Rebranding myself: Journeyman Artist and proud of it, or You don't know "Jack".

jour·ney·man

/ˈjərnēmən/

Learn to pronounc

noun

noun: journeyman; plural noun: journeymen

1. 1.

   a worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding.

   "a solid journeyman professional"
2. 2.

   HISTORICAL

   a trained worker who is employed by someone else.

   "a journeyman carpenter"

As I enter my 70s and I look back on my creative life and career in commercial art, I come to embrace the term: "Journeyman Artist" as a fair description of my career, my creative life's journey, with a sense of pride, not as an insult as some might view the term.  Considering that from that time in junior high school when I was asked by my guidance consulter to decide on a career path (they did that back then) I choose to pursuit my hobby of drawing and art as my career path, to become a commercial artist  (actually, astronaut was my first choice, but failure at math derailed that pipe dream).  I think I remember one book in the school library on commercial art, and it wasn't encouraging. Thinking back, I realized I had no back up career in mind.  So. I'm glad to say, all things considered, I achieved my goal in a round about way, with many starts and stops, and side trips, which didn't end when stepping away and retiring from the animation business in 2008. Making art is too much a part of me to totally abandon it.

 

Someone, I had once met, once referred to me as a "Renaissance Man" when he found out I was an artist (illustrator), played guitar (never above hobbyist) and wrote songs (again, nothing beyond a hobbyist).   Plus , I wrote stories (original comic book Sci-Fi adventures, at the time). I always liked that image of myself, as a Renaissance Man.  But, in my darkest moments of an introvert's self-doubt I'd think of it as being a "Jack of All trades..." and the lesser used ending of that saying "...and master of NONE". In any case, I'm hoping to continue pursuing my interests in all the creative areas of my life that have atrophied over time as I pursued a professional  career, which causes you to specialize in one area to be marketable, and into retirement.  I plan to use my Youtube channel and my blog to showcase my past, present ,and future endeavors.  Stick around, maybe "knowing "Jack" isn't a bad idea.

Here's the banner for my Youtube page:  https://www.youtube.com/user/DragonflyEnt