This honestly made me feel so relieved. I'm so used to professional artists doing videos on how much work you have to do and how hard it has to be that I never had anyone say. "I had things to make it easier" or "You gotta avoid this, you will probably burn out" It just felt really human instead of feeling like I was incapable of doing art freelance I felt more like...the way I expected myself to eventually learn just wouldn't have a payoff unless I went easier on myself in other areas. It was really great. I'm one of those low income artists whom can't really afford it and has some conditions that make the whole process harder. I think it's awesome that you got lucky, but I think it also gave you a different kinda perspective then a lot of low income artists who try to make it and I think a lot of us really needed that perspective.
Thank you for such an informative video! I second the advice to NOT take 6 months of savings and try to make it work. I did that woth 3D, amd then I got depressed, realized i actually dont want to do 3d, and i should have focused on 2d. so now I am starting over with 2d, and i have no money, worse health, lower paying job, and a bunch of mental shit that I have to undo. Bad idea, but it forced me to see my deep problems for what they truly are, and now i can get to work fixing them. iys going to be a long road, but it will be good.
Ow snap ... well looks like I'm not alone. I spend 2 years trying to make it as a 3D artist (1 years crash course, second year portfolio + intern) to end up exactly where I started only poor as fuck.
Kudos to your wife for being so supportive and kudos to you for appreciating her for it. I have watched a lot of youtube videos about this kind of thing and a lot of artists will say that the main reason they were able to take a chance on their independent art career was having a spouse who was willing to support them financially while they found their footing. I agree with the part about not taking an art job and trying to do art on the side. My spouse and I worked manual labour for years and doing mindless physical tasks really frees up your mind to be able to come up with creative ideas, it's why people often find they get their best ideas in the shower or while they're doing housework. I write songs as a hobby and when I worked that manual labour job i'd get lots of ideas for songs while i was working but after I got my desk job that requires a lot more focus the ideas stopped coming.
Recently found your channel and I am so glad I did. Your videos rock! They are truly real and inspiring. I appreciate how honest you are about this too. This is a topic that I have found is not as often discussed as it should be. Many people think working at a studio is the end all be all goal, and it can be amazing, fun, and a great learning experience, but the reality is it can be draining to your personal work and growth. After being laid off from my studio job I have had time to think about exactly what you are talking about. It has also given me the time to truly work on what I am passionate about and realize what I want to be doing. I do not have the financial support from family, but there are always ways to cut back on expenses and there is no shame in working a non art job if it gives you the freedom to be creative at the end of the day.
I really understand where youre coming from and I have moved in with family and taken a day job thats low maintence but at hoem so i try to get fresh air when I can. Im not that wealtht and i get a lot of pressure to help the household but i myself am dealing with catching up with immovable debt so i can spend less per month and work towards focussing more on my art. Im taking up freelance art to up my skill but i want to make comics and I have a bit of an audience so I hope I can do it. Your videos really inspire me. I once wanted to work for Disney but once i went to college for it, I realized very quickly that was not what I was meant for. Thank you for making these videos and I love watching for encouragement!
100% agreed on no. 3. For a few years, I brought my sketchbook and laptop to my full-time job to work on my art. it was extremely difficult to do this at home with wife, house and kids. Unfortunately, they dropped a big bomb on us a few weeks ago and prohibited us from doing any personal activities on company time. My heart dropped. I now have to figure out a way to work on my art at home at the expense of spending time with the family, or say "screw it" and still do it here at work and risk getting fired.
Another great video that resonates strongly with me. Touched a lot of important points. Since I was left out of a job on the IT industry some years ago I've committed myself to pursue my true passion -making kid-friendly art- and sure as hell it hasn't been easy from a financial standpoint. I've been forced to cut back on expenses, track every expense on a balance sheet, and though I love my car bought in the "good old days" I've been thinking about selling it although it's almost suicidal to live here without one. The good news is that I used to earn way more than I spent therefore I built myself a good financial cushion to take my chances - but money eventually runs out and you need to come up with something. Juggling all of these things is stressful enough - all the more important to find jobs and gigs that don't add up to the stress. Anyway I could go on but very realistic and sincere thoughts in here, thanks.
Great video. You're an inspiration. I still have my copy of Green Monk I got in San Fransisco a while back. I show it to all my friends. Build that fanbase!
