r/arthelp

Hi there.

I’m a florist in Chicago. The shop I’m working under requires fun and funky projects. After years in healthcare and ignoring my artistic talents, I’m finally back in the game.

We sell candles that required a display. The owner gave the idea. I put it together. It was with less costly materials and very little time.

Someone came in and asked to buy a display. I was under the impression that they weren’t for sale. As for their usefulness, these expensive candles kept falling out of it and braking. I offered to commission a similar but better piece for the woman.

My manager (it’s just my manager, myself, and a coworker in the shop front most of the time) found out that I took it and asked the owner if “we” were allowed to do that.

The answer was no; that we could only do commissions through the shop; and with zero specifications as to how or with what materials.

I came home extremely upset- as this was told to me as we were leaving. I feel creatively boxed in with this situation. We’re a trio of extremely creative and artistic folks. If this woman wanted something that the shop couldn’t offer, I don’t see why I can’t do it.

My style of art is also generally more “extreme” than the store would like to promote- though this is a take piece.

Is this legal? What is happening? What can I say to the owner to let her know that I’m not okay with this without losing my job?

I've been trying to learn how to draw for exactly three months now. And I just don't know if it's for me, which sucks so hard because I really genuinely want to be able to draw for the longest time. But I don't feel like I ever will be able to.

I got a XPPen deco Pro LW for myself for my 18th birthday, not strictly for just drawing, but that was the main reason i bought it. For the first two weeks my mindset was mostly like "Oh of course it's gonna look bad I've only just started". But that mentality quickly died out after that, I felt like I didn't take a single step forward. So I tried even harder then "burned out" a couple days after that.

Since then I've tried to just push through which doesn't even last a whole week. I just don't have the willpower to run into the same brick wall over and over again, especially with school. I don't want to do anything that requires effort after school, because I'm just too tired. I have tried and it just felt like chore. I have tried drawing in the morning which kinda did work. But as of right now, I can't do that either because I sleep really poorly 9/10 nights so even in the morning I'm in the same exhausted state I am in when I finally come home.

So to get back to the point. I don't even know what to do, my ten most recent times I started to draw something has been like: draw one or two cubes then start on drawing a face then realize it kinda really sucks then quit. This processes takes around 30 min and just to be honest leaves me feeling worse about it. (Yes I'm that slow)
I would assume I have spent about 70ish hours drawing in the last 3 months and I wholeheartedly don't feel like I'm any closer than I was before.

I don't know how people can get through this part of learning art. I can't just keep drawing awfully for months on months and simply stick with it.
But I can't just quit either because, as I said, I really want to be able to make good looking drawings. But it just feels too hard to handle.

Thank you, to whoever reed through my little pity party.