I am an artist after all...

After being a service provider for nearly 2 decades, I had to quit client work to realise what I was really looking for...

Hello my friends,

I have stopped client work for around a year now. As you know it still happens I help former clients but I don’t take any new.

So 2023 was focused on producing my own work, with my own style and sell it. And that year has been really crazy on my style. It did evolve a lot. Maybe you did not see that change but for me that was a real liberation.

And the more I was creating and the more I was enjoying it.

I don’t know how it happened. Rick Rubin would probably says that this was just the right moment or the time I finally saw something that made me go this way, but I started painting again. And this is when I started thinking of my work as Art.

I don’t know what it is to be an artist. There are so many definition and in France we have such a vision of an artist that it would be impossible for me to be one. But I did read many English/US books about art, in English I am even a Lettering Artist, that I think I am one now. I draw, paint, print the work I like, I do for myself first and I give it to the world. It may like it or not, it is my voice and important for me to share it.

And I did not have it one year ago. I think moving from digital to analog helped the transition. Painting murals helped. Working with shapes helped a lot too. Painting definitely helps. And this is how I want to see 2024.

Of course, there is still type design involved in my daily work. But this separation appears more clearly to me. And if I love designing fonts or printing/inking, both activities find their own life now.

When I started painting in December, I did not want to show it to people. I kept it for me and shared my attempts to do something to friends and paid members. But now, I realise it is part of my work. It is not a hobby. I paint letters, and even if the style might continue to evolve, that is an evolution of my work, not something different.

So from now, I will share my new experiments in painting, but also in collage or different artistic ways to print. So let’s start today by showing some stuff I have been working on the last month or so. Let me know what you think :)

I have a lot of fun and energy doing this analog work, working with paint, scissors, colour paper, glue, etc. The only question I asked myself these days is how can I manage making more art, and still make enough money. Clearly, a painting or a unique collage is not the same price than a print. Of course, I will keep a mix of everything and I plan to focus my revenues more on fonts this year so I can make more art. But it is yet a bit stressful question I ask myself. You know when you start something you like and think maybe this is not so good, or not so useful? This is exactly what happens now.

But in 2023 the print work I enjoyed the most was doing screen printing, so in 2024 I plan to do more screen printing series and will keep my small prints and some other prints on the shop.

But as I said in a previous newsletter, I want to do more Art. And the more I go to exhibitions or watch videos on “real” artists on YouTube, the more I want to be one of them. So in my head the transition is already happening. I am not a graphic designer anymore. There is just that little voice in my head telling me I should care about money. But if I need to listen to it, I also know how to not focus my energy on it. Meditation helps me a lot with that situation.

I wanted to write that post today because I know a lot of people who became graphic designers because that looked more like a “normal” job than being an artist. I also know that some of them start to struggle doing work they don’t want to do anymore and would like to express themselves more. The society don’t go in that direction and asks us to do more money, be more productive, etc. I know this is changing but I am not really optimistic about the future when I see all these governments cutting into culture budgets and subventions. Culture and Arts are not trendy, and thought as useless by many politicians. So our situation is not easy, and by this post I also want to share a bit of light to the people who would like to do more Art.

I don’t have a specific recipe except maybe take more time for you, with you, to make some drawings, paintings, music, some time you don’t necessarily have to share on social medias or make money of. It is just time for you.

Let’s finish today’s newsletter with some inspiration I discovered recently and that are directly linked to the direction my work seems to take. They don’t all have lettering but the overall style is really near from where I want to go. Hope you like it :)

1. Marko Vuleta-Djukanov

2. Fanny Fleuraux - Steven Burke

3. Yuya Chokkin Kirie

4. Rachel Jaques

5. Wonky Jam

6. Marcelo Velho

This is it for today. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you feel being like someone who sometimes struggles between Art and Design, or if you see these practices differently than me. It is always interesting to have different points of view :)

Enjoy the end of the week and talk to you next week :)

Take care,

Francis