My Freelance Academy

Art has attained a whole new level today, and with the reach of social media, growing artists have myriad mediums to showcase their prowess.

Companies are paying more and more attention to visuals which makes this a great time for all the artists out there. They can make the best of their artistic abilities to make it big in the corporate world.

Here are a few lucrative career options for those who excel at art.

1. Video game designers:

More people are going crazy about online, PlayStation, and mobile games in this digital age. So if you’re an art enthusiast who has a penchant for computer programming, this is your thing!

You can be a part of the narration and the layout of the gam and design characters, animations, and elements. It also pays handsomely.

2. Cartooning:

‘Dennis the Menace, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’, and ‘Cyanide and Happiness’ are a few of the revolutionary cartoon snippets that are still a loyal component of publications and social media pages.

This is your field if you have a witty eye and can easily replicate your imagination on paper.

3. Architecture:

This is an ideal career choice for those who love designing buildings and are fixated on geometry and measurements. Being an architect is a  high-paying profession that is indispensable to mankind.

4. Graphic Design:

In this advertising age, companies look for people who can create visually appealing logos, brochures, flyers, ads, and websites for their company promotion.

Graphic designers work in conjunction with text and images using photo editing software to create these designs, and this goes a long way in brand building.

Firms are looking for such designers, and you are paid handsomely.

5. Comic Book Artist:

You get to work freelance and exhibit your work on social media. Or you can work for a publication and create storylines to give them a pictorial form.

Do not let that talent go unused!

Anxiety is a big concern today for most of the population due to our highly competitive work environments and highly demanding, stressful lifestyles.

Anxiety grips you like a demon, and it gets almost impossible to get out of its clutches, and you end up questioning everything in your life.

Here are a few ways to ease that anxiety out so that you don’t have to rely entirely on medications that may have side effects on your body.

1. Get enough sleep

If you have that feeling like you’re going to burst, take a nap. Resetting yourself helps reprogramme your brain and get rid of unresolved and unhealthy emotions.

Also, make sure that you sleep adequately every day, as most cases of anxiety have been known to be caused due to improper sleep patterns.

2. Try natural alternatives

Immerse yourself into some hot water infused with Epsom salts and lie there for at least half an hour. Just empty your mind and let yourself go.

Epsom salts are known to be great stress-busters, and they are very healthy for your body too. You can also sleep with Himalayan salt lamps that help you retain your circadian rhythm and relieve your anxiety episodes.

3. Talk to a loved one

Talking to someone close helps relieve the inner turmoil in you, and you feel lighter. The reassurance of someone being there with you will go a long way in curing your anxiety.

Pour your heart out, and their comforting words will surely ease your situation.

4. Watch your diet

Foods rich in caffeine and sugar aggravate anxiety, so avoid these foods entirely. Look for healthier food alternatives and check for symptoms of panic attacks, irritability, and nervousness following caffeine use.

Maintaining healthy gut bacteria is also important as any imbalance will trigger anxiety.

5. Indulge in activities that shoot up your endorphin level

Muscle relaxation exercises help release endorphins which are the feel-good hormones in your body. Go for a walk or indulge in a workout regime.

This releases your stress and increases endorphin circulation to manage your anxiety. Cuddling with your pets is also known to release oxytocin which will cheer you up.

It is easier said than done, but you can always try. Never feel like you are alone. There is always someone to hear you out.

It’s okay to feel stressed, suffer from anxiety, happen to the best of people. But you need to find effective ways to deal with it.

The tips we have mentioned above will surely help you deal with anxiety.

We know how much you covet that prized post and a personal cabin. Everyone wants to move ahead at work and fetch a promotion.

But with work pressure, you may also have to sell your soul to the devil a lot of times because everything comes at a price.

So how do you maintain your individuality while you compete for that promotion?

1. Hold yourself together:

Just breathe and calm down. Don’t let the pressure get to your head. The more collected you are, the better decisions you’ll be able to make.

A flustered mind will only cloud your judgment. Try to take it easy.

