When Did You Know You Would Make It?

Jake Parker

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Art by Kerisa Greene
Hello Friends!
Our newest podcast episode has launched.

Getting started in a career in art can be a bit nerve racking, there are no guarantees. In this episode we share about the beginning of our creative journeys and some of our insecurities and self doubts, we will also share about what gave us hope to push on and when we knew that we would be able to make a career out of art.

Click here to listen to it and to see the episode artwork.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@Jake-Parker this is so cool! Thanks, guys! I’ll going to check this out.

Coreyartus

This was a great episode! It was so heartening to hear your ups and downs, and that you learned so much from both your successes and failures. Seriously, this was exactly what I personally needed right now. Up and downs happen, and you have to have both.

It's interesting how we as artists can be both incredibly optimistic and then profoundly depressed so quickly and easily. We judge ourselves very critically sometimes and yet we can be completely blind to what others can see so clearly... It sounds like stepping off that roller coaster takes a lot of self-confidence and time. It also sounds like you all worked from a wide net of experiences to something much more specific and focused as you gained experience. That's beyond good to hear. I think we have a tendency to think we're failures if we aren't instantly doing exactly what we've set out to do. It was very inspiring to hear that you all didn't start out magically succeeding at everything you touched. I think sometimes those experiences get lost in the litany of success stories. Thanks so much for sharing a couple of yours.

MissMushy

Great episode! Always so much to learn from you guys. There’s something to be said for confidence and self belief. All 3 of you seemed to have it in spades from the start!

Coley

Lee White cracks me up lol!

Whitney Simms

I can’t stop thinking of the darn billboard. I’ve done it to. The question comes in “well, what do you draw, I have this idea in my head.” Then I say, “You name it I can do it.” I usually regret when I say that! But I haven’t agreed to a billboard!

TwiggyT

I wish I had half of your all's confidence. My biggest downfall is that I don't believe in myself. My teachers never liked me, except for a drawing professor and a painting professor in college. The other students all seemed to like my work, except for the few classes where I was obviously terrible (like that weird 3d design class I had freshman year--pretty much anything that wasn't a 2d medium was a complete catastrophe in my hands). But now I've wasted all these years doubting myself, my health isn't great, and I feel like there's not much of a comeback for me. I wish you all would share about failures more often, because it helps low-confidence people like me feel like failing or messing up isn't the end of everything.

Coley

@Whitney-Simms the billboard and the restaurant live painting stories cracked me up so much. I almost spit my tea out all over the laptop lol

sigross

@TwiggyT Claude Monet took 10 years to develop his iconic style. He hit his stride in his 40's.

DOTTYP

@TwiggyT Try not to be down about it ,I can really relate to what you have said here about wasted years and poor health and it helped me to read this, just keep going and your confidence will build up.

TwiggyT

@DOTTYP @sigross Thank you both for the encouragement! I try to stay positive about my health and hope for the best, but it definitely eats into my productivity and how much I can do. Doing things most people do in a normal day makes me unable to function the next day. It's really frustrating.

Is that an actual photo of Monet? I've never seen a photo of him before -- but I'd recognize that bridge anywhere. I hope for me, like Monet, the best is yet to come.

sigross

@TwiggyT yes that's Monet in his prime! Also, Michelangelo suffered terribly from illnesses while he was creating. He was making stuff chiseling, painting etc until he was almost 90.

DOTTYP

@TwiggyT I can really understand as although I dont talk about it much I have been quite ill for a number of years and I know it makes me really slow at creating art even though art is the one thing that keeps me going as I cant get out much. I also have the problem of fatigue you are suffering after doing ordinary things. Have you received any proper diagnosis ,blood tests and investigations, because maybe there would be some hope of you getting better.

TwiggyT

@DOTTYP I've been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that can make me tired, but it shouldn't be making me so tired that I have difficulty functioning. Doctors either don't seem to know, or can't be bothered to investigate further. I'm going to a new endocrinologist this fall; maybe they'll be able to help.

Su

@TwiggyT You are a good artist! I enjoy seeing your posts about your art. Your teachers were totally wrong to have made you think that you don't have talent. Art is so subjective — I wish you had gone to a school that had more teachers that were able to appreciate your style. And I'm so sorry about your illness. I can't imagine how difficult that is to be tired all the time. There's a new Netflix series called Diagnosis. I've watched a few episodes and it's really good. Wondering if watching it could give you any insights on your health issues.

Best of luck to you. Keep on creating!

TwiggyT

@Su Thanks for that! I appreciate your encouragement and I'm glad you like my work! I haven't heard of or watched that show yet, so I'll check it out. I enjoy shows like that; it reminds me of Mystery Diagnosis.

BichonBistro

@DOTTYP

DOTTYP

@TwiggyT I was worried when I read your symptoms doctors get it wrong all the time I was misdiagnosed for years,it could be something really serious, make sure they check your kidney and heart function. Good luck at the endocrinologist (I had to look up what that was) and let us know how it goes and look after yourself.
Your art is really cute and fun I am pretty sure I already follow you on Instagram I will check.

DOTTYP

@BichonBistro Thanks!