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Would working part time be an option for you and then using the free time to draw? Do you have weekends off that you could dedicate to drawing?

I hope what I’m about to write doesn’t discourage you but I was in a similar situation (although I didn’t have any savings to fall back on). I tried turning my illustration into a full time venture, but with very little money and still relying on parents for support. There was a lot of things I underestimated – promoting my work, not really having any kind of direction with my work, having to keep records of everything for tax purposes, business expenses (paying for a website, online listing fees, banking fees for the separate account I opened – on top of all that, it was difficult and discouraging for me when I wasn’t getting any responses. All this while dealing with depression and low confidence – I found that being in that mindset and trying to make it work was overwhelming.

Many artists and illustrators need to use social media to promote themselves, and building an online following doesn’t happen overnight.  What I also found frustrating was all my friends and family constantly asking how much money I was making and when was I going to get a real job. I hated to admit it because I’m stubborn but they were right, I couldn’t carry on like this and I had to put it on the backburner for my own sanity.

Having said that, it’s not impossible – there are artists, designers and illustrators out there who do live off their art for a living, and they have managed to turn it into a full time venture.

I highly recommend you read “The Multi Hyphen Method” by Emma Gannon.

What do you think?

Joe

• This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by Joe.