True, Eldo, but I was using “day job” in its colloquial sense of “Don’t quit your day job.” As an artist (or actor, or writer, or musician, or what-have-you) you can (and many do) call yourself a professional artist (or actor, etc.) as soon as somebody pays you some money to do it, but the first step to really “making it” is when you don’t need some other job (waiting tables, pulling espresso, etc.) to pay the bills. That’s still a long way from being rich and famous, but it’s a significant benchmark.
Van Gogh (so the story goes) sold only one painting in his lifetime, and to keep body and soul together he had to borrow from friends and family. If he ever had a day job, I don’t know about it (that doesn’t mean he didn’t, it just means I don’t know that part of his story).
True, Eldo, but I was using “day job” in its colloquial sense of “Don’t quit your day job.” As an artist (or actor, or writer, or musician, or what-have-you) you can (and many do) call yourself a professional artist (or actor, etc.) as soon as somebody pays you some money to do it, but the first step to really “making it” is when you don’t need some other job (waiting tables, pulling espresso, etc.) to pay the bills. That’s still a long way from being rich and famous, but it’s a significant benchmark.
Van Gogh (so the story goes) sold only one painting in his lifetime, and to keep body and soul together he had to borrow from friends and family. If he ever had a day job, I don’t know about it (that doesn’t mean he didn’t, it just means I don’t know that part of his story).