by The Extraordinary Tourist

Created on: May 20, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Some people choose to become an artist and some people just are artists. I fall into the latter category. I'm someone who has been artistically creative from the moment I was given a pencil (or perhaps a crayon?) to draw with. There was never any doubt that I would become an artist.

Being an artist and working, as a freelance artist is something that is not always congruent. There are many times where I think that this isn't quite what I had in mind when I decided to earn a living from my creativity.

However the alternative is to get a 'real job', as people call them. Although I don't make an income that affords me any great luxuries I'm still lucky enough to be earning a living from doing something that I enjoy and not having to answer to a boss.

Luckier still that not only can I work my own hours but I can choose to work wherever I like. If I want to sit on the beach and paint - I can. I remind myself of this whenever I feel like I should give up and get that real job.

The good times are when my ideas are fresh. I'm enjoying the challenge of bringing them to life as paintings and the market is buying the finished art. The tough times are having to fall back on old ideas, simply because you know there is a market for that artwork, even though you're over it but you've yet to find that new inspiration to move on.

The really tough times are when you have to fall back on a secondary creative pursuit (in my case graphic and web design) because it makes more money in a much shorter period of time and you've got nothing better going on. Just because it makes money quicker, it doesn't make earning that money easier or more fun.

I've chosen to sell my art through my own web site and Ebay, bypassing gallery representation altogether. Not because my work isn't good enough for exhibition in a gallery but because I'm just not interested in being tied to a gallery. My goal is to make my art practice portable. So long as I have access to an art supply store, a post office, and the Internet I can work from virtually anywhere. Travel and create art - those are my two favorite things.

I wouldn't recommend this path if you're the kind of artist that likes to stay put. You'll probably do a lot better through gallery representation (if you can get it), particularly in terms of getting higher prices for your art.

Working independently can be a real challenge. If you're like me, a jack-of-all-trades who likes to be in control of their own life as much as possible then, if you have the artistic talent, working as a freelance artist is something I can recommend.

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