Great episode! Thanks for sharing! All that stuff does make it easier to take that risk but I'm sure even with all that it still felt very much like a risk and a tough decision! It's funny I think about scenarios of me winning the lottery or something and I feel like if I did I'd be doing the same thing as you because I have similar goals. It would just give me the freedom to push for this goal that much harder!
I'm definitely in a good place, but I sometimes wonder if having a little bit more pressure would be healthy. It's a bit too easy to put things off when I don't have a deadline. My most productive period over the last couple of years was the 3 month period when I had a paid job with a deadline.
Just make sure you put some planning and thought into things before you take the leap. It may still be worth doing. There's lots of ways to dip your toes in in the meantime.
Thank you for really telling it like it is. I've seen a lot of independent-art career advice videos and none have really given a satisfying enough answer on what to expect or what you can do. I graduated in fall 2016 with a bachelors of studio arts and my aim was to work as a freelance illustrator for a while before entering into the animation industry as a visual development artist. I still had a part time customer service job after I graduated and I continued on there to build funds, build my portfolio, build up fans, and look for freelance work. Well lets just say most of it didn't pan out how I planned. I was living with my family and was unable to secure funds due to most of my paycheck going to bills. Than my part time job let me go after over hiring. I was getting no luck with freelance jobs so I mainly focused on building up my portfolio since I went into a more fine arts focused school and most of the work I made, I wouldn't put in my portfolio. Now making career on my art alone is one of my future goals. I thought, why not try to get that started and gain fans that would support my art till than. Well, reality struck. Building a fanbase is a long process, as you've stated. I thought having my art everywhere and posting regularly will get me fans. Nope! I barely get much activity even though I've been posting as much as I can for a year. Yeah, I'm slowly building my tumblr followers and some of my art has over 100 notes when a group repost my art, but my fanbase is still nonexistence. I realized that artists have been posting their art for years before they had a sizable fanbase that could support them. I have several comics that I'm developing but with no fanbase, I feel horrible at the idea of working on them when I still need to work on my portfolio for the animation industry. With being an utter nobody on the internet, if I choose to work on my independent art career, I will be working against a lot of risk. While I'm living with my family at the time being and I could focus on an independent art career, I find I'm having a hard time with how demoralizing it is to be an adult and still living with your parents. My ego has taken a big hit and having to deal with the judgments of family and friends... is really hard to handle. Now there is nothing I want more than a good art job in the entertainment industry. It is good that you have seven years worth of experience to back you up, just in case you will need to go back into the industry. Having that would make me more confident to go independent because if it doesn't work out, you will still have that experience. I don't have any such experience and the risk to go independent is too high for me, even though that is what I eventually want.
It may take some time to get there. Starting out is always weird, just cause the path isn't totally clear. Whatever approach you take, just put your best effort into it. You'll never regret having done something with pride. Keep at it, and don't let your ego put you in too vulnerable position. Having your housing costs covered gives you an insane amount of freedom.
Have you tried posting a couple of pages from your comic on imgur? That website tends to be a huge time sink (meaning higher chance of people wandering into it), and if the post gets upvoted enough (which it generally would as the community on there seems to be pretty art friendly lately) it'll get thousands of views in one day should it make it to the front page. EDIT: Just don't get sucked in yourself I spent a couple months flipping through cat pictures for 5+ hours a day. So I tend to avoid it myself now.
*YNAB fist bump* That programs how I cleared my debts & left my overdraft in the dust even as a low paid comics colorist. Hands down the best financial decision I ever made.
Short and to the point with me, since I was a little kid, I've drawn for a long time. All the way to my high school years basically. Kinda rusty and been wanting to move on to the on screen digital take on my art and start a new portfolio. I can understand the value of art and peoples reasoning of wanting to use their talents so they can keep doing what they love but it also is giving themselves a paycheck to survive. I'm 22 years old and I always wanted to make art as a independent, and well enough to survive on it. It's just mind boggling on where to start and how to re-build. I work and wanted to invest in a tablet but I don't think it would kill me to buy something a little pricy. But then again, you never know. If you may ask what I'm recommending, is the Huion KAMVAS GT-191 Drawing Tablet. 500$. And I'm not buying this because I'm making a silly investment. I've been a pencil and paper type of guy for years but not digital really. I've had previous pads but the reasons are basically they were not comfortable and a bit outdated. Any advice would help, I'd like to hear a opinion or two on where to grow and re build. I know any market takes time to start as in a business but I am willing to make this work since I've had years or what it feels like a lot of experience drawing. I just wanna take it more serious and also learn more a long the way as a journey. thx in advance!
