We recently connected with Steven Stringer and have shared our conversation below.

Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Working in the creative sector was something that I had always dreamed of but seemed impossible based on the opinions of people around me, especially coming from rural Ireland where art or music is often simply seen as a hobby. From a young age I pictured myself studying art but upon reaching the time to start applying to universities, I was persuaded to study something that could get me a “real” job, I compromised and chose psychology. With art or music always explained as “you can do that in your free time”. I spent my university years scraping by with the bare minimum and spending all my time performing or at music events. When I finally graduated I realised that my degree did not in fact secure me a “real” job, but it did help me find work as an English teacher in Japan. While I was working there I was making good money in a corporate role, but despite this I was deeply unhappy. I gradually cut back on my hours teaching and transitioned to making and performing music as part of my income, then animating videos, finding odd jobs as a jam session host, stage staff at a music venue and even teaching ukulele. Returning to Europe and finding myself in Portugal I finally transitioned to being a full time creative. I still source my income from different avenues, performing, recording, animating (music videos in particular) and doing random creative contract work while I study my masters in animation. Even though I am making much less money per hour compared to my previous regular jobs, I am so much happier doing what I am passionate about, and being creative. I don’t think I could ever go back to an office setting.

Steven, 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?

I began my life in the creative industries through local musician communities. With paid opportunities arising through word of mouth recommendations and friend’s of friend’s needing specific help with a service that I could supply for a comparatively low cost. With my home studio I provide recording services for all kinds of musicians, though I do not have facilities for drummers. I also make animated videos for whatever people’s needs are, but usually music videos. Currently I am also performing experimental loop music solo under the stage name “Human Name”, and I am part of a new punk band called “Piss Fingers” performing regularly around Lisbon. I guess what makes me unique is my expressive weirdness. In regard to animation specifically, my style is quite strange and psychedelic and I suppose there aren’t many others doing the same thing. Probably what I am most proud of is having our music with my previous band in Japan played on ZIP.fm which is the biggest rock and alternative radio station in the country. It’s kind of hard to put a pin on what I do exactly because as a creative I have to find my income from as many sources as I can.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

This may be the wrong way to answer this question, but I actually don’t have much of a social media presence at all. I am still learning on this side of things. But what I really want to say, is that you can still make money being a creative without having thousands of followers. It’s all about collaborating and meeting people, then eventually paid opportunities will arise. What’s important is improving your skills everyday and being ready for these opportunities.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

People tend to imagine working as a creative as comparative to a regular job. But (at least for me), things didn’t switch over all at once. It wasn’t like I quit my old job and suddenly I had a bunch of contracts for creative work. It was a slow process of working fewer and fewer hours at my old office job as my income from my creative work increased, then eventually my regular job was completely phased out. I know other people who’ve had the same experience in photography, art and music. My point is, maybe it does start as a hobby or part time passion for you, but if you’re passionate enough, and work hard enough, you can find a way to quit your 9-5 if you really want to, but it takes time.

Contact Info:

• Website: I am in the process of making a website actually
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humannameagain/?hl=en

Image Credits
All the images are from my own work or from my live performance. There are other images I would like to include, but they are for clients and I do not think it would be appropriate to share their work at this time. It is also hard to include images of my animation, as they are videos and the screenshots may not make sense out of context.