We were lucky to catch up with Helena Martin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Helena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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 always wanted to be an artist but was afraid I’d become the “starving artist” stereotype and disappoint my parents. I hedged my bets and got a degree in medical illustration, hoping that it would secure me a steady job while allowing me to be creative. I got a job a medical animation studio doing 3D work right out of college. However, I was frustrated with my life and wanted to have more freedom artistically. This rebellious attitude mixed with creative dissatisfaction led me to start doing graffiti. Graffiti taught me how to use the difficult medium of spray paint while experiencing a lot of excitement and danger. After a year, I got arrested and started to rethink vandalism and where I was headed. I quit my job and moved to Austin, TX, where I thought I had a shot of pursuing art full-time. The next five or so years I freelanced animation while hustling to get little mural gigs here and there. It was a scrappy life sometimes. At one point I had no car and had to take my ladder on the bus to go paint! My first gig was painting someones house in exchange for lunch! My tenacity and patience paid off years later when the mural gigs got bigger allowing me to discontinue the animation and focus on murals full time. There is an old proverb that says “fall seven times, get up eight times.” I think I still have more falling to do!

Helena, 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?

With my work, I strive to evoke emotion in the viewer. For me, feeling feelings is simultaneously the most difficult and most rewarding/exhilarating experience. Art in all its forms, has inspired me to tackle the hardest things in my life such as dealing with my past, facing my demons and opening up to others. Being creative has allowed me to connect with myself and my higher power (who I choose to call God). It’s been an incredible gift.

Professionally, I’m lucky enough to have attracted enough clients that resonate with my style and/or need my expertise to allow me to pursue my trade full time. Hard work has honed my technical skills so that I’m able to deliver beautiful murals in a short amount of time. I’m very fortunate.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

To not compare myself to other artists. For me it just caused jealousy! And I don’t want to give off jealous vibes to anyone, because it’s hurtful. I had to engage the process of learning WHY I felt the urge to compare myself to other artists. Judging that urge or trying to stop it intellectually did not help. Seeing that the jealousy stemmed from insecurity, which stemmed from a lack of self love caused by trauma helped me to start the process of being more loving and encouraging of other artists. It’s a process I’m still working on. At the end of the day, we are all individuals that bring unique gifts to the world, so there is not need to compete or compare.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me personally, I get to work for myself, which allows me a TON of freedom in my life. There are no guarantees of prosperity or failure, but I get to steer the ship how I’d like-for better or worse.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://helenamartinart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helena_paints/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Helenamartinart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helena-martin-7315a11b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_pHmM0pTEbnJNYkZT9fzYA

Image Credits
Fabian Rey Ricky Clack Autumn Bishop