Mike Lee.org - Weekly Random Rambles, Musings & Writings of Mike Lee

What if I went to an art school for college? Kim just gave me this challenge:

For your next ramble — "What if…" The topic? Pick a person. ANY person — and play the game of "What if…" things had happened differently with this particular person.

While I could pick some long-lost friend or an ex-girlfriend and give you a real juicy story, I'm not going to. Buy me a beer one day and maybe I'll tell you that story. For now, let's see what would have happened if I had chosen to go to art school for college.

My first thought: tattoos. Definitely. I don't have any tattoos right now (and don't want to anytime soon), but I've contemplated designing tattoos once. Art School Mike would have a tattoo on his right forearm—a tattoo of a cryptic tribal-like symbol designed by himself.

No nose rings or dyed hair though. Art School Mike wouldn't stand for that. A tattoo is as far as he'd want to go in the whole "body as a canvas" thing.

His freshman year would be kind of goth. Or at least a lot of denim and heavy metal t-shirts. This would be Art School Mike's "experimental" phase. He'd go to plenty of heavy metal concerts and even pick up a guitar for some power chord jamming.

This phase wouldn't last though. He would grow out of it by his sophomore year. The tattoo would be a regretful holdover from his "wild days," but he wouldn't remove it. He'd continue playing the guitar though.

Like many other idealistic students, he'd get involved in social causes around the city. From helping the homeless to cleaning up the environment. He'd resolve to Go Green and try to use his art to help save the planet. Though he wouldn't go as far as to be a dirty hippie and stop bathing.

He'd take on a set of odd jobs to pay for his art supplies. Like being a cashier in an indie record store, making and selling artwork out of found garbage, and wearing a large chicken suit to promote KFC.

Art School Mike would get caught up in the whole web design movement by his junior year. He'd start with a basic website with tiled bricks as a background image, then try some horrendous image-heavy site designed to be pixel precise.

Animation and 3D modeling would also be a strong concentration of his, though he'd have some tough debates between going into the web design industry or the 3D animation industry after college.

The decision would be made when he'd meet a hot, laid-back, half-Asian half-Caucasian girl from California in his "Motion Studies" class. "Babe, you're so chill…" he'd say as he gazed into her green eyes. Then they'd do it on a large empty canvas in the middle of the art studio after the class was over. Nice.

He'd move to California with his college sweetheart and join a fledging company called Pixar. It would seem like the perfect match for his interests in drawing and computers.

There would be times he'd jealously watch web companies like Yahoo and Amazon make their employees rich. "I wonder if I should have gone into the web design industry," he'd ask himself.

When his college sweetheart breaks up with him, he'd pour all of his sorrow into his music. On the weekends, he'd play his guitar and write music. Sometimes he'd perform in bars and clubs around San Francisco and Berkeley.

He would scrounge together enough songs to release one CD, but wouldn't produce a sequel. The CDs would sell out amongst his inner circle of friends and he'd get a mention in Metal Mania magazine, but that would be about it. Oh, and he'd date one of his groupies for a little while, but it would be just a rebound.

The time commitment required of his work would soon take precedence and he'd stop performing. Art School Mike would then throw himself deep into his work. He'd get an award for modeling a life-like character in one of Pixar's films and begin contemplating starting his own 3D animation film studio.

After a few more highly-successful films, he'd strike out on his own to start his own studio. He'd gather a few of his art school buddies and loyal coworkers. Together, they would release a handful of independent films. His first film would be about a guy who dresses up in a large chicken suit for KFC.

For many years, they'd struggle. Although some of their films would make it into the Sundance Film Festival, none would reach mass-market acclaim.

He and his designers would travel back and forth from Los Angeles to San Francisco and date voluptuous, silicon-enhanced, Hollywood bimbos. Mostly for the image, of course.

Then fortune would strike. Hollywood would begin to recognize the value of 3D animated films and Pixar and Dreamworks would go head-to-head in a number of releases. Pixar becomes the clear leader, so Dreamworks would approach Art School Mike with an acquisition offer.

Half of his studio would want to join Dreamworks because they believe a larger film studio will give them a wider distribution network. The other half would like the deal because they can retire early with a lot of money. A few would be adamantly opposed to the deal; they'd see it as selling out.

Art School Mike would ultimately sell his studio to Dreamworks and then leave the company. With the earnings from the sale, he'd purchase some real estate in New York City and San Francisco so he can travel between the cities easily.

And… well, that's all I have for now.

Not a bad possibility. Damn, maybe I should have gone to art school instead.

What if you made a different choice for one of your major life decisions?