DON'T MAKE ART YOUR JOB! (Here's Why Not) || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY 

I feel like a very important point here is that a LOT of us don’t have a choice over working a “regular” job. Most artists I know are mentally ill, neurodivergent and disabled - I fit into all 3 of those categories. The work place is NOT a friendly or welcoming space for people from those categories. So as a result, sometimes we have no choice BUT to make art our career. Like myself, I’d LOVE to be a tattoo artist someday, but I don’t know how possible that is for me. So, I still get to create art - it’s the only thing I’ve ever been “good” at, so I really do rely on it for my income.

My personal progression on dream jobs went like this: - High school: artist - Early university: game developer or aerospace engineer - Late university: software engineer After going through a few internships and learning about working conditions of game developers in general, it turns out I wanted a job that has high pay, good benefits and I'm totally fine with the job being totally meaningless and I can't even explain what my job does to my friends and family. I still draw as a hobby but I decided to never take commissions.

aggressive title

I settled on a non-art job for this very reason 😅 as a full-time ambulance driver, it’s taken awhile to balance work, home, and pet care with my creativity- but it IS possible. I have a whole afternoon to ink my comic today, and I live for these days. Good on you for speaking out, Celestia!

Thank you for showing art isn't all sunshines and rainbows, we grow up with people romantacizing art and many artists never talk about the bad side, only the good because they don't want to get hate for it

I really appreciate you giving your insight on this. I find it really helpful as someone who’s always wanted to have art as a career (despite being VERY prone to procrastination and also being very disorganized) and never really took the time to think about how it would actually be. Great video as always! Also, Don’t touch my bread government!! Twitter :)

The amount of people in the comments saying they’re giving up their art career now is making me so sad. Hoping it’s the right choice for you all. ❤

Surprisingly, this made me even more motivated to pursue my art career, lol

11:19 hello. Hi. Ex professional artist here. Used to work in the industry for a hot second. I agree whole heartedly with this video. I went to art school thinking id get the tools and knowledge to bring my ocs to life and make music videos and animes and webcomics.. sure. I got the knowledge. But I had to get money with these skills I learned. After college I worked In the animation industry and it burned me the fuck out. I fled the industry and found a place in the business world as an office manager. When I was in that industry.. boy I had all the time in the world to draw when I got home. Like. I started an etsy store. Something that I NEVER thought I could do in art school and the animation industry. Then I was beckoned to join a small business for an nft project with the promise of big money. Little ol me thought. Oh! Wow! I can make enough money for me, my dog and my store and then some! So... drawing nft assets and nft marketing pieces became my job. And it.sucked.me.dry of any creativity. And after the small company dropped me because the nft project flopped and didn't make money, I was out in the world with only art as my skills. So I was forced to make art to pay bills. And whatever creativity I had was gone. It got to the point I open clip studio and my brain tells me. "Unless it can make you money, this piece is worthless" and I didn't pick up a pencil for myself in 5 months! I just now got a new job in the business world again and I finally am able to draw for me again. I will never never never never NEVER make art ( my stress reliever ) my career.

honestly, I thought about making art my full on career, but with time and time I thought about it more and want it to be just a hobby and maybe make some commissions now and then. the points you brought up are exactly the reasons why I personally think it's too risky and I saw many friends pursuing art as a job and slowly losing their passion for it, so it will stay as a hobby for me :3 It just gives me more freedom and a way to draw and relax and not stressout while I draw. drawing is also a big stim for me, which makes it the more important. I also love working on my own projects and I hope you find time to do that too in the future ^^ great video as always :D

I have an intense love for art, but I also have a love for chemistry. I know that the latter option would get me better jobs, and the former was a longer-lasting passion, so I always thought I had to choose one or the other. This video really made me reconsider that thought, and in the distant future, I might just save myself being unhappy by keeping my passion as a hobby

During my childhood and teenagehood, there were many different jobs that I wanted to do. But now, freelance artist is the only thing that I want, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I feel like it’s the differents outcome that keep things exciting and interesting. I’ve seen many artists still making and showing what they want on their platforms. I don’t care if the money I make is inconsistent, as long as I make enough. So yeah, thank you for letting people know what they’re getting into if they’re choose this path, but my decision is made.

A lot of online artists have rose-colored glasses when it comes to their job, but I think it's a lot to do with survivor bias. We never hear about those who tried but failed to succeed so we just hear about how easy and rewarding it is from those who made it. Thanks for the insight! Don't touch my bread government

People are always so confused when I tell them that I don’t want to make art my job. I am a very low-motivation person, so mustering up the will to draw is already difficult just as hobby. Doing it professionally would just make that even MORE difficult. Also, I use art as a form of escapism, it’s something I turn to in order to vent my frustrations about life or to distract myself from it. Taking that and then trying to make money off of it would destroy the therapeutic relationship I’ve created with my art. It would take something I like and turn it into just another soul-sucking job. My art is also “selfish”, so to speak. This means I only draw what I want, when I want, and I don’t like drawing for other people. Professional artists, especially beginners, don’t have the luxury of only ever drawing what they want, when they want, because they’ve made art their job, and in any job earning the paycheck that keeps you alive takes priority over personal wants. Especially, if you don’t have any other form of financial support. People assume that just because you’re good at art (or anything for that matter) then you have to find some way to profit off of it. They don’t consider how that can completely destroy the enjoyment factor for some people. Professional artists themselves can unintentionally perpetuate this belief that all artist should go professional. There are so many professional artist here on RU-vid and on social media platforms who make videos and write posts with the implied assumption that all artists are striving to be professionals. This can result in hobbyists feeling guilty, like they’re wasting their potential, because they aren’t doing this thing that everyone’s expecting them to do. Then they chase after a career that they had no real interest in, and could risk ruining something that they genuinely loved.

one good thing about having a non-art job is the chance you might be able to gain some inspiration and real life experience that you can translate into art it depends on your job and what art you make of course, but for me personally whenever id attend an art course/program in highschool i usually felt creatively stuck because i was doing art both in my freetime AND at school, so i wouldnt be getting any "new" experiences outside consuming media and doing art. hence why in college, im considering alternate paths to take before i fully commit to art. i want to experience things that are different yet exciting that i can potray in my creative work!

I’m so grateful for my mother, who my whole life told me that once your hobby becomes your job, it’s not your hobby anymore. Obvs rephrased, she didn’t mean you’d hate it. But she always told me she didn’t go into photography because she wanted it to be just a hobby. No stress, no deadlines and no “do that”. I haven’t had to make the decision yet, but I still want to pursue art as of now. Learning and drawing is what’s been my one pleasure that stayed. It’s the only thing I can see myself doing right now, investing my life seems easy as I’ve never had much stick besides it for years

THIS commentary is ABSOLUTELY what I needed to hear. I thought I was just being selfish or just making excuses when I stated that I didn’t want to draw art for people. I wanted to do art that I loved to do and work on my own projects. While I could easily make a little money on the side because people wanted me to draw for them. However, that would require me to draw things or draw in certain styles that I wasn’t necessarily interested in or dealing with certain clients you may not care to deal with. Personally, I had this epiphany when I did a few designs for a few clients, but what always annoyed me was when that person would want to keep changing up the way the design was AFTER it was already completed. This is not to say that I don’t believe that art being a job is bad. It’s more about the way you want to pursue your art career. I don’t want to draw for people, but I want to make art that I enjoy doing, but have a project that I make that people would enjoy and create a fan base rather than having a bunch of clients.

This was a realization I had two months ago. I find it so empty to see myself enslaving myself to my passion to the point of burnout, and in the end, just strapping the joy of art all in all.

Yeah i came to this conclusion this year when I dropped out of art uni I realized its not for me to draw for others things I hate So im currently looking for a normal day job and keeping art as a hobby, doing commissions time to time and just overall drawing for myself

I agree with almost everything you said in this video, I started over 4 decades ago in the industry, first as comic penciler then inker, 2d animator, around late 90s I saw at job a 3d software and I learned by myself in my free time 3d modeling sculpting and animation, this gave me at the time other opportunities and by now I was just jumping from studio to studio with every new big animation or game project until I reach my retirement, see back in time, all I did and what I wasn't able to do brings me the feeling of a sad piano melody that fades in the falling leaves of the autumn, go to the basement and dig into all those boxes full of memories, sketches concepts and sit in my old desk where now I have tons of papers and over a dozen of manuscripts, for all those 4 decades I was dreaming and writing piece by piece a story, if I can put all this mess together is like I get written my own Lords of the Rings, all these manuscripts are around 5 books plus 2 SDDs of 4 TB each with material, character sheets, environment designs, many 3d models, is insane will take me a decade put everything in place, but anyways I am not in a rush anymore, is no deadline this time, I am widow and my son went in deployment overseas then my daughter in law and my grandson came to live with me, have them here is like fresh air, hear the laughing of a child and see the smile of my daughter brings happiness to my life now, I am not rich nor poor, I have my retirement and through my work-life I was able to invest in 2 extra houses that I rent and give me a passive income enough to make a living, then I finally have the time to sit and do want I wanted to do for over 4 decades, sorry for the long comment but I need to bring some context in such a way you can understand what I am about to say, "Work doesn't make us rich", the main problem all artist face is that no matter how hard you work you will NEVER become rich, actually do not misunderstand it, NO WORK make you rich, BUSINESS MAKE YOU RICH, if you put attention the ones working normally are not the ones making money but someone that is actually doing NOTHING is the one getting the money, the average American as us grows wrong, you go to school and you are rise thinking you MUST learn skills that will allows you get a job, but we do not learn how to make money, how to make businesses, then you polish your artistic skills to the highest but you lack business skills to monetize them, I worked in movies that generated hundreds of millions while getting just a couple of thousands monthly working an average of 14 hours daily for months, always trying to save money, always worry about my family, always thinking that I need to save for the time we get old to can take care of my wife, trying always to pay the college of my children, working 7 days a week 365 days a year, I still remember how after my family got in bed at Xmas eve went to my desk and keep working to sunrise, have artistic skills doesn't imply to have economic skills and is in this other half where we artist fail, because they don't teach us in school, no one teach us those skills, and the rich people will not teach you because they need you poor to stay rich, I live the life you ae living right now for over 4 decades, and at those time we still don't have internet and social media to monetize ourselves, was harder but easier at same time, because we were a little group of crazy people moving in circles through the studios, we know each others and we were like nomad tribes jumping from work to work to make a living, then was enough work for us but nowadays the internet is a double edge sword because if I try to commission someone and go to sites like ArtStation I will find thousands of skillful artist all around the world what makes things harder for Studios and for Artist as well, but at the end the one with the money have the advantage, then if you are a freelancer you will face a lot of hardships, people don't want to give you a fair pay, and they expect you put in pause your life and live for them and make a hundred modifications and work for a week for US$50, from 10 customers you will have 9 jerks and 1 good customer but that only one is normally someone that doesn't need your services in regular bases what makes commissions a necessary evil and a real pain, as you I saw and remember many friends taking a different path and find a different job to make a living, sadly I will say not necessarily the best of us survived in the industry, I do not consider myself the best in comparation to many of those friends I met in the road and quit making a living from their art but I had a family to feed then I just keep going until the very end and somehow managed to ensure my well being after retirement, but the pain is real and I really admire your bravery to said it out loud, what normally NONE do because they try to tell what people want to hear for likes, subs and sell something, I really wish you the best and hope you find the way to survive as I did, but you will need PERSEVERANCE, more than drawing skills more than master techniques, the life of an artist is full of hardships and struggles, as you mentioned we do not have a steady income and we need to organize our time and manage our resources the best to survive the bad times, but this is your path and you make a your path with every step then just "KEEP WAKING" enjoy what you get, don't cry for what you don't have, and live watching forward and simply leave behind the past, try to be optimistic and believe in you, persevere to survive that is unfortunately the only formula I know.

