Trina's Embrace ✦ Some thoughts about art business and passion

A loyal worshipper and his Goddess

Hi there,

It’s been a while since the last time I fully immersed in creating art. After graduation, I have spent my time working for my art business. I loved it so much, and still do, but when I joined this small fandom event, something was different. Somehow, I felt like I was alive again.

Even though I didn’t win any prize, I still got something in return - something I didn’t know I lost before it suddenly came back. That spark.

In recent years, I have to admit, I had really bad relationship with my fandom art. I felt I needed to monetize it, but also contradicted with that idea (‘It should be free because it’s fanart’). I felt like it had to make numbers, to help expand my career, and so on. I put too much pressure on myself (partly because of my past experience with previous fandoms), trying to be someone I was not. I was overwhelmed.

In this day and age, I learned that if I don’t actively work on anything for my social media or my branding, I can’t be a successful artist. I don’t think it’s wrong to make an effort on building your career that way, but it just isn’t for me. And that is ok.

I did take a big chunk amount of time to finish this piece of artwork, and it helps relinquish my effort to make everything about money or fame. Sometimes, I just get to have fun.

I’m still working on balancing the time between my art business and my passionate project, but this experience really means a lot to me. I might change my mind in the future, who knows? I just hope I will get the good feeling back soon!

Best wishes for all of you, dreamers!