Avoiding art as a career

[dingdongthewitchisme]

DD has been struggling with finding a career direction for a while. She isn't a teenager anymore and had (until recently) made a firm decision to go into law. After some deep digging she has changed her mind, and has decided to set out and make her living as an artist. :s

DD has always loved animals (dogs in particular) and has been drawing portraits for a long time (she is rather good). She doesn't want to branch out, and says she is happiest when drawing these portraits.

I do worry about her, because she is very sensitive and prone to depression. AFAIK making a living as an artist is extremely difficult, and without being a painter (which is the most popular and in demand medium) I think it will be practically impossible to survive.

AIBU?

I'm sure there's an extremely modest living to be made out of pet portraits but it sounds to me as if she's preferring to withdraw from the world rather than attempt to have a serious career as an artist.

Is she actually planning to leave an existing job to become an artist? How old is she? Has she ever had any ambition to go to art college?

I agree with Pademoniaa. It sounds as if she's withdrawing a bit from reality and using some vague, and not very achievable, notion of making a living from painting animals as a justification.

I would imagine that would be something a person would start doing as a hobby, then doing drawings as presents for friends etc before maybe getting some commissions to illustrate books or suchlike if they're very lucky.

But I don't thinks its something you just decide is going to be your career from now on.

I don't see how this is a career plan. I work in a creative career, and tbh, the amount you have to self promote and liaise with clients, and deal with rejection, even if you have representation/an agent is just something which doesn't suit very sensitive people. Actually, that's not entirely fair - you CAN be very sensitive and do all of those things, but you have to have very good coping strategies in place.

I think your daughter is describing a hobby, and a narrow one at that. i don't imagine she is going to be very open to argument and you obvs have to tread carefully - but what sort of annual turnover does she think she can make? What outlets would she use for selling her work? How would she find clients for commissions? Where has she got the idea that pencil portraits are something that is in demand, and can be a chargeable commission?

Worth pointing out that the vast majority of people I know working and making a living in the creative arts did other jobs to start with, built up a portfolio and client base (and business skills) in their spare time, and waited until they had a bit of a profile before going full time in their chosen field.

I think this will be very difficult for you to raise with her, as I agree this sounds like a withdrawal from the world of work rather than a realistic plan. I think fear and denial are very hard things to talk through. Good luck.

Could you talk with her about getting a website set up, working out how to appear at the top of Google searches etc? If you show her something like this, and talk through how she would set up a business to do this, she may decide it's harder work than she imagined.

You've also had posts now regarding a couple of different type of animal drawing - does she want to draw people's pets from photos, or do book illustration etc?

I wouldn't rule it out of hand, the woman in the website above wouldn't have got anywhere had her family tried to get her to be a lawyer, but I think you need to support her into exploring and setting up the background bits, contacts, websites etc that are going to support her "business", she can't just say she wants to draw animals and then retire to her room and draw for fun instead.

If this is an issue of her being at home but not getting a job (presuming that she's early 20s if she's looked at law as a career, have you also asked her to consider whether drawing / portraiture would produce enough income for her to run her own household, even if it's just a bedsit?

What about doing an art degree then teacher training? Is that something she would be able to do?

Or could she get a part time job to supplement her art?

I agree she is withdrawing but if she is prone to bouts of depression perhaps she just needs some time. Is she financially self sufficient?

Do you mind me asking how old she is? A career as a lawyer and artist are very different aren't they? She obviously loves drawing dogs and they do say you should always follow your passion in life. I think she should go for it and it will hopefully give her confidence to do more perhaps be a pet artist, lots of people like pictures of their pets. Art is something I find a very good cure for depression and I would have thought her sensitivity would make her a good artist. I have had two careers and now am very happy making cards. I love the fact it is a job I can do at home fitting around the family and has not got the stress of my other jobs. Have been at a crossroads but am going to stick with what I love doing and so should she. Hopefully it will pay off in the end. I watched a you tube video recently a man talking about doing what you love work wise .Anyone remember it and can link please.

"If money did not matter" - Just found it on you tube. Watch it.

My friend makes a good (but not highly lucrative) living out of sculpting animals from ceramics. She sells all she can make. It is hard work and she gets herself out there to galleries but she now has a client base. Your dd obviously loves art so instead of putting her off her passion mabe try and arrange for her to get her stuff to galleries.
TBH op if she is sensitive then law is not going to be for her. She does sound like a natural artist. The law requires a bull dog mentality. Sure it is the most sensible option financially but did dhe try it for her or you? What about trying to get her interested in art teaching to support her portraiture?

Gosh OP, your DD sounds a lot like me a few years back. I applied to do law at 17, was accepted, but just broke down sobbing one day and decided I wanted to go to art school and have a career in art, as I thought that was where my heart lay. I got into art school, but it didn't magically fix my life as I'd expected. Through my 4 year degree, I started to have panic attacks and depressive episodes which got worse as time went on, as I was so aware what a precarious career path I'd taken, and was terrified about my future. I was finding out, more and more, that I couldn't handle it . When I got my degree, I applied to do a Masters at uni in languages and was then offered a salary to do a PhD. OK, academia's not the most stable career field, but I don't feel the same sense of total loss that I did at art school.

I know a couple of people from my year who are now making their living in their creative field (graphic design) but everyone else I studied with does a regular job as well as their creative practice.

Your poor DD sounds so lost and, from my experience, the precariousness and scope for rejection in the creative sector might not be what she needs right now. One thing I found always helped my moods when I was art school was volunteering and teaching in projects where I could put my creative skills to good use in the community. Would your DD be interested in trying something like that? If I'd stayed in art (tbh, I had neither the passion nor the talent), teaching would have been my chosen career, because it stopped me ruminating about my own worries by making me focus on something else.

I think the whole idea of making what you love doing into a career can be scary, because it becomes involved with rejection and finances, and that can spoil it for you. These days I see myself as working to live, not living to work, and life's better for it. I still love my craft, still do it when I can, but feel better that it's not getting graded.

She sounds a sensitive soul, and I think that looking at art as a means to help others by teaching (or even art therapy) might be worth looking at. Good luck, OP, I wish her all the best.

If you DD goes to art school she won't decide what she wants to draw, they will tell her and it might not be whatever she wants. She probably will never be given the opportunity to draw any animals ever. I think like someone said above she is describing a hobby.

It's not impossible for her to make a living at this. I have a friend who draws pagan inspired animals, she produces a lot, prints many, sells enough to live. I think it depends how desireable the finished article is.

It is NOT your place to put her off. She already knows it's not want you want for her, you need to if not support her (which really you don't have to, she's a grown up) then be happy for her and don't keep putting her off.

I often wander how different my life would have been if I hadn't listened to my mum when she gave me the advice not to follow my dreams, and I took it. I wish I'd been brave enough to ignore her and follow my heart, even if it hadn't worked out.

Dh has just left his job as a solicitor which he absolutely hated and has started painting pictures instead. I'm paying the bills but he's doing ok. He's selling on eBay so she could start there and see how it goes. All I would say is don't try and encourage her to do law because it costs loads to become a lawyer, takes years of slog and I know of so many who hate it, plus I earned more than my dh as a teacher.

She'd need to branch out of her comfort zone of pencil only. She should consider a part time art course...a part time job to go alongside that and carry on perfecting her skills.

In the meantime, a lot of people sell these pictures on Facebook. Local selling pages have the adverts for them.