Meet My Art Friend: Megan Wang
On the 4-day work week, small biz taxes, and quality of life as a self-employed artist
We’re back with the fifth edition of Meet My Art Friend 🎨 This is my interview series where I chat with artist friends about their art, work life, and everything in between.
Today we are joined by illustrator Megan Wang from NYC! I connected with Megan on Instagram several years ago and finally met her in person at MoCCA Fest last year, which was such a thrill. Megan is someone who has successfully turned her art hobby into a full-time job. We talk about the challenges in making that choice such as navigating tax frustration, dealing with social media performance anxiety, and the importance of setting boundaries and prioritizing quality of life.
Have you been questioning whether you’d like to make money from your creative hobbies or if you’re tired of the pressure to make your art a business? Check out my new zine How to Keep Your Hobby from Becoming a Job, now available via $4 physical copy or free digital download. Over 150 of you have gotten it in the past week and have been leaving such kind reviews—thank you!
Meet Megan Wang
Carolyn: You started selling your art online in 2020 with Animal Crossing clay pins that went viral on Tiktok. Now you've been self-employed for four years through your online shop, YouTube, and Patreon. Was it always your goal to grow your art business to be your full time job?
When I started making Animal Crossing pins, it was very much just a hobby. I made those to bide my time while I was applying for law school, and I was enjoying it so much. After that first year of sharing my art online and becoming more involved in the art community, I started to want to make it a full time job.
I had a lot of people to look up to, such as Cheyenne Barton, Tiffany Tan, Leigh Ellexson, and Fran Meneses. If I didn't have examples through social media of how this could be someone's full time gig, I wouldn't have known about being an artist or illustrator on the internet.
As a self-employed artist, you need to wear many hats. On an average week, how do you divide your time between admin, marketing, and actually making art?
Others might have a more regimented schedule, but I kind of do what I feel like. There's a rhythm to every month with Patreon and YouTube deadlines, so I usually do whatever’s most pressing first.
I wish I spent most of my time making art, but that is so not the case. Art is maybe like 25% of my time. YouTube takes up a lot of time. Even before we hopped on this call, I was editing a video.
You have Patreon deadlines with the monthly rewards you offer such as stickers and postcards. When you talk about YouTube deadlines, are you talking about a commitment to post every week or sponsorship deadlines?
Sponsorship deadlines. When I first started YouTube and had a very small channel, I could set my own schedule and post whenever I wanted. Now I have sponsorship deadlines, at least two times a month, which keeps me to a very strict schedule. You have to send the brand the video a couple of days in advance for review. It's a whole thing.
A lot of creatives working 9 to 5 jobs dream of being self-employed. Tell me your perspective from the other side. Have you ever craved working a 9 to 5 job?
Oh, all the time. And I was definitely one of those people, thinking self-employment would be so amazing. I'm so grateful to make a good living from my work but there are so many negatives that I never thought about. Taxes and health insurance become so much more complicated.
Being your own boss is really difficult especially if your income is from selling merchandise. You have to deal with things like sales tax and getting the right business license. I've also moved a lot over the past few years, and every time I've moved I've had each city contact me with some mistake I made on a form. Meanwhile my partner files his taxes on Turbotax in an hour, all by himself.
Oh gosh, and you could never.
Last week I was on the phone with my accountant for literally two hours, so there are definitely times when I crave getting one little form for my taxes. It would be nice to clock in and out of work and get paid, rather than having my art be the thing that’s directly generating my income.
There can be a lot of noise about how you should always be growing and making more. Do you have your own definition of “enough” for you and your business?
I'm entering my late twenties now and don't have as much energy as I had when I started in 2020. I had so much nervous energy during quarantine, and I had no work life balance because I had just graduated college. I would work, work, work, work, work. Since then I've learned to recognize when I've reached my limit and have gotten a lot better at drawing those boundaries.
In terms of money, I was definitely very ambitious in the beginning. Earning a good amount from your art is amazing, but there's also more overhead of owing the government thousands of dollars in taxes. I just want to make enough where I can pay for my living expenses, have a little to put in savings, and not overwork myself just to hit certain benchmarks. If all my bills are paid for, I don't need to overexert.
I want to hear more about your burnout journey, which you've shared about openly on YouTube. Do you remember a specific turning point with your burnout?