Watching this video makes me kinda scared to apply to be a part-time thumbnail art for one of my favorite RU-vidrs who is currently looking for one. I recently started getting back into digital art after a long time, and I really like it, but I believe have ADHD, because I constantly get distracted and tend to just leave an unfinished work for days. And it takes me days to finish a digital piece. But I do want to give this a try, thank you Celestia for the information! Just please wish me luck in hope I get this part-time job!💛

This is why my career path went: Animator ➡️ art teacher ➡️ medical coder I realized that working in the art industry was much more stressful than I was willing to deal with. I found that my ideal work style was to work from home for a set period of time and do something that wasn’t super creative or stressful, while still having time to work on my hobbies on the side. Also, insurance tends to be really good in medical coding, which I need for my ongoing therapy and psychiatry bills. Even if it’s not something I’m passionate about, it’s something I’m interested in enough to stick with for a long time, and it’s an essential job that’s currently growing and is gonna stick around.

Such a big statement. I’ve been in quite a few different jobs involving various degrees of creativity, some came close to stifling it... but if I forced myself into any other position, I think I’d go insane, or be fired for doodling on the spreadsheets

Thank you for this video! Honestly Ive been deadset on making art my career for a while but this kinda made me rethink it. The thing is just that Im not too sure what else would fit me but I guess thats something I’ll just have to igure out, I do love animals after all so I might to that direction. Id love to see a video on what its like for artists in the industry tho! (Is that the right word? Like artists that are employed) cuz thats what I really wanted to do Love your videos btw

I almost went down this path, especially since I've followed indie creators that kept saying how making your own comic book is the best job for any artist. Turns out making your own comic will burn you out faster than you can finish a page. Something I should've seen coming considering how Mangakas often sacrifice their health for the art and I found out that I am in no way built like them. So in a sense I'm glad my parents talked me out of it and kept my corpo job, I mean it's as soul-sucking as it always was but on the upside whenever I go home I do my art without my love for it ever changing.

I'm very glad you made this video as I'm sure it is an eye opener to many. My day job is a Chemical Engineer and while the money has been great, I have oftened wondered if I would have been happier pursuing an art career. Besides parental pressure to not go to art school, I ultimately decided not to go because I was worried I wouldn't like working for other people in an art related setting. I very much like having creative control over my work. I've gotten very envious of art youtubers/content creators in the past who are able to thrive off of their own art and sell their ideas. I would love to be able to do that, but I absolutely dread the idea of trying to keep up with trends, content, and needing to constantly learn so many new skills just to keep up. I think no matter which direction someone chooses, there will always be the curiousity of the other side. I'm also very glad you brought up your point @12:58 about your non-art career friends being able to enjoy their own art so much more. I have never considered that to be a factor of not choosing an art career and I think this could change a lot of peoples' minds. I think the life of an artist is very glamorized by social media. It is very easy to hide the amount of time it must truly take to market yourself, work with difficult clients, organize ideas, etc. behind the lens of a camera. I see a lot of polished videos about artist work stations, packing orders, shop updates, many things that make it look like it's so much fun. And there's very few videos out there that explain that most of these artists are working constantly and do not get much time to rest or enjoy their lives. It is amazing that we live in a world where information is so easily accessible to us, but the reality is so easily buried that we are often misguided.

I think a big thing that inspires me to make art my job is that I love drawing other people's characters. I love drawing commissions/art gifts, and I deeply enjoy drawing fanart. I can see myself drawing anything other than my own characters for a living.

I don’t think I could ever work professionally as an artist, despite being an artist just because I love drawing what I WANT. Also I love the stability of my work!

I'm in a moment where I get some money (not enough but people around my age make similar working more time) and have time to do what I like which is... Fanart because I honestly love it It's depressing seeing that is takes SO LONG to make it stable but is slowly looking better? So I don't regret it

Hi, insights from somebody that made the active choice to not pursue art at the end of high school, and instead went into a more traditional 9-5 job: for me it was absolutely the right choice, but it comes with drawbacks (pun not intended) The pros of having a "normal" job are definitely, like you mentioned in the video, the ability to go home and not worry about it anymore (which is very important to me as somebody with anxiety). This then in turn gives me more energy and free time to work on my passion art projects. I personally also found that not having the pressure of needing to make money off it allows me to put more time and effort into my art. I tend to freeze up under pressure, which is not great for anything creative/anything where you need to motivate yourself to do it. It also allows me to only focus on the projects I'm truly excited about, making the process of art more fun for me. Lastly, just from what I've observed with my friends who went into art, money from a traditional job is just a bit more reliable. Which also allows me to save up and spend money on my art passion projects without necessarily having to worry about "ok, will this impact my ability to get food on the table?" The cons of it tho are that I definitely don't improve/learn as much anymore compared to when I worked on art more regularly. While I still make progress in my art, it's nearly not as fast as it was back then. I also need to make more of an active effort to push myself out of my comfort zone, and learn things like backgrounds. It also leads to me having to spend a lot of "art time" doing research on rather basic things (like: what tablets are good to use for digital art? what programs exist out there and how do I use them? Wait there's a keyboard shortcut for that? How tf does animation work???). There's also the social aspect of it, where I'd love to talk more about art, but I need to go out of my way to meet other artists since I don't naturally encounter them as part of my job (which is definitely important, at least for me, when working on art projects. Having people to give good crit, as well as help you out with any questions or issues you have is really helpful. And it's also just nice to be surrounded by creative people that share your passions and just "get it".) Any hope of making industry connections are also basically out of the window for me But yeah, while I absolutely don't regret my choice, there's definitely some cons to not pursuing art as a career that might not be obvious from an outside perspective (and this isn't even touching on the fact that not everyone has the privilege of being able to function in a traditional 9-5 work environment, or how some people need to take on 2 or more jobs and then don't have enough free time to work on art at all). But I hope this is helpful for any young person that's currently trying to make this decision! Either option is absolutely valid /gen, it just depends on what you want to achieve with your art, and what type of person you are

