After making the needed preparations to transition I gave my notice at the job I have been at for almost 8 years and to my amazement have been met with an enormous amount of support from those around me. To be honest, I also knew that if I didn’t try I would always wonder anyway. With a lot of thought and consideration given to how this would affect every aspect of my life, the potential rewards just started seeming greater than the risks. Having already taken on an occasional co-host role on his Sharpened Artist Colored Pencil Podcastwe also discussed what partnering might look like and me potentially taking on a bigger role there as well. During that time, I also had a great conversation with my friend and fellow colored pencil artist John Middick. I’ve spoken before about The Power of Yes and it felt like more often than not I kept having to say ‘No’.Ī few months ago, I decided that I didn’t want to ignore that nagging voice anymore and I started looking seriously at what transitioning to a full-time artist would look like. I’ve turned down projects that I otherwise would have taken because the reality of my situation was that I didn’t have the time or wasn’t available during the day to take something on. There has always been this nagging inside of me wondering what would happen if I could really focus my efforts on art full-time and give it a solid effort. I don’t regret choosing that career path because the things I learned in the last 16 years between school and my career as a professional have been a big part of why I believe I can be successful as an artist today. It certainly was in many ways, but graphic design while satisfying from a creative problem-solving perspective, left me feeling like something was always missing. Graphic arts are maybe a bit of an exception to this which is why I figured that career path would be a bit more stable. It took me a long time to even give myself permission to go to art school for graphic design because the narrative that is still commonly peddled is that you can’t make money in the arts. This is fear-based thinking at its finest and to be honest, I’ve told myself some version of this phrase for many years. Everyone knows the saying “Don’t quit your day job.” Typically it’s said to people who maybe aren’t very good at something or as a comment on that person’s lack of faith that the venture you want to pursue won’t pan out like you think it will.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |