Finding Joy in the Creative Journey: Delores’s Story of Overcoming Fears
In this episode of The Creative JuggleJoy Podcast, titled "Overcoming Fears and Finding Joy in the Creative Journey," I share my own creative story, from my early days in commercial art to becoming an art entrepreneur and teacher. Whether you're just starting out or are an experienced creative, this episode is filled with inspiration, lessons learned, and practical tips on navigating the ups and downs of a creative career.
Facing and Overcoming Fear
I talk about moving to the big city with dreams of becoming a commercial artist and the fears that come with such a bold step—both the fear of failure and, surprisingly, the fear of success. For many of us, these fears can feel paralyzing, but I share how I pushed through them to find fulfillment in my creative work.
Using Feedback for Growth
One of the key lessons from this episode is the value of feedback. I share my personal experiences with feedback, both positive and negative, and how I learned to view it as a valuable tool for growth. This mindset shift was crucial for my creative development, and I encourage listeners to embrace feedback as a way to learn and improve, rather than fearing it.
Building a Creative Community
Throughout the episode, I emphasize the importance of storytelling and community in the creative world. Being part of a supportive creative community can make all the difference in staying motivated and inspired. I invite you to reach out, share your stories, and connect with others—because together, we grow stronger.
My Journey from Commercial Art to Teaching
This episode also highlights my transition from working in commercial art to becoming a teacher. While this move had its challenges, it allowed me to create art on my own terms and find new joy in teaching others. Sometimes taking a risk and trying something different opens doors to unexpected opportunities.
Personal Growth Alongside Creative Success
I also share personal experiences that shaped my journey, such as my husband’s battle with cancer, which pushed me to grow both emotionally and professionally. My story is a reminder that finding joy in your creative journey is possible, even when life throws its biggest challenges your way.
Conclusion
In this episode, I reflect on overcoming fears and finding joy through creativity. If you're navigating your own creative path, I hope my story gives you the inspiration and encouragement you need to push through and embrace the joys of the journey.
If you found this episode valuable, please like, subscribe, and share it with others. I’d love to hear your own stories and welcome you to be part of this supportive creative community.
A quick snap of my recent Thrive Meeting with Stacie Bloomfield; it was so much fun!
Transcript:
Delores Naskrent:
Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting episode of Creative Juggle Joy, where we explore the art of building a thriving creative business while balancing all your other responsibilities. I'm your host for today, Delores Naskrent, and I'm excited to share my story with you. In previous episodes, you've started to learn a little bit more about me and I think throughout these episodes, what I want to do is dive deep and connect with you on a really personal level. I'll reflect on my own journey as an art entrepreneur and the valuable lessons that I've learned along the way and I mean I'm still learning. Honestly, every day. There seems to be something new that I'm learning.
Delores Naskrent:
If you feel uncertain about the future or you're struggling to make decisions in your artistic path, I'm hoping that my story provides you with some encouragement and inspiration. Let's take a little bit of a journey back in time. I often wish that I could speak to my younger self, that version of me that was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to leap into the unknown. My bags were all packed and I was moving to the big city to become a commercial artist. That's what it was called back in the day, and we're talking like 35-40 years ago, but I knew exactly what I wanted. I was super excited, but I was also filled with doubts about whether it would all be worth it. If you're feeling that way right now, I want you to know. I totally get it. I'm going to be honest with you. The road ahead is not going to be super easy. You may have heard it before before, but it's worth acknowledging.
Delores Naskrent:
Pursuing your passion in the commercial art world can be really challenging, and while we don't actually set out looking for an easy path, it's natural to wonder if the effort will yield rewards. You can't help but hear all the stories that sound like people are having overnight success. I know I had dreams of becoming a designer or an illustrator, but, believe me, I had to pay my dues. I knew that as I worked in the big city. The jobs I really wanted seemed within my grasp, but kind of just out of reach. And you know, fear can really hold us back, can't it? There's that fear of failure, of course, but there's also that peculiar feel, or fear, of success. You might be thinking what if all my hard work, all those late nights and sacrifices lead to nothing? I know it's scary. Here's the truth. You must push through that fear. Yes, doubt can be nagging, but I promise you it'll be worth it in the end.