I don't have kids, don't have a car and I'm living with my family, using every day to train art and make my indie game. Even if in my country we don't have so much preassure to have our own house (latin country, very family oriented), sometimes I feel bad because of it. Many thanks for the video! It put some of my worries to rest.
I'm from the south of Brazil. The culture is like a mix between Brazil and Argentina. One of the few places that has true winter in the entire country. Our beaches are very unbrazilian though. :D
So basically you had a large loving and financially stable family, you were born with no medical problems, and you have a magnificently supporting spouse. The only other thing is the fact that you also have very little bad habits. Yeah you got really really lucky. me for the most part I was born with no medical problems and relatively decent financial situation up until I left for college. It's really disheartening when you really see how a person is literally born into advantage or disadvantage and see what they do with it
I can't claim to be free of bad habits. That's probably my biggest barrier. I hope this didn't bum you out. I just want to be honest and open with everyone.
Brandon Dayton I'm not sure. I'm not happy at my job and I draw 3 hours a day at least everyday even at downtime on the job. I'm just ready to do comics and leave this already
Great video Brandon, thanks for the talk. What you say about having a full time art job makes sense, but wouldn't you also say that your experience working in the field helped push your skill to where it is today? I've always wanted to do my own art full time, but have assumed (and am on the path towards) working freelance/in studio would help me grow as an artist before making that leap in the future. Just curious about your thoughts. Thanks.
That's a great observation, and I'm torn on the issue. I've definitely grown through my professional experience, and I wouldn't give any of it up. Maybe the mistake I made was not focusing on my day job 100% while I was there. It can be easy to whine about where you end up. I did that plenty over my career, but regardless of where you are, if you put your focus on it, it ends up being worth the effort.
Excellent video Brandon. Thank you for sharing it. I can related and I have to make a video from my experience. You can also add to the mix of bills is the Art school student loan debt... it can slow your dreams very quickly. Will be giving it a try at Youneedabudget. Thanks and keep it up. Ps: You should make video about Tapas.io
I wish I seen this video before last January, I had a crappy beat down car so I decided to buy a new one..... Worst decision of my life. I could have so much money to invest in myself if I didn't. Now I kinda don't want to do art anymore, just anything that'll get me out of this mess.
That stigma of living with your parents does suck but I think it makes sense too. If you dont move on you do lose those life lessons and even when you do become good at your craft thats all you have right? You wouldnt have that wife of your kid. I think theres a trade off. be rigid in your studies and that becomes your life, or experience "life" as a lot of people say. At least thats the way it seems to be in my mind
Very true. It's hard to know how things would have been different if I hadn't felt the need to "prove" myself early on. That being said, I wouldn't recommend people creating any more challenges for themselves than are absolutely necessary.
That resonates with me. After all we all want to take the path of least resistance. Although doing that will get you nowhere in most cases. I suppose its best to really view your life objectively and work out a balance between everything.
Does you tube help pay the bills? I'll be sure to pay it forward and share it with my friends. :) Don't worry I know you'll make it. You are super talented. Your wife is a sweetheart! You go GIRL!
She would appreciate hearing that. TH-cam doesn't really help pay the bills yet. I'm not quite to the point yet where I can leverage my viewership. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I'm commenting because you've stated the live with family idea more than once... I don't disagree but sometimes, leaving home does wonders for your mental health.. UNLESS you hae great supportive family.
It all depends on where you are with those relationships. I have a great family, but I still felt that leaving home was super valuable for myself. But the economics of it sure make a lot of sense.
Honestly this video isn't gonna make anybody like you and it really didn't give me any actual pointers rather than "make tons of sacrifices and put your life on hold" I've found sometimes if you think it'll suck it will and if you think it'll be great it will be. Like most things in life it's all about balance and attitude which it sounds like you're missing. If you have to take a step back from art to do life and vice versa it's just part of the ebb and flow and it's fine. Peace and gratitude ✌🏻
I laughed at that and for a second thought "Damn, that's harsh." But it's just being honest. I love that about this video. Complete honestly. Thank you for that, Brandon!
Like I said, that's not to see kids aren't worth it. You just go to be ready for the lack of productivity you're gonna have for the next year or two...or 20.
