I have. It wasn't a easy transition at school and if I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure if I would do it again. I guess it depend what kind of artist you are and what your expectations are. The reality of architecture is very different than the idea of it, just like the life of an artist. Just for different reasons

an art professor of mine told me he was disappointed because i was going into architecture, which at the time I thought would be a good way to pay the bills, and he thought i had potential.

Go read jump's story about his artist friend. That's more inspiring (for you) than anything I've heard about any architect.

I have seen it done both ways. It is neither/nor.

It's a good background to have.

I did art/graphic design and painting in undergrad. I did that at a state school that is only known nationally for sports and partying.

Worked out pretty well!

I started out as an artist and moved to architecture. I was sick and tired of being a starving artist, but now that I am a starving architect I get nostalgic. In both areas I have learned so much that can translate and inform the other.

The biggest difference you will notice is how people perceive you. When I was an artist and someone asked what I do for a living and I responded "artist", their response was "what do you do to earn a living" and then I would reply by stating whatever various side job I had. Now when someone asks what I do for a living they are much more impressed and will tell me how they always wanted to be an architect but didn't know math. Then they ask me if I like FLW.

paperboy makes a good point re: first impressions. Shamefully, I enjoy how much people ooh and aah when I say I'm an architect.

(Remember what Dave Hickey says: architects are just artists who wanted to make their mother happy.)

My husband did the opposite: he left architecture school 25 years ago to become an artist. I have no doubt if he tried it today he would be a much better architect than I am. Much better.

a background in art is particularly valuable if the goal is to end up on the design concept and/or visualization end of the profession. contract admin, not so much. painting and drawing have cognitive payoffs in terms of developing a compositional sensibility, syncing the imagination with a process of production, and tuning the eye. especially working with today's tools, art is the best training ground for a critical eye that allows judgment about what a visual concept could/should be, vs. what software produces easily, IMHO

I have a friend who went from Graphic Designer to Artist and has made more money in 18 months thanI have in 6 years and is having a great time! He'll never look back. It really is more important to create a body of work and network the daylights out of it. This applies to both Art and Architecture. I cannot stress this more...

I did - but is was a long evolutionary journey

Started out studying painting at San Jose State Univ, then switched to Graphic Design - graduated in 1976, Began a career in 3D computer graphics, designing 3D scenes for B52, and B1 flight Simulators during the cold war, did that for 18 years, then I was a 3D environment designer for 11 years at Rockstar games - at which during my last 4 years at Rockstar games, I studied architecture, It was during architecture school, that I used many graphic design concepts to quickly diagram the design concept and to articulate the design in Maya then later Revit/BIM with diagrammatic approaches, earned my M.Arch degree(2007). Began my architecture career at SOM SF using Revit on big commercial projects. Then I was got laid off in 08' when the bottom fell out. and it took 1 year of freelance, taking classes, working for free, and redoing my thesis project to at long last start to get a least temp jobs, now I have been working for 5 months at a small office in North Beach working on Tenant Improvement projects. I received a lot of discouragement from people about what appeared to be a radical career change.

I remember a passage I read in a book called Art career guide about changing careers late. "If you are successful in one area, then it is not wise to change careers" I will always remember that, because When I read it in 1974, that is when I decided to evolve from painting to architecture. Was it a wise decision? No, not any rational sense - going this route makes the best use my evolved skills in problem solving at flight simulator, then video game design and ultimately architecture - each career, is based on the foundation of the other, and the one constant is geometry, is the driver for all of this - cubism to architecture - Corbu and Ozenfant.

The point I am trying to make, is that in painting and in graphic design we learn ways to represent ideas in that serve as a visual shorthand for the architecture process - see Bjarke Ingalls Group(B.I.G) - he uses many graphic design and game design approaches to architecture concept development.

I figured once I was a registered architect, I would switch to art, because one goal had been met in my life. Well been registered for 15 years...and I haven't switched. However I have been thinking alot more about making the switch over the past couple of weeks. Seems like Architecture is Dead to Me. I find myself just going thru the motions...and I don't even call it Architecture any more...it is more like being a slave to economic times and to clients with a bizzare understanding what we do.

The creative director of the game studio I worked at, started out in architecture then when the recession of 83' struck, went into 3D computer graphics, worked on "Last Starfighter" became a partner at Angel Studios - worked on "Lawnmower Man", Produced video games for Nintendo, Microsoft and Rockstar, sold his share to Rockstar Games, and is now a painter.