If this is your first time listening, hey, I’m Lauren of Lauren Lesley Studio. I’m an artist and textile designer, and I started The Design Tribe podcast back in 2019 as a way to add some transparency to someone who was just getting started in surface pattern design and the whole licensing world.

In this episode, I’m going to spill the tea on what it’s REALLY like being a full-time artist…. Full disclosure: it’s not exactly how I thought it would be.

But first, let me explain where I’ve been and what the plan is for the Design Tribe podcast moving forward!

Back in the Fall of 2021, I decided to go back to an in-house job and I found out I was pregnant all in the same month!

On top of that, my husband and I decided to move houses to have a more suitable neighborhood for our baby to grow up in. The idea of moving after our daughter was born really stressed me out so we were on an intense timeline trying to find the right place.

The housing market was incredibly competitive when we were moving and it basically took up 150% of my time.

We literally closed on our old house one week before my daughter was born! Then, she came into the world and my full attention was on her.

So, I’m very sorry that I’ve been gone for so long. That was never exactly the plan, but you know, sometimes life gets in the way of creative pursuits.

So, what is the plan for the Design Tribe podcast moving forward?

During this season of life, I have to be realistic about the fact that I just don’t really have time to conduct a lot of interviews myself.

But, that doesn’t mean I won’t in the future. I personally hate the idea of letting this podcast die just because of my own time constraints.

So, I started thinking outside the box and was wondering what WOULD be feasible for the podcast moving forward.

Sometimes, as artists and designers, we simply don’t have time to create ALLLL of the content all by ourselves. It’s probably been a year since I’ve even created an Instagram post for my actual feed.. I am way more active in my Stories though!

But, the point is…. I started thinking what if The Design Tribe lived up to its name and became more of a collective effort? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to hear from different voices and different artists who have different experiences?

SO! I’m opening up the podcast to publish more guest episodes.

That means, if you are an artist or designer who has conducted your own interviews… either in podcast format or on YouTube… and you’d like to repurpose your episodes for further reach, please get in touch with me!

Especially, if you find yourself unable to keep up with a demanding weekly interview schedule on your own podcast… I’d love to collaborate with you!

Wouldn’t it be great to slow down and put our content efforts together… and get a bigger bang for your buck?

Imagine if you could relax the pace and schedule out one interview per month. The Design Tribe is the perfect place to contribute those podcast episodes and reach more people.

If this sounds interesting to you, please look in the show notes for an application.

OKAY, so now let’s get into the good stuff.

Why the heck did I return to an In-House job and what was it REALLY like being a Full-Time Artist?

So, I dreamed about being a full-time artist for as long as I can remember. Back in college, I was an oil painter so back then I envisioned doing something more along the lines of Fine Art.

But upon graduating, I realized I needed a JOB and a stable income to pay the bills.

So, I got my first job in Graphic Design at a T-shirt company. While I loved some of the people I worked with, I still longed for something more creative.

That’s when I discovered Textile Design. I ended up pivoting to a Textile Design job and have honestly really loved working as a Textile Designer. It’s 10X more fulfilling than Graphic Design ever was, for me.

However, at my first Textile Design job I worked with a lot of licensed artists. This is where I first got an education about licensing. And I started thinking, huh… how do I get onto the OTHER side of this licensing thing?

I saw that these artists had their own style, their own brand, and their own name on their designs. They got to keep the copyright and license their work across multiple products. And what was really cool is that they were totally independent business owners!

That sounded like something I really wanted to do.

Long story short, I went independent and started my own design business back in 2019. I worked really hard to develop my own art style, I exhibited at Blueprint Trade Show, and I landed my first licensing deal.

Things were starting to happen!

But, the reality with licensing is that it takes a LONG TIME to get paid. I kinda already knew this and thought, “Okay… if I get can multiple deals throughout the year then it will start to build up… and I can probably replace my old salary by the end of the year.”

And friend, let me just tell you that is NOT what happened.

I quickly realized how difficult the licensing world is in terms of making a full-time income. I even signed with an agent, but it didn’t prove to be very fruitful. I wasn’t getting a lot of deals through my agent and I became really frustrated since I had no control over the process, and when I did get a deal, I had to split my income basically 50%.

I thought that the agent was going to get me enough deals to make their cut worth it, but that’s not what actually happened.

Now, I realize that some artists are able to build 6, or even 7, figure businesses from licensing, but the truth is that licensing income can fluctuate A LOT!

I learned that most artists are supplementing their licensing income with multiple streams of income, and I can guarantee that the majority of those 6, or 7, figure art businesses are doing the same.

I made a lot of friends in the surface pattern world, and I’m so grateful for their transparency and kindness, and willingness to talk to me.

Most artists supplement their income either with freelance work, a YouTube channel, teaching, coaching, selling books, or some other means of reliable income.

This is just the reality of licensing for 99% of artists!

I basically tried all of the things, which took a LOT of time. Sometimes, I felt like a chicken with its head cut off running around trying to make this independent artist thing work.

I always felt spread too thin, and maybe if I had concentrated on only 1or 2 alternate streams of income, I could have had more success earlier on.

But the truth is, without some experimentation you just don’t really know what you enjoy doing or what’s going to work for you.

I realized that I absolutely hated doing freelance work, but I really enjoyed making YouTube videos and teaching classes.

