Shannon: Equally terrified and happy (A lot)

I am an artist. My only major is Studio Art. I plan on making my living doing the thing I love.

That being said, the numbers in "Why Artists Don't make money" aren't fabricated. They are the reality of being an artist, and something that I want to face head-on. I like being scared in the world of art, because I think it will motivate me into creating artwork that can really be on a level with other professional artists. I follow and support many artists on social media platforms, such as Instagram and Etsy. I have made money on smaller projects, such as designing tshirts and tattoos. The small projects that I've had always bring an incredible amount of satisfaction to me so I know that I'm taking the right path in life. I also know that supporting other artists allows me to peer into other world, and request support myself.

For my own mental health, I cannot focus on the statistics in the video. I know myself, and focusing on those sheer numbers would paralyze me numb. It's good that I am aware of the global situation so that I am not surprised, and so that it can serve as a poke in the butt to get me moving and motivated. The most important thing for me to be focusing on at the moment is producing as much quality artwork as I possibly can.

I am one of the lucky ones, because after graduation I have been invited to work in a studio that houses many different nationalities and artists with different specialities, with a focus in commedia dell'arte. This will allow to me assist in teaching while still allowing me to explore my craft.

I briefly saw someone comment that they found the "Everything is a Remix" video series depressing. I actually found it refreshing in many ways. The fourth video goes into more depth about the modern-day overzealous copyright industry, but the first three essentially give the formula for creativity: copy, transform, combine. I love this!! It totally takes the pressure off of myself to create completely new ideas, but it asks me to pay attention to the world that I live in. And if my artwork is labeled as "plagiarized" now I can really fight that with honest intentions and an end goal in mind: to bring copyright back to what it's intended purpose was: to foster creativity.