Graphic Design Major - How skilled do I need to be?

[Java Overlord]

I'm a high school student right now. I'm definitely going to major in Computer Science, I'm taking the AP right now and it makes so much sense to me, it's fun! However, I'm also very interested in graphic design. I've done very basic stuff with photoshop following online tutorials, but it looks really cool and I'd be interested in learning how to do the professional stuff. My difficulty arrises in the fact that I am not very skilled with drawing things by hand, like I have difficulty keeping a straight line and stuff. Obviously this primitive photoshop stuff I did is nowhere near the difficulty of the "read deal", but I found that it just felt so much different working with a computer compared to an actual pen and paper. Is it possible for me to excel in Graphic Design well enough to dual-major with it? And if I did, would it give me an edge in the job market, or would it be a useless dual major?

[Zombie Acorn]

Originally Posted by Java Overlord

I'm a high school student right now. I'm definitely going to major in Computer Science, I'm taking the AP right now and it makes so much sense to me, it's fun! However, I'm also very interested in graphic design. I've done very basic stuff with photoshop following online tutorials, but it looks really cool and I'd be interested in learning how to do the professional stuff. My difficulty arrises in the fact that I am not very skilled with drawing things by hand, like I have difficulty keeping a straight line and stuff. Obviously this primitive photoshop stuff I did is nowhere near the difficulty of the "read deal", but I found that it just felt so much different working with a computer compared to an actual pen and paper. Is it possible for me to excel in Graphic Design well enough to dual-major with it? And if I did, would it give me an edge in the job market, or would it be a useless dual major?

Go with computer science, your job prospects are much better and the graphic design world is constantly being undercut by it's own people (artists like to work for free it seems). Graphic Design isn't going to give you an edge for CS type jobs unless you get into UI design or something.

[tech4all]

Do what you enjoy the most. From your post it sounds like that's Computer Science. You'll make more money doing that as well. FWIW I majored in Graphic Design and enjoy doing it. The pay for a Graphic Designer is around $40,000 ish a year. More if you move up. While I'm not sure about Compute Science pay, I assume it's much more. Money isn't everything IMO, but if you can get great pay doing what you love you win double.

[Jessica Lares]

You will learn all the software skills you need, but if you don't learn the fundamentals (and value them beyond answers to a test), or aren't able to think on your own - Alternative ways of doing things, brainstorming, why does this work/why this doesn't (colors, shapes, patterns, mix matching), it won't take you very far than a 9-5 job.