Deciding to pursue an artistic or creative career path isn’t for the faint of heart. Challenges will abound, but so many of the artists we speak with couldn’t be happier with their choice. So, we asked them about how they made the decision in the first place.
Sedona Legge | Designer, Actor, Model
Creative pursuits were really the only option for me in order to feel fulfilled, authentic, and like I could make a valuable contribution. My essence as an individual is closely aligned with my art. I have a bit of a restless spirit so the combination of my three careers, designing, acting, and modelling, allows me to thrive in creative environments, while keeping things interesting. My natural habitat is always evolving, and constant change feeds my soul. Read more>>
Matt Gillett | Visual Artist
I guess Art as a career wasn’t something that was encouraged from an early age. But the more my career path was forcibly steered away from Art, life had a way of pushing it back to. The signs were over time constant , until a one punch assault while managing a Sydney pub was like the frying pan of life hitting me over the head saying “do what you are ment to do” . Read more>>
Ela Ozturk | Singer-songwriter
I love this question! I pursued an artistic career because I have always been a creative person and a storyteller. I definitely feel things deeply and have a need to express all of my emotions. This has led to my lifelong passion for music and art. Read more>>
Di Liang | Illustrator
When I was very young, my dad drew a lot of characters in picture books as he read the story to me. My parents did not work in the art industry, but drawing on paper seemed normal in my home, just as a daily routine. At the age of six, I was scolded by my mom because I used a pencil to draw on the clean, new white wall when the first day we moved into our new apartment. Instead of getting mad and forbidding me from drawing, she found an art teacher for me, one of the most important people who influenced my career life. Read more>>
Bo Johnson | Stand Up Comedian
I fell in love with stand up when I was in middle school. The iTunes music store had just come out and started publishing Live at Gotham and Comedy Central half hour specials. I spent all of my summer lawn mowing money consuming one special after another, early favorites include Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin. When I graduated college I was busing tables while I lived at home with my folks and would listen to comedy podcasts on the bus to my shift every day and night Read more>>
Guiomar Ortiz | Pianist and Composer
Since I was little I love all the things related to art. In the primary school I took theatre lessons, painting lessons and music lessons. I cant remember Why but music was the art that caught my attention and i decided to focus on. Today i dont regret my decision because pursueing and artistic carrer has bring me the capacity and the opportunity to live and feel some things that are very special. I decided to dedícate my life to music because i want to make people feel that powerful emotions like when you listen las n a concerto your favourite music piece or you Watch your favourite movie and makes you cry because of its beauty Read more>>
Mike Luckas | Illustrator & Designer
Well since I was a little kid, I’ve always been obsessed with cartoons and video games. I would draw my own comics on loose-leaf paper and make my own games with cardboard and construction paper.. so in a way I’ve always pursued a life and career in art. There’s never been a time that I haven’t been creating, and eventually I guess started making money from it, haha. Read more>>
Mitchell Miller | Music Composer For Visual Media
I pursued a creative career because it is what I wanted to do ever since I was introduced to music. I receive fulfillment and satisfaction from the work I do, and this is due to turning my passion into a career. Additionally, noticing the creative work of others while I was just starting my career inspired me to continue to learn, adapt, and dedicate myself further. Read more>>
Shawnta’ Jackson | Dance Fitness Lifestyle Coach
Because it’s the only path that gives me the ability to operate as my HIGHEST SELF. Who I’m meant to be. What I’m meant to do and who I’m meant to impact. As a young child I was diagnosed with ADHD. My mother refused to put me on meds and put me in dance classes instead. It was the only space where I truly felt like myself & accepted. At 14 I got accepted into Las Vegas Academy Performing Arts High School where I majored in dance. Read more>>
Raquel Adler | Visual Artist
Pursuing an artistic career was not a personal decision; following this path felt like my calling. My work revolves around my personal experiences, and the creative process is remarkably cathartic and shamanistic as I process my emotions through my creative endeavors. Although challenging at moments, I realized I needed to follow this course because I could not picture myself with any other career and feeling as fulfilled as I am today. Being an artist is not a job that feels like work in a typical way, but it is in a way that creating feels like my obligation; it is how I innately communicate my story. Read more>>
Julia Kunin | Artist
On reason that I became an artist is because I knew that I wanted to have a voice outside of the mainstream, in order to speak to a marginalized audience, namely the LGBTQ community. In addition, working in sculpture has enabled me to meet phenomenal craftspeople along the way, many who make our dishes, mugs and bowls, yet. who remain anonymous. It has also enabled me to enjoy playing with materials and learning in an environment where there is no clear right and wrong. The artist makes up the rules, and therefore makes new “rules”. Read more>>
Oanh-Nhi Nguyen | Film Director, Writer and Producer
My high school had a documentary program when I was young so I started filmmaking when I was around 15-16 years old. The documentaries I’d make as a teenager were always socially conscious. In college, I co-edited a documentary with a professor on sexual violence survivors around the world who would use art to share their stories. Read more>>
Charlie Marshall | US Navy Vet, Actor and Personal Trainer
I’ve never really saw myself pursuing a creative career until I started managing my younger brother Jeff back when he was in middle school and I was in college. He was my dancer little brother and I was his videographer, photographer, editor, social media manager and lots of times his guardian at his rehearsals and shoots. It was my passion to help him grow his career at a young age that sparked the love for the entertainment industry and the hope of fully pursuing it for myself one day. Read more>>
Erika Ito | Composer & Orchestrator
First, I love creative activities, such as making music, writing stories, taking pictures, painting, cooking, knitting, etc. It excites me and calms me down at the same time. Second, I come from a creative family, so choosing a creative career was the most natural option. My mother is a doll maker, my father a lyricist, my sister a designer, my grandmother a writer, and my aunt a kimono maker. Lastly, because of the meaning of my name. My parents hoped for me to become an artist, and they used the Japanese kanji characters “絵,” which means paintings, and “歌,” which means song. Whenever I write my name, I feel it’s my fate to make music. Read more>>