BE THE ARTIST

YOU WANT TO BE

YOU WANT TO MEET

YOU ADMIRE

YOU WANT TO DIE AS

PEOPLE RESPECT

WHO MAKES AN IMPACT

WHO CHANGES THE WORLD

WHO INSPIRES

EVERY CHILD IS AN ARTIST. THE PROBLEM IS HOW TO REMAIN AN ARTIST ONCE HE GROWS UP.

PABLO PICASSO

FOLLOWING YOUR PASSION

When people see my work, one of the first things they say is that I have a natural talent, or a gift, when it comes to art. This notion is profoundly false. As kids, we all are imaginative. We all create works with crayons and paints, and use any material we can get our hands on. I just never stopped. Like Pablo Picasso said, Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. I passed on parties, prom, and many other activities just to create art, and I never regretted any of those decisions. That’s how much I love to create.

Your passion must be something you love to do in any situation. It should be something that you spend your free time on whenever possible because it excites and compels you.

There are many different passions, such as making people laugh, helping others in need, or inventing ideas and concepts. You might execute your passions in a thousand different ways. My passion is creating visual works that I consider new. I accomplish this through interactive art, paintings, sculptures, and video. While these are all different media, they all accomplish the same goal. I also tend to lean heavily on the techniques that I do best: painting and making interactive art.

To help understand what drives you to a particular activity, try using an interview technique called laddering. Laddering peels away the layers of your actions to get to the subconscious motivations of why you do what you do. In its simplest form, laddering repeatedly asks the question, Why is that important? until you reach your core values. This activity will help you clarify decisions you need to make as you navigate the creative world.

SAMPLE LADDERING INTERVIEW SNIPPET

Q: Why is painting murals important to you?

A: Painting murals allows the community to have access to art.

Q: Why is that important to you?

A: Art can uplift a community and make its members more creative.

Q: Why is that important to you?

A: A creative community attracts positive attitudes.

And so on…

HOMEWORK

List some activities you are truly passionate about. Do they make you happy and excited to engage in? Do they keep you up at night because you can’t stop thinking about them?

Conduct a laddering interview on the activities you just listed. Continue asking yourself why? to uncover why those activities are important to you.

Write down several individuals who you admire. Conduct a laddering interview on each one to figure out why these people resonate with you.

Name some of the life goals and core values that you live by and why they are important to you. (Career, health, family, etc.)

FINDING MY CALLING

It wasn’t until I was twenty-nine and halfway across the world that I decided that art had to come first in my life. Before, it was always the side dish rather than the main dish. During my academic career, I pursued a business marketing degree while also working in events promotion and at several nonprofit organizations. All the while, I painted during the nights, putting together group shows and some small solo shows at sneaker shops.

After graduating, I decided to work in advertising, but it was a clear mistake. Client projects were more about meeting numbers than being creative and daring. I soon left when I realized that all I could think about was making art after the workday. I then thought I would try to join the military like my father, but I tore my knee in jujitsu class during the application process. It ended up being a real blessing in disguise, but at the time it was depressing. I didn’t know what the future looked like for me.

I continued painting and creating art while I looked for guidance. Then, in 2014, I happened upon an opportunity to volunteer in Tanzania. This was a no-brainer. If I didn’t take the opportunity then, I likely wouldn’t have another chance. I got my passport and hopped on a plane to Arusha, Tanzania. While there, I had few distractions or materialistic items. I spent much of my time teaching and providing support at a small school in a village called Orkeeswa. Being in a place that made life simple forced me to move past my fear of failure, and I was able to find out what made me truly happy. I even created one of my first murals there.

After returning to Colorado, I decided to give myself a year to see what I could achieve with my art. I had an amazing support system and artist community around me. The city of Denver was growing and there were plenty of newly constructed walls that needed art. It was a great time for me to take that leap. That said, the first six months were extremely rough. Since I didn’t attend art school, I had to learn about the foundations of art and how to be a full-time artist. What should I have on my website? How should I approach galleries? What do I add to my artist resume? How do I stretch a canvas? So many things were new to me. After the eighth month, I started to pick up steam, with more opportunities coming into the studio and more work going out into collectors’ houses.

I knew creating art was my calling because I wanted to learn everything. It was something I loved, it brought in income, and it was something I was good at. I soaked up as much knowledge as I could, trying to improve my practice by learning new techniques and processes. I regularly woke up at 4:00 a.m. to get to the studio and would leave around 11:00 p.m., repeating the same routine day after day. It didn’t feel like work to me, and it still doesn’t. I do have rough days, don’t get me wrong. But I love that I have the opportunity to bring ideas to life.

I was in college at the time, in 2011. I realized, once I couldn’t keep my focus on the academics and all my energy and time was invested in dance, I knew that’s where my time needed to go. Especially after having a conversation with my mother and remembering her saying to me, ‘You know, Sweetie, college is always gonna be there. You can go back when you’re in your fifties. But dance doesn’t have a long time like that, so if you’re gonna do something, do it one hundred percent.’ It was that saying that truly got me laser-focused on really taking the leap and honing into what I do now…. I haven’t had any regrets since. Granted, doing this is the same as achieving greatness. This shit takes work, a lot of it, too. There is no shortcut to achieving your dreams. And more so, keeping those dreams and making them reality.

