We recently connected with Lumy Levenhagen and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lumy, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I remember being interested in arts and crafts from a very young age, but I was mostly self-taught. I think maybe having opportunities of learning in a formal class, or at least, being taught by a teacher, could’ve made my progress faster and probably easier. Although, I believe the most important things for an artist are passion and dedication, and never stop practicing and trying to improve. Unfortunately, resources are not cheap, especially for traditional art, or crafts, because you’ll always need to buy more supplies. I think I’m very fortunate right now regarding that, but back when I was still beginning this journey, that issue certainly delayed my progress and even led to some very discouraging frustrations.

Lumy, 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?

My name is Lumy Levenhagen, and I’m a digital illustrator and crafter based in Ottawa, Canada. I’ve drawn since I was 9yo, and my childhood dream was to become a manga illustrator, but I ended up not pursuing that because life happened in many ways, and that wasn’t an option back then. Now that I finally have the opportunity, I decided to give my art a chance and pursue it more seriously since the beginning of this year. I also was always passionate about crafting, and since 2015 I’ve been working with amigurumi, which is a Japanese crochet technique for making plushies and dolls. So, now I joined both passions, and I have a small audience on Social Media to whom I showcase my work and occasionally accept some commission requests.

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

Well, I think the first thing we need to change collectively as a society is our way of thinking about art. Yes, art is a non-essential aesthetical good. But perfume or a purse, for example, is no different. Although, in general, society tends to think of art as a not-as-valued item unless it comes from an already renowned artist. And, although it’s nothing but fair that things have different attributed values according to how much the artist mastered their craft throughout different paths, I think we fail to measure art value in general. For example, you don’t see people asking non-branded perfume stores to give them for free. Nor do we disagree that a mass-produced purse has less value than a limited-edition piece or something unique made by demand. So, why there are still so many people asking artists to work for free? Or, inconsiderately choosing something made without any thought or feelings by a machine just because it’s cheaper? I think we have to start looking at art as something made with hard work, thought and care by someone who took a long time to learn and master that skill. We should value art not just by the aesthetics but the whole background surrounding the production of that piece of art and also how it makes us feel.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I still have a very modest audience on Social Media, a little less than 3k followers on my main one, but I started this journey from zero in May this year, so I think that was a good growth rate. According to my experience and some tips I got for others, the main key is consistency. And by consistency, I mean cadence and balance. Many people get overwhelmed thinking they’ll have to dedicate their whole time to Social Media instead of actually working on their art, but I think you have to set a feasible goal and try to stick to it. You can also start with smaller goals and aim for more as you get used to the rhythm. For example, if you make only one or two pieces of art per month, you could still make at least one Social Media post per week just by being creative with how you present it. But, the most important thing is sticking to that schedule or, at least, changing it the least possible to maintain your cadence. But, another key point that made me grow much faster than many people I’ve met who started with me or even earlier was: following people! If you’re willing to be on Social Media not only for yourself and not afraid of supporting other people and giving other artists a chance, you’ll see that’s worth it. It’s completely possible to see results while still building a community, interacting with others and growing together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lumyartstudio.carrd.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lumyartstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lumyartstudio
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lumyartstudio
• Other: https://ko-fi.com/lumyartstudio

Image Credits
Lumy Levenhagen