artists have held day jobs,
even the great, big-name ones.
It's nothing to be ashamed of.
Society will try to judge you, put you down, limit you ... don't listen.
Do your best.
Aim high ... the world needs your best.

And as for giving it all away free on the Internet like someone suggested,
I would personally beware of doing such a thing, lest you devalue yourself.
If you don't take yourself seriously as an artist,
nobody else will either.
Have respect for yourself and your art,
and I wish you the best of success!

I set out to work as a designer in a field where results are easily measured, and a large premium is sometimes paid for the best numbers. Winning world prizes with cheap prototypes was the easy part. What gets built depends almost entirely on who will profit or loose by the change, and most of the rest depends upon the salesmanship and political skills of the designer. I very much doubt that the people doing well now think they are out of ideas themselves. If you are going to show any return at all, you might need a boutique market with your own fans. Don Lancaster's advice is to publish everything, and wait for a salary offer for new copyrights.

I can't give you specific advice, like some of the posts above, but my view is to go for it. You will find a lot of people who say you can't do it but it's ultimately up to you.
Would yoy describe yourself as risk averse? If so, you may need a back up plan.. maybe part-time work.
I nearly gave up my day job to become professional musician about 18 years ago. I certainly went part-time at work to allow more time for travelling around the country... but (for me) I am risk averse and the day job was much easier, although less fun. I don't know how it happened, I didn't even play an instrument seriously until I was in my 30s... it just sort of crept up on me.
So you never know which way it's going to go. Good luck.

The idea behind giving away stuff for free is cost effective promotion and advertising. Normally this requires social skill, which Aspies don't have. Which means the cost of promoting your work is way too high. But, many Aspies have an endless supply of ideas. So, the cost of giving away even valuable ideas is low, at least for an Aspie. Also, the more stuff you do, the better chance of you doing something that is commercially valuable, which will make you commercially valuable. Most Aspies can produce more stuff if they just concentrate on producing stuff, rather than multi-tasking. Most Aspies are horrible multi-taskers. But, as they say, if you have met one Aspie you have met one Aspie. You will have to figure out what works best for you.

I'm sure that Forest Mims made a lot of money writing books for Radio Shack. Whether you want to do something is similar is up to you.

If you haven't actually touched your sweet new desktop to make some game designs just because you might not be able to make a living at it, then you don't actually love game design. What you love is coming up with ideas and thinking about them. A lot of people who think they are "artists" don't actually have the executive functioning skills to conceive, execute, and finish a whole piece. Have you ever finished any of the million projects you have ideas for? If not, then you probably shouldn't aspire to be a project director.

Basically what everyone else is saying. It's best to have some sort of safety net in case things don't work out your way - a day job in this case. I'm a hobbyist musician, game developer and video producer, and most of the time, I've been studying full-time while making all sorts of things related to those hobbies. With enough luck, though, one of those hobbies will soon turn into a career.