“That’s it! I’m going to culinary school!” is something I declare to my husband twice a year whenever my workload is alarmingly calm. This whole illustration charade has been real, but what if it’s over now? It’s too hard. It’s too unstable. Its highs are occasionally high but don’t outweigh the rejection and bottom-feeding lows. If you’re a creative type, your resilience may be running low. The force that moves you to make work may also be telling you that you better pack it up and find a real job. Maybe people in your life are giving you a hard time that your work is “cute” and “fun” but has no intrinsic value because you “don’t make a living off of it”.
What do you do when you just want to throw in the illustrated tea towel and start over? Here are a few things I remind myself when these moments occur….
Draw your world. You don’t need to look far. You know it better than anywhere else. Use yourself as a way to frame how you see everything. It’s insta authenticity and the easiest access point when you’re feeling stumped.
Take a break. Move away from your artwork and your phone. Maybe get a hit of nature or read a book or have coffee with a friend. If art is a side-effect of experience, live your life.
Lean into the slow times. I would be foolish not to say that I still have low months even after working for over 10 years as a professional illustrator. Even if they were painful at the time, it’s rare to have moments to experiment and make work just for you. But this only happens if you accept the ebb and flow of freelance life…
Art is inherently wasteful. Don’t stress if a few of your pieces are a disaster. Take a close look at what is working and what isn’t. Implement those things next time around. Think of all the drawings, sketches and botched paintings that an artist makes in their career to be known for just a few, if they are lucky.
Efficiency. Try committing to working at a specific time of day for a specific amount of time. I learned about the Pomodoro timer method from Rosie Sprink’s fantastic substack. 25 minutes a day is enough for writers to commit to low commitment productivity. Apply this to your sketching or painting. It may seem like a painful chore at the beginning, but you may end up working seamlessly for an hour or two.
“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work”. -Chuck Close. I am paraphrasing illustrator Christoph Neimann from Netflix’s Abstract, but if you want to be a full-time bonafide artist, you have to build up a wall of craft to get you producing work. You need to be good enough to perform when you need to. This is all about nourishing the skills extracted from art school or all the failures/successes of the past. An artist, especially a successful one, is always working.
Trust the process. You can’t see yourself walking on a path. You need retrospect to do so. Be comforted in the fact that you are doing the work. I see you!
Take good care, dear reader. And don’t drink the watercolor water. -jkw
Looking for way to jump-start your creative process? I’m hosting my first watercolor retreat in Paris May 27-31st. I’ll be walking you through the essential techniques and methods of painting with watercolor to not only like but LOVE it. I’ve been teaching since 2018 and one of the biggest revelations from my students is how much they realize they like watercolor just with a few tips and techniques. Spots are limited and going quickly. Learn more in the link below.