Recently, I had a discussion with a young man about “what to do next?” Like many of us, he was at a cross roads. He had developed his skills, trained his eye, dabbled in a number of interesting areas of specialties in the illustration industry, and was now faced with the decision of where to go next in his career. I’ve been there…several (many?) times, and I know that a number of you fellow artists have been in that position as well.
For me, this question has caused me much torment. I’ve lost sleep, lost hair, and lost serenity trying to sort it out. After hitting this wall many times, I’ve finally come to understand that I need to stop trying to answer the question with an answer that works for the “rest of my life”, and just start looking at it as a temporary decision. Looking back over my career and realizing that I have bounced all over the place (photography, pottery, illustration, modeling and animation, graphic design) in the past, and still have a healthy love for the creative arts (currently active in design, photography, oils, and just started up blacksmithing) – it isn’t surprising that my career has had a very meandering path. So, I’ve stopped trying to making decisions for my entire life and have just started making decisions that work for me today. It seems to take a lot of the pressure off, and allows me to say “it’s okay” to want to do everything, but that I’ll focus on this now….just for today.
What about you? I know that many of you have faced the same demon. How did you get past it? What was the path that you took to make your decision, and how did you find your peace? Please share so that we can all learn from one another.
and then…
Go Forth. Create.
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I recently just came in terms of finding my peace. I’ve been reading a lot motivational blogs/books looking for a purpose behind my art and life. It has been a long journey but I feel I have a finally have a direction. I learned a lot by reading/doing the exercises from Barbara Sher’s Wishcraft book. I have written down my dream goal and, working backwards, I was able to break it down into concrete real achievable steps that I can follow today. I look forward to this next part of my journey with compass in hand.
Indeed! That is a fusterating demon. My experiences were probly more towards my earlier point of entering the industry as desiring to be a paticular “type of artist”, staying within a social class. Then when I felt hindered or cornered because I wasn’t achieving what standard I wanted to be (i am a perfectionist and am cautious of what I choose to demonstrate to people around me because of classification and stereotyping). I feel this demon hover around also when pressure for finances causes me to want to be flexible with other “art type” employment options causing me to hurry up and learn that so I can keep my income base where its at, so forth.To overcome this I did jump around to different mediums from illustration to animation to film and all that entails with sculpting and craftwork. Until my later years I realized I got tired of trying to please society and to feel accepted and trying to be satisfied with my hungar for being creative for the sake of my “craft”, or “gift” I like to call it. I had this “enlightment” that I am going to keep doing what I love, I am going to do what I feel, I am going to create what I want and how I want, for its the outcome of your masterpiece that matters. I don’t care anymore about a title of what kind of artist I am, whetther it makes moneyor not, I am just simply a creative human being. What is important is the act of being creative. Society has generated this “job type” and this “artist type”. Oh dear me! I learned not to take it too seriously. Right now I work in multiple mediums from traditional arts, computer animation an film techniques, and live performace. I love mixing these artforms and bringing them together. Now that I am freelancing, wandering around my colorful paint pallet of life and wouldn’t change a thing.
Good journeys to all artist!
I am in a similar situation. After almost 4 years of web programming, I’m trying to transition into Graphic and Website Design and possibly even commercial art and illustration – the creative arts being where my passion lies.
Unfortunately, having a completely unrelated full-time job, being married, having two wonderful kids, and the burden of two mortgages leaves little time/opportunity for gaining professional experience and building a portfolio. I’ve got a few pieces, and my skills have developed some over the past couple of years, but I haven’t ever really found a moment to ‘shine.’ It doesn’t help that I live in a rural area without any major demand for art/design.
Still, I believe in this calling enough to have submitted my resignation (padded with a little extra time to find a job) and force myself out of a non-creative dead-end career.
Very commendable to you to have the strength of will to resign during such a tough economic time! Best of luck to you in finding your path.
