illustration career Archives - This is Sian Ellis

Notes From an Artist in Lockdown

Posted on June 14, 2020June 14, 2020 by sian

I hadn’t planned on this being today’s blog. It’s important to capture the time we are living in though. So business as usual aside, here’s a Covid catch up blog.

How Covid affects creation

Lockdown has been such a huge time for me as an artist. I have never spent so much time on my art professionally. I haven’t had this much free time since becoming a professional artist is why. More than these extra hours though, the landscape has changed. We are experiencing something huge which we need to respond to. It creates strict confines in which we can create within. So much physical activity has leapt online and I can access commissions, exhibitions and opportunities from my own home. These are opportunities that geography could have closed to me any other time.

We are also all experiencing this together. I don’t feel like a newbie artist under Covid. I feel that everyone is being shaken out of their comfort zone. We are all relearning. Everyone is a newbie again, and so the youthfulness of my career feels less apparent.

Not all Rosy

Although I can embrace change quickly and find a way through it to strengthen my business, we are ultimately still in a difficult and dark time. We are combating this huge cloud over our creations. Of course we are all stressed. We miss people. We have multiple reasons to worry. It’s not even like we can even go to the pub to drown our sorrows with friends. The dream of all these hours to create is tarnished by our exhaustion. It’s not just the pandemic either. The political climate is hostile. The awful murder of George Floyd, British and US backwards steps in the face of trans rights, the phrase anti- anti fascists. It doesn’t away feel like sharing my art is the most appropriate use of the internet.

My business as a comfort

What I am really thankful for at the moment is the community attached to my business. The organisations and individuals I work with on commissions. The other artists I meet. My super lovely customers and social media followers. You guys make me feel connected is this time of great disconnect. You guys have supported me financially and emotionally throughout lockdown. I never realised before how much going into business by yourself can make you feel so connected to others.

Work/work/life balance: getting it right, getting it wrong

Posted on July 21, 2019July 9, 2019 by sian

We are all told how important it is to get a proper work/life balance. What about when you have two works? How do you balance your work/work/life balance? What about if what is now your work, always used to sit as a hobby in the ‘life’ part?

Before I go any further I should make one thing clear. This is not a how to, it’s a confession. I don’t balance these things very well at the moment. As you may know, I work part time on my business and part time as an events fundraiser. My charity work leaves me three days and evenings each week for everything else. And there’s a LOT of everything else. Friends, family, loved ones, pooch, pub, eating, drinking, Netflix and holidays.

Then there’s the everything else else. Admin, emails, murals, digital sketching, posting orders, applying to markets, selling my work, monitoring my stockists, practicing my craft. Then there’s my number one love of my life; good old fashioned sleep. Plus, there’s the times that my fundraising job steals extra hours from my weekends and evenings as well as my brain space in other hours too. My job is wonderful and I love it but it’s pretty full on and there’s always lots to think about. How do you do it all?

Spoiler alert: I don’t.

Well,I do. But I don’t get the quantities right. I always want more lie ins, more puppy cuddles and more time for the people who mean the most to me than I am currently getting and giving. Visiting family is hard when it is going to take at least a weekend with all the travelling, but there never seems to be a weekend free.

Then there’s my business. I have a huge to do list. At first it was a ‘one day I want to try this’ to do list. Then it became a ‘things to do when you get chance’ to do list. Now? Now it’s a ‘here’s everything due soon’ to do list. There’s no time to learn new artistic skills, explore new avenues or research new opportunities.

Spend your time wisely

I am slowly learning that the reality is that until a cure for needing to sleep is invented, there is just no way to have it all. The trick is to priorities. Learn to say no, value your time and carve away time for what is important to you. If it helps to block out a night to spend time with friends, do it. Make it obvious in your calendar and don’t shift it for anything. I find booking tickets for shows makes me not miss those dates, so do what you have to to keep that time for you. Monitor your work balance. make sure you only agree to jobs you have time for. Only jobs you want to do. Your time is precious so treat it so. When you know you are going to be busy with something else, take on less.

and perhaps most importantly…

TAKE.TIME.OFF.

I can’t stress this enough. Don’t feel guilty about recharging and relaxing. it is vital and necessary. Schedule it in and stick to it. In the midst of all of my million commitments I always allow myself time for me. It keeps you sane and helps you to have the clarity of mind to decide how you want to spend the rest of your time and how to priorities it.

We all want to build successful business, and the income can be a strong allure. Just make sure that you are never letting it cost you too much from your energy and life. If it helps, remember this,

No one on their death bed ever regretted that they didn’t work enough days in their life

Half Year Goals Review

Posted on July 7, 2019June 23, 2019 by sian

I know it was only April when I reviewed these goals but I always wanted to review them often. Reviewing them means changing them too. I need to take frequent stock to work out if they are the right goals for me at the right time.

On that note, I think I will have to change them too, but for good reason. I have nearly, acheieved them all! It’s not so much amending them, as setting new ones. Not only have I reached my annual goals in only half a year but my business is totally different too.

Different how?

Well my aims are still the same but I’m doing a lot better than I ever imagined, for a while people have been telling me that my illustration seems to have ‘taken off’. That’s always the phrase they used and I always thought I was just doing a good job of marketing. It’s only recently when Iv e had back to back commissions and smashed my goals list that I’ve started to agree.

Ok, so back to these goals I keep hearing about

Get 1200 followers on instagram

Have products stocked in 2 stockists

Increase to 100 sales on Etsy

Have a stall at a niche market

Get 20 reviews on etsy

Increase etsy product number to 50

Secure a large commission

Invest in a new type of product

The only ones I haven’t achieved yet are the 1200 followers on Instagram and the 100 sales on Etsy. I have 1100 followers and have about 20 sales to go. I am well on my way to achieving both. The number of stockists interested in my work has doubled. I have reached the large commission goal a whopping six times over. My product range is still growing but I don’t think it should be rushed. That goal needs a rethink.

Gulp. I’m going to have to set new goals

It’s nerve wrecking but necessary. That’s freelance life in a nutshell. Visit my next weeks blog to find out what my new goals are going to be!