We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bryan Payment a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bryan, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

No way. Here’s why.

I was in my late 20’s when I got my first “creative” job. Before that, my job had always been working in retail settings or bartending somewhere. I made the decision to go back to school when I was 28 to study graphic design. I was so unfulfilled with dead end jobs and sick of feeling miserable that I knew I needed to change something about the direction of my life.

I started working at a screen printing shop a few semesters before graduating. The shop I worked at was owned by two guys that had their own apparel brand and did custom printing on the side to help pay bills. I had been working for them for around three months at the time, when I vividly remember having the realization that I was being paid to draw designs for their brand and for custom print jobs. I was actually having a lot of fun at work and had never experienced feeling fulfilled through a job before. At the same time, I felt like I wasn’t doing “work” because “work” had always felt like something I really didn’t want to be doing. I felt like I was being dishonest somehow because I was being paid to draw, instead of stocking shelves.

I’ve been working full-time as an illustrator and graphic designer for around 5 years now. There are times when “the fun creative job” feels exhausting and it’s weird to get stressed out over design work. However, I don’t feel miserable. There’s no sense of wasting my life doing something I don’t want to be doing anymore. When I have a stressful day now, my attitude has changed to “this is just practice for the next project”, rather than staring at the clock and counting down the minutes until work is over. I want to get better and grow as creative professional. I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing with my life and that is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing.

I answered no to the question, because I think my creative career started exactly when it needed to start. I wouldn’t change anything. I feel very lucky to get to do what I do for a living. Deeply knowing the opposite motivates me to challenge myself and to take my craft seriously. I don’t think I would have this attitude without experiencing what it’s like to be miserable at work. Those experiences gave me exactly what I needed to make big changes in my life and I’m grateful for them.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My lifelong love for drawing pushed me towards going to art school. I got a late start, going back to school as an adult, but it’s easily been one of the best decisions of my life. I chose to study graphic design, which has turned into 5 years (and counting!) of full-time design work. Right now, I do lots of design work for an apparel brand and a digital marketing agency, both based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I also run my own illustration business, Hey Good Neighbor, which has been my much needed outlet for drawing the things that I love and want to put out into the world.

My personal work is inspired by my love for American traditional tattoos, dogs, and bad jokes. I enjoy turning my designs into prints, pins, stickers, and sketchbooks. I’ve had a lot of fun selling them at art markets around the Southeast.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding thing about being an artist has been connecting with people at markets when I’m selling my work. My personal work is very humor-based and I have loved getting to make complete strangers laugh. I’ve met a lot of really cool people this way.

In the context of my day job, getting to work closely with small business owners and helping them bring their ideas to life through illustration and design has been incredibly rewarding.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I have two main goals for my creative career. The first one is to keep going, little by little if that’s what it takes.

The second, which helps to motivate the first, is to always look for ways that I can find balance in my life. My day job can get pretty stressful at times and in my personal projects, I definitely don’t always feel inspired. It’s important that I still show up everyday for both and try my best.

If I’m not paying attention to my work/ life balance needs, I can get into an unproductive headspace and my work and attitude suffer greatly.

My go-to methods to keep things in check, in no particular order, have been taking short breaks to walk my dogs during the day. I work remotely, so I’m taking advantage of that opportunity while I’m able to. I like drawing in my sketchbook, with no real goal in mind. Just drawing for the sake of drawing. Staying active has been helpful. Sitting at a desk, staring at my laptop for hours on end isn’t healthy. Going to the gym every now and then has been wonderful. My wife and I love exploring our city and going to museums. Finding a mentor that I can talk to has been a tremendous help and well worth the anxiety of putting myself out there.

Of all these things, the real MVP has been learning to get up from my desk at 6pm each day, closing my laptop, and practicing the skill of keeping work at work. This can be very tough at times, but the consequences of not being present for my personal needs and my family would be a lot tougher to deal with in the long run.

Contact Info:

• Website: heygoodneighbor.store
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heygoodneighbor/