Hobbyist or Full Time Artist?

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

Are you a full time artist? Or are you a hobbyist? And does it really matter?

There seems to be this thing, especially with YouTube artists about being full time. ‘I ditched my 9-5 and became a full time artist’ and other video titles. Like the holy grail is to become a full time artist. The truth is becoming a full time artist is really hard and potentially takes all of the joy out of art when you are reliant on it to survive.

So I think it’s really important to be realistic. Someone in there late teens living at home could become a full time artist very easily. While it’s going to be a lot more difficult for someone who has a house and kids. There are financial and time restrictions that creep into your life as you get older and make it progressively harder and harder to go ‘full time’ with your art.

That’s not to say if you are middle aged with kids, a house and a business to run that there is no hope for you ever living off your art. But it certainly becomes a lot harder. You need to not underestimate the impact of small actions towards your artistic goals. Start creating things, open an online shop and open up possibilities for people to give you money for your artwork. You might not make a cent, or you might end up doing quite well out of it, you’ll never know unless you put your work out into the world. And this can be done while having a day job and there’s no shame in that, especially if your day job helps facilitate your art.

And making a profit from your art doesn’t even have to be a thing. Art is just great fun and can be a great ‘hobby’ if we have to call it that. It’s great for your well being and your mental health. I just personally think that if you do put it out into the world and someone wants to buy it or support you as an artist that’s also a great thing.