2. Let your work speak for itself:

No matter what, never let overconfidence get the better of you. Focus only on your performance because your work will speak for itself.

Nothing is more important than what you contribute to an organization, so do not let anything affect your work ethic.

No matter how many friends you make at work, if your performance is not up to the mark, you will not be considered for the promotion as you have nothing to offer to the company.

3. Keep your personal and professional life separate:

Do not let your personal life affect your performance at work, so keep it under wraps from co-workers. This will help you cope with the work stress, and you won’t have to answer unnecessary questions.

You can compartmentalize your life, maintaining your reputation at the office.

4. Don’t follow the rat race:

Be original. You don’t have to ape your co-workers or do boot-licking to get that promotion. Be original and retain your uniqueness. Have a competitive skill set to support your work. Flattering your boss will only get you so far.

You mustn’t sacrifice your individuality at the cost of promotion because that will negatively affect your future life.

Well, if you think a promotion is your way, keep these tips in mind.

With increased competition and a plethora of career opportunities, it becomes a herculean task for young people today to choose a career path that helps support their lifestyle and satisfy their souls and not leave them frustrated or disappointed.

So making the right decision is imperative as it will alone decide the future course of your life.
Here are a few tips you need to keep in mind when deciding on your career path.

1. Don’t buy into peer pressure:

Although getting a few inputs from others is helpful, please do not do something because the rest of the world thinks it is correct.

Choose your career based on what you are capable of and not on how many people choose a particular vocation. You can do something that is not very popular and still excel at it.

2. Draw a line between interest and aptitude:

It is very important to choose something you like doing, but you need to demarcate between hobbies and talents.

You may like singing at parties, but to choose music as a career, you need to be sure you’re talented enough to survive the competition and stand out because if you don’t, you won’t be successful.

3. Get reviews from your adult companions:

You need to constantly take advice from seniors of your chosen career path to assess the prospects and struggles you need to face so that you’re prepared to handle everything that comes your way.

Look for guidance and then decide based on whether the pros and cons work for you or not.

4. Assess the finances:

You need to ascertain if you can afford that dream course because if you can’t cope with your expenses, you’ll end up paying off loans all your life.

Also, your financial priorities post your education need to be examined too. Set your financial goals and choose a vocation that can help fulfill them.

5. Evaluate your work style:

Find out whether you like working freelance, being self-employed, or working under supervision. This goes a long way in making the best career choice.

6. Get first-hand experience:

Indulge in summer jobs and internships to know which field is the most suitable for you. If you get exposed to the work environment early, you can make a decision much more quickly.

7. Analyze your social behavior:

Your interpersonal skills play an essential role in defining your career choices. If you are not social, a marketing job won’t work for you. To analyze your social behavior to choose a career that does justice to your temperament.

Your career is one of the most important choices you will make in your life. So, could you not rush through it?

Every individual across the globe desires a fruitful career. The extent of your happiness depends on the type of career you choose.

It is about continuously brushing up your skills to keep abreast with the market’s changing demands.

Let’s have a look at some ways by which you can build a fruitful career:

1. Always keep learning:

Learning new things will be an excellent exercise for your brain, and it can also result in a promotion at work. Just because you have now landed your dream job with a comfortable life does not mean that you should take it all for granted and stop learning new skills.

2. Be irreplaceable:

You should be good at anything and everything. The organization you work in should count you as its most valuable asset.

This way, you build a secure job for yourself which also comes with progression prospects.

3. Widen your network:

If you want to survive happily in the 21st century, you must build strong networks in the market. Networking is everything in this competitive age.

You should be in touch with influential people.
These business relationships can take your career to new heights.

4. Take breaks:

Take breaks to analyze your career and think over the times you failed and succeeded. And, then start afresh. You will feel refreshing energy in you now that you know your strength and weaknesses.

5. Share your knowledge with others:

Sharing your experience will only add up to your knowledge. When you share your ideas with others, you also get to hear about others’ views on them, which can help you in the long run.

Everyone these days is a career-oriented person, but to build a healthy and stable career, you need to develop a few healthy skills and habits.

