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Should you be a full time artist or do art on the side of a daytime job?

Opinion piece~ Yay

*Disclaimer: All info written is that of the opinion of the author and should not be taken as law, rules, even if I am a yarn goddess.

Ah, the dilemma of all artists. Do I make art my full-time job or do I go out and make money other ways and aim to create art for profit on the side?

For me, I do art on the side. I work full time in a call center and part-time in retail. I create art in my spare time, and if it’s something I feel is marketable I’ll list it on my online store.

I love this way of doing things. I used to put my all into creating art for a living. I didn’t do all that well back then. I rarely made sales, has it not been for having survivor benefits I’d not have the luxury to pursue being an artist.

I consume a lot of artist-related content on the internet. Most of the time when I come across this topic I see artists promoting the go full time, transition from a day job, follow your dreams(terrible advice by the way) route. Admittedly they’re biased because they are usually full-time artist themselves.

And I’m biased against the full-time artist. Not that I have anything against it, do you boo. If you’re doing well then go for it!

Here are a few things to consider when you’re an artsy type choosing which life to live.

  1. Do you value stability over creative freedom? Really take the time to think about it. Is the stress of possibly not affording rent because your art didn’t sell worth the time you have to create it?

  2. Are you in a position to pursue a career that may take years to get off the ground? Do you have a stash of money saved to cover expenses when not making money?

  3. Do you have the patience to grow an audience? Do you have an audience? Is part of that audience financially supporting you? Sure likes are fun and all but you can’t buy groceries with 1000 upvotes.

  4. Is what you make even profitable?

I struggled with the number 4 for much longer than I’d like to admit. You see, I do make nice things in my opinion. But not many people are willing to pay for said nice things.

At least not in my local area. As for online, well I lack an audience larger than a couple of friends, even though I have posted my art online for years.

I’m not complaining though. I’m grateful to be able to spend free time doing things that I enjoy like drawing and crocheting. 

The curvaceous waifu Rem

Hi, Homura. I binged on Re:Zero the anime during my break off from college. First quarter completed with straight A’s. I’m proud of you, Homura! I loved Rem and decided I wanted art of her. So what better way to fulfil that desire art than to create art for her? So I drew her. Late in the evening. Close to my bedtime. I thought she looked slamming. Then in the morning, I noticed glaring issues with anatomy. “You’re a morning person, Homura. You can’t trust your own judgement at night.”

Anyway, I responded to myself “Homura, just accept the flaws in this piece. It’s neat anyway.” So I did. Here she is. I made her my wallpaper on my iPad. With this piece, I’ve gotten back into creating digital art. I had stopped for quite a long time. Only creating traditional pieces. 

Clearly, she wasn’t the only digital piece I enjoyed making.

Lately, I’ve had the desire to create some animated art. I haven’t  drawn animated art in probably half a decade or so.

Yeah, I know. What a neat way to spend your days off from school. Anyway, take care Homura and have a great week next week. Ace your quizzes next week and enjoy doing art~

Image

Fan Art Friday’s!!! Lucy Heartfilia Watercolor

So I’m boarding the transfer bus this fine Thursday morning to college. The usual. I bring my sketchbook with no prior plan on what to draw.

While I wait for the bus to leave the terminal I ponder on what I want to draw. I want to search the Pinterest machine to inspiration but my LTE/3G connection is shot at the terminal. So it’s back to good old fashioned brainstorming.

Yeah nothing. No plans or desires came to mind. So I just started doodling a body. Then I remembered the advice of how to draw: Step one: Using your pencil on the paper make some marks.

The idea to draw Lucy came about fifteen minutes later. Luckily I was away from the terminal and could go into the Pinterest machine to search for reference photos.

Moral of this blog post,

As it pertains to drawing, when in doubt– just draw oppai anything.

It’ll come to you. Maybe. Hopefully.

Lucoa fan art from Miss Koboyashi’s Dragon Maid 

I love this show. Kanna is my favorite of all of them. “Then why am I reading about Lucoa?” Because she’s my second favorite and drawing that “oppai” is fun.

Lucoa is equally as fun to watch on the screen. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend this show if you enjoy light hearted comedy with super natural elements. Take a break from all the massacres and deaths. Wait, it’s just me that binges of horror and action anime? Oh my bad.

Screen shots from iPad’s Crunchyroll app from my watch time.

Seriously, I’d want this as a wall poster.