[jim_art]

Hi everyone I am probably going to go with one of the longer intros here (maybe ever) but I have a few questions that you might be able to help me with.

I was a stay at home dad that made pottery and art out of my house. I am now suddenly (in less than 6 months) a 49 year old divorced dad, with three children that I am retaining custody of. I also have a back injury and with the economy the way it is and with my back, making a full time living in ceramics is not really an option (people right now are not excited about buying things they don't "need".)

Back in the 90's I did a little web designing and I have also done a considerable amount of graphic design in the past. But I know I am waaaayyyyy behind (can you say dinosaur.) I have been going through several books and am about to start on a few tutorials and conquer building a site or two for myself and some friends.

What I am curious about is this. Right now I have the finances to chase this possibility for a while and the time to learn what I need to for a little bit, but of course that won't be forever (in fact not very long at all.) What are most of you finding the web design market to be like? Can an "old" newbee get out there with some hussle, learn this stuff and make a living (in the next 6 months or so I will need to make enough money to fill the gap between living expenses and child support.) Oh in six months I don't expect to be nearly deeply knowledgable, but would like to be capable at coding nice websites. I have about 4 years that I can do this on a basis where it will not have to be my only means of support, then this will have to be my primary means of support.

I am trying to learn this stuff from the ground up and right now I am only studying HTML, XHTML and CSS. I want to have a good foundation and working knowledge of how all this works. After I feel I have this down and have some nice sites built using straight coding, what to learn next? I am very picky and have a very definite OCD streak that makes me really want to understand how things work and why I am doing what I am doing. Also I can't stand to give someone a product that does not fill the desired needs.

Okay I am sure that some of you have probably gone to sleep by now. I think I will have questions from time to time on where to turn and how to get this working for me as quickly as possible. I live in a pretty busy art and music town, near a very large metropolitan area so, my feeling is that I need to find a niche.

I am just trying to figure out how to make myself a new career in a very tight spot, very tight economy, with very limited resources and not a whole lot of time...sounds like fun huh!

Thanks for taking the time to read this any info, book suggestions, next steps.....(anything) would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and thanks for the opportunity to participate in the forum, I am sure that I will be taking way more from the forum for a while than I am giving back.

Thanks
Jim