college student in graphic design 2nd yr needs advice bad

[Vex8]

:chug: hi i am a college student at V.C.U. virginia commonwealth university and i had a question i'm in my second year of college going into graphic design what skills would i need to focus on, and perhaps what other job criteria other than an awesome portfolio would i need to be able to do band t-shirts and/ or album covers and posters for companies. also for anyone out there who owns their own business what other classes in school would you reccommend someone take in college if they wanted to open there own line of clothing geared toward the metal, punk, and goth genre's and if that market is too small the hip hop and rap genre.
thanx for all your help and time its tremendously appreciated.

[pconsidine]

My general advice to any graphic design major is this:

KEEP DRAWING!

Most design programs let drawing skills fall by the wayside after the foundation years, as if just because you sit in front of a computer, you no longer need to know what do you with paper and pencil. So you will probably have to take it on yourself to get into a drawing class (life drawing would be ideal). But be sure you do it. I can't count how many times I've heard people complain that Graphic Designers can't draw anymore.

As far as your specific question, working for record companies is all about style. It's not even a matter of being good. you just need to have the right look for the particular artist of the moment. It's very tough work.

But there's got to be someone out there with better first-hand knowledge than I have. Most of the album work I've done has been for friends who are putting out their own albums. I have no idea what it would be like if you were dealing with a record company.

[sepulveda]

I agree with pconsidine, but being a graduate of graphic design myself, the reason a lot of graphic designers don't know how to draw anymore...is because they didn't know how to draw "before" they got into graphic design, or didn't have a lot of experience drawing.

But enough about that... I would recomend a bussiness class, or classes. when I went to school, there was only one bussiness class for the program and my teachers didn't stress the importance of it when you start your own business,....or just to deal with clients you are doing freelance work for.

I think for the kind of business you're aiming for, learn how to license your designs, how contracts work, and how royalties work, a lot of artists don't know how that works, and the people that makes the truckloads of money....on the designs that sell good, are usually the big companies, and the artist is always struggling, because we usually don't want to get involved in that...but let me tell you....I strongly recommend you study up on it!