An artist’s career always begins tomorrow.” This popular quote by the 19th century painter, James McNeill Whistler may well have been true then, but not anymore. Thanks to the burgeoning Indian and international art market, art can no longer be called just a hobby or an indulgence. Be it in the application of a brush strokes or the enactment of a scene on stage, the interest and involvement in any art form makes the field an exhilarating path to pursue. And Gen Y is all set to traverse that path.
Says Puneet Verma, a young painter, who graduated from the prestigious Indian School of Mines and yet made a career out of his passion, “Art as a career gives you adulation, satisfaction, fame and now even a decent bank balance. I am happy that I went for my passion notwithstanding the initial struggle.”
Indeed, a career in art is not limited to being a painter or a sculptor. Today, films, theatre, cultural tourism, photography, interior and landscape design, and a range of options besides conventional options beckon students of art.
Adds Jagriti Jaiswal, a research scholar at University of Delhi who doubles as a sketch artist, “Today, exhibition centres, corporate houses and social media provides adequate platforms to budding professionals.”
Fine arts, commercial arts, visual and graphic arts are the broad sub-sectors, which can be further segmented to include a number of specialised fields.
Informs Ashwini Kumar, founder of the Delhi College of Arts, “Art is for people who are creative, imaginative and innovative. Though traditionally considered an offbeat career option, it has matured into a hot and booming industry. In Delhi alone, we have about 150 art galleries and several auction houses. We need a conducive atmosphere to encourage students to find their own niche rather than channeling them into traditional jobs.”
With an increasing use for special effects and three-dimensional effects in television and advertisements, visual art industry is in great demand.
Says Dr Vijaya Deshmukh, registrar (academics), National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, “Design is not yet a popular area of study, but the demand for designers is exploding with the liberalisation of our industry. The open economy has created a healthy competition within industry which in turn has brought home the awareness that design matters in areas of government investments in the social and development sectors of our economy.”

The National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), College of Art (Delhi), Kala Bhawan Institute of Fine Arts (Shantiniketan), Faculty of Visual Art (Kolkata University) and the Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art (Mumbai) are some well-known institutes offering courses on art. Bachelor and Master's courses in painting, applied and commercial art and sculpture are some programmes on offer. There are also many private institutes that guide students in the fields of visual, commercial and graphic art. And apart from all this, there are number of national and international fellowships on offer as well! For instance, Switzerland's Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS) offers several grants to Fine Arts students. Some organisations even offer interest-free loans to Fine Arts students so that they may pursue higher studies abroad.
Interested?