These tips will hopefully help you build a healthy career.

Visual art is a discipline that involves art forms catering to the visual acumen of the observer. They include ceramic art, photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, film making, and print ads. Designing disciplines involving interiors, jewelry, metal, wood, and furniture design are also a part of visual arts.

You need to choose a college that suits your financial situation and offers the course and exposure required for your vocation.

If Hong Kong is your dream study destination, here is a list of universities you can go to for your visual arts course.

Hong Kong Baptist University

This university offers courses in multiple disciplines like business, creative writing, humanities, science, music, languages, and more. There are 5 visual arts courses to choose from.

These include Associate of Arts in Visual Arts and Bachelors of Arts (Honours) in Visual Arts. Ph.D., MA, and MPhil degrees in the postgraduate levels are also available.

Savannah College of Art and Design

This is an institution primarily concerned with Arts and Design. It provides a specialized Bachelors in Fine Arts and Visual Effects course. It also offers courses in other areas like Business, IT, Social Sciences, and Media.

The fee structure is reasonable, and you will have promising job prospects.

Lingnan University

This university has a wide array of departments and courses to choose from, including healthcare, visual studies, cultural studies, philosophy, translation, and humanities, to name a few.

It offers a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts and Ph.D. and MPhil courses in fine arts.

The Education University of Hong Kong

Predominantly a humanities-based institution, this university holds fields like Liberal Arts and Science, Education and Human Development, Governance and Citizenship, and more.

It has an affordable fee structure and offers four-year undergraduate degrees in Creative Arts and Culture in the Visual Arts discipline, a full-time course.

Well, I hope now you can weigh your options better.

Organizing a schedule is of utmost importance for everyone- from homemakers to professionals. This helps you prioritize your commitments and helps you avoid missing out on important tasks and dates. You will be less haphazard with your daily life and effectively achieve your goals.

In the age of technology, mobile organizers are fast replacing manual organizers. More people sync their schedules on their phone or tablet devices to save time and logistics.

Here is an overview of the perks and downsides of both.

Manual Organiser/Planner:

Pros:

They are inexpensive and will never crash. Also, they are highly customizable while being open to alterations. And the best part is, they will never run out of batteries or chargers.

You don’t require a password to access a paper organizer either.

Cons:

With the recent concerns surrounding paper use, manual organizers quickly lose their identity. Also, if you misplace them, you will have no backup for the same.

The frequent overwriting due to updates and corrections may be messy to handle, and because there is no login facility, your privacy is also at risk.

And the additional ordeal of carrying them around as they take up space makes manual organizers an outdated option.

Electronic Organiser:

Pros:

Not only do they provide limitless storage, but they are also lightweight and easy to carry. You don’t need to take a separate planner, as you can sync everything on your phone or tablet.

You can easily search using a search tab without flip pages making the process less cumbersome.

The to-do lists are easy to edit since overwriting can be avoided. You can also sync them up with your email.

Cons:

The battery may die out when you are traveling. Also, data wipe-outs are possible, which could prove to be very problematic if you do not have a backup.

Which one will you choose?

Employee unity is one of the major factors contributing to an efficient workforce and a healthy work environment.

You must indulge in effective communication strategies and enhanced problem-solving techniques to ensure your peace of mind and accelerate self-growth.

Here is how you can maintain friendly relations with your co-workers.

1. Courtesy is the key

Basic etiquette that includes smiling at your co-workers, occasional hi-hello, and helping people out is very important in the workplace.

Don’t involve yourself in any off-putting practices that may endanger your reputation at work.

2. Respect other people’s time

Everyone in the organization is running a deadline. They have their problems to handle. Don’t invade another person’s personal space and harm his productivity by asking him to do unnecessary errands that you could have managed yourself.

Please don’t engage in long conversations that distract people from their work and daily goals. Try not to disturb people having their lunch or attending to phone calls.

3. Self-Help

Before you approach any colleague for help, make sure you have attempted the task yourself.

This will enhance your credibility, and your colleagues will be happier to assist you as they will understand that you’re not an entitled person and have attempted to accomplish the task yourself.