TJ Duprey What an incredibly hateful, closed-minded, and insensitive thing to post. Your comment had nothing to do with this topic and devalued everyone.
Get a sense of humor Sam. Although, it's not altogether incorrect. Many parents put their careers on a back burner to focus on kids. Lucky folks have partners who can compensate. Some don't. Some manage to balance both, but it's easier when you are single minded and super focused. I have 2 wonderful career interrupters. Wouldn't trade them in for an earlier success track (most days). But I was very focused on my career and my art until I had kids. At nearly 30. So I got some of one before dedicating my self to another. My kids are parents now and are experiencing the same difficult choices. Intense parenting or intense career. I don't judge. Just an observation.
This honestly made me feel so relieved. I'm so used to professional artists doing videos on how much work you have to do and how hard it has to be that I never had anyone say. "I had things to make it easier" or "You gotta avoid this, you will probably burn out" It just felt really human instead of feeling like I was incapable of doing art freelance I felt more like...the way I expected myself to eventually learn just wouldn't have a payoff unless I went easier on myself in other areas. It was really great.
I'm one of those low income artists whom can't really afford it and has some conditions that make the whole process harder. I think it's awesome that you got lucky, but I think it also gave you a different kinda perspective then a lot of low income artists who try to make it and I think a lot of us really needed that perspective.
Thank you for such an informative video! I second the advice to NOT take 6 months of savings and try to make it work. I did that woth 3D, amd then I got depressed, realized i actually dont want to do 3d, and i should have focused on 2d. so now I am starting over with 2d, and i have no money, worse health, lower paying job, and a bunch of mental shit that I have to undo. Bad idea, but it forced me to see my deep problems for what they truly are, and now i can get to work fixing them. iys going to be a long road, but it will be good.
Sometimes its the mistakes that put us on the right path. Hopefully you're still able to carve out some time to make art.
Ow snap ... well looks like I'm not alone. I spend 2 years trying to make it as a 3D artist (1 years crash course, second year portfolio + intern) to end up exactly where I started only poor as fuck.
Kudos to your wife for being so supportive and kudos to you for appreciating her for it. I have watched a lot of youtube videos about this kind of thing and a lot of artists will say that the main reason they were able to take a chance on their independent art career was having a spouse who was willing to support them financially while they found their footing.
I agree with the part about not taking an art job and trying to do art on the side. My spouse and I worked manual labour for years and doing mindless physical tasks really frees up your mind to be able to come up with creative ideas, it's why people often find they get their best ideas in the shower or while they're doing housework. I write songs as a hobby and when I worked that manual labour job i'd get lots of ideas for songs while i was working but after I got my desk job that requires a lot more focus the ideas stopped coming.
Recently found your channel and I am so glad I did. Your videos rock! They are truly real and inspiring. I appreciate how honest you are about this too. This is a topic that I have found is not as often discussed as it should be. Many people think working at a studio is the end all be all goal, and it can be amazing, fun, and a great learning experience, but the reality is it can be draining to your personal work and growth. After being laid off from my studio job I have had time to think about exactly what you are talking about. It has also given me the time to truly work on what I am passionate about and realize what I want to be doing. I do not have the financial support from family, but there are always ways to cut back on expenses and there is no shame in working a non art job if it gives you the freedom to be creative at the end of the day.
I really understand where youre coming from and I have moved in with family and taken a day job thats low maintence but at hoem so i try to get fresh air when I can. Im not that wealtht and i get a lot of pressure to help the household but i myself am dealing with catching up with immovable debt so i can spend less per month and work towards focussing more on my art. Im taking up freelance art to up my skill but i want to make comics and I have a bit of an audience so I hope I can do it. Your videos really inspire me. I once wanted to work for Disney but once i went to college for it, I realized very quickly that was not what I was meant for. Thank you for making these videos and I love watching for encouragement!
100% agreed on no. 3. For a few years, I brought my sketchbook and laptop to my full-time job to work on my art. it was extremely difficult to do this at home with wife, house and kids. Unfortunately, they dropped a big bomb on us a few weeks ago and prohibited us from doing any personal activities on company time. My heart dropped. I now have to figure out a way to work on my art at home at the expense of spending time with the family, or say "screw it" and still do it here at work and risk getting fired.
Brandon. You're an awesome dude. Lucky, like you say. But smart and awesome.
