Make It
Words by Amy Louise O’Callaghan
“Can you make money from that?”, a familiar question to anyone creatively aligned, usually levelled at us by frustrated parents, perplexed grandparents at your cousin’s communion and the well-meaning but haughty neighbour who just popped over to tell you that *their* daughter has just started studying medicine. A fair question really, the arts industry is fraught with issues; classism, nepotism and the state of arts funding being but just a few reasons to avoid it for a happy life.
With such comforting words being thrown at all times, it’s no wonder that for many of us creatives, forging some form of career or, at the very least, a stable income, from our craft is but a mere pipe-dream, a “someday” project, something to wistfully think about while you work your significantly more stable, but certainly less inspiring day job. And oh what a stable job it is! Your hours are generally the same every week, the customers and co-workers are amenable, and if you’re really lucky, you might even get a salary!
Which of course, is what we all thought of such jobs, right up until March 2020. Because then, suddenly you realise that while your job was stable, it might not have been very essential, and suddenly, the offices and shops are closed, everybody is panicking, and you have a lot more free time than before.
In a year of never-ending bad news, small positives still slipped through the gaps. While some aspects of the arts could never fully prevail in the face of a worldwide pandemic, illustrators, painters, crafters and general “makers” who were originally working different jobs pre-Covid have finally, albeit through very sad and anxiety-ridden circumstances, been offered the rare opportunity to just try and see if they can make it work. Furloughed and without any other options, many artists now had no choice but to fall back on skills they originally regulated to side gigs and hobbies.
For one such illustrator, Simone, or Siminiedoodles as she is known online, the pandemic offered her this chance. Pre-Covid, she was a manager in a fast food restaurant, “it was exhausting for me to draw and work at the same time. So [drawing] was mostly just a side gig, but it was definitely something I wanted to do full time!….when I lost my job, although losing the stability… I felt also a bit relieved. I was now able to focus on my art and grow my following”. Offering personal commissions as well as opening a shop in November, Simone has been working hard at improving her skills and growing her business, benefitting from the burst in support for local businesses pre-Christmas, “I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised since opening my shop! I hadn’t even expected one sale, so to have people actually purchasing my works is mind blowing! The rush before Christmas was wonderful, and packing orders gives me so much serotonin haha [sic], just overall the experience has been great and enjoyable!”.
Artemis by Siminiedoodles
Megan, or DesignWright, is another artist who was able to change to make the best of a bad situation. Pre-Covid, she was working as an English teacher in Japan, before returning home to Ireland. “I had never planned to go full-time with art… for some reason I thought people could only work in art full-time if they studied it at university or if they were exceptionally skilled. It never occurred to me that I could just go for it by myself”. Quickly gaining attention for her mix of quirky puns and general “Irishisms”, Megan’s business has grown from strength to strength since starting it in April 2020, “it’s been really fun and really stressful, running an independent business is tiring and takes a lot of time and a lot of learning, but it has been a great experience and has been really motivating”.
Michael D. Simpsons by DesignWright
The Etsy Marketplace - a popular online storefront for many illustrators and crafters - grew over 79% in 2020, with site traffic at an all-time high due to a very sudden and obviously inexplicable need for hand-stitched fabric masks, homemade soap and heartfelt gifts you can send to a loved one across the country, among other things. Those with a disposable income usually regulated to weekend pints and trips away, now had nothing better to do than compulsively spend online. A 2013 study by the University of Michigan shows that people turn to shopping in order to regain a sense of control in their lives, so naturally, in a world of constant lockdowns, it is only natural that people have turned to literal retail therapy. The short burst of serotonin gained from treating yourself, coupled with a surge of support for local business and ‘Shop Local’ initiatives, is the perfect platform for an artist peddling their wares.
Quite pessimistically, the main question to ask is will this last? This perfectly cultivated business environment is reliant on factors that will hopefully be dedicated to distant memory at some point in the next year. Will customers and commissioners remain once money can once again be spent on nights out and weekends away? Naturally, a slight dip is to be expected, but I believe that the support for local and small businesses during the pandemic will continue to prevail. Nothing has been more evident during the pandemic then the importance of community and how just one person’s actions can significantly impact another (wear a mask folks). What €10 means for one person versus a corporation has been emphasised at every opportunity, and I don’t believe that new-found philosophy will disappear as soon as we’re allowed to spend all our money in the pub again.
They say that in times of adversity, the arts will flourish. While this can’t be said for most arts industries during the pandemic, for illustrators scribbling from bedrooms it has offered the opportunity for a little shred of positivity. For Simone, the future means continuing to grow her business, but also aspiring towards a job within the animation industry, “I really want to learn to animate properly, it’s been my dream since I was a kid to animate or be in that industry somehow”. For Megan, she eventually hopes to return to her teaching job, but is starting to consider balancing it with art part-time, “it’s nice knowing that it’s an option. I’d love to eventually get a studio to work from and see where I could take the business from there”. While time will tell if this new-found support for small artists will continue past this seemingly never-ending pandemic, at least many artists can successfully turn around and say, “yes, you can make money from that”.
You can follow and purchase work from Simone and Megan from the links below!