I may have to come back to this vid later once i get to actually freelance. But I gotta say, after years of working at non-art 9-5 jobs(well, more like 1-9 since i always took graveyard shift)-- it was a pretty miserable experience. Like, sure I don't "have to work" once I get home but I do arrive too exhausted to enjoy my free time, since all your brain power is used up at work. And during the pandemic, our supervisor often held zoom meetings after hours… with no real time limit since "you're all working at home anyway". Like, you wanna do art or game a bit? Nope, your brain will insist you sleep instead. And you have to, considering you were facing a computer for 8 hours at work. On your days off, going out would be preferable to doing your hobbies, whether to pay your bills or restock groceries and such. And by the time you can ask for paid leave, more often than not you'd end up lazing about with no will to unwind once those days come up. Meanwhile, "doing something you love" would be similar to you grinding for hours in your favorite games in order to enjoy the game by tackling a difficult boss or dungeon or whatever, and I'm pretty sure no one really enjoys grinding, but do it anyway for the catharsis that comes after. In art, that would be you finally being able to draw what you want all while using all acquired experience/techs you got from your art work. And rest days will be for rest and no one will bother you(assuming you freelance).

After 14 years of going back and forth on this I've settled on a nice medium that's been working well for my creativity: **Take a simple non-creative job at a creative workplace** It puts me in a place where conversations and energy fuel my creativity, so when I'm done my mindless tasks I can quickly flip the switch and let that built-up craving drive my desire to tackle side endeavors. Creativity is a battery. If you're using it all the time pumping out artwork you'll have no juice left for your heartwork. Let your battery charge.

I can absolutely understand this. I personally have a goal to make my art half my income, if I happen to do more than great but I would rather have both right now, for the reason of keeping some time for my own art. Thanks for this video because it's not something people talk about enough. There are drawbacks to every career and it's not for everyone. For me, my favorite part of my art is seeing the joy others get from seeing it. So I think I could do it, I just gotta take it slow.

I feel this so much. I work an art job in office so set hours, but having to draw on demand and defend both the art and your pay is so tiring that the last thing I want to do at home is draw for my self. It's not like I have much time either between regular adult life and needing to pick up more freelance work 🙃 now more and more our jobs are outsourced, I'm pretty close to switching to accounting

I feel so glad you talked about this 😅 I'm pursuing a major that's not related to art and I wanted to work something while doing art on the side though man it's so stressful since it's like living in a double life 😣

I have a lot of respect for you. You’re one of those people that defy any misanthropy. Thank you for this and the selfless advice you give to all of us artists who were blessed enough to find your channel.

Thank you. I already wasn’t sure, but now I think I’ll choose something else and make comics during downtime. I’m not sad, I’m relived! It’s so good to have a stable choice, and it’s gonna make me happier in the long run. You helped me ❤️

I believe kind of the problem is that people goes with such high expectations about something. However in art literally having them will make you burnout. Improving your art takes a lot of time, making a stable career out of it and also even if you have both settled you need to plan out a workflow that suits you for doing things faster or you will spend an entire week in only one drawing and that is not enough for bills. You need a lot of resilience, organization and to know yourself and your limits. The only way that things will get better is through doing it. Stay safe

I really enjoy listening to you commentary! I do art as a hobby and more like secondary job because honestly I don't think it'll be much of a stable job yet. I love animating fishes and show it on youtube, so they're both personal art and work art. That's what keeps me going to create more since I enjoy doing it with money as a bonus income. don't touch my bread government :P

this is a really good video and more people need to talk about this so that it's more widely known to anyone who considers an art career. Right now I work a full time job and then am a freelance illustrator. I knew I never wanted to be stuck always making other people's ideas, but I too was told that I would never work a day in my life if I did something I liked. I'm still thinking a lot about where I will choose to go with my art career or if I'll pull back to more of a hobbyist who makes a bit of money here and there from art. It's nice to hear these points to help hammer them into my head and push me toward the right decision for me and my art. Honestly I kinda miss the days that I could feel free to do whatever art I wanted in my free time or not feel pressured to complete artworks.

I did an art job for a year 5 years ago but it never went anywhere. I resulted to find a 8-5 job ((in my country, we work from 8-5lol) it was still art but more on graphic/layout) for 3 years but it destroyed my whole creativity in drawing. The more I did that every single day the more my mental health plummeted. I draw once a month back then and it resulted in missing the whole drawing aspect I loved ever since I remember. And last year, I decided to call it quits on my 8-5 and while looking for freelance jobs, I managed to get in the comic industry. It's not a big job (I work as an assistant) but it resulted in me getting inspired again to work on my own comic for a while (had to axe it a few months ago). And right now, I do have a client to work with in doing a webcomic for them for long term but also I have time to work on my new comic as well to further my expertise on the field. This art job doing professionally is still in the early stages and I'm still always on the cusp every end of the month financially but I am more comfortable to work as like this than losing my mind in any 8-5. I don't think I'm ever going back on an 8-5.

As someone whose unsure about my career but I know I want to make comics this is something to think about. I don’t mind doing work for others basically I can’t imagine doing anything that isn’t art related drawing is all I know and if I gotta make art for others I don’t care as long as I’m getting paid. My biggest dream is to sell my art tho I love meeting people at craft fairs and selling things it’s makes me happy making things and having people cherish them. Little things like that is what makes me want to go into it full time plus ya know you can always change career paths gain more skills do something else if you grow to hate it.

I LOVE art. It's one of the most important parts of my whole being. Growing up, I wanted to become an artist and/or writer. Today, I'm SO glad I realized early on that doing art as a job for others wouldn't be anything like doing it as a hobby for myself, and that it would suck the joy out of it for me. Now I'm a vet student who still does hobby art, drowning in stress for different reasons 🥲

This is why I decided to go into the major of Sculpture, as I could learn to do ceramics that people would buy and also work on my own personal projects for like art galleries. I'm still a junior in college so I'm a ways away, but I see what you mean when ut comes to your job as a freelance illustrator

I WAS SO CONFUSED WHY PEOPLE WERE TALKING ABOUT BREAD AND THE GOVERNMENT *and then I watched the video*

You uploaded this just at the right time.. Though being an internet artist is very different from irl artist.

I am starting as an artist. My current job is drawing art assets for an indie game project. And I do and upload animations here for fun, as well as to see how many people like my art, and perhaps even help the guy that pays me to spread the game around through my channel as well. I never tried commissions before actually. Still, I know that doing side projects for others is also fun, trying out other styles and experimenting with what I can do eventually helps in my own project progression. I see that art is for me an occupation, expression and another hobby. My main hobby is video games, so, I got that side covered 😅

thanks, I've been making plans and prep to become a professional artist for over a year now and this video actually changed my mind. Im gonna work towards making it my passion instead and do my best to find a more regular job to pay the bills.

don't touch my bread government or dont touch my bread government (idk whether to add the apostrophe lol) I'm glad you are one of the only youtubers that is realistic about the reality of being an artist professionally because most of them say it's totally possible and great and don't dwell on the fact it's really hard

Well I mean, it's suppose to be work after all. You have to learn to love *_any_* work you do in life. Because even the people who genuinely love their job still dont have it easy. It's just not how the world works, no matter what you are doing. You have to weigh the individual benefits of being a _Freelance_ artist; sure, you're spending many more hours of work, but you're also a self-made person. You dont work _for_ anyone, and you can ultimately choose everything you want to do with your work, and you will not be expendable at the mercy of a larger corporation or company. It wont be comfortable or simple, but thats actual Freedom, just the same in a Corporate "Dirty Capitalist" Sense as it would be in a societal, worldly sense. Freedom isn't easy and you have to both really want it and be willing to put in the strain and sweat to maintain it. I am assuming this is not always the same for people who have a more structured "9-5" studio job and are not handling all the background stuff like administrative, marketing, social and accounting stuff you have to do yourself as a Freelancer. But then it goes back to the whole "You are a cog in a machine" thing, which some people also just dont jive with. The problem with work in any capacity is (mostly) _very specific_ people keep thinking of it in absolute terms when nothing ever is. You have to pick the Pro's and Cons you want and what will work for you, because nothing is perfect.

I actually appreciate this video as somebody who’s dream job was a full time artist :)

I can agree a lot of this based on my own experience. I’ve spent this last year working specifically on my art career by working on merchandise and commissions. Though I was working as an ‘artist’, I found myself having less and less time to work on my own personal projects. Most of my time was spent on very menial and boring tasks - such as networking, advertising, marketing, paperwork, fulfillments, etc. Maybe around 5-10% of what I was doing was actually me making art. Compare this to when I was working full time at an office. Though the job was not my passion- I was able to work on many creative ideas and projects whilst in the office and back at home. I could spend 2-5 hours every day on my creative pursuits. Whereas, while working on art full time, I spent *maybe* 30-60 minutes a day on my own projects (if I was lucky). Even though I was making a good amount of many (much more than at my office job)- it didn’t change the fact that I wanted to pursue art to work on my own passions. And by pursuing art I was barely making any art at all. I learned a lot by working that year as a full time artist and I learned a lot more about myself and the world too. So ultimately I’ve decided to stop ‘working’ as an artist and instead pursue a different career path. And I’m looking forward to growing more as a person. And I look forward to learn even more about art as I explore other avenues in my life.

This video was very informative! Art-based careers can be very difficult.

I really enjoy the process but there are times where i don't have the ideas and have no drive to draw for some reason but doing commissions helps alot to keep my self consistent in drawing. Its a win win i get some spare cash while learning. Maybe one day i can make it work full time

THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT THIS!!!

I do art as a hobby and ive really grown to love doing it like that. Granted I have a job that takes care of all my needs as far as bills and food. Though the thought of doing something you love for a living is nice, the reality is that it doesn't work like that where you can do it on your own and no suffer any backlash. Just gotta find your peace and what you can do to work around it to maintain it.

I've known about the majority problems and my plan is to take on my other interests in job form, whilst having art as a passion but also a side-allowance. As in, taking a few commissions here and there as a bonus income but not relying on it as the main bread-winner. I think at some point I was like "I'll just have art be my career" but really, taking on a few commissions early on allows you to see the struggles behind it and evaluate it. I do suggest people who want to turn it in a career to start now! Dip your toes in the water, don't wait until you're forced to plunge into the deep end after graduating or financial trouble.

