"I'm...an artist."

I've been at this art thing full-time for more than six years now, and it still seems a bit difficult for me to tell people that it is my way of making a living.  I can hardly get the words out of my mouth.  Sometimes I sit for a few seconds and am not sure how to say it.  Perhaps other artists struggle with this too.

It's the fear of immediate judgment.  You call THAT a job?  I can never just say "I'm an artist."  It's mostly superfluous nonsense to describe that my passion and career really is creating.  It's that simple. 

When you say "aerospace engineer" it seems complex and therefore, important. 

When you say "artist" it feels simple.  Because of that, it feels easy and maybe a little nonsensical.

See, the thing is, I think when many of us grow up, pursuing a career in the arts just doesn't really seem to be in the cards...not even an option.  I think our society shapes and molds our minds to pursue careers that have more immediate prestige associated with them.  We may have an obsession with having a really long, complicated title on our business card.  Conversely, the term "starving artist" plagues our minds.

I started drawing when I was six years old.  Not doodling, but large-scale drawing.  I was inspired by Terry Redlin scenes, cartoons, and anything and everything I could think of.  It was hard for me to draw free-hand so anything that drew my interest, I would save and recreate myself. I smiled when people accused me of tracing.

There was something there, but it never really translated into anything.  I don't really get how something so obvious, like my gravitation toward art, always alluded me into making it a more prominent part of my life.

Art would always be a hobby, locked up in a drawer that I opened less and less each day as I grew older.  I believed that there was no path to a legitimate art career I could take pride in and be proud of.

I jumped into marketing, the most legitimate career available that infused creative elements.

It made sense.
It sounded legitimate.
It looked nice on a business card.

I enjoyed it, and I did it for more than a decade.

Then in December 2007, something clicked:

It was my new digital camera.

Digital cameras were becoming more advanced, and suddenly I could create artwork in split seconds.  Rather than spending hours on a drawing, I could produce art as fast as ideas came to me.

I think that's when I realized it was time to unlock the drawer and get my art hobby back out in a different form.

After doing art shows for years and selling my artwork online, it was time to pursue a full-time career in art.  Because I had already sold art, it convinced my old self that this was legitimate, and there was nothing left to prove.  Perhaps I wouldn't starve.  I needed the courage and support to pursue this fully, and that's exactly what I got from my family and friends.

But still, to this day, I strive to conquer my internal battle with saying (out loud) the career that truly defines me.

A couple months ago, I decided to own it and broadcast the message to those looking.

I'm learning there's something incredibly empowering about owning who you are despite any painted stereotypes and societal norms that attempt to define it.

Now I'm defining the word by living it, and it's refreshing how different it is than what I thought it was when I was a kid.

Let me ask you: Is there a hobby you are still keeping locked up in your kid drawer?