Dear Friends,
I have a quandary.
Life is fabulously good. This is true. I work part-time teaching young children circus arts and helping them gain coordination and confidence in their bodies and abilities. It is a great job. I make things (new comics are up at my Flickr site, come and see!) almost every day, or anyway I try to. But I need something more to do with my time. The circus gig is extremely part-time, and there are just too many hours in the day for me to stay sane.
Options I have considered and/or pursued:
- getting a second job (also for income reasons)
- starting a shop on Etsy (selling handmade journals and original art, possibly also comics)
- illustration and graphic design work (I am doing this on the side, but the work is far from regular)
Things I want to do, but don't really know how to go about it:
- be an artist
I'm not kidding on this one. Making stuff isn't enough. I want to sell it, or show it to someone, or I don't know, advertise my existence as a person who makes things. I want to meet people, particularly other artists. I'm thinking of turning this journal and my Flickr site into a more professional artist's blog and collection of my work (respectively). I made a blog, but it seems silly to switch to a different journal-like site when I already have this one, and when I know people on this one. When I finish Olo, which I swear on a stack of bibles I will do, I want to know how to get it published.
So, friends, what shall I do? Those of you who make things, and the lucky few of you who make things for a living--how do you pull it off? More importantly, what did you do before you were able to do it?
Fri, October 9, 2009 - 2:59 PM
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I have a quandary.
Life is fabulously good. This is true. I work part-time teaching young children circus arts and helping them gain coordination and confidence in their bodies and abilities. It is a great job. I make things (new comics are up at my Flickr site, come and see!) almost every day, or anyway I try to. But I need something more to do with my time. The circus gig is extremely part-time, and there are just too many hours in the day for me to stay sane.
Options I have considered and/or pursued:
- getting a second job (also for income reasons)
- starting a shop on Etsy (selling handmade journals and original art, possibly also comics)
- illustration and graphic design work (I am doing this on the side, but the work is far from regular)
Things I want to do, but don't really know how to go about it:
- be an artist
I'm not kidding on this one. Making stuff isn't enough. I want to sell it, or show it to someone, or I don't know, advertise my existence as a person who makes things. I want to meet people, particularly other artists. I'm thinking of turning this journal and my Flickr site into a more professional artist's blog and collection of my work (respectively). I made a blog, but it seems silly to switch to a different journal-like site when I already have this one, and when I know people on this one. When I finish Olo, which I swear on a stack of bibles I will do, I want to know how to get it published.
So, friends, what shall I do? Those of you who make things, and the lucky few of you who make things for a living--how do you pull it off? More importantly, what did you do before you were able to do it?