Interesting video! I gave a similar talk at a local komiket about what aspiring artists should expect before the jump. Some of my points are similar to yours! I moved from an office job to being a full-time artist who helps indie authors bring their stories to life. It's a busy sched, with a little window for my other interests to keep my creative juices moving. Unlike my old desk job, though, I can get up, stretch and run around when I need a break lol. But just like manga artists, there's a workload waiting after having a little vacation. XD I don't mind it, though. Every commission is a new story. It's always fresh. (I always make sure I review gig descriptions before committing to a project, since I also don't like working with corporate/business oriented art stuff.)

My dream jobs have been 3 things over the years. From elementary school I wanted to be a surgeon. If I could make that happen or go back an make it happen, I probably would. Around Highschool was when I first considered becoming an artist full time, as I was seeing real improvement in my art and it's something I've always wanted to do at least semi-professionally. Several years of people telling me if I didn't live a certain life path: Get a good GPA, go to college for either Comsci or Physics, get a job, work, lose job, repeat. I went to college, failed after several traumatic events, and am now seriously attempting to make it as an artist. Fortunately, the downsides you listed already affect me in most of the other jobs I had that I can't hold for medical reasons nowadays.

"Don't touch my bread government" discord

Right now in this point of life (senior highschool) I think the best choice od career is a graphic designer, it's a lot of fun for me, the payment can be pretty good. And I could still have some time for personal art everyday. I was an intern in a big graphics studio in my country and I had a blast, so I would love to pursui it, and maybe I can make my art my job along the way

Don't touch my bread government ! This is such a great video! :D Lovely points, and your sprites are so pretty!

Interesting points that I mostly agree with. Since we’re both pro artists with some years under our belts, wouldn’t you say there’s a good deal of joy you get from working with clients and bringing their ideas to life? I don’t think that’s ever talked about enough. If you wanna have a chat about it or collab I’d be down for it since we have similar viewpoints 👍

Don’t touch my bread government! As someone who wants to write for a living, the sentiment was so similar while watching this video. I’m thankful enough to have a full-time job that has some writing elements that I love, but I know I’ll likely have to lean on it more than any novel sales I get unless I get lucky with a publishing house, but even then that’s an uphill climb. But for now, I’m happy to use my free time on hobbies and my writing instead of depending on it since I’m sure all that pressure would make me crack and hate writing lol

There was a lot of good info here that really shows the not so great realities of being a full-time freelance artist. I was one of the people who did try to do art school mainly because my parents drilled in my head that school was important and I only lasted one semester and didn't do well in it.L But despite that, I decided to just do the freelance art and while I was able to get some work, it just wasn't enough to support myself so I compromised and got a part-time job and it has helped a lot to support myself while also having time to draw. Heck the nature of my part-time job allows me to even draw when I'm at work which helps since I'm a 50/50 (50 = I sketch traditionally with pencil & paper / 50 = I ink and color digitally) I don't see myself going back to school to get a degree in something that I know I won't be happy with because truth be told, I don't have genuine interest in non-art related fields and I'm already in debt already because of the art school attempt so for now, I do okay with just doing a part-time IRL job while doing art on the side. Do I miss being able to draw full-time? Some days yeah but honestly doing the 50/50 has only helped fuel my creativity even more compared to when I was doing it full-time and on the brink of an art burn out. Sok when it comes to this subject, it's just important to weigh in what you're willing to sacrifice. If you're someone who truly has the passion to do art full time and not be too deterred by the pitfalls that can come as a full freelance artist, go for it. Meanwhile if you're someone who likes to draw but just can't see yourself dealing with the negatives that come with it, it's totally fine to just get a job unrelated to art while doing art on the side as a hobby or side job.

Dont touch my bread government! I just listened to this as i was wrapping up some work, currently working as an academic ghostwriter but building my career in art whenever i have the chance. Personally I'm much more comfortable working as an artist as it's a lot less mentally demanding than what i already do but I've been having second thoughts on making it full time rather than at least a part time thing and depending on another type of work as well so it doesn't drain me too much

Okay so, I’m a teenage senior, I go to college in fall of 2023, and all my life I’ve been wanting to bring my ocs to life and inspire people with my stories. Yk all that good stuff. And I assumed that to do that you gotta make art a full career. So I tried to get a head start when I was at least 16, selling my art and adopts. Though already I’m beginning to think that doing that would bring me down mentally. I have adhd, which makes motivation and focus 10 times worse, so with that I feel like it would be irritating to draw stuff for people all the time without actually caring for your own passions. My passion is making characters and stories, but sharing my motivation with drawing art for others might make it harder for me to want to do stuff with art in general. Plus I mean if you live off art commissions entirely, you can’t exactly just not do commissions anymore. Even now I’m a set designer and graphic artist (atp) for my play and though I’m more than happy to do it, it didn’t give me time to do my own stuff. All I’m trying to say is, I’ve been dreaming of being a freelance artist or an animator my whole life, but after watching this video, i don’t really know bout it. And I don’t really have alot of time to figure it out, because when I show up to college, I’ll still be scratching my head like a baboon with flees trying to figure out if I should actually even do it. I wanna have time for my ocs that’s all I’ve ever wanted, but if working as a full on professional artist prevents this I dunno what else to do. Especially since I’ve been so dead set on this that I haven’t even considered anything else but maybe being a lawyer or a vet.

