Different Digital Art Careers

Question

What is the difference between web design, digital arts, multimedia and graphic design as far as careers? Which one do you think has the most "staying" power? What type of degree would you need to get into an entry level job?

Answer 1

Yes these are very much staying jobs, people say the economy is the what drives this country, but what drives economy? Money, exchanged and circulated between every american, and thats due in a large part, to advertising, created by people in these fields. Im an animator myself and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I work in  houston animating prototype well systems for some of the largest oil companies in the world. Talk about job security =)  

Answer 2

These crossover to some extent.

Graphic design is the oldest of these terms and is not exclusive to computers. Calligraphy, typography, creating logos, symbols and other methods of conveying an idea or identity in a simple, easy to recognise image are all part of this.

Multimedia began to arise as a term in the early 1980s, and is graphics and sound, and can also include video, originally used for mainly educational purposes. Again, this is not exclusive to computers. At the time multimedia began, most computers were not capable of audio or video, let alone 3D and animation, and there was no Mac or Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Photoshop or World Wide Web.

Digital Arts is computer generated art, ranging from procedurally created 2 and 3D images such a Fractals, real world data scanned in from, for example photographs, satellite geological/topology data, medical imaging, molecular imaging via Nuclear Magnetic Resonance or X-Ray Topography, 3D scanning of objects such as statues, sculptures and other artefacts, 2D image editing/creation software such as Photoshop, vector graphics software such as Corel Draw or Inkscape, and use of 3D modeling, animation and rendering software.The end use defines whether it is art or scientific imaging, and these often cross over, for example, the artificial use of lighting and shadows to visually enhance an image intended to convey scientific data. Digital arts also includes motion capture, music, video, compositing and many techniques used in cinematics/video special effects, and increasingly, web design, for example, Flash.

Web design is the creation of web pages and content, and has rapidly evolved into a very complex subject, from a simple document mark up language intended to convey text and graphics along with reference links to further data, with some degree of control over appearance. The Web was created on the NeXT computer by the British physicist Tim Berners Lee at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland, and originally for scientific and educational use. It requires skill in graphic design, in particular layout and creating and editing images, a knowledge of typography and an indepth understanding of which fonts are likely to be installed on computers running Windows, Mac OS, Unix and Linux, and the differences between these fonts, viable alternatives, HTML/XHTML/CSS rendering bugs in different browsers and how to get around them, and as well as HTML/XHTML, programming in CSS (a form of Java), Java, Javascript, XML, Python,PERL, CGI, PHP, SQL, ASP, CFM, Quicktime, Flash,  et cetera, as well as the installation, configuration and use of servers for these and content management systems. The interest in displaying real time interactive 3D images continues despite VRML not becoming as popular or widely used as expected, so it is worth keeping up to date on these technologies as well. Unless you chose to work in 3D animation, Web Design is the most complex area of those you mentioned.

As for which one has staying power, either 3D or Web Design. Which degree to take, is partially up to you, what you're good at and want to be, and what is available to you. Some universities' Computer Science and Graphics courses are much better than others, for example, Stanford, Cornell, Oregon State, and ACCAD have trained many people now at Pixar, NVidia, Sony and so on.

In the mean time, learn to use free software that will furnish you with the skills you want, eg, for Photoshop skills, use Gimp, for vector art, use Inkscape, for 2D animation, Synfig, for 3D modeling, Blender, K3D, Ayam, for rendering, Aqsis, Pixie, NVidia Gelato, Povray/MegaPOV, and so on. And, develop a portfolio. Create an account on DeviantART once you have things to show, have fun exploring, finding out what you feel you are best at, and see what happens.

And, good luck.