CASH COW NO LONGER
So I've got my IG feed looking all coherent and naaaiise. I've got the peoples liking my pictures. I've kept my content relevant. I've been posting regularly enough (Mr Instagram takes your followers from you if you're lazy). And my work is profiting. YES, casssh. I am doing the social media thang, adding just the right amount of hash tags - but not too many - and just generally existing inside my mobile phone like the rest of us.
Now. Is it just me, or is social media really fucking strange? It's ok, I hear ya! It definitely is. It's a daily effort for me to hold back my many many feelings around social media. As much as I believe it is damaging, I use it myself. Guilty. Social Media Is Sucking The Social Out Of The Human Race is a blog post for another day when I am feeling particularly ranty, but this post is actually more about the profiting part.
How many of you are writers, painters, illustrators, designers, sculpturers, song writers etc. that post your content on the internet to gain business exposure? And how many of you create but don't post at all?
The way the world is now, it seems that if you are a creative then you should be profiting from your work. The minute I began to show creative potential in the eyes of my friends and family, I was immediately encouraged to make money from it! This is a massive compliment, and the gratitude I felt for such flattery was one that inspired me to reach for the stars... but now, 6 years later, the pressure I feel to pursue my art career and earn a living from what began as just a hobby is a pressure that is often rather uninspiring. I feel like any spare time I have, I should be doing my artistic thing. But honestly at the end of the day after giving 100% to my full time job that is meant to be funding my dream, I'm exhausted. I don't want to draw, I want to Netflix and chill. I want to eat chocolate and watch Orange Is The New Black and not do a damn thing more.
Why is it always about profiting? Oh you're good at something artistic? Drop everything, work your ass off, just do that and become rich!
Some reasons why people pick up hobbies:
- They enjoy it.
- It is therapeutic.
- It is a fun challenge.
- It brings their friends and family together.
- it isn't work. Which brings me to my point.
For 6 years I have been trying to make my Illustration career happen. I have had some incredible opportunities (always say yes), I've created some great work and have a lot to look back on and smile about. But I did it for the biz, not for myself. From now on I want to do art for me. I'm going to relieve the pressure, I'm not going to accept commission work unless it is inspiring! (please, if you have a wicked idea send it my way!), and I will focus on what I actually feel like doing, like this blog.
Despite what you see in my Instagram feed, my interests go further than Illustration and profiting from it - I work for a fashion tech startup, I'm a rock climber and *try to* play tennis, I love fashion + style, I love being outside, I read books, I'm obsessed with puzzles and card games and I am crazy in love. I live beyond the screen and I am passionate about bending the rules that have been set for us (legally). In addition to all that, I do enjoy sharing what makes me happy with others online and hopefully to influence a change in the world for the better! If that means a sketch here and there too then I will not refuse ;)
Congrats if you have made it this far, and thank you so much for reading too! I hope to post more juicy words such as the above and if you like what you read then please let me know :)