I remember feeling so burned out in 2021, which was my first full year of being self-employed. When I had time to spare, I would just decompress by scrolling on my phone. I didn't have enough energy to see friends or do things for myself. Ceramics played into that because I was going to nighttime classes and I was making so much there at night. And during the day, I was working on other [parts of my business].
I remember having a conversation with my therapist where she recommended I try out a four day workweek. I was really resistant at first because I assumed I would accomplish so much less, but I reached a tipping point where I decided to try it out. And it was so nice! I realized I should be enjoying my life instead of working so much. Taking an extra day off also made my art better. Art is such a big part of who you are, and you need to fill your creative cup.
Do you still stick to a four day workweek?
I definitely try to, unless it's a super demanding week. I recently moved back to New York, and my life here is much more spontaneous than it was in Los Angeles where it can take a lot of planning and effort to do one thing. I have more friends here and can get around much more easily. Lately I like to take random weekdays off and meet other self-employed friends who have loosey-goosey schedules.
Has your approach to art changed since your move from NY to LA?
Being born and raised in the East Coast, I feel so much more comfortable here. Mentally I'm doing a lot better. My life outside of art is richer and more textured. I get to walk around and see so many different kinds of people and experience more life.
I also spend a lot less time working now because I live near my sister and can see friends more often. All of that has made my art a lot better, because I'm happier overall.
In the past you've made comics for clients such as The Lily. Do you do any other types of client work nowadays?
The Lily's the only formal client work I've done. I would love to do more client work, but my illustration career has very much veered towards content creation and my online shop. I've been distancing myself from comic work lately, and I don't know if my portfolio now could translate that well.
For the most part I don’t get approached, though some companies have reached out to do sticker collaborations. If you look at the profit margins on those, it’s not much. I'm lucky to make enough from my own shop that I don't have to take opportunities that I don't think are worth it.
I'd love to hear more about why you've been distancing yourself from comic work.
Right now, art is very much my job. It's work. I feel like I don't have as much fun as other people, which I sometimes feel insecure about. Everyone looks like they're having so much fun, right?
You look like you're having fun too!
Yeah, exactly. I've accepted that designing products will feel like work. But I was really in love with comics, and I owe comics a lot because they helped me grow on social media. But I made really vulnerable comics, so I feel tired of sharing these days. I could make more lighthearted and funny comics but nothing is coming to me. Maybe I've grown out of it, or maybe I'll come back to it and make comics later.
And that's totally fine! Let’s talk about how you set intentional time to create art for yourself. When you're engaging in your personal practice, does recording and sharing it help your process or does it add pressure?
Sometimes filming can work in my favor. Making a video can help me do things I might not otherwise have done, such as making art every day for a week. And then I get a video out of it that people can watch and enjoy.
But I have a complicated relationship with filming, and a lot of other artist YouTubers do as well. It feels like someone is watching over your shoulder, so you can get performance anxiety while trying to make something good and worrying about if it's looking good on camera. When you're already trying to focus on making art, having more worries about whether you're being perceived as interesting or skilled can be really annoying.
I'm still trying to work out the right balance. Sometimes I will remind myself I'm allowed to paint for myself and not film it. Other times, I know I have a deadline and I have to make money so I need to film my process. It's a weird balance to strike.
My last question is the one I'm most excited to ask. I remember you talking about your wrist injury several years ago. Where are you on your healing journey now, and do you have any recommendations for hand or wrist pain after art making?
Definitely! When I used to hand paint earrings, that gave me tendonitis. I had pain for six months, which was really terrible. That's why I stepped back and started making more manufactured products. Nowadays my wrist is doing much better.
I do the [wrist flexor stretch] a lot, but I think the best thing you can do for your wrist is to NOT USE IT. That was a hard lesson to learn, even though it's so simple. Just stop! Whenever I get flare-ups, I stop working. It's an evil little reminder.
Thank you so much to Megan for sharing candidly about her self-employment journey. You can see more of Megan’s art over on her Instagram or YouTube channel. And if you’re in NYC this weekend, you can meet her and shop her wares at MoCCA Festival at Table 51 🍙
Have any additional questions or discussion fodder for Megan? Leave them in the comments! And remember Megan’s advice: if you’re in pain, just stop working!
"Have you ever craved working a 9 to 5 job?"
This was a really surprising and insightful question to ask - and the answer was equally so, coming from someone who would be living the 'dream' for a lot of us 9 to 5ers. Such a great interview.
Such a fun read. Ugh, the taxes are the biggest bummer!!