Thanks Miles! I love it when people from real life check out my stuff. You need to drop in to Draw Night again sometime.
Man, I'd love to come to Draw Night, just always have stuff going on Tuesdays.
It would be great to see you and the rest of the crew though.
Another great video that resonates strongly with me. Touched a lot of important points. Since I was left out of a job on the IT industry some years ago I've committed myself to pursue my true passion -making kid-friendly art- and sure as hell it hasn't been easy from a financial standpoint. I've been forced to cut back on expenses, track every expense on a balance sheet, and though I love my car bought in the "good old days" I've been thinking about selling it although it's almost suicidal to live here without one. The good news is that I used to earn way more than I spent therefore I built myself a good financial cushion to take my chances - but money eventually runs out and you need to come up with something. Juggling all of these things is stressful enough - all the more important to find jobs and gigs that don't add up to the stress. Anyway I could go on but very realistic and sincere thoughts in here, thanks.
Great video. You're an inspiration. I still have my copy of Green Monk I got in San Fransisco a while back. I show it to all my friends. Build that fanbase!
No way! That must have been from APE in 2010 (or was it 2009?). Yeah, veeeeeery slowly building the fanbase.
I'm an artist in SLC too! I also have a family. It was awesome how honest and realistic you were in this video.
SLC represent! Thanks for watching.
Great episode! Thanks for sharing! All that stuff does make it easier to take that risk but I'm sure even with all that it still felt very much like a risk and a tough decision! It's funny I think about scenarios of me winning the lottery or something and I feel like if I did I'd be doing the same thing as you because I have similar goals. It would just give me the freedom to push for this goal that much harder!
I'm definitely in a good place, but I sometimes wonder if having a little bit more pressure would be healthy. It's a bit too easy to put things off when I don't have a deadline. My most productive period over the last couple of years was the 3 month period when I had a paid job with a deadline.
Thanks for the honesty and realistic wisdom.
Loved this drawing !
Geez, what a wakeup call. Thanks for the advice.
NP.
This is how I'm doing it! Thank you!
Thanks for the talk. I keep wanting to dive into art full time but like you say its a huge risk. I guess there is wisdom in moderation.
Just make sure you put some planning and thought into things before you take the leap. It may still be worth doing. There's lots of ways to dip your toes in in the meantime.
Thank you for really telling it like it is. I've seen a lot of independent-art career advice videos and none have really given a satisfying enough answer on what to expect or what you can do.
I graduated in fall 2016 with a bachelors of studio arts and my aim was to work as a freelance illustrator for a while before entering into the animation industry as a visual development artist. I still had a part time customer service job after I graduated and I continued on there to build funds, build my portfolio, build up fans, and look for freelance work. Well lets just say most of it didn't pan out how I planned. I was living with my family and was unable to secure funds due to most of my paycheck going to bills. Than my part time job let me go after over hiring. I was getting no luck with freelance jobs so I mainly focused on building up my portfolio since I went into a more fine arts focused school and most of the work I made, I wouldn't put in my portfolio. Now making career on my art alone is one of my future goals. I thought, why not try to get that started and gain fans that would support my art till than. Well, reality struck. Building a fanbase is a long process, as you've stated. I thought having my art everywhere and posting regularly will get me fans. Nope! I barely get much activity even though I've been posting as much as I can for a year. Yeah, I'm slowly building my tumblr followers and some of my art has over 100 notes when a group repost my art, but my fanbase is still nonexistence. I realized that artists have been posting their art for years before they had a sizable fanbase that could support them. I have several comics that I'm developing but with no fanbase, I feel horrible at the idea of working on them when I still need to work on my portfolio for the animation industry. With being an utter nobody on the internet, if I choose to work on my independent art career, I will be working against a lot of risk.
While I'm living with my family at the time being and I could focus on an independent art career, I find I'm having a hard time with how demoralizing it is to be an adult and still living with your parents. My ego has taken a big hit and having to deal with the judgments of family and friends... is really hard to handle. Now there is nothing I want more than a good art job in the entertainment industry. It is good that you have seven years worth of experience to back you up, just in case you will need to go back into the industry. Having that would make me more confident to go independent because if it doesn't work out, you will still have that experience. I don't have any such experience and the risk to go independent is too high for me, even though that is what I eventually want.
