We were lucky to catch up with Brett Bean recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brett, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I have been a successful full time freelance artist for 20 years in TV, Film, and games. There is a lot of down time in Hollywood so I started to write and transition from just doing art to writing as well during those times. I now juggle a successful comic book career and am currently working on my 2nd book series with Penguin/Random house as author and artist. My longevity and success I owe to meeting deadlines, being able to problem solve, and not be a jerk. hands down. Early in my career was filled with ego, self concern, and fake self confidence. I did what I had to do to survive and thrive. But the years that go by calm you. Life doesn’t get easier in this field, you’re just able to handle harder, better.
A creative life can’t be sped up or slowed down. YOUR artistic steps and milestones will differ based off time, age, ability, disability, or choices you have to make in life. The journey literally is the destination. Days can be long, but years are fast. As long as one foot is in front of the other moving in a forward creative life, it’s your story.
Brett, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’ve worked with Disney, Dreamworks, Riot Games, Activision, Jim Henson’s Creature shop, Marvel, Ravensburger, Nickelodeon, Scholastic, and taught at Gnomon School of Visual FX, LAAFA, CGMA, and hosts workshops around the world. Please contact me for any school workshop inquiries.
I love board games, comics, Pickleball, Tom Waits, and traveling around the world.
I once ate a Mopane worm in Africa and it was gross.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Capitalism puts money front and center. I learned from my father, and society in America that money = success. As I worked for clients and other peoples to make THEIR visions come true. I got paid, but was unsatisfied. I didn’t feel successful but was making money. SO I had to slowly rethink and retool my brain to adjust to smaller paychecks and less stability to do what I really wanted to do. Create, draw, and write stories that came from me. We all need to pay bills, live, enjoy life but the focus of taking every job for money or prestige of client eroded my personality. Taking that back was hard but fruitful for self.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
The internet is a double edged sword now. It lets more people see/hear the work. But now most of us think supporting artists are thumbs up, clicks, likes, and hearts. But I was never able to buy diapers for the baby with that. We need to wrap our head around what support really is. When we scroll endlessly over the art, really think about how many work hours you scroll over each day. I bet it’s thousands, and nobody thinks about the slog each person had made to finish that image/music/dress/creative endeavor. REAL Support comes by showing up to galleries, conventions, and online shops. Even patreon, subscriptions or the tip jar is something! Creatives aren’t companies. They are individuals doing individual work. But online, it’s easy to forget that. So society needs to understand that artists can only get so far with an emoji.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brettbean.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brett2dbean/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brett2dbean/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/2dbean
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/brett2dbean
Image Credits
Rocket and Groot/ I Hate Fairyland colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu