Learning more and more… I know that feeling all to well. It lead to analysis paralysis in my case. Your post is very well noted, I indeed have to question more often: do I really need to make art that sells?
Great post, especially the commentary on influencers and courses, I’m sure many can relate to that!
I remember just not having enough time to make the art I wanted to, so if I had to make art to earn a living then I could spend the majority of my time creating. That was the theory, no one tells you the amount of time you need to spend to then run your business, BUT I’m still making more art then when it was in my spare time. Now it’s both 😍
Yes! That's it exactly. Wanting *more* time to make art - whether it's drawing or writing - has been a constant throughout my life, I think. Most of the time I have found - or carved out, somehow - that time, but also for most of my life I have felt I needed to make it *pay* because it was not something I was allowed to do just for the sake of it. It was a wasteful activity unless it could also put food on the table.
Which is weird, since I had creative parents, and certainly not people who thought art was bad or wasteful.
Though, now I think about it, the one with the fine art degree barely ever did anything creative and earnt his living in the building trade. The one without a degree and just smatterings of art school earnt her living from a smorgasbord of activities, many of them creative. And almost all her creativity was done with paying customers in mind, even if she didn't always find those paying customers.
But your both is where I would love to be. Art as my day job *and* my leisure. That would surely be perfection.
This struck a chord with me. I have written a novel, and I'm trying to get it published. As I do so, I'm realising that maybe I don't actually WANT to write novels full-time...is that okay? I love novel-writing, but I want to keep my job. I really adore my job, and I don't want to have to write "commercial" books to appeal to "the market" and "the audience" in order to pay my bills. I would like to keep working at my job and write little quirky novels on the side that a few people will read and love. But social media and society in general tell us that we have to have this big dream, we have to want our art to feed us. We have to sweat and post and cry and make reels and exhaust ourselves to "make it." I don't necessarily want to make art that sells. I just want to make art. Occasionally.
Yes! Exactly that. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. But the glossy social media superstars have made us feel it does, because they have done it. But, actually, have they? Are they spending their every moment enjoying making art? Or are they spending many of their moments creating reels and worrying about funnels and analysing what they should create purely for the sales it will drive?
As long as I can continue to enjoy both, I should embrace being able to do so and not feel bad about not concentrating entirely on art.
Good luck getting your novel published - and good luck enjoying your job and maybe writing another if and when you feel like it!
Yep, agree with pretty much all of that. For me it’s weird because my dream is actually NOT having to show anyone what I am making, but also I never wanted to draw just to draw. It was never a hobby or just a way to unwind or pass time - I always wanted it to have a purpose. The purpose wouldn’t necessarily need to be making money, but I always want to be drawing for something. A gift for a friend, a potential art print, a t-shirt I want to make for myself, there needs to be an end goal or my ADHD brain won’t let me make the art.
My dream is being able to force myself to sketch but I haven’t succeeded yet because ADHD brain goes ‘SKETCHING HAS NO PURPOSE STOP IT’ and I can’t win.
Another thing with social media is that, like, the people who made it big here say this is how you make it big, because that’s how they made it big, you know? It’s a weird ouroboros of art advice because all you see is the people who made it here. If someone made it by ignoring social media and making postcards or wall murals in their town or whatever how would we even see them…
Oh, that’s interesting. Drawing (or painting or colouring) are my go-to things to do while watching telly because my mum always had something on the go (sewing her knitted patchwork skirts together, drawing French gîtes for a client, adding more details to her pastel portraits, doing a crossword, doing a Rubik’s puzzle of some kind (she had many different ones, not just basic cubes), and many many other things) and could not ever ‘just’ sit and watch telly. I have had to train myself to watch the occasional bit of TV without an iPad and Apple Pencil, or sketchbook in front of me - by watching more subtitled TV, and by watching with other people, because then the existence and presence of them means I am not ‘just’ watching!
There’s a connection there, I would say. But thankfully, for me, drawing counts as useful to my brain. And sometimes that use can absolutely be the winding down.
I am loving finding out more about the life and work of older illustrators and designers (or, actually, not always older, but people who have been doing it for decades and started before the social media. I have a lovely retrospective book by an illustrator friend of my dad’s, who started out as an apprentice in a printing business. It’s fascinating. I don’t think we need to or should ‘go back’ but there’s still a lot that can be learnt from appreciating how those careers were built
Absolutely, it’s super interesting. I would also be curious to know how people in different countries/ on different continents ended up becoming ilkustrators before the social media, and to what degree their paths may have been similar or different to each other.
I really enjoyed this post - it got my mind working, rather than just idling along, accepting the normalisation of social-mediafying the illustration life. I admit that I have felt like a bit of a pariah since deleting my Instagram account, and I keep getting the feeling that I really am giving up my chances of ever becoming a published illustrator just because I’m limiting my presence on social media sites. But you’ve helped me give a voice to the stubborn part of my mind that, before, just kept answering that feeling with “no, don’t wanna.” Now it can respond with a more mature and well-thought-out “no, I don’t have to.” (And then stick it’s tongue out.)
I am honestly in awe of you leaving Instagram. I really really want to do it, too, and I am getting closer and closer. But I keep talking myself out of it.
Glad you liked it. And thank you for saying so, too. I know it's an extra effort, but it's very much appreciated. (Note to self: leave more comments on other people's pieces!)
Every time I think of going back to Instagram or something similar ("just a little account, just for this one thing...") I remind myself of the oppressive weight that I didn't realise was on my shoulders until I left it.
Thanks for thanking me. Sometimes it does feel like too much effort, or that it's going to take time away from important things (like more procrastination). I often start commenting and then change my mind because I think I'm just going to sound stupid, but most of the time I don't care if I sound stupid... 😁
And I’m sure 99.99999% of the time it wouldn’t sound stupid at all!
What stops me is I complete lack of self-editing skills. I write an essay in most comments and so I have to be quite restrained. If I could just get better at quick succinct responses, it would be wonderful!
That is hard! I find that I can write a short comment, but then I think it sounds rude - too abrupt - so I add more, and then really overthink it... But then I just hit send and run away! The best strategy in life.
Maybe think "I want to respond to ALL these points and say ALL these particulars," but then just choose ONE and type that? Then, if that starts a conversation, you then have the opportunity to add more, in a more natural, conversational way.
Maybe! Very good advice. My brain might not take it, though.
It's probably because comments are very in the moment. I do better if I write something and put it away for a week, but you want to reply immediately, or your forget to. Maybe the trick is to keep a file of 'things I would like to comment on' and take the time to do a bunch on one go. Hmm... that actually sounds like a good idea.
(And see? Essay. Or more accurately a garbled stream-of-consciousness explosion!!)
But you do garbled stream-of-consciousness so well! Embrace it! You're probably being harder on yourself than anyone else would be. It's certainly not an essay. (Have we been programmed by social media to keep things to a character limit?)
It's funny, but your idea about keeping a file of things to comment on sounds like a nightmare to me! 😅 But if it might work for you, try it and let me know how it goes.
Tasha, I just wanted you to know that I read all your posts and enjoy them immensely, even if I forget to like or comment. I started my post-college life as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, schlepping a big portfolio around NYC, because that's how it was done decades ago. It wasn't hard to get work, even for an introvert like me who dreaded cold calling, but eventually I got tired of that life and then only illustrated my own books.
I can't imagine what it would be like to have to find work through Instagram and TikTok. I'm not saying it would be better or worse or harder or easier; I just don't know, because I haven't experienced it. For the last few years I've been doing a lot more writing than artwork but I'm missing it terribly, so I'm trying to concoct a project that would require me to draw. Thank you for continuing to remind me of the joys of illustration!
Thank you so much for commenting, Nava. It definitely has a romantic idyllic feel to it, and so much nicer than the social media hustle of today. But I think the ability to live and work from anywhere might top that for me.
