Help robin go study in Japan!
Donation protected
Hi there! I'm a comic artist with a day job, and I’m on a mission! A quest, if you will--to achieve something that I had all but given up on over a decade ago--to get a college degree. 2014 is a year of hopefully many good changes in my life, and I’ve joined GoFundMe in the hopes that some people out there might be able to help make these dreams of mine a reality.
I want to eventually go back to school full time. My current job is great, but is very physically demanding, and I'm unable to really utilize my talents. While my first love is art, and I do make a modest secondary income with my comic and commission work, I would love to eventually become a translator--I have been teaching myself Japanese independently for nearly 18 years, and want to possibly pursue a degree in Linguistics.
I understand that schooling is a LOT of money, and funding--whether it be from work, here, or possible future scholarships, won't show up overnight. I have some debt that I'd like to pay off and I have a house to maintain, so I'd like to start off 'small'--I'd like to study in Japan for a year or so, to advance my knowledge of the language. I never took any formal classes in all these years of studying, but was able to pass the N3 (upper intermediate level) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December of 2012.
I want to do better than that, though--I want to aim for N2 or N1(the highest, near native/native level speaker tests). I feel that studying abroad in Japan at a Japanese language university would be my best way to achieve this goal.
I've since figured out that while it wouldn't be feasible to up and leave my job to study abroad for up to a year, it may be possible to do a short-term study program for a month. That knocks down my previous goal of $12000 to $6000. I'm back in contact with one of the schools I spoke with last year, and a one-month term including tuition for a standard daily class plus JLPT prep courses and kanji tutoring (my handwriting has never been great in any language!), along with lodging, would be 325,450 yen, or $3208.29. The rest of the $6000 would go towards airfare, food/living expenses, and covering bills at home. $6000 is a lot easier to acquire than $12k. And if I can get a higher score on the JLPT, I can use that to apply to any number of jobs, and then see where that takes me. A better job, and potentially more schooling in the future would make me a happy camper.
To reward you kind souls who donate towards this, I've set up reward levels. I want to use my artistic ability to make this worthwhile. The first level is reserved for $25 donations--those donators will receive a black and white piece of any one subject.
For $50, donators will get a one-subject portrait of their choosing, digital or in watercolor.
For $100, donators will get a full color portrait, TWO black and white pieces, and a printed version of one of my comics that I've published over the years (as supplies are limited in that respect, I will do the choosing based on availability).
If anyone donates more than that, we can work something else out.
Please feel free to check out my online portfolio, to see what I can do.
I thank you all for taking the time to just look at this, and in the future, if there's ever a time I can help anyone else on here out, I will gladly do so.
I want to eventually go back to school full time. My current job is great, but is very physically demanding, and I'm unable to really utilize my talents. While my first love is art, and I do make a modest secondary income with my comic and commission work, I would love to eventually become a translator--I have been teaching myself Japanese independently for nearly 18 years, and want to possibly pursue a degree in Linguistics.
I understand that schooling is a LOT of money, and funding--whether it be from work, here, or possible future scholarships, won't show up overnight. I have some debt that I'd like to pay off and I have a house to maintain, so I'd like to start off 'small'--I'd like to study in Japan for a year or so, to advance my knowledge of the language. I never took any formal classes in all these years of studying, but was able to pass the N3 (upper intermediate level) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December of 2012.
I want to do better than that, though--I want to aim for N2 or N1(the highest, near native/native level speaker tests). I feel that studying abroad in Japan at a Japanese language university would be my best way to achieve this goal.
I've since figured out that while it wouldn't be feasible to up and leave my job to study abroad for up to a year, it may be possible to do a short-term study program for a month. That knocks down my previous goal of $12000 to $6000. I'm back in contact with one of the schools I spoke with last year, and a one-month term including tuition for a standard daily class plus JLPT prep courses and kanji tutoring (my handwriting has never been great in any language!), along with lodging, would be 325,450 yen, or $3208.29. The rest of the $6000 would go towards airfare, food/living expenses, and covering bills at home. $6000 is a lot easier to acquire than $12k. And if I can get a higher score on the JLPT, I can use that to apply to any number of jobs, and then see where that takes me. A better job, and potentially more schooling in the future would make me a happy camper.
To reward you kind souls who donate towards this, I've set up reward levels. I want to use my artistic ability to make this worthwhile. The first level is reserved for $25 donations--those donators will receive a black and white piece of any one subject.
For $50, donators will get a one-subject portrait of their choosing, digital or in watercolor.
For $100, donators will get a full color portrait, TWO black and white pieces, and a printed version of one of my comics that I've published over the years (as supplies are limited in that respect, I will do the choosing based on availability).
If anyone donates more than that, we can work something else out.
Please feel free to check out my online portfolio, to see what I can do.
I thank you all for taking the time to just look at this, and in the future, if there's ever a time I can help anyone else on here out, I will gladly do so.
Organizer
Robin Edwards
Organizer
