What I’ve Learnt Being A Full Time Artist For 4 Years

I remember my first day of being a full time artist, I went to a local coffee shop, picked up a croissant and a hot chocolate, walked back home and sat down with a pen and paper, started making a list of everything I wanted to achieve …and by 11:30am I was playing Super Mario on my Switch.

So safe to say it didn’t start out as productive as I was imagining… being your own boss, in charge of your own time, it ain’t easy!

But 4 years have floooown by, and I’ve managed to keep my head above water without sacrificing my gaming habits, so here’s a few things I’ve learnt after 4 years being a full-time artist:

Instagram isn’t everything, but it is useful

I’ve spent more than half my 4 years as a full time artist on an instagram hiatus, and now I’ve finally started posting again, my engagement has never been lower… but I’ve earned more money this year than any other, so instagram isn’t everything!

It’s a very useful tool, and it’s good to take up space on any app you can, as it multiplies the opportunity for you to be found, but it’s not the sole route for a career like so many illustrators believe it is.

Income streams!!

If you want a long career, one that can weather a fair few storms, then multiple income streams are essential. If all your eggs are in one basket what if interest in that particular thing dries up tomorrow?

I’ve had years where most of my income came from live events, other years most came from courses and other years where it came from editorial and commissions. You might be busy in one area now but if that dries up and you don’t offer anything else, you’ll be screwed.

No one’s going to make it happen

I’ve had ideas for projects, pitches, portfolio work, products, courses all written down for years, but you don’t have a manager that’ll bark at you to get things done, or a boss that’ll fire you. Everything is down to you.

So that means a lot of things will stay unfinished or even not even started unless you chose to do them.

I’ve only just put some originals up In my online store after 3 years of taking them down. No one will make you do anything, so unless you can kick your own ass, things will remain undone.

It’s ok to ask for help

You can’t do everything on your own all the time, I bug my friend that’s a graphic designer all the time, my dads self employed so I’m always asking him questions, I’m looking into getting an accountant, I even signed up to do a course this month about something I don’t know much about. As much as you want to, you can’t always do everything, so don’t be afraid to ask friends for help or even hire people to get things done quicker or better!

No one needs to see the vision but you

If 15 year old me told anyone ‘I’m going to be a full time fashion illustrator who’s worked with some of the biggest brands in the world and runs online courses taken by people all round the world’, they might be supportive …but ultimately skeptical. And the thing is, it doesn’t matter! Regardless of whether someone else could see that for me or not, the only one going to make it happen is me.

So don’t be downhearted if you share your dreams with someone and they say ‘as if’ because the only one that needs to see the vision is you, but the vision won’t come true without putting the work in.

Perfect as you go

Nothing is ever perfect, you can spend 5 years building the ultimate website that you’ve slaved over and perfected, but when it goes live, maybe someone accesses it using a different browser and everything looks out of place.

It’s way better to put things out there, and perfect it as you go, whether that’s instagram content, pitching, a website, your portfolio, don’t put everything on hold until you think its good enough, put it out there and so others can see it whilst you improve it.

Things will come in waves, you won’t always be top of your game

Careers ebb and flow, wax and wane and all that. Sometimes you’ll be having the best engagement on instagram, but work isn’t coming in, sometimes you’ll be having crap engagement on social media but your emails are flooded, sometimes you’ll be creating work you’re most proud of but social media isn’t interested. Maybe you’re flooded with work and your instagram goes abandoned… Noone’s excelling at everything 100% of the time.

Why would someone use your work?

Something that is very useful to keep in mind when creating work is how would this be used, unless you’re focusing solely on selling originals/prints, you’re ultimately trying to get a brand to commission you.

So think how would they use this work, in what context, what for etc, that way of thinking will give you a more commercial outlook to the work you’re creating, as clients very rarely commission an artist just for something pretty to look at, and it took me years to realise this!

Develop, innovate, push

For years the fire inside my belly was always about becoming a full time artist, that happened in 2021, then in 2022 I started working with all my dream brands and I was earning good money…

The thing that had driven me for so long had finally been achieved and I felt a bit lost, silly really because sustaining a career is the hard part, but at 28 to achieve my dream of becoming a full-time artist, I didn’t know what to do next.

So for a while I lost my fire, had no idea what I wanted to do after that and wasn’t really motivated to do anything.

I realised I need something to aim for, that’s how most of us are, we need something to strive for and motivate us, so now I’ve got an endless list of things I want to achieve. My advice is to keep the goal post moving, make those goals bigger and loftier, my goals are stupidly high now and that’s what’s lighting a fire under my arse to get shit done.

Retirement/Saving:

Being freelance you need to start thinking about retirement and savings, it’s not fun and most of the time you’re hustling just to get rent paid at the end of the month. But once you get to a comfortable position where you’re out of survival mode, definitely start thinking about your retirement fund, even if it’s £50 a month contribution, best to start it young! I only started this year but least I know it’s ticking over in the meantime.

Routine:

I haaaate routine, but the longer I’m freelance the more I begrudgingly realise it can be a useful thing. I normally just work when I feel like it, waiting for that motivation or inspo to strike, but lately I’ve realised I’m much more productive and creative if I sit down and do something every day, regardless of if I’m feeling inspired.

Routine can look like anything, whether it’s waking up at 6am and sketching, or doing some drawing at 11pm, but the consistency helps you remain in a state of creating so a blank page never gets too scary.