Like many others here, this post is very timely for me! Right out of college I started my own illustration and fantasy art business, but the stress of the business pushed me towards finding an outlet in other art forms like leathercrafting and mask-making. A funny thing started to happen! I was selling more leathercrafts than 2D art and now find myself running an online Etsy shop that sells both! It’s been advantageous for me, but I’ve found I’ve gotten out of practice with what I thought I originally wanted to do!
Nowadays, I’ve actually found I’ve been wanting to leave illustration to pursue a more concept related industry in character design. But that leaves me at square one again! Nothing I have in my current portfolio really pertains to this so I’m having to build one all over again.
In the end, though, I feel that this move is going to make me feel more satisfied in my life and work. Theoretically, I’m hoping it will help me combine my many interests into a multi-faceted storytelling platform that helps me find that identity I’ve been searching for so long in my art (while also helping to pay the bills!). That’s my current dream arrived at 30 years into my life. I feel like quite the late bloomer!
Boy am I learning that the term ‘dream’ is subjective in life! We morph and evolve as people, especially artists, and we are all the better for our constant will to experiment and move forward, in my opinion! The dream is constantly evolving as we feel it out and learn more about ourselves and our passions.
Good luck to all my fellow multi-stranded artists! You are not alone!
Also a timely post for me. I have to agree with some of the above though, in that cross-pollinating skillsets, though sometimes a distraction from focused efforts, can be a very good thing. I’ve had people tell me for years to pick one discipline and master it. That’s never truly happened aside from pencil work, which I rarely ever get any commissions for these days. My love for illustration however, has taken steps toward painting in the last year or so, and I have to credit that with a willful direction and determination. Still, there were other projects that helped me along the way. I took a corporate job doing e-learning design and production for about 18 months, I did a couple realism murals of rock walls, I sculpted a darth vader costume for my nephew for halloween, the list goes on. All along I’ve managed to still fill sketch books, paint commissions, do some interior inks here and there, design a couple tattoos, and most recently took a job as a newspaper page designer. Before all that and after university I worked construction for years (learning architecture, structure, form, etc.), humbled myself to customer service at a video store, and worked in a publishing house doing nearly everything. All those acquired skills just fuel your creativity and well of knowledge you can draw from while illustrating if you simply pay attention to your present, make mental notes (or better yet sketch diaries), and realize that you are on a journey worth taking so as not to become impatient at not ‘arriving’ just yet. No one (should have) ever said that success only happens to you while you’re fresh out of university. Sometimes the seasoning of life is what makes it taste so good.
Don’t know what tomorrow brings, but I know it’s a blessing that I’m 6ft. above ground.. I do happen to love the relationships in this industry with folks who’s paths have been as diverse as my own, but I fall back on a couple passage’s that I’ll have to paraphrase here, when I have a period of questioning.. Coelho’s Alchemist says, Remember what it was that you were put on this Planet for, and the whole Universe will conspire to your end.. (“Conspire to your End” would make a good porn title as well) and the book “Art an Fear” states that, If you’re going to do it, regardless of if you’re getting paid for it or not, than it’s more than likely what you should try to get paid for..
Will any path dominate the other? I don’t happen to think it’s up to us.. Opportunity and Money play a large part in what paths we choose, and I can’t rightly say I’ve ever had the luxury of choosing what isn’t based in earning money first, but I try to instill in my students how the love for a couple different areas of practice can make all the difference in your career.. Craft can influence your Illustration, and visa versa.. Hell, so can Music, Politics, Science, listening to Comedy podcasts, while posting to Illustration blogs.. =) I can’t see how study into other forms and techniques can ever hinder in taking time away from a singular skill set? It’s more an influence that will effect your skills as they stand in the here and now..