It may take some time to get there. Starting out is always weird, just cause the path isn't totally clear. Whatever approach you take, just put your best effort into it. You'll never regret having done something with pride. Keep at it, and don't let your ego put you in too vulnerable position. Having your housing costs covered gives you an insane amount of freedom.
Have you tried posting a couple of pages from your comic on imgur? That website tends to be a huge time sink (meaning higher chance of people wandering into it), and if the post gets upvoted enough (which it generally would as the community on there seems to be pretty art friendly lately) it'll get thousands of views in one day should it make it to the front page.
EDIT: Just don't get sucked in yourself I spent a couple months flipping through cat pictures for 5+ hours a day. So I tend to avoid it myself now.
That's an interesting idea. I've posted some stuff on imgur, including some of my earlier pages. Might be worth a shot.
Perfect video. Thanks!
*YNAB fist bump* That programs how I cleared my debts & left my overdraft in the dust even as a low paid comics colorist. Hands down the best financial decision I ever made.
I've fallen off the wagon since then, but is was fantastic to have at the time.
Short and to the point with me, since I was a little kid, I've drawn for a long time. All the way to my high school years basically. Kinda rusty and been wanting to move on to the on screen digital take on my art and start a new portfolio. I can understand the value of art and peoples reasoning of wanting to use their talents so they can keep doing what they love but it also is giving themselves a paycheck to survive. I'm 22 years old and I always wanted to make art as a independent, and well enough to survive on it. It's just mind boggling on where to start and how to re-build. I work and wanted to invest in a tablet but I don't think it would kill me to buy something a little pricy. But then again, you never know. If you may ask what I'm recommending, is the Huion KAMVAS GT-191 Drawing Tablet. 500$. And I'm not buying this because I'm making a silly investment. I've been a pencil and paper type of guy for years but not digital really. I've had previous pads but the reasons are basically they were not comfortable and a bit outdated. Any advice would help, I'd like to hear a opinion or two on where to grow and re build. I know any market takes time to start as in a business but I am willing to make this work since I've had years or what it feels like a lot of experience drawing. I just wanna take it more serious and also learn more a long the way as a journey. thx in advance!
Also I guess I'm a looser if I'm this age and still living with my parents lol oh well
No, you're smart. Keep focusing on the art.
Living in Los Angeles, a car is essential unfortunately. It's like breathing.
You said don't get married but you mention how your wife is a big help. What the heck
I am no where near that lucky. Everything you just said I live the opposite.
Sorry to hear that dude. Let me know if there's a particular topic I could address that could help you out.
I don't have kids, don't have a car and I'm living with my family, using every day to train art and make my indie game. Even if in my country we don't have so much preassure to have our own house (latin country, very family oriented), sometimes I feel bad because of it.
Many thanks for the video! It put some of my worries to rest.
Sounds like you've got a good approach. En que pais esta?
I'm from the south of Brazil. The culture is like a mix between Brazil and Argentina. One of the few places that has true winter in the entire country. Our beaches are very unbrazilian though. :D
So basically you had a large loving and financially stable family, you were born with no medical problems, and you have a magnificently supporting spouse. The only other thing is the fact that you also have very little bad habits. Yeah you got really really lucky. me for the most part I was born with no medical problems and relatively decent financial situation up until I left for college. It's really disheartening when you really see how a person is literally born into advantage or disadvantage and see what they do with it
I can't claim to be free of bad habits. That's probably my biggest barrier. I hope this didn't bum you out. I just want to be honest and open with everyone.
I was literally about to have my income nest egg saved up so I could quit and pursue comics full-time when I saw this lol
How are you thinking of approaching it now? The nest egg is still great to have, but it's better as a back-up.
Brandon Dayton I'm not sure. I'm not happy at my job and I draw 3 hours a day at least everyday even at downtime on the job. I'm just ready to do comics and leave this already
Great video Brandon, thanks for the talk. What you say about having a full time art job makes sense, but wouldn't you also say that your experience working in the field helped push your skill to where it is today? I've always wanted to do my own art full time, but have assumed (and am on the path towards) working freelance/in studio would help me grow as an artist before making that leap in the future. Just curious about your thoughts. Thanks.
That's a great observation, and I'm torn on the issue. I've definitely grown through my professional experience, and I wouldn't give any of it up. Maybe the mistake I made was not focusing on my day job 100% while I was there. It can be easy to whine about where you end up. I did that plenty over my career, but regardless of where you are, if you put your focus on it, it ends up being worth the effort.