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"Do something you love and never work a day in your life" is a phrase I absolutely loathe, because believing it is a fast way to ruin what you enjoy. No-one loves their job 100% of the time, and anyone who tries to say otherwise is either on a trust fund or lying. That being said, I personally feel that if you like your job 50% of the time or more you're doing pretty alright. Personally I (mostly) enjoy what I do, but looking back I'm also glad I didn't end up going into a creative field, because in cold, clear eyed, assessment, I'm not sold I particularly enjoy many aspects of drawing. Sounds weird I know, but what I like is getting an idea out, and bringing it to life... but that's not particularly compatible with making money from the whole gambit (point of interest: this is also one reason why I flat refuse all commission or art requests, even ones I might have enjoyed doing). This way, the remaining bit of creative time I get is all mine... though I'll also admit it took this video to get all those thoughts I've had flying around to finally congeal. As the vid said: that's not to say a creative career is a bad idea, but go in with your eyes open and sure of why you want to be there and what your chances of getting that (or working up to it) are... and all that being said, I do sometimes wonder what life might have been like if I /had/ pursued a creative field (like, actually used my degree).

Honestly I’ve been thinking about this a lot I’ve realized as a person not in the workforce yet but I decided maybe a speech pathologist which is still a meaningful job that means something to me. And do art as a side hussle. I don’t think all needs to be sacrificed I don’t want to go all soulless but I still would like stability and as a anxious stressed person juggling so much with no assured income might be too much for me. But I can still do something meaningful I can enjoy and pursue art on the side. Plus I decided comics or a web cartoon might be better instead of goving my creative baby to a company as want I’ve seen late. Also, Don’t touch my bread government.

I've been a professional artist for 10 years, and remember this heartache. When will I have the time to make my own art for me. but recently, after having managed my work life balance a bit, I have found that I'm ok with maybe never getting to my work. I just pour all of my passion into the work I do for my job. I work for a game company though and am unique in that the stuff I work on I do have passion for occasionally. Though designing sword after sword drains me of my life haha. pushing through burnout has gotten easier, balancing life has gotten easier, letting things go has gotten easier. but again I'm weird in that I like working towards a prompt more than letting my imagination run wild on a blank canvas. I feel like making art your job means you won't have time time for your work, and if you want to make art for you, you will have to keep it a hobby.

I honestly don't mind drawing other peoples ideas or the other points you made, it can be annoying but I think I can deal with it. I am okay with organizing my time and already do it since I know that I can be lazy if I don't have a steady schedule to follow. I will work other jobs until I can depend on my art, when I have enough followers and finish my webcomic plans. They are incredibly vague right now but I am 15 so I have time. My point being, while being reminded of the down sides (which I had already researched before) left a bad taste on my mouth, my decision to turn art into my job someday remains the same. Thank you for warning the others about it trough, I know it makes a huge diference.

Hmmm 🤔, it makes sense, personal projects one thing that i wish could have finished already and make them be starting of something 🆕 on its way.

Yeah personally, I knew this would happen to me with art, the loss of distinction between free time and work. Also, I find myself not having enough energy to draw as often because of how taxing I think it is. I think also because for me there is a personal attachment to my work, regardless if it was a commission or not. It HAS to be good or I just feel like I've failed. I actually enjoy the prospect of working for others - doing commissions always give me new ideas and challenges which can be exciting. But I always take them at a slow pace and rate, because I do them as a hobby to save up for extra stuff I wanna buy, but I'm not fast enough to do them on a more livelihood wage pace. I'm sure it's doable, but it will be very hard. Granted, I'm in medschool of all things haha, idk how draining that will be in the future as well. But I think one aspect a normal job can provide also is the sense of community. It's so easy for me to become painfully disconnected from the world around me otherwise.

im not even in art school (parents suggestion i should go into that) and i dont have any art skills, so i was already very concerned with how id survive, now that i know everything about the job, im just gonna crush my dreams right now

I love it when two videos has thrown my only life's plan into oblivion- I'm mostly joking and I feel like this is helpful information but bro one of the only things I think I'm good enough at- obviously i haven't watched the video yet so my feelings might become void

don't touch my bread, GOVERNMENT Dx thank you so nuch for the opportunity

When I was a kid I wanted to work as an artist but never got approbed by my parents so I ended up being a software engineer. I've been working as a SE since almost 4 years now, I do it pretty decent it but I got burned of it so quick I don't want to do it anymore. I want to create art (drawings, comics) and video games being the only exception I would made to keep coding. I have a good salary, can buy the things I want but lately I can't enjoy them as I am mostly tired, stressed or depressed by my job as SE that I've been seriously considering quit my job as a Software engineer and just create art. I would take a way less "salary" as an artist and doing the things I really like and feel passioned about. I know the pros and cons and I am okay with them; regardless I won't make the change based on emotions. I plan is to keep working as a SE to keep a steady income while I practice my art skills in my spare time. My days goes like this: Wake up at 7 - 8 am, start working at 9am through 6pm, play some games from 6pm to 8pm, have dinner and then draw until 1 - 2am. It is a crappy schedule to maintain, specially now that I want to go to the gym and the only way to do it is to cut more gaming time. It is a slow pace but I want to be smart about this change (if it happen) and to make it work in a long term. Thanks for the video! It was great, and also: Don’t touch my bread government! Email

Please make a video with people from the art industry (videogames, animation, character design, etc)

dont touch my bread government >:c also the way you draw and render hair is amazing and i love it

Don’t touch my bread government! Thank you for providing this insight 🖤 it’s important to try and see as many points of view regarding these types of professions (well you can say that about any profession but still)

Wanted to be an animator as a teen. Went to college specifically to become an animator. Two years in realized it was a scam school. (Gotta love Art Institutes!) Went back to school for emergency response, was a 911 dispatcher for a while, and then did wildfire stuff. Ended up miserable, got sick, started making money with art again. Downsized my life to hell and back to do so. Am much, much happier for doing this.

