By Griffin Mancuso
I have only been angry once after being told art was a fruitless pursuit. I was sitting in a square classroom decorated with prints of the U.S. Constitution, previous presidents, and the U.S. flag. At the front of the classroom was my 8th grade history teacher, who would practice his golf swings while we worked and was not as good at hiding his republican beliefs as he thought he was — he was also a bit of a hater.
He decided to go on a 10-minute lecture about how pursuing art as a career isn’t worth the effort and won’t make you enough money to live off of, even if you do get a job. Not practical, he said.
Eight years later, I am at a California College Media Association awards banquet in Long Beach. I am wearing a gaudy southern dress shirt and I am watching the projector screen at the front of the room as some of the best journalists in the state are recognized for their efforts.
“First place [for best illustration], Cal Poly Humboldt’s The Lumberjack!” the host announced.
I completely lose my strength and start laughing, slumped against the table as the image of my burly bear lumberjack wearing red fishnets is displayed for the entire state to see. Practical? Maybe not. But I have never heard so much laughter from the audience in all three years I’ve attended that conference.
The Situation with Oversaturation
Us artists have probably heard countless times that the art industry is “oversaturated” and that finding success to the point of earning a comfortable living wage is nearly impossible, or just comes down to dumb luck. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that art and design occupations are projected to grow at about the same rate as other occupations from 2023 to 2033. About 87,900 openings are projected each year, and the median annual salary in May 2023 was $51,660. This statistic, of course, doesn’t include freelance artists who have ascended beyond the bounds of corporate work.
The BLS reports that the top three careers that are facing decline in the next 10 years aren’t even art-related. Word processor and typist jobs are predicted to decline by 38% from 2023-2033, roof bolting and mining jobs will decline by 32% and telephone operator jobs will drop by 26.4%.
Of course, there are far more than 87,900 artists in the U.S. The BLS’s data also applies to a wide range of occupations like interior designers, art directors and even florists. If you look into more specific positions like graphic designers, the numbers are a little less hopeful. Some positions are going to be highly competitive — who hasn’t wanted to be a storyboard artist at one point? — but saturation in the art industry isn’t equally distributed.
The Need for a Niche
My cunty lumberjack taught me a valuable lesson about finding success in art — you have to like what you’re doing, and you have to find your niche. There’s a reason fursuit makers are swimming in their pool of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck. If you force yourself to cater to a market you’re not that passionate about, you are going to be miserable and it is going to show in your work. If it did work, we’d all be making fursuits.
One of the perks of working in art is that almost every facet of society needs it. An artist designed the McDonald’s logo, an artist created those weird sparkly Humboldt crosswalks in Arcata and an artist designed the packaging of your cough drops you’ve been inhaling for the last week. Your “niche” can be as niche as it gets, even if it doesn’t sound that cool when people ask you what you do for work.
I will forever encourage artists to explore different areas of the art industry because they may unexpectedly find their new passion. Someone needs their album covers designed, someone needs a visual director for the new line of Kanha edibles, and for me, someone needed a top fold design for a Valentine’s Day newspaper. If you can’t find a job that you’re really interested in, you can create your own. There are plenty of people who make a living off of selling their own products and commissions, and there’s an immense joy to be found in seeing people wearing or using your art.
That obviously doesn’t mean you have to abandon your current art pursuits, but it may not be the thing that’s making you a living wage. And who says you only have to have one job? That being said, please girlboss responsibly.
Make Your Own Luck
Like most jobs, getting into art isn’t going to be easy. Finding your speciality and building a portfolio is a skill in and of itself and will require a lot of research, perseverance, and trial and error. Unfortunately, sometimes it is pure dumb luck. I had no idea there was a market among college students for sexy, burly lumberjacks in crop tops and booty shorts, but luck in this industry isn’t fully based on chance. It’s determined by what you believe you’re capable of and if you’re willing to take your ridiculous ideas to the moon. That one fit of creative passion you got at 3 a.m. may become a pivotal point in your career.
Above all, find something that drives you and don’t let go of that. If you’re like me, maybe it’s to spite your 8th grade history teacher. Maybe it’s buying that cabin in the woods and smoking a pipe while you paint the forest landscape. Maybe it’s just to make a comfortable living in this capitalist landscape. Let that motivation propel you forward as you keep searching for your place in this ever changing industry. It may just lead you to something unexpected.
Griffin Mancuso is a journalism major and one of the managing editors of The Lumberjack. He has written stories for every category in the paper, but particularly enjoys writing human-centric stories. He has also freelanced for the North Coast Journal and News Decoder.
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