We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mickey Harmon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mickey, appreciate you joining us today. 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 began this journey of a full time art career when I was just 7 years old. I began drawing then and never stopped but I wasn’t until I graduated college that I began a full time side gig illustrating for folks. Through the pandemic I began doing more intimate queer work and now I run a small shop with 3 other owners, my own print per order Threadless shop for erotica, manage and have organized over 60 gallery walks the last 6 years in downtown Buffalos Allentown neighborhood and still illustrated portraits of homes for people all over the country.

It takes time. Your audience will eventually find you and you can’t stop believing in yourself. Collaborate and grow with other artists and creatives. Learn to take on more than you can handle and then learn how to scale back to what you can.

Creativity never leaves the artist and sometimes you won’t want to or even have the yearning to create. As artists we forget to maintain what gives us our art form, us! Practice balance and healthy habits. My own personal journey has had its ups and downs, deaths, love lost, love gained but you must still press on to represent yourself and your narrative as an artist, no, a human in this world.

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.

My name is Mickey Harmon and I am a Buffalo, NY based illustrator, community organizer and queer erotica artist. For over 10 years Mickey has been illustrating people’s homes and businesses. Ranging in clients from homeowners, realtors, small businesses and large corporations, it’s Mickey’s goal to capture the essence of a property or home or person.

Architecture is humanity’s stamp on existence and its been Mickey’s humble goal of illustrating this notion for each and every client.

In 2019, Mickey began a queer erotica career under the moniker, Super Twunk and began celebrating his own community’s body positivity through art. Creating paintings and illustrations for queer festivals, events, companies and content creators, it remains Mickey’s goal to illustrate the very essence of each individual. He also sells queer designs on Threadless, one of the internet’s oldest print to order services for apparel.

Currently, Mickey organizes First Friday Gallery Walk in Buffalo’s Queer Bohemia, Allentown. As a co-owner of Pine Apple Company, Mickey activates the neighborhood with events, festivals, street closures and vendors to create a diverse and welcoming urban experience. For over 5 years its been his goal to bring together queer creative communites during and beyond Buffalo Pride Week with his event Intersect, now in its fourth year. He lives nearby with his partner Jordan and thier two cats, Beef + Chicken.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Sure, one of my most pinnacle career moves was from a salaried advertising position at a boutique real estate firm to becoming a full time artist.

It was 2018, I was working at a real estate firm in Buffalo where I was in charge of marketing for 40+ realtors. Working in an office, we all know there is downtime. It wasn’t until I was told it was okay to work on my art for an upcoming show at my gallery just down the street that I realized I was working in the wrong role as a creative. Some realtors saw what my subject was when they strolled into my office, nudes.

Some time later, the president of the company entered my office, shut the door and began to tell me that he had to let me go because I had made the realtors uncomfortable.

That was it, I began my full time artist career and I never looked back.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The loss of my job in 2018 forced me to reevaluate how to generate my own financial stability. Since then, I’ve been marketing myself toward folks who would utilize my illustrations through direct mailers, targeted ads on social media and attending art exhibitions and applying to shows.

As a 39 year old millennial at the time of this article, I finally broke the chains of letting the norm go. If you pivot your aim to becoming a full time artist the creative freedom and challenges that come with it are well with it in the long run.

Contact Info:

• Website: Mickeyharmon.com
• Instagram: @mickeyharmonart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickeyharmonart?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickey-harmon-9a026317?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits
All images are by me.