Delores Naskrent:
When I talk about worth it, I am reflecting on the joy that I find in my work. The passion I feel is what really gives me purpose. It's not just about the end result, it's about the impact we can have on others, the lives we can touch and the communities we create. I think about the transformations that I have seen happen and that happens when I see someone who is really dedicated to their craft. That is a truly beautiful gift.
Delores Naskrent:
I won't shake a quote. I really won't, because this journey can be hard. It might be the hardest thing that you have ever done and you may want to quit at times. Have ever done and you may want to quit at times. I'm really lucky if that only hits me like once a week. It really does actually hit me more often than I would care to admit. I can be that person that second guesses every decision I make, but you know, despite the struggles, it's absolutely worth it pushing through. When I think back about it, I probably can't really even tell you the exact thing that made me think it wasn't worth it at one particular moment. But then again I kept going and I know how far I've come.
Delores Naskrent:
One of the things that really has helped me throughout my career is getting feedback. The value of feedback is so, so important. I know exactly what you're thinking, because it's really hard, especially at first when you're an artist or a creator of any kind, to share your work, because you feel really vulnerable. It's kind of a feeling of I don't know a combination of shyness and fear. I think it's because feedback kind of invites scrutiny and sometimes it can sting to hear criticism, especially from those we admire. I can remember so many times that I felt really crushed when I heard something. But the important takeaway for me anyways was that feedback was not necessarily a reflection of my worth. So what I'm talking about when I say a reflection of my worth, I think I need to kind of explain that a little bit more, because often criticism says more about the person giving it than about your abilities. So, for example, when someone judges your work, take a moment to filter that information. Their perspective is just that it it's really just their perspective. So learn from it, but don't let it shake your confidence.
Delores Naskrent:
I can remember being in person at a craft sale and just listening to someone in my booth make a comment about my artwork and at first, when I would hear things like that, I would be really crushed and I would feel very like I would be really questioning my work. And then when I really started to listen and listen to a ton of comments rather than just one I realized that that was just a matter of opinion and it was just that one person. When I really listened, for the most part I heard the absolute opposite. So you know from my story that I stepped out of working as a commercial artist into teaching my trade way back in 1987. So I continued to freelance in graphic design but I pretty much put away the pursuit of my initial dream of becoming a designer or an illustrator. So in the commercial art trade, just imagine that designer or illustrator is pretty much the upper echelon. Illustrator is pretty much the upper echelon Before you get to that level. If you're working in the trade, you do a lot of other things before you get to the level of becoming a designer.
Delores Naskrent:
I made it to the point of being an art director in one of the places that I worked, but there were still people above me and those people were the illustrators or the designers. I know it sounds really strange, but that's the way the industry was back in the day. So I had worked over 20 years in the commercial art trade before I started creating and selling my own products. So I started to offer my work by selling it at craft sales, so in-person sales, and then eventually wholesaling and then selling online. But I did all of those things before I stumbled into the world of art licensing, which turned out to be the real game changer for me. Which turned out to be the real game changer for me. There's a whole other story there that I'd love to share here one day, but that happened to me. I think it was approximately 2000. And I don't know if it was 2007, 2008, right about there. My first licensing contract allowed me to create my own art out of pure love, and I was free from specific client demand.
Delores Naskrent:
So this is the comparison for you to wrap your head around. When you're working as a commercial artist, you are always trying to bring to life something that someone else is imagining. So the ideas are not your own. The ideas are the client's and you're trying to please the client by creating something that they're happy with. So you're really not creating your own work, you can definitely put your own spin on it, and when you get to the level of being an illustrator or a designer, then you are definitely putting a ton of yourself into it. But it's completely different than just creating art for the art, for art's sake, if you know what I mean.
