Eye on Design: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Creative person hits the creative ceiling in their not-so-creative small town. They pack their bags and move to the big city with nothing more than a head full of dreams and a pocket full of loose change. They hustle. They starve. And they make it.
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I liked the specifics of this article. Freelancing is something that many of us here at the school of drama may end up doing at some point in our career. It seems to be that the advantages and disadvantages really balance each other out. On the one hand, working for yourself means you can set your own hours and you can decide who you work with. If you want to take six weeks off and bike across the country, you can do that. The disadvantage is that you have to make money. You have to work enough to support yourself, you don’t get benefits from a big company, and you have to do your own networking. Nobody is going to hand you work at first, you have to find it. The people who are willing to let their career be their life and love what they do can sometimes make the leap. The other interesting thing about that is that freelancers tend to be creative people in some way, independent artisans, photographers, actors.
Although “real life look at the life of a creative” articles such as these can come off as discouraging and pessimistic, it’s almost a comfort to me to see someone talking pragmatically about freelancing and the creative industry. I’ve always expected myself to be my own boss for a period of my life, and this article gives a good look into the life of a freelancer, touching on topics both expected and unexpected. Her comments about creating “cheap” art for “instagrammable moments” stuck with me. Although I recognize the role of social media as a place to disseminate information and build an online presence, there is something about the medium that seems to cheapen the information put onto it. That may be a social thing that could shift as more and more presence is based off of what you put online, but there always remains the question of the value of online content.
“Good contracts make good clients.” Shawna X has hit the nail on the head with this one. I would also say it’s something very applicable no matter what type of creative work you’re doing. A contract is also an agreement to a budget, to specific resources whether those are monetary, time, or labor. Staying within the confines of a contract, a budget, whatever, not only helps the person who has to create the thing that’s been dreamed up, but helps the final product be the best that it can be without having some element feel like it’s lacking or missing. While it’s all very good for us to get touchy and feely about our art, making it precious is often the first sign of everything going downhill. Being more relaxed about it, like Shawna X is about people copying her style helps make it more manageable and is also a great way to remind yourself that your art can just be what you do, it doesn’t have to be who you are.
It is a nice change of pace to read an article that balances the realities of being an artist and the dream that many artists are fed. While many artists do not, in fact, live in cardboard boxes, many also do not 'make it big'. Understanding that those two possibilities are at the extremes of the possibilities for reality as an artist is critical in paving one's path to success. Oftentimes, the painting (excuse the pun) of the reality of life as an artist seems pessimistic when compared to the neatly packaged experience of moving to the city and making it big, but there is definitely a difference between pessimism and pragmatism. I think this article really hits the nail on the head on finding that balance! One thing that really stuck out to me was the idea that "Good contracts make good clients." I know so many people who have just been totally screwed because they only had a verbal contract or a casual agreement without any sort of legal document outlining the scope of work, deliverables, and responsibilities of both parties in the agreement. A contract, while it may seem unnecessary in some cases, makes sure everyone knows exactly what to expect and holds everyone accountable.
Reading this article makes me appreciate all the work we have done in Production Personnel Management surrounding reading and processing contracts. As I get closer to the point where I will need to be signing contracts for myself, I get more nervous about things like creating contracts and negotiating with employers or clients. I am fascinated that an FBI negotiator book was what informed Shawna X the most about how to negotiate contracts with clients – something that I will definitely look into in the future.
I think that the idea that arts as a career has ever been considered “sexy” is very interesting. Having heard a variation of the small town creative tale, I never considered it a fairytale or a path that would be easy. Maybe it is just me and the atmosphere I was raised in, but I always assumed following a creative career would be a challenge. Being pragmatic about work as a creative seems necessary in a world where creative careers are not taken seriously by many. I envy and admire Shawna X’s ability to turn down projects she does not want to do, as I know that being able to get to that point in a creative career will take a lot of time.
This article gave really good insights into what it is like to freelance and working in the creative industry. I love how specific the artist was with the problems that she has encountered and so there are some important lessons being taught here. What I found really significant was how the artists said they learned to become less attached to their work because there is a huge struggle with artists not keeping the rights to their work. While that is really upsetting, it's true because it’s so easy to share and take artwork from online now. The artist’s saying of “nothing is original” reminds me of what my dad always says. Nothing really is original because we create things by merging the things we see and learn in the past. Another point that I thought was really important is artists needing to learn how to negotiate the prices of their skills and services. I feel like the benchmark for artistic skill is very vague - there’s not exact pricing. Artists need to learn how to negotiate with their clients to make sure they are not underpaid for their hard work.
After all of the weeks of reading art centric articles, this is the first one I've read that candidly talks about the awkwardness of being a freelance artist. I'm really referring to the aspect of forming contracts, even if they are with people who you know. I've worked in small businesses before (which doesn't make me freelance but I'm still gonna tell this story), and it would always annoy me a little bit when people I know would come in and ask me for a discount for the sheer purpose of knowing me. The point of shopping local and buying from lesser-known artists is to support them morally AND financially. The same applies to what the author of this article is talking about. It's disheartening that she feels the need to make her friends sign contracts because they may see themselves at a financial advantage simply because they know the artists. They should be happy to support the people they know who are trying to make a living off of their artistic talent.
