I want to share my experience with building an art career in a smaller city — not in a design or creative hub — because the conventional advice assumes proximity to industry centers that not everyone has.

The internet has largely democratized access to clients. My client list includes people from three continents I've never met in person. The commission work, editorial illustration, and art education content I produce are all entirely remote.

What remains location-dependent: in-person workshops and classes (I teach locally but the audience is much smaller than in a major city), gallery exhibitions (I've exhibited in adjacent cities rather than locally), and chance meetings that turn into professional relationships.

The trade: I live somewhere I love with a cost of living that allows the freelance income I earn to provide a good quality of life. In a major creative hub the same income would be under pressure. This trade-off is real and worth thinking through deliberately.