Delores Naskrent:
So when I was starting to create art that I was selling at craft sales and stuff, I was creating my art, I wasn't creating art for someone else, and it was truly liberating. And so when I got that opportunity for my first art licensing contract and, believe me, there's a whole story that at some point I will share with you about this, believe me, at that point it was so, so liberating. I can't tell you how much satisfaction I got from creating art that I just liked, I thought was pretty, and that I could share with the world. It had my name on it, it was no one else's idea, it was me, it was all me, and it was literally from that point that I dared, that I actually dared to dream. That moment validated my work and it reignited a fire within me that I thought had burned out. The success that I've experienced with art licensing surpasses anything I could have imagined. And now sharing what I've learned with all of you fills me with such joy. But, believe you me, there were so many ups and downs and remember I was still teaching full time. So this is all happening. I'm teaching full time. I've got three kids, yeah, wow.
Delores Naskrent:
Another important lesson that I wished someone had shared with me is that personal growth is just as crucial as professional development. It's essential to nurture your emotional intelligence and insights alongside your career progression. So what I'm trying to say here is I found myself struggling I guess that's the simplest way to put it when I left my position back in 2017, 17. I had had my art licensing, I had had my in-person sales, I had been teaching for 30 years, but I found myself struggling. I know it sounds strange, but here I am now, looking to the future, I'm retiring, I'm leaving teaching, but at that point, honestly, the spark had gone from my work and I was searching for meaning.
Delores Naskrent:
And right at that moment, if you can believe this, this was spring break, so we're talking early March of the year that I was retiring. I was so excited that I was going to be finally not having to come to school every single day and right at that moment my husband was diagnosed with cancer. So then suddenly stepping away from my secure paycheck was terrifying, but the thought of losing my husband even more so. So talk about a triple whammy, you know. Just not knowing what I was going to be doing, like all of a sudden, my day to day job was done and my husband was fighting for his life, and here I was stepping away from my secure paycheck Wow.
Delores Naskrent:
Anyways, through that painful experience, I discovered that self-discovery and personal growth is a lifelong journey. I had to take a step back and reflect on what I truly wanted from life, and it became crystal clear I wanted more. So I began exploring various courses and doing a lot of what I think you guys are doing right now, which is exploring. I just knew that it was time for something new. It was then that I stumbled upon two of the mentors I still work with today, and from those two I began to really see a way forward. So my mission is to support you in finding your creative path, as I found support when I needed it.
Delores Naskrent:
I'm going to share a lot more about this as time goes along, but I want artists like you to thrive on this beautiful journey of creating and selling your art. Whether your passion is digital illustration or surface pattern design or another form of creative expression, maybe painting, or you're creating a physical product, there's a place for you in the art world. I focus mainly on digital illustration and I love teaching artists now to work with tools like Procreate and Affinity Designer. These programs can transform your artistic practice, because they definitely transformed my artistic practice, and I'm excited to guide you through the capabilities of these programs in future episodes, of course, and in my teachings in my school and whatnot. I know that picturing your dreams coming to life can be really distant distant, but remember your aspirations may be closer and within your reach. Together, we can try to move this along. I hope that some of the information that I share with you in this podcast will get your mind just kind of sparking. It's time to expand your vision and imagine building everything you need to get everything in place so that your dreams can come true.
Delores Naskrent:
Thanks so much for tuning in today. I feel like I've left right in the middle of a really great story. I know that there's going to be so much more that I'll share with you along the way, so I hope that you have found this episode inspiring and I would love it if you could share it with someone else who could use a lift. And remember if you have questions or want to chat further about your journey, don't hesitate to reach out. Your support means the world to me. So if you enjoyed this episode, if you'd like to hear more, I'd be truly grateful. If you could like and subscribe to the show, and if someone in your life could benefit from hearing about all this, please share it with them too. Thanks for all of you for being part of such an incredible community. I appreciate each and every one of you.