Art can be defined as a lot of different things besides just the traditional idea of painting or sculpting. Art these days is anything made to be appreciated or to cause an audience to have an emotional response. Art can be dance, visual arts, literature, paintings, among other things.
Most of the time you don't actually choose art as a job, it chooses you. These are just some of the things I've learned so far.
1. Long Nights
Art is long days and nights but for some reason I am constantly inspired at around 2 a.m. when I have to be at work for 8 a.m. I'll stay up until I can't keep my eyes open and then I'll do it again until the moment passes (usually within a week). These are the days when I become about 80% coffee.
2. The Weird/Terrible Posture Thing
I can't be the only one that is suffering from terrible posture issues with time. I write in weird positions. I draw and paint in even weirder angles. I have to book a trip to the chiropractor at least twice a year just to make sure my spine is still where it's supposed to be. They did say art was pain but I never took it literally until this year.
3. Some days (Most days) you'll hate your work
This is self-explanatory. It doesn't matter how many people say your stuff is good. It doesn't matter if the day before YOU thought your stuff was good, you'll wake up one morning and re-read everything and want to throw your laptop from the highest peak of the city. It's an exhausting and never ending cycle so you might as well get used to it.
3. Art is a full time job
There aren't enough hours in the day to do what you love. There aren't enough days off or time to concentrate on what you want to concentrate. People always say art is a hobby but eventually it takes over most of your days and you realize that you're doing it not because you have to but because you want to.
4. Some day you won't actually accomplish anything
You'll stare at the blank page or blank canvas and consider taking up a career where you know you'll never have to worry about ever staring at these blank judgmental spaces again. Then you'll go do something not related at all to what your art is, get inspired, and let the cycle start again. Some days you won't do anything and that's fine as long as you come back to it eventually.
5. It's expensive
Art may be a full time job but you might have to have a side job just to pay for it. Canvases, ink, studio time, material, computer programs, are all expensive things necessary to keep doing what you do.
6. It's a never ending process
There is always something you could have fixed or done or written or created. There is always a new idea that needs wok and it never ends.
7. It's an emotional process
We talk to ourselves, we curse and yell and cry and give up a million times before we finish anything. Art means creating something. We create worlds and works and it doesn't come without an emotional cost.
8. It'll be worth it
After it's all said and done, doing what you love is worth all the time and money invested.
