Why Art as a Career?

Growing up, I never thought about being an artist.

1. I never believed I was ever good enough.

2. I loved doing art for fun.

3. Honestly? It just never crossed my mind.

I always thought "practical". Like being a chiropractor (because my cousin is one and I always admired her), a teacher, etc. Being an artist was just something I always liked doing as a hobby.

I learned how to knit in the fourth grade. I always loved to draw/color. Paint by numbers were ALWAYS on my Christmas list because it kept be focused and learning how to mix colors. My sister and I were constantly tracing and redrawing different characters (there were a lot of stitch drawings), to help us learn and grow. It always fascinated me to see how a piece was created.

When did I start to think about becoming an artist?

Until high school, I always thought I would be a teacher. I have no idea what subject, but for some reason that was the career choice I had in mind.

Once in high school, I started to get severely bullied and escaped through art. I would spend all my extra time in the art room, working on pieces and putting countless hours into my work. This is when I realized that art has always helped me and I wanted to be able to help others like art did for me.

I thought about becoming an art therapist, using art to help others realize whatever they need to cope or to move forward/figure out what was bothering them. Psychology was very interesting to me and something that I love(d) learning about, but found that I was still not done exploring my art to continue my education into art therapy.

I went on to finish my Masters of Fine Arts and found that I would rather just teach art or become an artist. I had no idea how to do this at all and realized I had no experience to become a teacher. I ended up "falling" into a tattoo apprenticeship and falling in love with art all over again.

I realize that a lot of people do not pursue their love of art because we really are "starving artists". It is very hard to find clientele right away and can take five years plus just to build enough clientele to make something of yourself. The same is to be said about painters, sculptors, photographers, etc. A lot of artists will have other jobs as well, especially in the beginning, in order to stay afloat.

Being an artist helps others, whether we realize it or not. I remember looking at someones work and just feeling so much emotion, or looking at a piece and feeling a sense of calm.

Art can help us heal, whether you are looking at a piece, creating a piece, or getting a piece tattooed on you.