Good answer, and something that I'll think about. Thanks. I'll just keep plugging away everyday and see where that leads me for now :)
Do you know what interview Orson Scott Card say's he wrote at work? I'm curious to read that for myself.
Not sure where I read it. It was awhile ago, but it was pretty unambiguous.
Excellent video Brandon. Thank you for sharing it. I can related and I have to make a video from my experience. You can also add to the mix of bills is the Art school student loan debt... it can slow your dreams very quickly.
Will be giving it a try at Youneedabudget. Thanks and keep it up.
Ps: You should make video about Tapas.io
Thanks for the thoughts Andres. What would topic would you like me to cover in regards to Tapas?
Lived with my parents until I was 26! damn proud of it! But, it's common for us latinos. Our moms never want us to leave.
Big issue is healthcare... gotta make more than just rent, food, gas.
"Mandatory community service from your meth days". Glad you're a man of culture as well.
I wish I seen this video before last January, I had a crappy beat down car so I decided to buy a new one..... Worst decision of my life. I could have so much money to invest in myself if I didn't. Now I kinda don't want to do art anymore, just anything that'll get me out of this mess.
I've done this probably a thousand times.
Holy shit this is depressing. I'm glad you said this tho.
That stigma of living with your parents does suck but I think it makes sense too. If you dont move on you do lose those life lessons and even when you do become good at your craft thats all you have right? You wouldnt have that wife of your kid. I think theres a trade off. be rigid in your studies and that becomes your life, or experience "life" as a lot of people say. At least thats the way it seems to be in my mind
Very true. It's hard to know how things would have been different if I hadn't felt the need to "prove" myself early on. That being said, I wouldn't recommend people creating any more challenges for themselves than are absolutely necessary.
That resonates with me. After all we all want to take the path of least resistance. Although doing that will get you nowhere in most cases. I suppose its best to really view your life objectively and work out a balance between everything.
Does you tube help pay the bills? I'll be sure to pay it forward and share it with my friends. :) Don't worry I know you'll make it. You are super talented. Your wife is a sweetheart! You go GIRL!
She would appreciate hearing that. TH-cam doesn't really help pay the bills yet. I'm not quite to the point yet where I can leverage my viewership. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I'm commenting because you've stated the live with family idea more than once... I don't disagree but sometimes, leaving home does wonders for your mental health.. UNLESS you hae great supportive family.
It all depends on where you are with those relationships. I have a great family, but I still felt that leaving home was super valuable for myself. But the economics of it sure make a lot of sense.
Honestly this video isn't gonna make anybody like you and it really didn't give me any actual pointers rather than "make tons of sacrifices and put your life on hold" I've found sometimes if you think it'll suck it will and if you think it'll be great it will be. Like most things in life it's all about balance and attitude which it sounds like you're missing. If you have to take a step back from art to do life and vice versa it's just part of the ebb and flow and it's fine. Peace and gratitude ✌🏻
Sorry it couldn't be more helpful for you. Maybe next time.
I live with my family.
It would be dumb not to live with them.
Save lots of $$$
Smart guy.
How to get ahead: don't be a breeder
I'm cool with kids. I've got kids. I just want people to be aware of the trade-offs.
I laughed at that and for a second thought "Damn, that's harsh." But it's just being honest. I love that about this video. Complete honestly. Thank you for that, Brandon!
Like I said, that's not to see kids aren't worth it. You just go to be ready for the lack of productivity you're gonna have for the next year or two...or 20.
TJ Duprey What an incredibly hateful, closed-minded, and insensitive thing to post. Your comment had nothing to do with this topic and devalued everyone.
Get a sense of humor Sam. Although, it's not altogether incorrect. Many parents put their careers on a back burner to focus on kids. Lucky folks have partners who can compensate. Some don't. Some manage to balance both, but it's easier when you are single minded and super focused. I have 2 wonderful career interrupters. Wouldn't trade them in for an earlier success track (most days). But I was very focused on my career and my art until I had kids. At nearly 30. So I got some of one before dedicating my self to another. My kids are parents now and are experiencing the same difficult choices. Intense parenting or intense career. I don't judge. Just an observation.
Are you a Mormon?
Culturally, yes, but I'm not a member of the LDS church (the largest Mormon denomination).