<prompt> Human: I still dont know what I want to do after high school, currently 16 with my final two weeks of my sophomore year. I have been learning Photoshop and Sony Vega on my own time and think I can make a career out of it. I saw that graphic design jobs average around 40k a year. I dont know much about all the costs of the real world yet, because they dont teach it. Where do I start?EDIT: I am taking AP Computer Science Senior year, and live in NJ  <response>: BFA - Media Arts and Animation here.If you genuinely enjoy doing graphic design and believe you have an eye for it then you can make a decent living. However to get stable well paying work, you either need the most kick-ass top 1 portfolio. Or a pretty good portfolio and the right connections.Note that neither of those requirements are a degree. For a majority of artsy positions a degree is pretty low on the list of requirements. They are looking for your artdesigncolor theory knowledge. This is easiest to display in a portfolio of your works that you will put together to showcase your skill set.Your potential employers will want to know your proficiency with their preffered design programpipeline. As a designer you will be asked to wear many hats for the most part. -Learn the popular adobe suite programs like Photoshop and illustrator. But also learn 3rd party or less popular programs like Corel Paint or gimp. if you learn one you can use most of them but familiarity is best-Learn colorart theory. Taking actual painting classes or life drawing classes will build a solid foundation and help develop an eye for whats good and bad artistically.-Try to learn a 3D program, 3DS Max is a good one, most of the industry uses this or something based off of it.-Learn a programming language. Most art programs will have script sections to streamline tasks as needed. and generally if youre focusing on digital art knowing atleast one programming language will help you in the long run. Personally I think C is a good starting point. learning this will let you read many other program languages, even if you dont know the exact syntax.-Do some free work maybe. Yes yes, boo hiss, Im evil. You need a portfolio. And your portfolio needs a Crown Jewel. Being able to showcase Professional level work that is actually in use somewhere is a great start. Now, you should be paid for your time, but first it helps to show that someone found what you do with your time useful enough to use. It doesnt have to be weeks of work, it can be a local band logo on their website that you also designed hint or a menu design for a local mompop shop. Just something that shows someone wants your work. Maybe even a cheap craigslist art request.All of this is stuff you can do on your own without dropping mad for college classes. I do believe going to a proper school can teach you many things however. they can help guide and focus your studies. Hopefully professors have actual work experience so you can pick their brain and learn the tricks the industry expects.If you choose to go to art school. I highly suggest getting your core classes writing, maths, ect out of the way at a community college first. Dont pay inflated art school prices to learn the correct way to measure a circle. Remember most classes can be tested out of. Talk to your counselor and see how you can test out of the basic classes if you feel comfortable with the level of proficiency expected. seriously, you dont need to take comp 1 that teaches you to open Microsoft word.When you get out of school you will be competing with professionals in your field from the last 40 years or so. At my last Entry level position at a studio I worked with one of the animators from the original TMNT series from 1987. He was in the same entry position as me.This is due to 2 factors. in large studios there is a culture of simply using people until they burn out and replacing them. And, when money gets tight, Artists are the first to go and the last to hire back. If youre freelance and have a steady stream of regular clients then you can avoid mass layoffs and work culture bullshit which is nice. But that is a direct correlation from your effortskill to payout.Humm, I kind of rambled there for a bit. I hope this info can at least help a bit or give you some clues on what direction to go. Good luck. 