This will enhance your co- worker’s self-esteem and help create a healthy relationship between you two.

4. Be careful with social media.

Keep your social media adventures (and misadventures) confidential, as this may reflect on your image in the workplace.

Don’t discuss company matters on social media sites, and avoid publicizing your personal life with your co-workers, as this may lead to them having preconceived notions about you.

5. Keep away from office politics

Be nice to everyone and stay aloof from commenting on office politics. Steer clear from office nepotism and gossip.

Treat everyone equally as the above practices are highly unprofessional and negatively signal your work ethic and character.

I hope these 5 tips help you maintain good relations with your coworkers. In an organizations, it is essential to have good relations to bring out the best of the team.

We all dread and loathe Mondays and wish they’d never come. Especially after a crazy weekend of Saturday night parties and Sunday movie marathons, Monday seems even more terrible.

But the bad news is, they are inevitable. You may run from them, but you can’t hide from them. So what do you do?

Let us then face the demons and vanquish them for a change. Here is how you can make your Mondays a lot less dreadful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Z8cuWwabo

1. Find the cause

Why do you particularly hate Mondays? Find the problem, analyze it and then look for a solution because cribbing about it every week will only drain you out.

2. Dress to kill

Wear something nice, so it won’t reflect on your outfit or face even if you feel bad. Good clothes with matching accessories will do a lot to cheer you up.

Every time you look in the mirror or someone compliments you, you will become a little more optimistic.

3. Organize your schedule

Monday gets on your nerves because of your haphazard schedule, which you forget to straighten on a Sunday night. Manage your schedule and include all your goals there to keep track. Keep your to-do list handy, so you’re not caught unaware at any point.

4. Forget about work on the weekend.

Focus on relaxation instead of pondering about work and the office during the weekend. It’s mostly the sinking feeling of going back to work without enough rest that makes us crib so much about Mondays.

So don’t check your work emails and forget about the targets for a while. Just enjoy the weekend and think about work later.

5. Share your weekend adventures with your colleagues

Always have an exciting weekend story ready so you can freshen your mind up before going in for the dreadful work drill. This will keep you positive and entertaining.

6. Have less workload on Mondays

Keep a lighter schedule on Monday and plan for all the heavy work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because you will have got more accustomed to the work by then.

Do all the drag tasks on Friday itself so that you don’t have to tax yourself on Monday. You will get your complex tasks done quicker due to the weekend excitement.

Keep Monday as a day of recovery from the weekend hangover.

Do try these tips and let us know if you were able to beat the Monday blues or not.

Asia has been a hub of design and art since time immemorial. From the Great Wall of China, the relics and sculptures of the Harappa civilization in India, to the monasteries in Tibet, Asia has an eye for beauty with meticulous attention to detail.

It reflects in the design schools that make it to the top colleges worldwide for premier education in art and design.

Here is a list of the top 5 Asian design and art institutions.

Tsinghua University

Located in China and established in 1911, this University boasts of an extensive curriculum offering courses in art and design and science, humanities, law, medicine, philosophy, and economics, along with 56 other departments.

This University ranks 24th in the QS world rankings and comes from a rich heritage surrounding its premises in Beijing.

Tongji University

Founded in 1927, this University is home to specialized state-of-the-art art, design, architecture, and civil engineering and boasts of a superlative industrial base. It is one of the oldest and most reputed universities in Asia.

Seoul National University

The University has stood the test of time as it was abandoned during the Korean war in 1950. Since then, it has risen and catered to many specialties but stood out in the field of art and design.

National University of Singapore

According to QS world rankings, having an enviable reputation of being the top Asian University for art and design, its world-class infrastructure and global exposure, along with available avenues for entrepreneurship, make it a desirable institution for those with the artistic eye.

IIT Bombay

Established in 1958, this institution was under the aegis of UNESCO and boasted of an impressive faculty and provides excellent opportunities in various disciplines, emphasizing research, knowledge building, and skill honing.

So, if you are into art, crafts, and design, do take a look at these schools for your further course of education.