We recently connected with Tawny Fritzinger and have shared our conversation below.

Tawny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

Considering that my work features a lot of mythological beings, such as Lilith and The Morrigan, my work is often mischaracterized or taken the “wrong” way. I have two very distinct examples of this.

The first one that comes to mind is the illustration of Lilith I posted along with a tongue-in-cheek caption that said she was the Patron Saint of Wronged Women. This resulted in a lengthy verbal reprimand by a commenter who very clearly had a LOT to say about the Christian faith and how Lilith was an evil entity that should never be celebrated.

The second was a comment on a photo of my illustration of The Morrigan. I had staged the piece on an altar with whitetail deer antlers, candles, crystals, etc. The expected witchy accoutrement. A commenter left a dire warning about putting The Morrigan on my altar and how she (The Morrigan) would not like it and would bring bad luck into my life.

There have been others, but these two incidents stick out in my mind as a lesson I learned in human behavior. I didn’t reply to either comment, I just let them stand. I believe everyone has a certain topic (or topics) that they are passionate about, and sometimes they just need someone to “hear” what they have to say about it. Neither commenter came from a place of malice. On the contrary, they came from a place of concern for the well-being of me, the artist.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I spent the first half of my life attempting to follow the path others laid before me. I joined the Army after high school, and went the expected route of entering the world of defense contracting for the government. I left that field after a few years, mainly because I never quite “fit” into any of those more competitive and toxic industries.

I found a community of artists who were creating amazing and imaginative works, and felt like that was where I belonged. And I did… for a while.

But every community, even the most niche of niche communities can fall victim to baneful hostility and unspoken expectations that each person is required to follow to “belong.” I have never been one to follow a crowd off a cliff, so I wandered off down my own path, picking up outcasts and misfits along the way, and I have accumulated a tiny little group of weirdos of my own to vibe with. As P!nk says, “We can always party on our own.”

I think it is because of my inability to conform that attracts people to my work. It stands out among a sea of creations that long to fit in, and that’s ok, they all have their journeys just as I have mine. I am no better or worse than any other creator in that aspect. But my work doesn’t fit any molds. It’s not easily hung on walls or published in TTRPG guides. The beings and deities depicted on my paper are usually confrontational or, sometimes, gut-wrenching.

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

The biggest lesson I had to unlearn was that not all business advice is One-Size-Fits-All and that most guidance caters to a neurotypical creator or business owner. The idea that if you just work harder, hustle more, and put in 10,000 hours of something, all doors will unlock is not only unreasonable, but harmful for a lot of people, both neurotypical and neurodivergent.

Especially as artists, we have a lot of wiggle room to be more creative with our marketing and sales strategies. The world expects artists to be quirky, so it’s ok to lean into that by just being honest with your audience. We are not factories churning out mass produced merchandise, we are ethereal wizards creating beauty and magic. It’s ok to take your time.

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

Without getting into specifics, I was essentially pushed out of my creative community for stepping out of line and standing my ground on a topic I felt strongly about. The fear of being ostracized and “canceled” lingered for a long time. The truth is, though, that unless a person has done real, physical or psychological harm to others, nobody can truly “cancel” someone. I kept creating despite feeling deflated and dejected, and eventually, I came out the other side with a mindset that I’ve since made into a sticker that says simply: Die Mad, Haters.

Weirdly, finding myself standing out in the cold while the wolves attacked helped me to untangle some previously restrictive ideas about what it means to be an artist and how to approach my career. I had been trying for so long to follow someone else’s beaten path that I couldn’t see that mine was meant to be more rugged, lit by will o’ the wisps and glowing mushrooms. Until I was able to walk away from the crowd, I couldn’t reach my full potential. I still haven’t. I’m still working my way through the woods, picking up thorny branches and bits of dead things along the way, adding them to my art as I go.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tawnyfritz.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/fritzinker
• Twitter: https://tawnyfritz.com