job

[atradaitoshi]

For those whose primary source of income isn't graphic design, how do you deal with your job not permanently draining your creativity from you?

 

[Andrew]

Recently I’ve gone back to chef work to supplement my income, after well over a year solely working on dG the games industry collapse pulled the rug out from under me for the last time.

It’s been hard. I truly don’t want to be creative and my time spent by myself feels like it should be a recharge after spending all my energy on a brutal night cooking.

What I’ve found is that I have to change the direction I’m aiming when I look for inspiration in my day to day life. I’ve been taking a lot more photos again lately and going on little walks whenever given the opportunity to recharge not just my body but also my mind.

 

[atradaitoshi]

Recently I’ve gone back to chef work to supplement my income, after well over a year solely working on dG the games industry collapse pulled the rug out from under me for the last time.

It’s been hard. I truly don’t want to be creative and my time spent by myself feels like it should be a recharge after spending all my energy on a brutal night cooking.

What I’ve found is that I have to change the direction I’m aiming when I look for inspiration in my day to day life. I’ve been taking a lot more photos again lately and going on little walks whenever given the opportunity to recharge not just my body but also my mind.

where's the four-day work week when you need it

 

[Mukky]

I work as duty manager for a supermarket. It's mind-numbing work, and my shifts always fall on really inconvinient times, but there's nothing I can do. I've been on the job hunt for aaaaaaaaaages to no avail.

 

[log64]

I work full-time as tech support. Mind-numbing and I deal with angry/inadept ppl all day, but it pays the bills. Often really tired mentally afterwards, so I don't get as much creative work done as when I was unemployed. Grass is always greener ig.

I did recently interview for a new position where I would draft/draw our products and make renderings. A lot more creative expression. Fingers crossed!

It just comes down to being disciplined I think. I have to force myself at first, but I do still get in "the zone" after a shift. It's just that I can only do about an hour of creative work on a weekday. And I still wake up early and basically do a shift (6-8 hours) of creative work on the weekends.

Also, I finally learned the art of doing the bare minimum at work - so I read articles, do some writing, outline goals for my gamedev, and draw ideas in my downtime at work.

 

[GlitchyPSI]

i work as a developer, but i appear to work blazingly fast so a lot of time i am in downtime, so i remote desktop to my computer
i'm either constantly working or procrastinating on my personal work (my game) by looking at twitter, since gamedev across remote desktop isn't the most fluid experience

artwise i've been blocked on doing anything big (my comic has been 2+ years on hiatus and it hasn't even exited the prologue) and i've been struggling to do smaller things, even if just to please myself
sometimes the time comes and i feel like i want to art Big, but as of late i'm going through the swamp of unwillingness
so i suppose my answer to op's question is


i suppose it's because after work, there's work for me to do that is my work
and honestly? i don't know how to manage that properly yet.

 

[esper]

not a graphic designer, i do music. i'm currently a NEET but last time i wasn't, i spent several hours a day on public transit with no headphones and ideas would just come into my head at a pace more rapidly than i could even type into my phone's notes app. i tend to come up with much fewer sporadic ideas being at home all the time because there are too many distractions.

 

[Term]

man trying to balance corporate software dev during the day and hobbyist game dev at night is a challenge I have yet to unpack lol

we all goin through it

 

[atradaitoshi]

Touching back on this: unemployed and got nothing to offer to get hired at a comfy office job. The global economy is affecting the job market even more negatively and it at least seems impossible to get hired for anything but unskilled labor.

What’s worse is I’m contemplating if I even want to pursue UI/UX design professionally or simply do something unrelated to design whatsoever and I’m already in my late 20s. Easy, comfy office jobs are gone and at the same time not knowing what you want to do in life for work is bleak.

 

[Lesdeux]

Go for CompTIA certification(s) if you can. They are relatively quick to complete, few months at the most if you aren't the best at studying on your own. Getting even 1 will give you an advantage for employability within the tech industry. Most people recommend getting all three starter ones though, A+, Networking+, and Sec+ since the info on each of them are kinda similar. It's what I'm doing. It still allows you to work within stuff you probably are ambiently familiar with just doing computer stuff.

I plan on getting into Cybersecurity through them, then work on my own shit as inspiration comes to me. You won't get an office job pushing papers, but you won't be in a soul-sucking job in retail or fast-food. I used to work a warehouse job moving boxes all day long, driving across my state, and that shit was garbage. My art and anything else I'd do was to destress from it so luckily, I didn't have a "not having energy" phase for creativity.

 

[thevenvenven]

Been trying to find a job for more than 6-8 months, but sadly, still silent. (Got a degree + 3 languages)

I been reselling some clothes, doing some part time photography gigs, styling for people and other stuff, while also trying to do some art on the side.
Its all hustle basically for me!