I became pregnant in my final year of my illustration degree. It was an exciting surprise but it wasn’t ideal timing. It was a struggle getting through my degree and my career got off to a super slow start. I questioned if it was possible to make it in this crazy competitive industry with a baby on my knee. I did a lot of research at the time, I searched and scrolled the internet to find some hope for my future career goals but I really didn’t find much!
There were illustrators who were having their babies mid-career. There were illustrators beginning their careers with grown-up children or children at school. I found nothing that really comforted me and I couldn't see how i’d manage to juggle everything.
My daughter is 4 now, she started school in September 2020. The corona-coaster has added an all-new level of challenges, which could be a whole other blog post! Pandemic aside, I want to talk about juggling techniques that could offer some guidance and hope to illustrators or anyone at the start of their creative career journey with babies or young children in tow.
But first…
I’ll put my cards on the table .. I am still very early on in my illustration career too. I have to have other sources of income, my debut picture book is yet to be published and my client list is small. However, I feel like it’s all moving in the right direction at the moment and I’ve never felt more positive about achieving my career goals.
In the past year, i’ve really invested in my professional development, I’ve got a marketing strategy, a business plan and most importantly, I draw and paint and I do something creative every day. I’ve managed to achieve this during the pandemic, alongside some part-time work and all my other roles; cleaner, chef, first aider, nose wiper, entertainer, teacher, personal assistant, DIY-er, unicorn tea party facilitator, personal shopper, …. ….I mean, you get the point, it’s a long list !! Illustration is an incredibly competitive industry, there are so many people giving it their ‘all’ and some. When your ‘all’ is so divided, how can you compete?
It is certainly no easy ride but it is totally do-able and totally possible!
Give yourself a break!
There’s a reason women have maternity leave.
If you’ve just had a baby, it goes without saying that you need time to adjust to this insanely enormous change in your life. How much time you need is completely up to you and your needs. Many women have maternity leave for 9 months or a year, some much longer than that. I made the mistake of putting loads of pressure on myself to get my career off the ground straight after uni. I had a 2-month-old baby when I graduated, I was a walking muma zombie barely surviving the fourth trimester. What was I thinking?? I totally lost my mojo in that time, I was burnt out, exhausted and extremely emotional. If I had given myself a break maybe it wouldn’t have taken quite so long to get my creative mojo back.
Saying that, it is super hard to have a break sometimes, particularly if, like me, you need to draw like you need to eat. I think you can still find time for creativity without piling on the pressure.
Can you get some time while the baby sleeps? or do you have parents on hand to give you a break? or any other way to steal some childfree time? Use the time you have just to explore your creativity, experiment, play, and gather inspiration. At this stage, the best thing you can do is keep your creativity alive in any way you can. If it feels too difficult to pick up a pencil, you could try listening to podcasts, take loads of photos of things that inspire you, stroll around galleries (they’ll open soon!!) I used to do some location sketches while she slept in the pushchair. It’s amazing what you can do in a short space of time.
Embrace the Chaos
I am very lucky that I have a studio in my basement. My daughter loves it, its like an Aladins cave full of treasures. We often work together; Once I’ve set her up I get roughly 20-40 mins of (very unfocused) work time. I just go with it and try not to rely on that time to finish anything or come up with new ideas. She creates a lot of chaos in my studio, glitter everywhere, paint on everything, pom-poms, and toys in my water jar.. but I try my best to embrace it. She’s expressing herself. I learn so much from seeing her work. She’s spontaneous and responsive and doesn't let her thinking brain get in the way of her unadulterated creativity.
It all depends on how old your children are and how many you have, but manybe you can find a way to work with your child nearby or get them involved with a stage of your process. Let them create chaos in the living room while you sit and draw it?? Can they get involved in their own painting while you paint? Or play with some clay while you make your ceramics? Can you collaborate at all? (Check out Brandi Hofer, I am so inspired with how she involves her children in her process https://www.brandihofer.ca/ )
Talitha and I in 2016, sewing velvet lama cushions ready for a Christmas market stall.
Shift those Priorities.
Dust??? What’s that now????
Leave those dishes, the hoovering can wait, the washing pile isn’t going anywhere. Dusting, ironing??? it can definitely wait until …never.