The funny thing is… I always thought I would love freelance work! I fantasized about working from home, making my own schedule, being able to travel and take my laptop on the go, and choosing the clients I worked with.

And hey, some designers do really love working with their freelance clients! I think if you can nail down really good clients who repeatedly come back to you with a reliable stream of work, it can be a lot better.

I had so many people contact me who gave me a design brief, said they wanted to hire me, and then… crickets. They would ghost me completely.

For the freelance gigs I did have, I felt nickel and dime-d to the point where I dreaded working on their projects.

I know, I know. Lauren, you need to charge more.

I really feel like I tried to charge an appropriate amount, but I felt resentful that so many people wasted so much of my time. A lot of that time spent emailing and sending quotes and, of course, I never got paid for that time.

I understand that you need to charge more to account for this if you really want to make it as a freelance designer, but that just wasn’t the reality I was experiencing.

I kept thinking that all I ever really wanted to do was license my artwork and see my name on my own art. I wanted to see it exist out in the world.

Of course, I wanted to earn a living from it, but that could take a lot of years of build up and I didn’t have that much time to spend on my portfolio alone.

I kept thinking that if I need to do THIS MUCH WORK to supplement my licensing, wouldn’t it just be easier to supplement it with an in-house job?

You see, a lot of the ways artists supplement their income ALSO take a long time to create. It can take at least a year to write a book or create a class. With teaching online, there’s all of the planning, writing, filming, editing, uploading, and designing the pages. Then after that, there’s all of the MARKETING you have to do to make sure people know about your class.

And yes, I enjoyed creating classes (and plan on doing more in the future!)… but I also felt like it was taking a lot of time away from actually creating art. Which is WHY I wanted to be a full-time artist in the first place!

I spent so much time and energy trying to supplement my income that I was probably only spending about 10% of my time actually making art.

There were definitely a lot of things I enjoyed while being a full-time artist, but ultimately, I was really stressed out about not being able to replace my old salary from my Textile Design job.

So, lo and behold, a new position opened up at my old company for a Senior Designer. I was extremely interested in the category and re-joined! And in the same month, found out I was pregnant, haha.

So, needless to say, the past 2 years have been a whirlwind.

And, I don’t say any of this to complain or kill your dreams. I think it’s important to discuss the reality around licensing, because it’s easy to get the impression that it’s going to be this amazing passive income stream that will make you rich.

All that being said, licensing is still my favorite thing to do! It’s a little odd, because the money isn’t amazing, but it’s so rewarding to see your own prints on products and to know that you keep the copyright. At this point, it feels like a fun bonus every time I get a licensing check in the mail!

My in-house job is also rewarding! Next year, I will see my textile designs on products in Target, Home Goods, and Walmart. This is very exciting and extremely satisfying! I will be able to walk through the stores and say, “Hey, I did that!”

I think sometimes the narrative out there is that working an in-house job means you are some kind of failure, but I want to reject that. The fact that big box stores are buying my designs from my in-house job means I’m a pretty good designer!

And sure, I admit I wish my name was going to be on the products, but it won’t be, and that’s perfectly okay. I have the internal satisfaction of knowing my designs are selling out in the world, and honestly, that’s enough.

I also find that I can be more creative when I’m more relaxed and not so stressed about money. Having a reliable paycheck every month and a 401K allows me to pay my bills and feel financially secure. When I can be more relaxed about money, I can allow myself to play, experiment, and build up my portfolio without an insane amount of pressure.

I’m actually in a better place to work on my licensing portfolio, because I’m not scrambling for new freelance jobs, replying to art directors who are going to ghost me, or haggling my prices.

With a reliable income, I’m also able to take more courses and level up my business needs.

I also feel good about being able to provide for my daughter!

I know it shouldn’t be about this, but when I worked independently I realized a lot of my self-worth was tied to the amount of income I was able to bring in.

Mental health was a real struggle, because I felt like if my art wasn’t raking in the dollars then it was no good. And that’s simply not true!

I definitely felt like I grew a TON by having the experience of being an independent artist. I certainly learned way faster about the surface pattern industry by being immersed in it than I would have otherwise. I made a ton of friends and was bolder about reaching out to other designers… probably because I was spending most of my days alone.

I wouldn’t trade the experience at all!

But, at least for now, I feel a lot more stable and relaxed by working an in-house job as a Senior Textile Designer.

I say all of this so that you don’t feel bad if you are still working an in-house job as well. Being a full-time artist isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be!

Unless you have a partner to support you, or about 5 years worth of savings, or some fantastic freelance contacts…

I would actually recommend keeping your side hustle as your side hustle! At least until your side hustle is earning enough to support you and you feel really secure making that leap to going independent.

So, what are some of the side hustles you should work on in the meantime?

If you want to be independent one day, I’d first recommend working on developing your art style. I teach an entire program on developing your Art Style, and it’s the same process that worked for me when I exhibited at my first trade show.

I SO wish I’d been able to take a course like this before I made the jump to being a full-time artist. I would have been able to hit the ground running.

The course is called Art Style Academy and it uses my Triad Method of 3 stages to fully develop your own art style.

Check out the link in the show notes if you’re interested .. or you can always visit my website to find out more at LaurenLesley.com… and Lesley is spelled with an E-Y.

Thanks so much for listening! I’ll hopefully be back soon with some guest episodes. Bye!