We recently connected with Alexis Politz and have shared our conversation below.

Alexis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I’ve been working in creative fields for 8 years now, and overall I would have to say i’m probably happier being within the art realm than anything else. I know friends who have a regular job and work on their creative endeavors on the side, but I just can’t see myself feeling fulfilled.

The last time I was daydreaming about getting a “regular job,” I was stuck thinking about my finances and barely making ends meet. Invoices were being paid late, I was expecting jobs to advance when they wouldn’t, and just flat out had a hard time managing a consistent flow… but that’s freelance! I ended up job hunting within the creative field, but I would often think, “What else am I actually good at? I guess I could be a server again. Maybe I could work at Menards, because I’d love those discounts as a homeowner.” I eventually just applied for creative day jobs to make ends meet and work with a team again.

I freelance almost full-time, so even working a creative 9-5 job has been difficult for me in the past. I really enjoyed my regular creative day jobs, but at the end of the day I didn’t feel like I had as much freedom or respect as I wanted in comparison to working for myself and my own clients. Of course there’s downfalls to constantly working and monetizing what you love to do the most. The burnout is real. Sometimes I wonder what else I would be content in if it wasn’t creative, and if that would give me more fuel and drive towards new projects.

As of lately, I’ve been picking up odd jobs and working very part-time on top of freelance. That has allowed me to not have to flex my creative muscle all the time and just turn that part of my brain off and still make a portion of income. The balance has been nice and still allows me to be creative 75% of the time, even though my part-time gig is still in a creative and whacky environment! Walking dogs also keeps me active, so I’m pretty content where I’m at.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a queer Freelance Illustrator and Designer living in Minneapolis, working primarily with bands, small businesses, and organizations for the last 10 years. Some of my favorite things that I’ve gotten to work on have included merch and apparel design, album art for physical media, branding, editorial illustration work and more! In late high-school, early college, I realized my niche of wanting to create art at the intersection of music, so I got my footing with local DIY friends bands. This was a huge part of my late childhood/early adulthood and is still a big part of my ethos today.

Since a lot of the work I create is for other folks, I have to be a very adaptable and open-minder designer. Most people these days come to me for my certain types of “styles” that I can work in, but a lot of people still ask if I’m able to do other styles they’re looking for. I love being adaptable and working with new people, or when people trust me to go out on a limb with their weird ideas. Or boring! Sometimes boring ideas are fun, too.

In my personal art time, I love working on digital or traditional pieces that I sometimes make into my own merch and sell. Art prints, pins, and small original paintings are what I enjoy making the most. Aside from making ends meet, I’m working on getting back into a daily practice of just sketching and writing to create more emotional personal work that I desperately need. I hope I can get to a point in my career where I can step back and stop trying to monetize everything I make, because that anxiety of wasting time is always around.

A lot of my personal work has revolved around themes of big feelings, childhood, flora and fauna motifs, vintage ephemera, and plenty of weird nonsense. I am informed by every day moments, the political hellscape we live in, and trying to be a better human being every day.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

At the end of the day, the absolute best thing about being a creative is working with other people to create something they love. Whether that’s seeing someones joy receiving a piece of art that perfectly represents their vision, or relating on a more emotional level through my own personal art that I get to share. Both are so rewarding and are the reasons I continue.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Continue to embrace the authenticity of hiring real life artists instead of getting things done quickly and cheaply through AI; this can be applied to any creative field. Hiring real people for the work they love to create keeps the beauty of process and craft intact. In order to support artists better, you have to do the research, go to the events, hire them for projects you know they would nail, and buy their art directly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alexispolitz.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/minneapolitz