Then I'm an aspiring artist.
That being the case you should definitely look to build experience, it's really crucial.
I think that you should lower the standard you have in mind for visual effects and compromise in order to tell a story.
You can do DECENT spacecraft effects and stuff for a reasonable amont of money. It's not the 80s anymore.
there are students and hobbists that would be hired for much cheaper than a professional house and the quality of the work is watchable.
The trick is to think like a low budget indie film maker and get the most bang for your buck out of the fewest possible vfx scenarios.
One example is that Lost in Space show on netflix.. a sci-fi space show but like 95% of the show they are stranded on a planet.
Super low budget wilderness for 95% of the show... and then splurged sci-fi vfx for 5% of the story to draw in the viewers.
They did that trick on the old star trek show a lot too.
Hell even that CW show "The 100" has a similar tactic.
I loved the old BBC show "Red Dwarf" and that was quite low budget, the animation wasn't great but it was good enough to tell the story.