Sta.sh
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.......... The design MUST HAVE ONLY 2 COLORS; BLACK AND WHITE
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this journal 
One sentiment I hear quite often on this website is "real artists don't do art for money."
Putting aside the adorable naivete of this comment, the underlying assumption is that artists who sell their work are selling a part of themselves, in a way devaluing the very thing they create. To some, creation is the kind of thing only the gods do, and a monetary transaction sullies that divinity.
I can understand the allure of this opinion. It's nice to think of yourself as above such a petty thing as money. But I am more than a creator. I'm a consumer, and what I consume is food, and food is how I live long enough to create art in the first place. And even if I could make my money in other ways (for example, smuggling yaks), I wouldn't want to live in a world where every single bag, bottle and box of sustenance was devoid of artwork, nothing more than a flat, boring piece of typography (and it would have to be comic sans; every other font is a work of art in and of itself!). I don't think I'd like being treated to advertisements that amounted to "Buy this product" because no artists were consulted, no writers commissioned, to make that ad pleasing to the eye and worthy of my brain's attention.
These same folks more often than not believe artists are special, chosen, that if everyone could create art that art would start to lose its meaning.
There's something kind of distasteful and selfish about this attitude to me. I think of art as a language that makes the world more beautiful, or at least a little more interesting. Wherever you find it (and you can find it in places you least suspect) it's telling a story and doing its job. If you see commercial art as soulless and plastic and fake, fine by me, but I wouldn't care for the alternative - a world where art was planted like a flag at the top of a mountain and only the upper echelons of society could reach it and see it and understand it. Art on advertisements and soda cans and children's books may not seem culturally relevant or even always pleasing to the eye, but it has a purpose. It brings art to the non-artist. It makes life a little nicer.
(Besides...I wouldn't want to work in any other field. Getting to do what I love for a living is awesome, even if I am considered a sellout for it.)
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:steps down of of the soap box: Nothing like being accused of selling out to get an artists dander up. What are they wanting us to do? give our valuable time away for FREE? dream on...
I couldn't agree with you more, Hon.
Honestly, for me doing commissions and the like it wonderful. I love doing art but can't seem to find the ideas to draw nearly as often as I'm inspired to draw. So when someone else provides the idea, I can let loose and just enjoy creating stuff!
There are some who consider art to be anything that one doesn't do for self-preservation or procreation...so if you're using it to survive, one who classifies this way wouldn't see it as art.
It may also come from an inferiority/superiority complex...(I'm not sure which
There's also the fear of the man: yes, it may wear on an artist when they have to constantly crank out impersonal peices, but beyond that-- some artists are asked to use their art for projects that are against their own beliefs. It's when an artist gives up their integrity for money that their creations are no longer art, in my opinion.
Would you possible allow this journal to be published in a zine? I have a friend putting one together and this is just the kind of thing she's looking for. It would be nice to share this kind of contemplation with even more people!
And in fact i always loved commercial artwork, be it print, commercial or package. You see a lot of shit out there, but you'll also run across some amazing ads, those where people integrated their creativity and talents to make.
Besides I always figured art was about what makes you happy, sooo if you're good at making commercials and you like it. Isn't that art at it's finest?
i like to embrace both worlds!
"Artist" is too vague; it tells you nothing about a person. I usually find that people who excessively call themselves "artists" are rather highfalutin and priggish and generally unlikable. Maybe it's just the circles I roll in.