At my first jobs in publishing, in the nineties, the norm was still to get all artwork sent to us physically - we had some illustrators who would bring their work in, but others sent it special delivery. And roughs were usually faxed. I don’t think any of it was digital at that point. And all our proofs were printed and marked up by hand.
The speed with which all of that changed is astonishing when I think about it. Hard to imagine how it will be in another thirty years and what publishing and illustration will look like when my daughters are my age.
I hope you come up with a wonderful project that lets you draw!
Thank you so much for your response, Tasha. I already have a project in mind; I've just got 2 to 3 months left to complete my next book deadline (so much fascinating research!). My hand is itching ... can't wait. And always look forward to your missives in my in box. (and another thing gone by the wayside — faxing!)
Fortunately I have two books coming out in between, one this September and another one in Sept. 2026. But I haven't illustrated in a while, so I'm excited and nervous!
I love it! Really lovely to hear your perspective on this, and it's good to get a reminder that, if we are not, somewhere deep down, mainly doing it because we enjoy making art, then what' the point? After I wrote the post, I also started thinking about the whole can of worms that is The TikTok-ification of music (making music with the main intention of it going viral on TikTok, certain catchy hooks but otherwise empty lyrics) and how that is something I absolutely don't want to fall prey to with my art. I think places like Substack, and to some degree YouTube, that allow for longer form content, that requires more of the viewer, are places where we can find people who actually care about our thoughts and work. And then, like you say, it's maybe not that many, but then they at least really interact with it. And yeah, I think actually we should be traipsing around big cities with big portfolios again??? How romantic and artistic of us??
Yes! A piece of art that does well on social media isn’t necessarily going to be what so,some needs for a book, articles, etc.
I’m sure I read that someone actually did this (portfolio schlepping) recently, and that people they were showing it to were really happy about it. So maybe!
Learning more and more… I know that feeling all to well. It lead to analysis paralysis in my case. Your post is very well noted, I indeed have to question more often: do I really need to make art that sells?
Thanks!
Great post, especially the commentary on influencers and courses, I’m sure many can relate to that!
I remember just not having enough time to make the art I wanted to, so if I had to make art to earn a living then I could spend the majority of my time creating. That was the theory, no one tells you the amount of time you need to spend to then run your business, BUT I’m still making more art then when it was in my spare time. Now it’s both 😍
Yes! That's it exactly. Wanting *more* time to make art - whether it's drawing or writing - has been a constant throughout my life, I think. Most of the time I have found - or carved out, somehow - that time, but also for most of my life I have felt I needed to make it *pay* because it was not something I was allowed to do just for the sake of it. It was a wasteful activity unless it could also put food on the table.
Which is weird, since I had creative parents, and certainly not people who thought art was bad or wasteful.
Though, now I think about it, the one with the fine art degree barely ever did anything creative and earnt his living in the building trade. The one without a degree and just smatterings of art school earnt her living from a smorgasbord of activities, many of them creative. And almost all her creativity was done with paying customers in mind, even if she didn't always find those paying customers.
But your both is where I would love to be. Art as my day job *and* my leisure. That would surely be perfection.
This struck a chord with me. I have written a novel, and I'm trying to get it published. As I do so, I'm realising that maybe I don't actually WANT to write novels full-time...is that okay? I love novel-writing, but I want to keep my job. I really adore my job, and I don't want to have to write "commercial" books to appeal to "the market" and "the audience" in order to pay my bills. I would like to keep working at my job and write little quirky novels on the side that a few people will read and love. But social media and society in general tell us that we have to have this big dream, we have to want our art to feed us. We have to sweat and post and cry and make reels and exhaust ourselves to "make it." I don't necessarily want to make art that sells. I just want to make art. Occasionally.
Yes! Exactly that. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. But the glossy social media superstars have made us feel it does, because they have done it. But, actually, have they? Are they spending their every moment enjoying making art? Or are they spending many of their moments creating reels and worrying about funnels and analysing what they should create purely for the sales it will drive?
