I read over the rest of the thread and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that so many people here would enjoy artistic, creative careers and traveling. It's never stated that INTPs can't be creative, but most of the descriptions I've read talk about INTPs as logical and analytical.
Personally I am making an effort to hopefully be exposed to several cultures of my interest. I am particularly interested in Japan. I think they are very sufficient, have amazing technology and are not bound by a lot of the expectations I feel like people are bound to in America and the mid-west. That is not to say Japanese are not bound by other expectations. I know their learning environments are extremely stressful and the expectations on the young are unbelievable. Their economy is rather tight and they don't particularly like foreigners. Even though school wise I've vaguely decided on learning foreign languages I have a variety of interests that seem to change everyday. Genetics, biology of sorts/botany perhaps, comicking, writing, computer languages, web design, animation, game design, illustrations, architecture, some type of sociologist or theorist or psychology or criminal analyst, race car driving @_@. I would really like to be able to put aside my fears and do risky stuff. If I could do Parkour as a living or something. Acrobatics...hitchhiking photographer, art of some kind I could be real messy with. Tattoo artist if I had the steady hand and patience for it. If I had my non-existent dream job it would probably be to make life like dolls @_@ or something like that. Making computers out of weird things. "Don't touch that water bottle, it's my computer. That pen is my phone". I want creepy dolls I can tell people are my computers. I'd like to see advancement in crazy ass computers and computers monitors. Sci-fi esk stuff. I want to see practical things mixed with... artistic en devours I suppose.
On the topic of money and jobs... It constantly bothers me the backwards thinking of my parents. But I'm just a kid (If I live to eighty I still have sixty years), so who am I to say anything against my parents and grandparent's work ethics and philosophy. Perhaps being a young person has simply left me open to being easily influenced by some of the things I read or hear. For instance I read an article, an online article, of reasons you should never get a job and I have read a few horror stories about the notorious 9-5 jobs, I read part of the story Nickels and Dimes for a class. And then there's stuff like Cube Girl on Youtube and games where you have kill yourself in five minutes with things around the office, because you can't stand your work. Then there are the people in my life who never have a moments rest and never seem happy. It's kind of like...
Yikes
I believe I read in the book "Do What You Are", which I'm currently reading and still trying to figure out my type, that the Jack of Trades is a dying field (or at least a low paying one) and people with specific skills are in more demand. Even when I look at my grandparents and my parents the opportunities my parents think are there just aren't (Least I don't see that they are). Work doesn't necessarily equal money anymore. I was reading these reasons for not getting a job and this man was saying you have to find some way to contribute in a sense that will keep contributing without much upkeep. Obviously this man's view is a little narrow minded. He gets away with writing and profiting from that (apparently). Not everyone knows their talent or what they could be inventive with. Even if someone has talent they don't necessarily know how to market it or who to know.
My whole childhood I was pretty well convinced I would be a writer, I even attempted to write a novel around thirteen/fourteen. In books about how to publish work they advise people to go to writing expos and get familiar with agents and editors. The Internet has made some aspects of creative fields easier, but more difficult at the same time. I know at least one person who has self published, but the marketing aspect didn't take off and it died. Also I thought they and their parents, who supported the publishing, were too ambitious. (No, I'm not talking about the writer of Eragon. I know someone who "published" a novelette at thirteenish and it was crap. Personally I thought Eragon was crap and the only reason he got it published was because of his parents ties with larger publishing companies).
It seems like in artistic careers there are two ways you can go about it. You can go about it on your own and hope you develop a fan base, but you do not begin to merchandise UNTIL you have a fan base. You might not ever have one, so it's like... keep your day job. The internet is an amazing tool for people into artistic things. Independent sites are good for when a person has a base. But a base has to be developed through some means. Depending on the type of art a person might want to have shows and get to know a community of artists. There are a huge number of artists on Deviantart (which I think is the spawn of hell), but artists get undoubtedly noticed there. There's just too many people on Deviantart for stuff to go completely unnoticed, but the ultimate booster to doing this is finding individual communities, that can and will support you. But the hard part about these damn communities is the people and understanding how to deal with them. If I ever went so far as to think I could form a fanbase and actually sell a few prints or something; building and maintaining the fanbase would be the hardest part. I mean I don't think the fanbase is necessary, but I think it's a major booster. I know several artistic people who are just like... magnets or something.
One person I know who writes fanfictions (so she doesn't do this for a profit) is a very caring and nice person. Probably some kind of INFP or ENFP or FP of sorts. Anyway, all the people on this one forum praise her like crazy. She's like a veteran (a mod I think) there and everyone knows her, they praise her constantly, even if what she says and does isn't that spectacular. I mean she is really nice, but geez, she's like a demi-goddesses or something. The whole social aspect of Forums is just something else. @_@ (Am I way off topic now?)
I've tried doing this before... like brownnosing people and all, but I was a bit too impatient for results and people have no pity on you if you're new. (Tries to figure out what I was talking about....)
Ah, so going solo with online access and getting connections is apparently one way to succeed. (Has an idea suddenly) If you just got a few close friends together and went to a forum and they praised you and loved you like something else there, some people would want in on your supposed happiness and would become "followers/fans". I mean... no one wants to be left out right? On some forums they have these godlike favorites, who everyone worships and everyone else, who doesn't know what's going on, who doesn't know the notorious whoever did this and that and the inside jokes over here... is isolated. Doesn't make me want to approach them... I would think that a way to cheat the system. The whole system seems so corny and superficial anyway...
The other way in art, I suppose, would be to go to school for it. But from what I've experienced there that's more like you'll work for someone else and you'll have certain skills. It's business-art. They teach you how to do an aspect of, example: animation and then you might get into a internship, etc... but the school is your middle man and I'm sure at fine art schools they would help you with shows and the like. I haven't been to an art school, even though at one point I was very close to applying... I suppose people with parents who were artists or encouraged their child's talents at a young age are another booster kind of element. Like Hess, his father was an artist who knew other artists and Hess learned personally from actual artists. I guess there might be one more type of artists and that's, perhaps, the "revolutionaries", but might consider them part of this second "way of art". Because they have some sort of means to get where they go.
With art, with everything, a person's got to have some IN. Charisma, talent, education, someone you know in that field who will support you... it's like a complex structure of requirements, boosters, materials, inspiration, will.... As crazy and depressing as this system could seem, I also thinks it's incredibly fascinating and it could be manipulated. But it's theory and a work in progress I would suppose. To me the people with the greatest IN are going to college for their desired field, also have popularity online (mostly if it's in an artistic field, because people can sells prints and such through places like Deviant) and have a supportive family or mentors. If I didn't have to worry about the huge impact attempting to take advantage of these qualities in favor of art, I would like to experiment and try it. (I know I went way off topic, but even if thinking won't ever be my job, it will at least be my hobby and writing is my addiction. @_@)
