Are You Really Called to Be a Professional Creative?

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Make Like Your Maker: Making What Your Maker Made You to Make.

Should You Be a Professional Creative?

In the early days of my art career, I felt the need to be a professional. Mainly because I wanted to tell the world, “I am a professional artist.” I wanted to do this for a living, and so I did. I took anything I could get and in the process, I ended up doing some of the most unfulfilling work of my life. Yes on paper, I could say I was a professional artist, but in the process I lost the joy of making art. And something else happened.

Living the Dream, One Nightmare At a Time

I lost the plot. Taking anything I could get so I could get my identity from what I did, took me right outside the will of God. God gave me the ability to make art, but I don’t think He intended me to be a professional artist, as in making art and selling it to earn a living. He gave me the abilities He gave me as a tool to be used in ministering the Gospel. As I look back, my dream as a child was not just to make art. It was to make art and tell stories, and from that I began to look at all the ways other people make a living with their gift and tried to do what they did. That was not what God intended for me. My dream was becoming a nightmare.

Misguiding Myself

Today I believe that childhood dream was a calling. I just didn’t understand how. I wasn’t a believer when I first had that dream. Telling stories was always part of the plan for me, but when I had the dream, I didn’t yet know the Story. At times I thought I would be an actor, a rockstar, a comic artist (which if you think about it, really is a crossover of art and story), and a lot of other dreams. 

Where the Opportunities Were?

I settled on commercial art, (and I do mean settled) because it’s where the opportunities were, but in the process, my art jobs were things like designing grocery circulars, flyers and publications, all the while grabbing any freelance work I could get. I pretty much ended up unfulfilled, exhausted and broke. The Maker always provided, but I wasn’t in His will. I was working so hard to be a “professional artist” that I was pushing most of the good things in my life to the fringes, including Him.”

I Needed an Art Degree, Right?   

Further I blamed my lack of success as an artist on the fact that I didn’t have an art degree. I’m not anti-education and I’m not against degrees. Today I have three, but you need to know something. You don’t need a degree to be an artist. To be an artist, you need to do two things, make art and share it with the world. 

Was It a Waste of Time?

To be clear, the problems in this era of life were mostly my fault. It was me who found my worth in what I did for a living, and it manifested into what could be called idolatry. Here’s the thing. The Bible tells us “if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13 ESV) God remained faithful, and even though I was way out of balance, God provided. This time was not wasted. God used it to provide for me and my family. I learned a lot of skills, from design software to web design and when He finally got through to me, and I surrendered, I had many of the skills I needed to take the next step. God was faithful. 

For the Love of Creating

The other option beside being a professional artist is being an amateur. If you look up the origin of the word amateur on Google, the AI tells you this: “The word “amateur” comes from the French word amateur, which comes from the Latin word amator meaning “lover.” Further, it says, “someone who practiced art for enjoyment, not for money.” Maybe we’re better off being amateurs. People who create our work for the joy of creating. Or even better stated we create to the glory of God and allow Him to provide what we need. 

The Call to the Art World

Now to be clear there are people who are called to be professional artists, making their living from their creations, and if that’s you, may the Maker bless you. Use your gift for all it’s worth, and bring the Gospel into wherever God leads. If on the other hand your art career is all pressure and no joy, maybe it’s time to change the way you look at what you’re doing. Maybe you need to ask God what He would have you do with your gift. 

God Comes Through

The truth is, there are a lot of ways to use your creative gifts. It’s funny, in the last decade, people in hundreds of venues around the U.S. have paid me to come and make art. I usually end up giving the finished paintings away. I haven’t sold much art recently. It’s not about the art for me. God has shown me that, for me, art is a tool to draw people into Gospel messages. Since I’ve been doing that, my work has gotten better, I’ve done a lot more of it, and it brings me joy. Making is fun again.

Do What You Love, Trust Your Maker

Are you really called to be a professional creative? Maybe or maybe not, but this leads into a larger issue. We are not what we do. As Christians, out identity is not found in our careers, our identity is found first and foremost, in the fact that we are children of the Maker. Maybe instead of getting so caught up in whether or not we are professional artists, we should do what we do, for the love of God and for the joy of the craft. Find your identity in Christ, and make like your Maker.