Afterglow Career Musings, and Headed into Fall with Ink
A sketchbook open on a lapdesk, with an ink drawing of a hare looking alarmed at the camera in it.
A few years back, I was commiserating with a friend over at their house about rebuilding after the pandemic. They asked a question that I suppose would've been normal under usual circumstances, but after the chaos of just trying to get by in a global emergency, sent me sputtering, “What do you want next for your career?”
Even before the pandemic I never thought about career much other than “fuck-off artist who makes everything,” and while I still love myself for choosing this label from an early age and generally sticking to it, I have been craving a bit more stability.
Of all the things that I do, jewelry is the most marketable, and the thing I call my job most often. I feel like I only kind of make money off of my paintings. I have only sort of sold drawings. Before I left I was hustling drawings in my hometown: I sold one of the Adam's Family and Scooby Doo. I really appreciated this customer, but then her relatives wanted me to start drawing images of Christ and I bowed out.
It's hard to explain why I don't want to only be known for jewelry. I feel like jewelry becomes more of a part of the person who wears it. It's hard to communicate ideas through jewelry like I want to. Jewelry can portray a mood, but other people have to choose to make it part of their story for it to have an effect.
Not saying I didn't enjoy showing up to a big show and making myself known as a person and jeweler. It was great to be recognized as an artist at the fair, and I was genuinely proud of the pieces I brought. I made sure to be more than just someone selling pretty things. I had a pocket full of crystals that I traded for trinkets and zines. I was very respectfully asked if I barter, and I did so. I still walked out of there with enough money to say it was worth it, and some fun little zines and high-end trinkets.
Coming down off of the high of OCF, I've been realizing that I haven't thought about what I was going to do afterward in months. I wanted to know what it was like to put that much effort towards a project (again. I have to say, I threw myself completely at almost every project in college at the expense of my health and social standing, why not now?). It payed off, I regret nothing, but now that I know what I’m capable of, I need to see where I can turn that sort of attention. What is worth that much of my time?
I'm getting better at following a thread through the constant movement and environment shifts in my life, and I can have multi-show projects now. I got my last nailed-down commission done (get at me if you're reading this and you've ever said to me, “I want a thing!” and then never talked about it.).
So, now to my old love, ink! I want to refine my inking styles, and start doing comics. I used to do linocut, and gave away my tools in a purge ten years ago, I’d love to start adapting some of my pieces to that.
Starting to build my inking style by building lore for my mascot of choice, returning to familiar themes. I did a series of hares this past week that I'm quite proud of. Learning what works! I’ll take good pictures of these and put them in my gallery soon.
A hare leaping to the right, it’s arms outstretched like it’s fighting something.
A drawing of a hare leaping towards the viewer in a sketchbook, laying on a lap desk.
I’ve also been tooling around with this ridiculous beast of a character for the sake of levity. Haven't really settled into a consistent design yet, but I think I know her personality. I love her.
A sketch of a woman in a floofy dress, legs spread, barefoot, looking coyly at the viewer. a hare with flowers drawn haphazard on its body is sketched below it.
She turns into a dire wear hare and is a menace to anyone destroying the planet. Pretty much mutated mild spicy White Wolf fan fic. I know you're all looking at me askance, but I need to have some fun in this world and this lady makes me grin.
Other than that, I have a few fun woodsy projects I’ve been doing, and I will, I swear, get earrings up on the website asap (next week?).
Trying to stay aware and look for ways I can make things better, always. I have a few ideas for where my career is going, but I mostly just want to put my best effort towards what I’m doing and go from there.
Hope y’all will come with me to enjoy the ride.