Hi,
If you’re reading this, you’re reading a very old entry from before I launched the website. I wanted to write something some of you might relate to, and maybe even take as a cautionary tale.
Hear me out. There’s nothing totally wrong with art school… if you’re going to Juilliard or something along those lines.
I went to a design school, and the best way I can sum it up is show and tell. And a lot of essays.
Lots and lots of essays.
I’m still grateful for the experience. It taught me life skills I was too disassociated to learn in high school. Time management. Collaboration. Stress management. How to pace your sleep schedule just enough to survive frequent all nighters.
But more than anything, I learned that life isn’t fair. At least in the art world, it isn’t.
My entire art life felt like one long submission.
Which drawing gets into the yearbook.
Which one becomes a mural.
Which one wins a scholastic award.
Which one gets picked for a local festival.
Which one gets chosen for “real” work.
And eventually that turns into competing for projects with companies like Kohl's, Johnsonville, local magazines, or Carmex.
Then it hit me once I became a professional.
It’s cheaper to pay a student than a full time artist.
You get me?
Artists will always be exploited in some way if you let them be. And if you’re not careful, you start tying your worth to whether you get picked.
I used to feel ashamed for not being chosen. Like I wasn’t good enough. Like I was missing something.
But life is way more abundant than that.
Your potential is worth more than a critique.
More than an all nighter.
More than unpaid “opportunities” dressed up as exposure.
You don’t need permission to be an artist. You don’t need to win anything to prove it.
You just need to make something.
That’s really the core of why I created Don’t Complicate It Just Doodle.
Because somewhere along the way, creating stopped being simple. It became strategic, stressful, performative. And honestly, that’s where a lot of people get stuck.
This is just a way back to it.
Back to making things without overthinking every line.
Back to trusting your ideas.
Back to actually enjoying it again.
Because when you stop waiting to be picked, you start building something that’s yours.
For real.
