The problem is though, how do you even call yourself an artist? What’s art, and what’s a doodle? Is it a degree? X amount of sales? Doing it under employment? So not indie? X hours of effort per work? X listeners on Spotify? Talent? Skill? How does one judge that? What criteria? How could one apply such criteria to oneself when we are so biased? When is someone a kid just putting blocks together in FL studio, and when is someone a musician? A composer? An artiste? Can I call myself an artist if my friends swear my songs are good? Am I going to be discovered after my death as a secret genius, or am I just churning out cacophanies that make sense to no one but myself, making me little more than a living argument that perhaps tools should be reserved for those who know how to use them, an ape armed with a musical shotgun?

Thinking about all this stuff just makes my silly empty head spin. I’m only a hobbyist, but I know an actual published playwright, theatre manager and hobbyist game dev who I greatly respect and admire as an artist and person once said “oh I’m not an artist though” as she was explaining game dev to me - a CS major, and it just obliterated something deep in my soul. girl, what then who even is.

Always Sunny gave a comforting answer in an episode once, it’s when the right people say it is art, then it’s art. As nonsensical as this answer is, it’s at least an answer.