My personal deal with working a non-art job is that it is VERY difficult to maintain those jobs. The only thing I'm qualified for is retail work, and it is extremely draining, demoralizing, etc. They're not friendly places for people with illnesses or disabilities. I suffer from anxiety/depression and chronic fatigue syndrome, and the last time I worked in reatil (Home Depot) I thought I was gonna end up in the hospital from the stress, pain and fatigue. I can't work in the field like that. Art is the only thing I have going for me, so I have to make it my career. I enjoy drawing, have a lot of projects going on in hopes that something is going to stick and I can get a following started. The working world doesn't care about the mentally ill/disabled, and it simply sucks.

dang this was such a helpful video :'D but it also fueled me to pursue the art path with even more fervor thanks for talking about such an important aspect of the career :)) (also: don't touch my bread government)

Don't touch my bread, government! Lol Great video as always, very insightful ♡

don’t touch my bread government definitely gone through inner conflicts about having an art job. decided not to go to art school, so i’m thinking about just keeping art as my hobby or second income instead of my main focus. something else to think about too for some people is semi-art jobs!! there’s tons of art related jobs that are more than just creating, like color specialists in the automotive industry. thanks for another good video. tons of good points to consider :)

My dream job that I'm working towards is developing games. I love making pixel art, writing stories, and putting things together. What better way to combine these things than to make my own games? OH BOY IS IT DIFFICULT! My main issue right now is learning visual scripting with unity. But I've been making progress. Creation is art. I want to create and I want to make it my job. I want to make people feel things and enjoy it.

Don't touch my bread governmen . Very informative video. Earned a subscriber.

dont touch my bread government I recently discovered ur videos, and I'm so mad i only found u recently T^T but all ur videos are very insightful and helpful, THANK U!!

don’t touch my bread government , very interesting video as I have never really considered doing anything but art as a job

Dont touch my bread government! This video was honestly very useful as someone who has been considering a career in art, getting this new perspective has been so valuable.

I’ve been through this for about five years and many people and articles are saying to avoid art careers and majors in general. Many artists (and especially animators) are severely overworked, underpaid, and even underappreciated. So many artists/animators wanna be like Jaiden Animations or TheOdd1sOut and that kind of success is…not impossible but still a huge gamble, and even then that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be truly happy. I’m moving onto a career in cybersecurity with a specialty in ethical hacking and I feel more optimistic about it. I’m taking the advice of a personal finance RU-vidr Shane Hummus to heart: major in a career that’ll financially support you, and minor in something else you can do as a hobby. Future generations please I beg of you all, don’t make the same mistakes we made!

Hello! I’m a professional artist currently living off my art! and I will say 100% agree that does take a special person to be able to organize and micromanage to be able to be a creator with stable income! I will say currently with my experience starting my business during covid it’s all about branching out, being consistent, and having places to gain revenue. For me is being a merch fan artist, I produce my art into merchandise pins, charms, prints, sticker, buttons etc. so you start an online store, Kickstarter, Patreon, and then you build your socials as an artist, Ig, Twitter, twitch, RU-vid. I think the best way of thinking about an online art careeer is thinking about as say a twitch streamer, you obviously won’t be able to make anything or have a following just streaming even if you stream for hours and hours, you have to build your following on places that would expose you ie: youtube, Instagram, tiktok and then you will start growing and having some way of gaining income with merch, subs, donations, and RU-vid. I think we are all umbrella with the term content creator for this reason. It’s tough for sure and freelance ie: doing commissions can really take you so far and the idea of just doing commissions for a job is really glorified online it is definitely not a way to grow or make money and as you state you definitely start to hate it and your not making the art you want. For me I genuinely enjoy creating my fanmerch, I love anime & games so I love drawing the characters so I don’t really see it as workart for others. Of course it’s also work , there are times where you are just doing art all day, there is a lot to do, packing orders can be exhausting, deadlines as well. But compared from working a normal job working to at most 8 hours I think most would just be too tired to really create as a hobby. Looking at my friends that did art school and having nothing to start in the industry they need to build a portfolio but they can’t cause they have to work so it’s really a toss up I personally am not physically well to do a lot of low bar jobs they require a lot of manual labor so the art avenue was what I ended up pursuing but it is still also HARDWORK there is no easy way to get rich quick, start small and think smart & creatively!

Also, thank you thank you for this vid. I considered doing freelance illustration after getting a degree but I hate instability, being over-worked, and have trouble with work-life balance. Guess I'll find a "normal" job I can tolerate :(

Don't touch my bread government! This video describes why I want to keep art a hobby so well! The amount of pressure that comes with being a professional artist is a bit much, and I don't think I'll ever be able to handle it.

Don't touch my bread government Here's how my dream jobs have been fluctuating. Middle School: Fashion Designer Early High School: Singer Mid-Late High School: Comic Artist to Animator to Commission's artist Currently: Musician or Creative Writer As you can see, It's usually been passion filled industries. I was under the same assumption as everyone else: "If you work a job you love, you never work a day in your life." Now that I have commission experience, I can say that isn't true for me. I honestly believe the type of job I'd be able to do is Novel Writer.

I do art for money since I am in high school and dont have time for a job, but I probably wouldnt do it full time. Im interested in your perspective too!

I'm glad tumblr taught me this early. Now I'm working to have a 9-5 but also an art job: as a side gig. If it blows up I'll pursue but the hell you're in is not what I wanted to do.

Now just thinking about my title. Maybe I should work with something else that isn't related to just drawing this or that. Thank you for this video btw, it inspired me to do something else other than just drawing ^^

Don't touch my bread government! Also the video was really informative, some time ago I actually began looking for info on social media art as a job and this really helped.