Drawing as a career?

[ghostnxs]

I switched my major to animation from physics and I only have one concern about my future(its far away but I still would like to think about it), which is having a drive/energy to draw personal projects after drawing as a job. That's a lot of drawing. So do any of you who have a career/freelance in art have this problem?

[UzukiCheverie]

Animation student who's about to graduate here.

TBH, my drive for my personal projects hasn't really taken any toll since starting freelance work and such for animation and concept art. In fact, I think it's helped it a little; if I'm working on a project I don't like or am looking forward to getting over, I know that I have projects waiting for me that I genuinely enjoy working on and consider it a treat that I have the time to do so. Some day, who knows, might be able to make a living off my personal work alone, but until then, I draw until I die. That's the unwritten vow that all artists and animators agree to when they choose their path and decide to stick to it.

[foervraengd]

To me, when I was working on a children's comic book half a year ago, I learned a lot about myself when it came to this.
I think it's a very very important thing to be able to separate "work drawing" from "free-time drawing".
I scheduled my time as only focus on the book during typical work-hours (9am to 4pm for example) and after that I could "reward" myself to draw private pictures (such as my OCs or fanart etc).

While it's common and understandable to get bored drawing commissions or work on your book, it's important to still not be bored at drawing in general. It's gotta be more about what you're drawing than the actual drawing itself.

Also I think the difference between client work and personal projects is that a client job usually has a deadline and certain guidelines you need to follow; you need some self-discipline and make sure to prioritize your paid job more.
Your personal projects has less pressure because it's all by your own terms. However if you're doing a big client job it's a good idea to let all your side-projects lay on ice so they wont add extra stress.

To me, the most important thing is to separate work from freetime, and if you're freelancing and working in your home that's important to keep in mind. If you can afford to hire a place in a art studio, I'd totally recommend it since it makes your client workspace actually feel like a zone for working and not just your own room at home.

[Kayke]

If you want to have an art job/freelance and still do personal work, you've got to make a conscious effort to draw your personal stuff and keep yourself on a schedule. Like I try to do one page of comic and one personal illustration a week. I'll take weeks off for personal stuff, like if I'm sick or if I'm going on a trip/having a friend visit, but other than that, it's a page a week minimum. Since I've been doing that routinely for years now, it doesn't even feel like a question anymore. I just do it without thinking about it too much.

My current situation is that I'm freelancing illustrating/writing comics... and illustrating whatever else I can get my hands on from magazines to concept art to band merch to pieces for gallery shows. And also working at a local gallery a few days a week to pay off my monstrous art school student loans. At times, I'll have a few projects going at once and it'll be pretty exhausting, but I still make sure to not let my own stuff fall to the wayside.

I have had to give some stuff up though! Like I used to LOVE playing video games, but once I graduated college and jumped into the art thing I haven't had as much time for it. I'll still play 3DS stuff sometimes, but I don't really get to just chill out and play console games for hours on end like I used to. I also don't go out with friends as much as I used to. But to me it's worth it because it's my dream to be an artist and I realize I have to work really hard to achieve that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you WANT it, you can do it. But you have to really want it. And you have to be willing to make sacrifices for it. It's not always going to be fun and sometimes you're going to be like night of the living dead zombie tired, but if you want it bad enough you're still gonna draw. If it's your dream, the drive comes along with that.

[ghostnxs]

Thank you all so much for these wonderful comments and experiences.

[cpodeswa]

Don't worry about that. Everyone has phases now and then, when you think that you don't have enough free time to experiment, or that you are too tired to do anything, these thoughts come and go. I had this especially when I switched from studying graphic design to a real job that required at least 8 hours a day of being awake and communicating with people.

What helped me a lot is setting small goals for yourself, or, as a trick, just tell yourself that you just need to do 5 minutes of doodling per day. The fun will come while doing it, even if you were busy the whole day with something else.

[foervraengd]

tbh you will always find time to do doodles. That's why we have post-it notes ;D

[ratique]

As a fulltime working illustrator/designer with a commute of about 3 hours every day and additional freelance clients I can promise you one thing: It's gonna be hard.

Time is limited, you will want to relax after work, go outside, see your friends, spend time with your spouse. Suddenly you have very little for your own little projects.

But here is the good thing. It will depend just on you. There are many illustrators who don't work on their own projects after work. They always say they want to do something, but never commit to it. And then on the other hand I know people who work on great projects in their free time. Which category you will belong to is your choice.

[ghostnxs]

My main concern isn't time, I work full time now but I still find time to draw. I guess its retaining the fun of personal projects when your creating all day long on something else. for example at work I can't wait to get home and draw because I haven't

[Kayke]

I don't know if it's like this for everyone, but I feel like drawing for money and drawing for myself use two different parts of my brain. They have two very different feelings. Drawing something for someone else can be fun, but it's also more stressful because I feel like I have to make it perfect for the client. Drawing personal stuff is more relaxing and kind of a release, more rewarding.

I think you can still have that same excited feeling about personal art even if you drew for work all day!

[bsienk90]

Hello!

I'm a full-time graphic artist. on the side I'm also a freelance graphic artist and in my free time I do my own personal work on my comic "Confessions".

You have to understand that my full-time graphics job is extremely demanding, sometimes I do 16 hour days but the ad world is like that. Once I settled into a routine and my life settled down, I'm finding it actually pretty easy to manage one or two projects of freelance, requests, and my own personal work such as my comic. It's all about scheduling and moderation. And it's all coming together.

[martharpearson]

Maybe it's a bit of both? I've actually been hunting for a regular job in order to support my art career while still doing commissions on the side. Before that I was balancing college courses, surprise family visits on my doorstep, and shadowing an MMA boxing club in order to put photos on their facebook page after every practice. Music has been my go to motivator to keep time plugging along on the work projects. Audiobooks, sometimes even taking my sketchbook to the park to sketch something as a change of scenery. Sometimes taking the time to enjoy the little moments found in both work and personal projects is a great way to still keep that spark without getting burned out on the constant drawing between work and play.

[abbastudios]

I have had to take a day job on occasion during my freelance career. There was little energy at night to draw. So I got up early to do it while I was fresh.

[auds]

I freelance and do personal art after work hours. It's tough and there's definitely a balancing game to play with. But completely do-able and with the right mentality and driven personality you can balance both freelance and personal art. You don't want to burn yourself out so sometimes I'll freelance for 3 months hardcore and then take a break a week or maybe a month to just do my own art.

[blop]

I work in the animation industry for about 3 years now, and at first I stopped drawing personal stuff for a while, I was pretty sad about it, but I didn't have the energy to do it and enjoy it like before.
But after some time, it came back, I started to think about personal projects again, and my old dream of making comics came back. And now it became a necessity to me, after a day at work, drawing for someone else, to work on my personal projects at night. I also took a time of lately (about 3 month) between two contracts, and I've been sooo productive during that time, my motivation was high up, I was really glad to have that time to do my personal things.

So I think you'll probably have some bad times when it will be hard to draw personal stuff, but you will also have good times wanting to draw on your personal projects all day : )

[ghostnxs]

I really do appreciate all of these comments...MUST NOT GIVE UP!

[novakillustration]

I can echo the sentiments of a lot of others in this thread when I tell you it's going to be tough. In fact, the reason I still draw and ink my comic traditionally is because I work full time as a freelance graphic designer and at the end of a long day sitting on my backside in front of a computer the LAST thing I want to do is sit on my backside in front of a computer. Pens, pencils, and a pad of bristol board are a welcome change sometimes.