As long as I can continue to enjoy both, I should embrace being able to do so and not feel bad about not concentrating entirely on art.
Good luck getting your novel published - and good luck enjoying your job and maybe writing another if and when you feel like it!
Yep, agree with pretty much all of that. For me it’s weird because my dream is actually NOT having to show anyone what I am making, but also I never wanted to draw just to draw. It was never a hobby or just a way to unwind or pass time - I always wanted it to have a purpose. The purpose wouldn’t necessarily need to be making money, but I always want to be drawing for something. A gift for a friend, a potential art print, a t-shirt I want to make for myself, there needs to be an end goal or my ADHD brain won’t let me make the art.
My dream is being able to force myself to sketch but I haven’t succeeded yet because ADHD brain goes ‘SKETCHING HAS NO PURPOSE STOP IT’ and I can’t win.
Another thing with social media is that, like, the people who made it big here say this is how you make it big, because that’s how they made it big, you know? It’s a weird ouroboros of art advice because all you see is the people who made it here. If someone made it by ignoring social media and making postcards or wall murals in their town or whatever how would we even see them…
Oh, that’s interesting. Drawing (or painting or colouring) are my go-to things to do while watching telly because my mum always had something on the go (sewing her knitted patchwork skirts together, drawing French gîtes for a client, adding more details to her pastel portraits, doing a crossword, doing a Rubik’s puzzle of some kind (she had many different ones, not just basic cubes), and many many other things) and could not ever ‘just’ sit and watch telly. I have had to train myself to watch the occasional bit of TV without an iPad and Apple Pencil, or sketchbook in front of me - by watching more subtitled TV, and by watching with other people, because then the existence and presence of them means I am not ‘just’ watching!
There’s a connection there, I would say. But thankfully, for me, drawing counts as useful to my brain. And sometimes that use can absolutely be the winding down.
I am loving finding out more about the life and work of older illustrators and designers (or, actually, not always older, but people who have been doing it for decades and started before the social media. I have a lovely retrospective book by an illustrator friend of my dad’s, who started out as an apprentice in a printing business. It’s fascinating. I don’t think we need to or should ‘go back’ but there’s still a lot that can be learnt from appreciating how those careers were built
Absolutely, it’s super interesting. I would also be curious to know how people in different countries/ on different continents ended up becoming ilkustrators before the social media, and to what degree their paths may have been similar or different to each other.
I really enjoyed this post - it got my mind working, rather than just idling along, accepting the normalisation of social-mediafying the illustration life. I admit that I have felt like a bit of a pariah since deleting my Instagram account, and I keep getting the feeling that I really am giving up my chances of ever becoming a published illustrator just because I’m limiting my presence on social media sites. But you’ve helped me give a voice to the stubborn part of my mind that, before, just kept answering that feeling with “no, don’t wanna.” Now it can respond with a more mature and well-thought-out “no, I don’t have to.” (And then stick it’s tongue out.)
I am honestly in awe of you leaving Instagram. I really really want to do it, too, and I am getting closer and closer. But I keep talking myself out of it.
Glad you liked it. And thank you for saying so, too. I know it's an extra effort, but it's very much appreciated. (Note to self: leave more comments on other people's pieces!)
Every time I think of going back to Instagram or something similar ("just a little account, just for this one thing...") I remind myself of the oppressive weight that I didn't realise was on my shoulders until I left it.
Thanks for thanking me. Sometimes it does feel like too much effort, or that it's going to take time away from important things (like more procrastination). I often start commenting and then change my mind because I think I'm just going to sound stupid, but most of the time I don't care if I sound stupid... 😁
And I’m sure 99.99999% of the time it wouldn’t sound stupid at all!
What stops me is I complete lack of self-editing skills. I write an essay in most comments and so I have to be quite restrained. If I could just get better at quick succinct responses, it would be wonderful!
