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As of August 22, it's officially been 7 years since I opened Young Artists' Place for business!

7 years of goal-setting,

7 years of trying to make art a sustainable career.

7 years! That's the longest I've ever stuck with something in my life.

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My big-picture dream has always been to have a day job that provides the income necessary to be able to live a happy life, be financially independent, and create the art I want.

Since I graduated college, I've maintained a habit of keeping a planner, and writing my goals in my journal every year.

In 2016...

• 2 students attended my art classes
• I got my first EVER paid commercial illustration gig (before this, I had only done personal commissions or volunteer artwork)

Contrast this with 2023:

• 297 students have attended our art classes this year so far
• With the help of my literary agent, I've just signed the contract on the biggest art project I've ever taken on (!!)

It feels important to acknowledge that a super important part of being able to make progress has been luck and privilege. My dad is supportive of my art career, and he's given me financial help beyond what I could've asked or expected. But so did everyone else in the family: my aunt Fantine helped me register my business when I was first getting started, and my grandparents and aunt Laura let me live with them rent-free for over 4 years. For this, I'll forever be so grateful.

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The other part of it was getting really clear on what I want. It was only by keeping my eyes on the prize that I was able to keep showing up and taking baby steps towards my goal of having a sustainable day job and having my comics published.

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Here are the goals I set for myself at the end of 2016.

2017 Goals

1. Create a picture book portfolio
2. Finish drawing Chicken Soup (me and Naomi Cui's webcomic)
3. Attend the SCBWI conference
4. Submit to picture book publishers

Well, to this day, I haven't ended up doing any of these except for #2, finishing Chicken Soup. And I'm so glad I did, because it helped me realize how much I love comics and wanted to do that, instead of picture books.

Looking back on 2017, this is what I ended up doing that year.

• I made the decision to give up pursuing picture books and start pursuing comics
• I ended the most serious romantic relationship I'd ever had at that point
• I read self-help books, engaged in impulsive behaviour, and bad decisions to try to find my identity
• On the bright side, I met two of my best friends, Tray & Charlie! And they stuck with me despite me being messy as heck.

Anyway, it's kind of cool knowing that it's ok to NOT achieve your goals. Sometimes a better goal will come along. Sometimes, it's because there were fires to put out and glass balls to keep juggling. And it's also kind of cool to know that even though I didn't seem to achieve much that year, I actually took important steps to pave the way for my future happiness.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with finding your own path to happiness! <3