Painter Lioba Brueckner on quitting her day job to concentrate on artwork full time

In a Lioba Brueckner portray, the backdrop is as alive as its topic. The younger girls in her portraits stay amongst vibrant butterflies, colourful roses, and baroque trimmings. Generally sci-fi and different occasions fantasy, whether or not you’re wanting into the eyes of one among her mermaids, or somebody you’d see strolling down the road, you’re transported to an ethereal scene, a spot the place nature, femininity, and the beauty-of-self are intertwined.

“My environment strongly affect my artwork – I’ve nearly painted each flower that I’ve ever owned and my backyard calms my thoughts whereas I paint and makes me joyful,” Lioba informed WOW x WOW in 2017.

By means of a group on Patreon who connects along with her tackle nature, expressionism, and who like to study from her academic tutorials, Lioba has discovered a technique to navigate the artwork world that feels proper to her.

“I’m very proud to say that I have been an unbiased artist now for a few years, and I can utterly maintain myself with my artwork and Patreon,” says Lioba, a painter and YouTuber based mostly in Oberhausen, Germany. “Patreon was a vital step for me because it allowed me to have month-to-month income, which wasn’t attainable earlier than,”

After all, that’s the brief model of how the painter bought to the place she is now in her inventive profession. The remainder of the story, nevertheless, shall be relatable to anybody who has ever adopted a dream.

Lioba discovered her love for portray as a baby, however whereas many youngsters create artwork at a younger age, solely to cease as they become older, her ardour by no means light. This led her to comply with the same old path, and research artwork at a college in Germany. Nevertheless, this system didn’t present her with the technical or enterprise expertise wanted to grow to be knowledgeable artist. Upon commencement, she not solely felt unprepared — she discovered the artwork world to be synthetic and dishonest, leaving her to imagine she had chosen the improper path.

“I completely needed to take one other job to outlive as a result of I did not have religion that my artwork profession would pay the payments — I simply did not know how one can do it,” says Lioba on why she took a job as a programmer after college. “I bought a few artworks, however it didn’t pay the payments.”

She ended up liking her day job in spite of everything, however nonetheless couldn’t shake a want to concentrate on artwork full time. Persevering with to color when she might, Lioba additionally began constructing a following on social media by way of portray tutorials on YouTube and along with her artwork on Instagram.

When she heard about Patreon by way of a good friend, she had already constructed up a following on social media, so as an alternative of relying solely on revenue from galleries or artwork collectors, she began providing her prints and tutorials by way of Patreon on to that viewers. Ultimately, she was in a position to stop her job and commit herself to her artwork and her group.

“Earlier than I went on Patreon, I could not actually make a dwelling off my artwork,” she says.

A troublesome a part of being a painter in 2020 is balancing social media with artistic output. However by way of tutorials, recommendation movies, and time-lapses of her compositions, Lioba makes use of social media to truly get nearer to followers. Generally, this results in a fan buying a portray or a print by way of her web site, and different occasions they assist her by way of Patreon. Through the use of a number of retailers to attach along with her followers, she’s discovered stability in her profession and the liberty to create artwork that conjures up her and her group.

“There are some elements of my job that I by no means wish to lose management of. The liberty that I’ve to create artworks if I’ve one thing that I wish to understand, and having the ability to do this with out worrying if it’s going to promote at a excessive sufficient worth,” says Lioba.

And, since a lot of her followers discover out about her by way of her academic movies, her patron group is united not simply by a love of her works, but additionally by their very own ardour for artwork and studying. In truth, her patrons even share their very own creations with one another, one thing that conjures up Lioba endlessly.

“Patreon feels completely different for me than the viewers I’ve on YouTube or Instagram as a result of they’re extra private associates to me, and we’ve extra of an intimate relationship than with social media followers,” she says. “And my viewers offers me suggestions, and this can be a crucial a part of my artistic course of.”

Since Lioba likes to share insights into her work as an artist, she couldn’t go away with out giving some recommendation — she says one of many hardest components of being an artist in the present day is discovering your area of interest. “There are such a lot of artists on the market. And to search out all of them on social media, you’re in all probability overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of expertise you see in every single place,” she says.

However what’s very important is to beat and transfer previous that imposter syndrome and imagine which you could nonetheless make your mark.

“You do not have to be the grasp; you do not have to be excellent. You’ll be able to have a little bit factor that makes you stand out from the gang and makes your artwork particular. Ultimately, you need to do what makes you content and stand out from the opposite ones.”