Contracted Vs. Creative

By Daniel Jenney, Artrepreneur Pro Member

I love being an artist. It’s so fulfilling to have creative outlet. However, the bills need to be paid and private art sales can be notoriously unreliable and inconsistent. Corporate sales have currently dried up due to every new venture being put on hiatus for the pandemic. What are we Artrepreneurs to do in the day to day?

I do contracted work, daily. I have done contracted photography work for over 15 years. As a percentage of overall work and income, it is probably 90% of my year. Contracted work can be challenging and fulfilling. It feels good to use your skills, get out, and create something a client has only in their mind’s eye It also can be deeply frustrating though. Having to “color inside the lines” and stay on assignment can feel restrictive and smothering. It can become a grind if you let it, and many artists have come to resent contracted work after being inundated by it.

In order to avoid burn-out or not lose passion, I approach contracted work in these ways. First, I try to understand the client's point of view. Second, I remind myself that it is a means to get to use my creative side as well as an excellent marketing opportunity. And finally, it's forced practice.

Contracted work can be anything from painting a family portrait to shooting a commercial to freelance photography for a magazine. Each job comes with its own unique demands. As artists, we have to remember that some of us get to create and be immersed in art every day whereas the client may only dabble. So be patient. Maybe they only need or want a piece of art once a year, or once ever. So as blasé as an assignment may seem on paper, it's special to them.

For example, I have seen so many spectacularly grand views, they don’t even register anymore, I approach them analytically. For example, I say "I need this f-stop at this shutter speed at this camera height to avoid lens flair and reflection, etc.. " And then the client says, “Have you EVER seen such a view?!” I realize it is completely unique and special to them.

As cynical as this will sound, it is true that contracted work is a means to an end. Bluntly, I am getting paid to use my creative knowledge and skills in a niche business where I have built a reputation. It pays the bills and that allows me to work at my chosen craft daily. I have art as a side-hustle or a passionate hobby while a “normal” job occupies the lion share of my time. In the end, contracted work allows me to never put my camera down.

I can also say without a doubt that all this contracted work has formed and influenced my artistic voice. I would not be who I am today without the years of jobs for which I never received credit nor barely remember. Each situation was different, with its own challenges and clients' expectations. All these jobs forced me to use my artistic muscles daily, to find the “right” shot, to adjust and adapt on the fly. My art deals a lot in contrast and angularity. My eye has been tuned through all the years of contracted work experience where now I see those things nearly instantly.

So don’t approach contracted pieces or assignments as getting in the way of you creating your art. Treat it like homework. Realize its practice, its forming your voice, maybe its influencing what you DON’T want to say, but that’s important too. Bottom line, it's making you a better artist.