The Art of Starting Over

Date

03.07.24 More info+

How a former science teacher found her true passion for illustration.

Belinda Kou knows a thing or two about starting over. Today, Kou is a successful independent lettering artist and illustrator whose business includes cheeky greeting cards, book covers, editorial designs, custom visuals for companies from global brands to local libraries, and virtual and in-person education. A visit to her Instagram and TikTok pages, which offer an instant dopamine hit via bold and whimsical visuals, garner the attention of nearly 200,000 followers collectively.

But Kou didn’t achieve this success on her first career go-around — or her second. After graduating college with a science degree, she began a two-year stint as a middle school science teacher with Teach for America, with no plans to pursue art professionally. “I briefly considered [being an artist] as a kid, but in the community I grew up in — and the community my parents were part of as well — they couldn’t really fathom what that meant as a career path,” Kou says. “I think the ‘starving artist’ idea was still pretty strong at that time. So…at a very young, impressionable age, I was like, ‘Well if I try this, it might not work out.’ My parents [suggested] I do something like engineering or medicine, or something that would give me a more stable career path, and I could always do art on the side.”

While working as a teacher, Kou realized she enjoyed educating, but the science part of being a science teacher didn’t appeal to her. The creative tasks of designing worksheets and visuals for her students, on the other hand, did. Once her time with Teach for America was up, Kou decided to take a leap and go back to school for graphic design, and later landed an agency job as a graphic designer and art director. “I was thrilled to be in that position when I first started,” Kou says. “It was quite the 180-degree change for me to switch from science to art.”

After about six years in that job, though, Kou once again realized she was unfulfilled. Rather than limit herself to one career change, she pushed back against the fear of uncertainty and took another leap — this time to go out on her own as a freelance artist. “It was a slow progression of getting closer and closer to what I truly love doing,” she says. Five years later, and it’s clear the leap paid off.

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Of course, Kou knows that turning your passion into a career doesn’t mean every day is all rainbows and sunshine. Equinox+ spoke with Kou about what it’s really like to monetize your hobbies, how she copes with burnout and social media demands, and why it’s never too late to start over.

How did you push back against the fear and uncertainty of changing careers?

“Well, with the fear and uncertainty was also a lot of excitement. At the time when I was thinking about going from teaching to graphic design, I was at the end point of my teaching commitment, I didn’t have kids yet, and I could jump around if I needed to. I didn’t feel like I had grown any roots in terms of lifestyle and stage of life. I felt I would probably regret it if I didn’t try at that point to just get that degree and see where it goes from there.

“When I went from my agency job to working for myself and starting the whole business, that was a decision of, if I didn’t do it then, I would really regret it because I'd been in that job for so long, and could really feel that desire for creative freedom just pushing against what I was doing at my corporate job. I just knew if I kept going, I was going to be miserable. I was already dedicating so much of my time away from my kids to work, and I wanted to be able to take that time to do something I actually enjoyed and also have a job that could be a little more flexible to accommodate things like kids getting sick and snow days.”

How did it feel putting your art out into the world for the first time?

“I decided to start a separate [social media] account from my personal one, and I had zero social media experience at the time. I was mainly posting highly-filtered food photos, but I really wanted to focus on my lettering and illustration. It was something I would talk about all the time, but I barely did any of it because I felt like any time I tried, it was really, really bad. When I started the social media account, there was a degree of anonymity to it initially; even though it was my name, I didn't tell anybody I knew that I had started it. I just started throwing my work out there. And it was pretty scary to do that, even though it was strangers seeing my work. I thought, ‘People might think it's really, really bad. But what if I did this more as a journey of discovering how to do lettering and sharing my improvement along the way, versus just sharing this beautiful final piece every time?’ Other artists don't like sharing their work either, so [I thought] we could bond in that fear to push ourselves and that fear of sharing our work.”

What are the biggest challenges you faced?

“An initial challenge was learning how to monetize my creative expression. On the one hand, you're doing the art for the joy of it, and you're sharing it and connecting with people online about it. But once clients start to hire you for it, there is that next level of adjustment to make because now you're getting feedback from them, and you're also getting paid for it. And when your art gets reviewed in that way, it can be a struggle. And also — this is still a work in progress for me — but work/life balance is a challenge, which is ironic because I pursued freelance for the flexibility. When your work is something you really enjoy doing, it can be easy to blend the lines in terms of the boundaries that you establish between work and life.”

