Years ago, the town newspaper featured an article about a local artist whose career was animating cartoons for cereal commercials. I managed to contact the artist, and out of all our conversations, there is one piece of advice they gave that still resonates with me today.
They told me whatever I did for a career, make sure it doesn't take away from what I WANT to do.
See, their “day job” was working on commercials, which was very demanding. The deadlines were tight, and there were constant changes from the execs as to what they wanted in the commercial, causing the artist to spend extra hours revising their work. It was such a demanding job, they never had the time, energy, or creative inspiration to devote to the what they REALLY wanted to do, and that was oil painting.
The artist's advice has motivated my responses over the years when random people ask me to draw something specific. I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but I try and make it worth my while. Often, people are surprised about that, but I explain to them to work on their project, I have to shelve what I enjoy drawing. I'm no longer drawing what I want, but what THEY want, so I make sure the project is worth my time. If they aren't in agreement, then I'm free to continue to work on my own interests. 😉✏️