In terms of Determinism vs. Free Will, or whether any of us will find Peace with the questioning an loss of hair? Who knows? Probably not.. =) I’ve put close to 80hrs a week for the last 18 years, into things that have never made me a good living, but they’ve made me happy.. =) That’s why I don’t regret the time, or the influence as it’s brought me to this point, made me what I am.. =)
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I had a creative meltdown at the crossover of 2010/2011. I’d been pursuing two types of art – digital painting on one hand, and photo-based art on the other. I reached a stage where I was all over the place mentally, and in terms of technique, which was damaging my confidence and portfolio. I wasn’t sure whether to try and bring the two paths together, or what. Eventually I decided to pursue the two as independently as possible. I treat them as two different disciplines, mainly for two different goals/markets. Although there’s been crossover jobs, it seems to have worked out. Maybe having a double focus hinders my development on either a little, but I also think the different processes keep my mind active and feed into each other, which is a good thing. I’m prepared for the possibility that one of these creative paths will eventually dominate, if enough work comes in from that direction. I’m happy with that and intend to remain flexible.
your post is very timely for me…
thanks for sharing your thoughts! it’s really great to hear other views on this subject.
I’ve been at this point for quite a while now. I’ve got a decent graphic design job, but I’ve been contemplating going back to school, specifically into a grad program to focus on illustration (and just to do more drawing and painting in general)…
Just last night I was sharing with my girlfriend that I feel like I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The boat is a fine boat, sturdy, modest but comfortable, and is headed on a straight course to an eventual safe destination. But as I sit on my boat, I can’t help but think about what other exciting destinations could be out in this ocean that I could feel more passionately about, and there’s only one way to find out:
jump out and start swimming.
It figures, now that I don’t have any time to work on it I get all this great seafaring imagery which would have been perfect for the social art challenge…c’est la vie.
I first really tasted this when my ‘plan’ for after undergrad failed miserably and I was left jobless, aimless and (worst of all) motivationless. Since then I have come to the same understanding as you Jon, things change, and you need to be able to roll with the punches.
I’m not saying that planning is useless, far from it. What I am saying is that you need to re-evaluate your plan and current circumstances on a consistent basis to re-asjust your course. I have three spheres of my life that I map out 2 and 5 year plans for annually. Home/family, Career, personal/leisure. I set goals and sub goals and then work toward them. I’ll make minor adjustments based on unexpected events as they happen and sit down and do a larger evaluation and adjustments once a year.
Sometimes what you want changes. Sometimes unexpected things happen, good or bad. Life is unpredictable, but by maintaining plans goals and sub goals you have a framework for decision making. The thing to remember is that you are the captain of your life, and if you don’t work with the charts and adjust your heading to compensate for the wind and currents, you’ll be adrift at sea.
Nice post, Jon; I think my own best response is something I wrote a while back, so I’ll just link to it:
http://www.bonnienadri.com/2010/06/04/on-change-and-choosing-action/
When I went through this at the beginning of 2009 (which I wrote a lot about on my blog) I found myself having to find that core piece of all that I do, the one aspect that is the unifier and the piece that is my passion and find a way to channel that.
Of course it is much easier to see in hindsight and that it took me close to a year to really figure it all out and move forward with it… But in the end, I figured out what I would be doing if job, money, time and everything else was a non issue – that one core passion that I have to have in my life as an artist and I moved forward with that.
I try to make sure any and everything I am doing in someway is connected to that core passion and it has not steered me wrong yet.
I know the feeling. For me it is just chasing my various artistic muses (muse/musi?). Do I feel more pulled into illustration (rpg’s, books, graphic novels), concept work (video games) or “fine art” (art for art’s sake). Something I heard a few years ago, from a radio preacher no less, has helped me a lot. He was talking about one of the Laws of Nature, I forget which one, but it states that it takes far less energy to change the direction of an object in motion then to get a stationary object moving in the same direction. I’m probably murdering the proper scientific principle but as an anology it still works for me. I don’t know which direction i’ll be headed in a month or a year or ten years but I won’t let that paralyze me now. If I keep moving I can make coarse corrections along the way without quite as much pain and effort.