How do you remain passionate about your art when it's also a job that you have to monetize?

“When I think about the joy getting sucked out of your art, I always think about social media and [using] that as a main part of getting business. Especially now, with Reels and TikToks — you're like, ‘I draw static work. You're telling me that I need to start making videos now?’ That's tricky. I do try to carve out space in my business to do personal projects; it doesn't have to be anything huge, either. It could just be maybe once a month, I'm going to draw something just for fun without trying to overanalyze how I can turn it into a Reel, and put it on my portfolio and get hired.”

Why do you think your work resonates with so many people?

“The work I create is generally playful, colorful, and vibrant, and people can connect with it in different ways depending on the subject matter. A big subject matter I focus on is food because I feel like I get as much joy eating good food as I do drawing about it — so that helps [me] connect with other people who also enjoy both. I feel like it's similar to when you talk about the latest snack that you tried, and people are like, ‘Oh yeah, I really like that too.' My art can help to stimulate conversation similarly.

“I also like to focus on self-care art as well. Usually, those art pieces are prompted by my own burnout, so it's a personal thing that I'm sharing, and it is something that can connect me with other people who are going through something similar. We're connecting through our burnout and encouraging each other to keep going.”

What advice do you have for others who experience burnout?

“If possible, take a break from what you're doing. I know that's not always something you can do, especially if you have a lot of projects with clients lined up. But I'll wait until the next time I finish the project and dedicate a chunk of time, whether it's a day or two, or even a week or two, to take time for myself. I take a break from screens and art, and go outside and take a walk.”

How do you balance the business need for social media with protecting your mental health?

“I'm coming off of a social media break, actually. My family and I just moved to a new state and…we have to help our kids adjust…and at the same time, we're living with my parents, all our stuff is in storage, and we're building a house, and we're still working. So, I assessed where social media falls on my list of priorities, and right now it can be at the bottom.

“You can still get client work without social media…whether it's through referrals, or your portfolio, or your website. Otherwise, there are different ways you can be strategic about how to continue your social media presence online without having to feel like you're on this content creation hamster wheel. I know as an artist, you feel like in order to post, you have to create new original artwork, but…it could actually be an old piece and you're sharing a different story about that piece in a new way, like video or sketches of your process.

What is your favorite part about what you do?

“One thing that I love is the fact that I'm actually drawing, and clients are hiring me to draw for them, and customers are paying for me to teach them how to draw as well. That's exciting because when I was younger, I didn't think that was something I could do for a living. It does feel like I'm living the dream.

“Another thing I love is the flexibility. When I was at my agency job, I was always extra stressed when my kids would get sick, or their daycare or school was closed at the last minute, and I had meetings lined up. I thought, ‘How do I take time off? Am I even able to? I have all these people that I have to report to.’ So it definitely is nice to be able to run my own business and report to myself.”

Is there a particular piece of work or project you're most proud of?

“One piece I did recently was with the Chicago Public Library, and that one…felt like a big check off of my bucket list of things that I hoped to accomplish back when I was in design school. I attended design school in Chicago, and I remember as a student thinking, ‘If I actually get a job in graphic design, it'd be super cool if I could create some sort of artwork that can be seen all over the city.’ That happened with the Chicago Public Library, which I did not anticipate happening so soon in my freelance career.”

Do you have any messages or advice for others?

“One message I always like to share with my community is that it's never too late to do what you love. That was something I always thought; even when I was teaching, I thought it was too late to switch into graphic design. I thought, ‘I’m going to be the oldest student in design school,’ and I had a lot of fears like that. Even switching to freelance, I felt the same way because I thought, ‘I’m a mom now. I have zero energy. I already feel 10 years older because of my lack of sleep.’

“I share that as a word of encouragement; if there’s anyone who's reading this who wants to do something like that where they're pursuing their passion and they feel held back because of time or age, they should just fight through that fear.”

Images Courtesy of Belinda Kou

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