What’s the best/ worst thing about being a professional artist?

[akitsukino]

There’s been a video about an artist who quit her job at Disney making the rounds on Twitter.

There’s been a lot of good discussion with people agreeing and disagreeing, like the comments section on this article.

A Former Disney Storyboard Artist Explains Why She Quit The Industry In Disgust

And a few other threads.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Tallychyck/status/1227322070255775745

Those of you who have worked for art companies what are your experiences.

[indagold]

lol at people who dream wanting to work at disney or any big studio, most of these companies look good on a resume but aren't fun to work at. It's all brown nosing and clique atmosphere, freelancing and no benefits. I wasn't a rabid fan in college where I got my training and I just facepalmed while people creamed themselves over minions or whatever visually appealing film came out. Thank god I wasn't like other students and saw pixar, disney, etc as nothing interesting, just a job opportunity.

My experience is a mixed bag, jobs don't last long and some are just straight up scummy or poorly run. I do motion design (originally wanted to do 3D cause everyone is obsessed with didney fever) which actually pays alright, but not happy these jobs don't give good benefits. It's a lot of hit and miss, don't ever expect to get a job in art and think its gonna be fun fun all games no work, you'd be an idiot.

[skicoak]

I feel some of her core issues line up exactly with what bothers me the most at even my level of commissions.

Clients see my work, decide to hire me based on that work...and then argue with me about every artistic choice throughout the process. It turns something I enjoy doing into a slogging grind. It reduces the amount of work I can even do because it frequently stretches a day's work into a week of complete changes.

Why do they overwhelmingly do this? I just don't understand it.

[33rdCenturyCaveman]

Because they not understand process at all. At the same time, they think it easy.

It why many profession have special costume and fancy-looking degree to hang on wall. People know it unwise to argue with man with stethoscope.

[skicoak]

It why many profession have special costume and fancy-looking degree to hang on wall.

I haz da fancy-looking degree hanging on the wall...

Maybe I need a special costume, but what?

[andrew17]

In short, when it stops being a hobby and starts being your living it stops being so much fun. I used to write a cartoon strip for the Daily Mirror in the 90s. Six gags a week, no holidays, being funny to order. It's simultaneously wonderful to have the platform, and an enormous amount of pressure to bear. But it was worth it.

[darthmongoose]

I think the best thing about being pro is the confidence you feel when somebody from a publisher or a big company says "yes, your work has been approved to go in this book/game/product". I was absolutely over the moon when I did some work promoting Dragon Quest IX and they had to send my portfolio to Square-Enix and one of my fave games publishers gave me the thumbs up like "yes, you're good enough". Same for when I worked on "Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived" and sending the work to get approved by the BBC, I was nervous every single time and elated when they came back approved and a bunch of my pieces got into this big shiny book and we did a signing at Forbidden Planet and things, and the local paper from my little town in the middle of nowhere interviewed me, hahaha.

Worst things though... When you're working as a pro, you're almost certainly working on other people's IP, and you'll probably end up with no time to draw anything for your own enjoyment or to make comics of your own, and if you do, you'll probably feel guilty. The money isn't amazing for how utterly life-consuming it can be and... oh god, don't get me started on chasing up late payment on your invoices.
There's also a lot of... sexism...classism...racism... in publishing that's kind of a nightmare. It's hilarious now that the print publishers all complain now about how their sales are falling while webcomics are booming and it's like well duh, you guys turned down all these talented young women and focused on an ageing audience so those women all went online to make their content that's relevant to a huge untapped audience thirsty for content on these new online platforms, what did you think was gonna happen?

Right now, I'm pretty happy doing a creative, but not entirely illustration-focused job a few days a week to pay my rent while finally for the first time in years being able to make an original comic. When I was a full-time pro, that would have been impossible. I was stressed, barely able to afford to live and had no creative energy for any original work of my own.

[sushy00]

I think the worst things are the uncertainty (if you are freelancing) and that many people don't respect the job. The amount of times that I got these offers like, yeah we want you to draw for us, and MAAAAAYYYYBEE you get paid... Like what? "Maybe getting paid" is not an option. Doing this is expensive. I have medical bills. I have limited time and health problems. No way I am going to draw without guaranteed payment.

[Pizza_Agent]

what she complains about is the same in any company

[33rdCenturyCaveman]

One nice thing about old system is that gatekeepers could tell good work from bad, also how to talk to clients. Now gatekeepers overwhelmed by sheer glut of content and certain services (like editing) have suddenly become unpopular. But that what happen when artist cater directly to public. Public don't know standards, sometimes artist don't know standards. Editors am running out of work and also polished reading material.

[skicoak]

Your analysis might make more sense if this was a narrative/illustration workload.

But the majority of my commissions are T-shirt designs. And the clients are arguing for stuff like red lettering on a red t-shirt...and you can't just "do" what they want and move on because each design is like a resume/calling card that your NEXT client might see.

So you end up trying to explain color contrast over a hour long text message to a guy who insists his girlfriend thinks it will look "hot".

[33rdCenturyCaveman]

It still sound like client am closer to being member of public than any kind of gatekeeper like clothing store owner.

Entire part of Reddit am dedicated to showing why gatekeeping am bad, but you gotta admit it had its uses. People such as movie critic build entire career around being knowledgeable, tasteful people. They am able to point general public toward good stuff with minimal hassle. Now, post-Internet and post-smartphone and people am literally left to own devices. Lines between critic, creator, and consumer am increasingly blurred.

On plus side, creative ecosystem am bigger and more varied than ever. On minus side it resemble Darwinian jungle more than ever. Real dog-eat-doggy world. Many many hobbyists and dilettantes, a few big companies, and not much middle ground in food chain.

[33rdCenturyCaveman]

Not meaning to kill conversation. It true that current approach to entertaining people am resemble Stalingrad defense at moment . . . throw lots and lots of half-trained people at problem, enough will survive long enough to get job done.

Am including self in there. When every artist am expected to be own business we am all undertrained. But it interesting to speculate on what strategies and organizational methods am going to be attempted in near future.