I think that this article is very inspiring, in a way. It kind of follows the path of the mind of a professional in the creative world and all of the worries that come along with that. For me and probably many of us, it was very scary to choose a creative college major. I was not sure if it was the best thing to spend four years studying with not being sure that I would be financially stable coming out of school. It was a very interesting time for me, dabbling between doing something that I know I love, or doing something for the nature of feeling secure in life. Ultimately I chose what I love, which is what I think ShawnaX is trying to get across to us as readers. She says “Pain pushes us forward. If things are too easy for me, why would I even create?” Our struggles push us to move forward and keep creating. I really love the message she has in this piece.
I thought this article brought to life some really important topics that we face as a world and as artists. There is this overarching pressure that artists should make art for the sake of making art. The perception that art alone is gratifying doesn't nullify the fact that artists have to eat too. I think the idea of seeking security in something perhaps not as fulfilling is something most of us have thought of exploring. However, for those of us who choose to push on and create, even in conditions that don't make for favorable living circumstances, there should be some note of gratitude from the world. We should appreciate those who've made the choice to pursue art, rather than look down on them as people without "real jobs". I loved the work that ShawnaX created in her recent collection of illustrations. I think her statement that "pain pushes us forward" is a very poignant observation on how the world drives us to create.
I think that most creatives - whatever their discipline - expect to have to be their own boss at some point in their lives. I think for a lot of people, especially those in older generations, often expect that artists are living in cardboard boxes and struggling and pounding the pavement in the streets of New York or Los Angeles until they become “seen”. I suppose some people do this now and it is certainly enough of a stereotype that suggests that it was once a reality - at least for some - but nowadays most artists I know who do art for a living are very practical about it. There is a certain element of planning that now must go into a career in the arts. Some go to college or grad school in an attempt to make themselves more marketable or to hone their creative talents, others save money so they can afford to go pound the pavement for “x” amount of time in large cities.
Wow. This is the kind of article that is very useful and necessary but at the very same time, incredibly scary. It just serves as a reminder of the very real business world that is intertwined with our artistic one. It is very easy to think that once school is over we will just being making art and being fulfilled creatively, but there is a very real practical and economic aspect that we must unfortunately be aware of and learn to navigate, pretty much on our own. Freelancing is very very common in our careers and understanding contracts and taxes and learning how to value our own time and work and energy are all things we have to learn through each other and through simply doing them. I think the point about understanding prices is incredibly important, because we all want our art to be far-reaching and I think a lot of us fear that high prices will limit our reach, but we must all understand that talent deserves a fair paycheck, and a livable one as well.
The starving artist is a stereotype that everyone knows and it's common for people to believe that it is the natural path of any aspiring artist. Creatives like ShawnaX defy that perception with their focus on practicality and stability rather than being solely freelance with no external aid. ShawnaX's experiences with contracts, or better yet, her lack of in early years I have to say surprised me. The person who point-blank told her her work wasn't good had the audacity to believe they were an objective and wholly correct party. Her work is beautiful and unique to her and like all art, it is subjective. Remembering to always have a contract is a strong point she made in this article and is something most of us can translate into both our personal and professional lives. Knowing the expectations and the necessary follow-through just generally allows for better relationships and interactions and it's important to remember that especially in the professional world where forgetting can cost you your livelihood.
Back in Taiwan, I often heard a saying goes, "Dreams are sexy, but reality is skinny." It means that while chasing your dream, you have to always think about the reality and pragmatic surviving issues. I don't think this kind of saying shows a pessimistic attitude toward putting one's goal into practice. Rather, it offers a practical guide for heading to the final dream goal step by step. I hope this kind of awareness and direction to become art and theater students' incentive to develop their studies and careers which care for and manage to reach a balance between survival, life, work and ambitions.
“Just like the saying: Good fences make good neighbors, good contracts make good clients, even if you’re buds.” This is one of the best quotes I can pull from this author, and I think this is the thing that sticks out to me the most in this article overall. Especially in a collaborative space such as an entertainment industry, the regulations that are necessary to set on both yourself and others and requirements for completion are impressive. In an ideal world, everyone trusts everyone else, all the work gets done without the need for a contract, and of course pigs soar through the sky. Unfortunately for us, the world doesn’t work the way we often wish it would. People will manipulate your words, bail on aspects of a project, and even sometimes just deny that you ever said something, like a child denying a parent ever told them they couldn’t watch TV at night. With strict enough contracts, the world runs smoother than it might without, and the specific groundwork for a particular project is laid out plainly and efficiently, leading to the project itself being completed with the utmost efforts of the employees. This saying is incredibly important in society today, and I think the article especially emphasizes this idea efficiently, and is a useful read to anyone really.
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