"Other duties as assigned"
Advice for going full-time with your art
Nothing prepares you for a creative career like cold toilet water splashing onto your lip. When working as a graphic designer, my boss had our marketing team clean the building restrooms. I am not above cleaning a bathroom, but it no longer felt like the job I applied for.
Dear [COMPANY,]
I'm writing this letter to officially announce my resignation from the graphic designer job two weeks from today.
That letter wasn’t easy to write. The fear of not having a regular paycheck made me feel sicker than the toilet water splash, but I knew it was time to move on.
I knew making money selling art wasn't easy, because I'd tried it before. To quote Clark Griswald, however, "Nothing worthwhile is easy, Ellen."
I’m not a financial advisor or life coach, here’s my best advice for making moves toward going full time with your art.
Find creative ways to earn money.
A part-time job that doesn’t drain your creativity is GOLD. I needed a part-time job to supplement my income, so I got a contract job managing social media for a nonprofit. Do you love dogs? You can walk them for money! Are you a great cat babysitter? Do that and draw the cats!
Watch your numbers like a hawk.
I’m talking about SCREEN TIME numbers. Are you spending more time making art than consuming content? If the answer is no, adjust! You can deal with followers, likes, and comments after art making.
It's okay to go back to work.
My first time on the full-time art career merry-go-round was selling at art markets and on Etsy. That quickly became exhausting, so I applied to that graphic design dream job and got hired. 3.5 years later, they had me scrubbing toilets.
All this to say, it’s also totally cool to keep your creative practice as a hobby forever! But if you want to make it your job, buckle up for the bumpy, FUN, road ahead. I’m happy to be on this trip with you (I’ll bring the snacks)!
What’s your story?
Are you pursuing art full time? Are you already there? The comments await your questions and awesome advice!
Art isn’t my full time gig but it is part of it. When I was laid off from my job in 2017 (thanks to the ineptitude and subterfuge of those running Sears Canada into the ground at the time—a story for another time!) I rode the unemployment train for as long as I could, and then a little longer. I couldn’t see myself going back to another marketing job sitting in a greige office surrounded by fabric walls so I decided to become a barista at the Starbucks down the street (thanks very much to a supportive partner with a well-paying job). It was so much fun! Chatting with colleagues and customers and making lattes from 6:30 to 11am, leaving my afternoons completely free for naps and dog walks. The more I started to chat with customers the more we got to know each other, and before I knew it I started to offer my graphic design and illustration services to those with small businesses. Then I started to tell people in my real life that I was thinking of starting a freelance thing and I found myself in business! Covid happened and Starbucks sent us home (paid!), my partner laid himself off from his job (he was the GM it was the right thing) allowing both of us more time to focus on the business. When Sbux opened back up I tried going back but it wasn’t fun anymore. People were cranky, there was plexiglass everywhere, and when they gave the option to leave I took it, officially going full time freelance. I think that was 2021? So it’s been a good couple years of a good couple years! Good as in fun, relatively low pressure, but also inconsistent and having to adjust to a much lower income than working a corporate job. Having said all that, I’m pretty sure things are about to change in the very near future…
Regarding art in general (taking in writing, filming, photography etc.), I honestly feel like the flag doesn't get waved enough for that last point on your list. There is - or rather, there should be - NO SHAME WHATSOEVER in financing your creative work indirectly while you're building it up, by doing other stuff that pays the bills. I know that it doesn't look good on a t-shirt or make a compelling Instaquote plastered over a photo of a sunset - but it's the reality for the vast majority of creative folk including all the hyper-successful ones, so it's what works.
It just works.
And it's smart.
And it takes the pressure off your brain, so you can really really go for it, and take all the risks you known you should be taking.
And it's just as admirable as going full-time - because you're saying "I'm going to do whatever it takes to make my creative work take off, because I believe in this thing SO MUCH that I DON'T want to take stupid risks with it because of someone else's dumb and poorly-researched idea of what a successful creative life looks like."
Preach.