When I have childcare, I do all my work first, it’s my priority! I will work until the main things on my to-do list are done. If I have any time leftover I’ll do the housework or I just chill because that’s important too. Do as much housework as you can while your child is there and awake. Stick the baby in a carrier while you vacuum, or if they’re older, get them involved. My daughter loves sweeping, she cleans the bathroom with me, and she helps ‘fold' the washing. Double up on housework and parenting tasks, try to make a fun game out of it so you can focus on working when they’re not around. If all else fails then invite the Netflix babysitter into your home and don’t feel guilty about it. You are teaching your children about having a good work ethic, chasing their dreams, and how to prioritise!! The house doesn’t stay clean for long anyway!
Late Nights / Early Mornings
I am not a morning person! I can’t wake up and get to work before my child wakes up. No no no, not a chance! I usually work for an hour in the evening. When Talitha goes to bed, I make a cup of tea (or a sneaky glass of wine) and get to work straight away. My day runs from 7am - 9/10pm and then I have an hour before bed to chill out.
After a day’s work, and/or a day of parenting, creativity doesn't come to me easily at all. I need to set myself up in my child-free time; I start a drawing in the daytime while she's at school so I can pick it up easier in the evening. I also like to use the evenings for working on the iPad, social media posts, invoicing, and answering emails because I can do this from the comfort of my sofa on my laptop while I watch TV. Then it feels less like work.
If I am completely honest, I do find it exhausting. I DO NOT do this every night, sometimes I’m just too tired. Sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode and sometimes I need to binge-watch a series and each chocolate. It’s all about balance. It’s also about making a habit of it. Starting new habits can be difficult, i’ve been listening to “Atomic Habits” by James Clear on Audible. There are some super helpful techniques in there!
Protect your Time.
The time I’m most creative and productive is my golden time. For some, it might be late at night or maybe at the crack of dawn, for me it’s mid-morning. The hours between 9am and 12pm are my most productive and creative hours. These are my thinking hours, it’s the time I generate ideas, I work out characters and compositions or I write blog posts or emails that require more thought. I know that by 3pm, when the school run is looming, I’m not going to come up with anything groundbreaking. If I really need to be productive, I create a little ring of protection around those hours. I ban my phone from my workspace, I schedule anything social or any appointments or meetings in the afternoons to make sure I can use my golden time to my advantage.
Try to work out when your golden time is and put a glass dome over it! Don’t let anyone intrude or distract you during that time. Don’t answer calls, don’t answer the door, don’t put the washing on. Sit down and do your thing!
Juggling the Financials
Money can often be a huge contributing factor in how much energy you can put into a creative career. Unless you get lucky (whatever that means) From what I can see, you have to put the leg work in at the beginning, Building up a portfolio, growing your following on social media, creating content, contacting potential clients or agents etc takes a lot of time that you won’t be paid for. I think it can be especially hard you’re hoping to rely on your creativity to feed your family, the pressure will destroy it. A part-time job can take the pressure off but it’s not ideal and it’s so tough. You already have a full-time job as a parent. Juggling a part-time job, illustration and parenting is full-on! It might take a little longer than you hope but hang on in there, I’m with you too! It won’t be forever!!
Helpful links, podcasts and groups
Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
This book changed my life!! It made me think very differently about creativity. A must for anyone who might have wandered off their creative path. It’s also on Audible, great if you're currently holding your eyes open with match sticks!
Doing it for the Kids
http://www.doingitforthekids.net/
A network of freelancers who are parents, trying to make it all work. It a great community, a real hive mind. They also have a podcast.
Creative Women Community
https://creativewomencommunity.com/
Support for female artists and illustrators - there’s also a podcast
Rebecca Green’s Blog and newsletters
http://myblankpaper.com/blog
Rebecca’s monthly blog posts are so encouraging and insightful, i’ve learnt a lot from them. Check out some of the back posts about creative block, exploration and play, etc
Gingerbread
https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/
A charity supporting single parent families in the UK
Artist Mother Podcast
https://artistmotherpodcast.com/
Lot’s of encouraging content about mother’s making their mark in the art world. They do some great courses, events and I love seeing the insta take-overs.
Parenting-Point
https://www.parenting-point.com
Empowering parents by providing practical guidance and psychological support before, during, and after their return to work.
Thank you for reading my first blog post!!
I hope you have found something useful there. It’s all hard work, but nothing good ever comes easily.