Jade Zuberi, dancer, photographer, cinematographer

TAKING THE LEAP

There’s something inherently special about taking the leap and going at it full-time. Risking it all. You go from weekend warrior to battling every day for creative excellence. When I tell someone I’m a full-time artist, especially if they have a 9–5 job, they get excited and say they’re proud that I took the leap. People just see you differently. They follow on social media to see the latest mural or installation I’m creating that week or which big brand I’m working with this month. There’s a feeling that can’t be duplicated when you make a decision to live without a safety net. Leaping from one job to another is scary, especially when the new job relies solely on your creativity to generate income, opportunity, and security. No book can give you a magic number on when to do this because everyone’s situation is different. What you can do is inform yourself about hurdles you’re likely to encounter and ways to navigate them.

AREAS TO THINK ABOUT

ACCOUNTABILITY

Understand that, as an artist, you need to hold yourself accountable for all aspects of your practice. Nobody is going to hold your hand in a meeting with a client or tell you that you’re about to miss a shipping deadline for an important exhibit. You are the only individual that you can blame – no one else! You have to account for all aspects of your practice. Be aware that you will need to set routines, habits, and standards that you must adhere to.

BUILD A ROUTINE AND A SCHEDULE

Buy a yearly planner to set daily tasks and duties. Because this is work, establish work hours for studio practice and stick to them religiously. Why? Because doing so will give you a structure to work with and help you set boundaries and eliminate distractions. This will be an ongoing struggle because your schedule will likely change based on the project you’re working on, but keeping this in mind can make the difference between accomplishing tasks in a timely manner and having to pull all-nighters to finish work.

MOMENTUM

Like moving a boulder, the hardest part is getting started. Know that when you start, it will take months, even years to generate enough momentum to feel comfortable. Even once you have that forward motion, it takes a significant amount of time and energy to keep it – because if it’s lost, you have to work just as hard to gain it back. Think of an actor famous in the 1980s trying to make a comeback today. Use any tailwind you can to keep your momentum going. It’s tempting to think that every artist can achieve success early in her or his career, but understand that success is different for everyone.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

Is there a large enough market for my work in my area? If not, where can I go?

Do I have consistent income from art opportunities to replace my current income?

Do I have existing collectors that are loyal to my work?

Do I have a support system in place to help guide me in my transition?

What will serve as my studio and what are my official studio work hours?

How will I keep track of my schedule?

How often will I do regular status checkups on my progress? (Weekly, monthly, etc….)

Am I located in a supportive arts community?

How much money will I need to save first to cover all my living expenses for a year?

Where will I get health insurance if I quit my job? Is Medicaid an option?

Will I do my own accounting or hire an accountant?

Do I want to register my art practice as a business?

What responsibilities do I have that will be affected by my transition?

Who will be affected by my success or failure?

EMPLOYER BENEFITS

There’s a lot of comfort in being a full-time employee with benefits. As a full-time artist, there’s little to no safety net. You have no sick days, no time off, no maternity or paternity leave. You have to arrange how you will handle the emergencies that pop up and the retirement plans that you need. This very reason is why many creatives still keep a job.

This will be different for every artist, so you have to examine your own situation. Look up ways to provide yourself some of the perks that a regular employer would have offered. Vacation time and health insurance are particularly important. Luckily, there are many companies and resources that can help creatives find solutions to a lack of employer-sponsored benefits. I talked to a financial planner and several insurance companies to find the best solution for my practice.

MULTITASKING

Similar to a small startup, you will have to wear many hats to sustain your practice. The marketing, accounting, scheduling, legal, project management, shipping, and other duties fall squarely on you. Before taking the leap, address how you are going to go about fulfilling all of these duties. You can do them yourself, enlist reliable friends and family, or outsource them to a credible professional.

FINANCES

Unless you’re Jeff Bezos, you will need a sound financial plan. Organize your practice around the understanding of how cash actually flows in and out. Be aware that checks don’t come on time and most businesses have a net-30 policy for paying vendors or contractors. That means that it takes 30 days after completion of the work for you to receive payment. I often don’t have an exact date for when I’ll get paid for a given project. Your monthly income will definitely fluctuate, so learning how to navigate inconsistent cash flow is crucial to your success.

SO WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?

When you finally decide to take the leap to become an artist, start your journey by not quitting your day job. It’s better to figure out how to go independent slowly while you have the safety net of a reliable income. I spent eight years in Denver creating art before and after my regular 9–5 job. I participated in numerous art events and group shows to gain exposure. I was able to build a following, refine my voice, and learn about my collector base while still attending university. Put simply, you should already be pursuing your creative endeavors well before you decide to take the leap. This is the time when you build up skills and work on smoothing out your learning curve. Many artists, like muralist Sandra Fettingis, only make the leap once the opportunities they are receiving become too much to handle with a second job.

YOUR GOOGLES

Insurance for artists

Temporary disability insurance

Accident insurance

Retirement plan for artists

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

How will I deal with taxes?

Which five people in my community can I turn to for mentorship?

What do my collectors look like, sound like, think like, and how can I meet more of them?

Will I have a home studio, or will I need to rent a studio?

How will I generate studio visits and other opportunities for people to see my work?

Which social media platforms are best for my work?

How will I save for emergencies and retirement?

Is there an insurance for artists that I can get?

How can I make my presence as an artist in the public unique?

"I had always worked a part-time job. So, I was last at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art Denver) and had been getting more and more work, and it just became harder and harder to manage everything. It was like, day job, art world, and personal life… it was really hard. Plus, I had been wanting to make the leap. I was