That is hard! I find that I can write a short comment, but then I think it sounds rude - too abrupt - so I add more, and then really overthink it... But then I just hit send and run away! The best strategy in life.
Maybe think "I want to respond to ALL these points and say ALL these particulars," but then just choose ONE and type that? Then, if that starts a conversation, you then have the opportunity to add more, in a more natural, conversational way.
Maybe...
Sorry if that still sounds impossible. 😋
Maybe! Very good advice. My brain might not take it, though.
It's probably because comments are very in the moment. I do better if I write something and put it away for a week, but you want to reply immediately, or your forget to. Maybe the trick is to keep a file of 'things I would like to comment on' and take the time to do a bunch on one go. Hmm... that actually sounds like a good idea.
(And see? Essay. Or more accurately a garbled stream-of-consciousness explosion!!)
But you do garbled stream-of-consciousness so well! Embrace it! You're probably being harder on yourself than anyone else would be. It's certainly not an essay. (Have we been programmed by social media to keep things to a character limit?)
It's funny, but your idea about keeping a file of things to comment on sounds like a nightmare to me! 😅 But if it might work for you, try it and let me know how it goes.
Tasha, I just wanted you to know that I read all your posts and enjoy them immensely, even if I forget to like or comment. I started my post-college life as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, schlepping a big portfolio around NYC, because that's how it was done decades ago. It wasn't hard to get work, even for an introvert like me who dreaded cold calling, but eventually I got tired of that life and then only illustrated my own books.
I can't imagine what it would be like to have to find work through Instagram and TikTok. I'm not saying it would be better or worse or harder or easier; I just don't know, because I haven't experienced it. For the last few years I've been doing a lot more writing than artwork but I'm missing it terribly, so I'm trying to concoct a project that would require me to draw. Thank you for continuing to remind me of the joys of illustration!
Thank you so much for commenting, Nava. It definitely has a romantic idyllic feel to it, and so much nicer than the social media hustle of today. But I think the ability to live and work from anywhere might top that for me.
At my first jobs in publishing, in the nineties, the norm was still to get all artwork sent to us physically - we had some illustrators who would bring their work in, but others sent it special delivery. And roughs were usually faxed. I don’t think any of it was digital at that point. And all our proofs were printed and marked up by hand.
The speed with which all of that changed is astonishing when I think about it. Hard to imagine how it will be in another thirty years and what publishing and illustration will look like when my daughters are my age.
I hope you come up with a wonderful project that lets you draw!
Thank you so much for your response, Tasha. I already have a project in mind; I've just got 2 to 3 months left to complete my next book deadline (so much fascinating research!). My hand is itching ... can't wait. And always look forward to your missives in my in box. (and another thing gone by the wayside — faxing!)
Excited to see your project when you get to share it (presumably a very long way off, if it’s publishing based!)
Fortunately I have two books coming out in between, one this September and another one in Sept. 2026. But I haven't illustrated in a while, so I'm excited and nervous!
I love it! Really lovely to hear your perspective on this, and it's good to get a reminder that, if we are not, somewhere deep down, mainly doing it because we enjoy making art, then what' the point? After I wrote the post, I also started thinking about the whole can of worms that is The TikTok-ification of music (making music with the main intention of it going viral on TikTok, certain catchy hooks but otherwise empty lyrics) and how that is something I absolutely don't want to fall prey to with my art. I think places like Substack, and to some degree YouTube, that allow for longer form content, that requires more of the viewer, are places where we can find people who actually care about our thoughts and work. And then, like you say, it's maybe not that many, but then they at least really interact with it. And yeah, I think actually we should be traipsing around big cities with big portfolios again??? How romantic and artistic of us??
Yes! A piece of art that does well on social media isn’t necessarily going to be what so,some needs for a book, articles, etc.
I’m sure I read that someone actually did this (portfolio schlepping) recently, and that people they were showing it to were really happy about it. So maybe!