We recently connected with Dea Boskovich and have shared our conversation below.
Dea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I knew I was going to be an artist “when I grew up” from a very young age. I started attending arts-based schools in 6th grade. However it was at the beginning of my junior year of college (pursuing a BFA in Printmaking) that I started to think seriously about how I was going to make money.
Two major things led me to drop out of my program at the end of that semester: 1, I looked at what recent graduates of the Printmaking program were doing professionally (struggling, mainly) and 2, the professor in my illustration elective told me I would make a good art director. I had never heard of an art director before but when I looked it up it felt like the right path.
A year later I was enrolled in an Advertising Design degree, and my path from there has been shockingly straightforward. I finished my degree as fast as I could, did a couple of internships, briefly did some design contract work and then found my first full-time job at an ad agency. Now I’ve been working in the ad industry for more than a decade, doing a mix of graphic design, creative concepting, illustration, and directing photo and motion shoots. I love my career and I love the financial stability it provides me. I feel very lucky that I stumbled onto this path early – I should really look that professor up and write him a thank you note!
Dea, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My creative world is split into two. I work full-time in the advertising industry, and my career is in solving complex business requests through visual solutions. Professionally, I use a blend of graphic design, illustration, and photography. I also definitely draw on my years of art school critiques as I decide on a solution: what do I want to communicate? What is the mood? How can I use the elements of design to draw and focus the eye? I’ve mainly worked for advertising agencies and global brands, but I love that the creative process is really the same whether I’m helping out a friend with branding or working on a multi-million dollar campaign.
Outside of work, I dabble in all things creative, but I’ve ended up spending most of my energy on interior design and landscape design. I’m on my second total fixer-upper (to live in, not to flip) and I’ve made a tiny name for myself documenting the process on social media. I’d love to expand more into this space in the future, and take on more home and garden design clients.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I think the biggest lesson I’ve had to unlearn is uncoupling the concepts of prestige, money and worth. For so long I had it in my head (and reinforced by my mentors) that becoming an artist who shows work in galleries was the only proper and worthwhile career path for an artist. Anything else felt at best ignored or at worst, derided. For a long time I felt guilt and shame over not “making it” as a gallery artist (or even pursuing that, honestly.) I felt that I didn’t have the right to identify as a real artist because I made work for other people (and worse, brands/businesses) and I wasn’t developing my own voice. But the truth is, I get to use my creative talents and eye all day, every day, and I get paid for it. That’s really, really cool!
The second part of this lesson was actually unlearning an overcorrection from the first part of the lesson. After a while of being a working creative, I realized I felt that it was a “waste of time” to pursue creativity that I wasn’t getting paid for and was never going to get paid for and had no greater purpose beyond “this is fun.” I had ceased having any passion projects and had fallen into the trap of thinking that if I wasn’t going to be the best at something, why even start? I’ll never be a professional ceramicist so why take that spinning class? I’ll never be a professional illustrator so why draw that idea I had? I’ll never be a professional photographer so it’s embarrassing to post photos I took that I just like – etc, etc. Rejecting the idea that money or social validation are the best reasons to create was very freeing. Now I do lots of things that I’m not particularly good at and will never “go anywhere” but it’s good for my soul.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I’ve built a relatively decent following on TikTok documenting the renovation and design on my current home (and garden.) I started out absolutely clueless, and I learned from watching other people’s videos and noting what I liked about them. I also tried to analyze the results of my videos and learn what worked best. My key takeaways from this TikTok experiment: -Be consistent. If I was starting again, I would make a large batch of content/posts/videos before I even began to share them. You get a certain amount of interest and steam when you’re just starting out, and you want to take advantage of that. Frequent posting is crucial to make your viewers feel like they know you, they can follow your story, and are part of a community.
-Be authentic. It can be tempting to try to emulate other successful people/accounts, but if that’s not your natural talent, vibe or niche, it will never work. More than ever I think people are looking for someone they can relate to, and if you’re trying to form an artificial voice or character, it’s going to come across. Think about where you can shine and don’t bother worrying about the rest. For instance, I’m really uncomfortable on camera, so I NEVER make posts where I’m just speaking directly to my viewers, even though some have lots of success that way. It’s just not me. I’m also not a very outgoing or “charming” person (it’s fine!) so I don’t try to put a lot of personality, humor and energy into my videos. I know that might sound weird – but it would make me hate the process, so I just don’t. I’m good at telling a story in a clear way and I like thinking about filming angles and things like that, so that’s what I focus on.
Contact Info:
- Website: deaboskovich.com
- Instagram: wildtangledgreen
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dea-boskovich/
- Other: Tiktok: @wildtangledgreen