[Gene Snyder]

WOW, Michael!

What a thought-provoking question! Where to start on this one? What is it like for me to be an artist today? I can't say I can offer much experience from "making a living as an artist", but I can share some thoughts. I, like you, think about this a lot. I'd have to say that I'm a mix of some of the descriptions you had. I'm not old (yet) and I'm not young either. (There is a middle ground, isn't there?) I've been creating art for quite a while now, at times more seriously than others. I'm not working full-time creating art, but art is a big part of my life and I'm at the beginning of building an art career. However, I do not think that I will be able to settle for the "Artist Retirement Plan" and wait that long. There is just no way that I see that happening. I've made sure that art has been involved some way in that "9 to 5" job. Currently, I'm digitizing an art collection containing over 15,000 artworks. So I get to see art all day - which is a good thing!

To give you an idea of where I'm coming from, here's some of my background. During high school, I'd say, is when the art bug really bit and I became "serious" (the first time around). I made a transition from drawing comic book characters to drawing from life. That new experience of drawing from life was my first taste of what I thought "real art" was all about. Then, during my final year (I was taking 6 periods of Art and 1 period of English then), I attended an "open enrollment" day at the Maryland Institute of Art. While there, I drew a portrait from a live model for the first time (which I can post here, if you'd like - maybe a new "Early Works" thread?). Drawing from the model was fascinating! To capture another person on paper was an incredible experience for me. I was really hooked then. Also, I was just then starting to read about Michelangelo and Da Vinci, so that experience really hit home. The following year, I attended the Institute and found the drawing classes fantastic, but wasn't quite ready for all the design and theory yet. I felt that I still needed more of the fundamentals and was overwhelmed by it all. This, in addition to financial troubles, forced me to drop out and join the military as a last resort.

The military, as I saw it then, was not the place for art (especially in the infantry). It wasn't until after two years of neglecting my art, that I finally pulled it back together, and started working again (the second time around). The right people saw my work, next thing you know, I'm painting murals instead of changing truck tires in the motor pool. A year later, I changed jobs to become a military graphic artist (yes, they do have those). Along the way, I painted backdrops for Army shows, worked as a full-time combat artist, and taught drawing, painting, and digital media to new artists coming into the military. Plus, I earned my degree while in the military studying art at a non-traditional school (although it is not a fine art degree, I still put in just as many hours studying art history and producing studio work). Somehow, along the way, I got hooked by digital art and thought that was the way to go. So, once again, I neglected the art that I first fell in love with and went chasing this multimedia dream, only to find out that the career field is not at all what it appears on the outside. Plus, I kept having this urge to want to get away from the computer and "get my hands dirty" again. There was always that small tugging feeling that I should be painting or drawing instead of learning what the latest Photoshop gizmo was in version 100.5!

So here I am (the third and last time around). I'm drawing and painting again with renewed vigor, but all of the above experiences play a part in what makes me tick as an artist. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened to me as an artist if I had finished school at the Maryland Institute instead of spending 12 years in the military. Then a voice speaks up and says, "What does it matter? You're here and you're still doing it. Right? Now is the time, forget about what coulda or shoulda happened." I feel I was better off anyway taking the "hard road". Art was always there no matter how much I thought it wasn't. So here I am.

I think being an artist today is a tough job. Well, considering my "on and off" relationship with my art, I can see why. I think being an artist naturally makes one introspective and always looking inside for guidance. I'm sure there are very few artists out there that are just "an eye" recording images without regard to personal attachment or interest in their subject. However, I also think that this introspection brings about many of the "hang ups" that artists carry with them (I really don't see your accountant getting too upset over that quarterly budget that was off and carrying that with them for years on end). There had to be a degree of separation from the work, and I think it has taken me this long to get to that point of "letting go" of the work. Treating it as a product, something that someone wants, hopefully.

Of course, all of this has an effect on me. I think what I have to do is remember that I can only be three people:

1. The artist that I strive to be.
2. The artist that others see.
3. The artist that I really am.

This brings up all sorts of questions. How do others view me as an artist? When they see my work, do they take me seriously? Do I have to prove to them that what I do is important and is a livelihood? Then again does it really matter what they think? Does the auto mechanic down the street have to do the same thing with his work? Why should I? Here's my art, buy it if you like, if you don't that's OK, but here's my card to give to someone who may like to buy it. Thanks.

I think the hardest part about being an artist is just showing up. It took so long to overcome this and it still lingers. There are so many ways to steer yourself away from it. I think the artist that has the guts to consistently produce and "push through" is the one who is most successful. Really being there, even aside from the 9-5, is what counts. Because I'm not painting in the studio or out trudging through some woods with easel in hand, doesn't mean that I'm not thinking or reading about it while I'm on the train. Does this make me any less an artist than the latest artist gracing the cover of International Artist or American Artist? These are the things that can become a huge distraction. Yes, it would be nice to wake up every morning at 6am, take a shower, eat breakfast, and wander into the studio at 7am to paint through until 5pm. This is the dream, but just because that is not happening now, doesn't make me less of an artist than someone who does. Then, of course, I read about so and so and see photos of them in this HUGE loft studio in New York with the north light window as big as storefront, busts and casts all over the place, etc. This gets all those gears turning again. What makes a "real" artist? I don't think that is it. Again, it's showing up and really making a go at it that counts.

I also think that there is a transition that occurs as one's career grows. The more the artist produces, the less attached they become to their work, which makes it easier to move ahead. I have to say that reading the posts on this forum has motivated me to get things moving. I've taken a more active role in "pushing" my art rather than letting people come to me. For example, I always have a least one business card with me. I see myself more as a businessperson than an artist. I'm willing to part with my work now and know that more will come. However, just let me get my photograph of it and you can take the original to do what you want. I've finally made that transition from painting only for myself to painting myself to share with others. I've arrived.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, "Don't give up." No matter how much of an artist you think you are not, don't stop producing. The work is where it's at. Just the mere fact that you're thinking about it makes you as much of an artist as everyone else.