WEEK 49 - Call me old-fashioned, but we NEED to stop doing this.
Hello and welcome to Week 49 of #HOMwork!
If you're anything like me, you grew up hearing cautionary stories from adults about what pursuing a career in art would be like.
How you'd have to sacrifice financial stability in order to do what you love.
Why it’s a reckless to go after a creative career when medicine and law are so much more 'stable' choices.
Most of the time, we're told this by well-meaning people who have ZERO experience working in a creative field...but who love to dish out this unsolicited advice anyway.
There are a couple of classics like:
“You have to be tortured and sad all the time to make great art.”
“You’ll never find a real job.”
“Artists only make money after they die.”
We need to stop telling creative kids that creative careers are inherently unstable and to 'choose something more practical'. Instead, we need to change the narrative about the value of creative work. So, this week we're breaking down the myths we were told about what being a creative professional would certainly be like and redefining what pursuing a creative career can actually look like.
This week's #HOMwork assignment is to letter or design an "antiquated" myth you were told about pursuing a career in art (and that you think we as a society need to stop perpetuating).
While my parents did a lot to nurture my creativity growing up, they fed me the all-too-common "starving artist" narrative when it came to doing art professionally. It came in the form of little jokes and gentle nudges towards other careers. I grew up genuinely believing that I could have creativity OR financial stability but never both.
SPOILER ALERT: you actually can have both. Sure, you still need a lot of hard work and little bit of luck, but it's no as implausible as society had us believing as kids. I wish someone had told me a different version of the artist story when I was a kid: the one where the artist makes a great living doing what she loves. Is that so hard to believe? Actually yes, if we keep pushing kids away from pursuing their creative passions out of fear of making no money.
We're living in the age of the Internet and self-publishing, and it's more possible than ever to find or create your dream job. We NEED to change the story we tell the younger generation about pursuing creative careers. Imagine how incredible the world would be someday with more art, more innovation, and fewer people who dread going into work on Mondays?
As always, post your work using the hashtag #HOMwork. Then tell us in the caption why you believe the myth to be outdated and instead what positive advice you would give to someone just starting their creative career.
Don’t forget to tag me @homsweethom in your posts so I can see what creative career myths we’ve all overcome (or are still overcoming). I'll be sharing my faves in my Stories all week!
Love,
Lauren
P.S. I chose to use an old movie title design as the inspiration for this week’s artwork. Try matching an old-fashioned design style to the outdated phrase you letter, and if you need any inspo, check out these retro titles!
