Samantha Elizabeth Blanck

I attribute my success to my family - my husband, and my brother, who keeps me going. When I dropped out of high school, I thought it was over. I grew up with bipolar and general anxiety disorder, and I thought I was just going to stay home, maybe garden, maybe work on home stuff, and just be terrified of things. I couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't acceptable. So I hoisted myself up by the bootstraps and worked with my therapist. I got my GED done and kept plugging along. In my studio, I have my Phi Theta Kappa diploma, my GED diploma, and my college diploma on my wall, and on my desk I have my Honors Society Medal and my college tassels from when I graduated right there in front of me, right behind my computer. It's a reminder to not give up. I literally started from nothing, I wanted to build better, I wanted to be more, I wanted to keep going. I literally grew up with the choice to either work or just accept that I wasn't gonna excel, and I wanted to aim higher.

The best career advice I ever received came from my grandfather and my father-in-law, who were both former military. They told me: no matter how hard it is, no matter how many times you get knocked down, get back up, wipe off the blood, and try again. Never give up. My grandfather in particular told me when I was younger, it's not gonna be easy, there are gonna be times life's gonna knock you down. You gotta get back up and keep track. The moment you lay down, it's over. The moment you lay down and quit, it's done. You can't do that. There are times, yes, you're gonna lose the fight, but you can't quit. You gotta keep trying. That advice about grit and never giving up has been the solid basis of my determination.

My advice to young women entering the fine arts field is: be prepared to have a thick skin, be prepared to be rejected, and be prepared to fight and put yourself out there. Because in the arts, if you're not prepared for any of that, it's gonna suck and it's gonna be hard. Also, always have a backup plan. Art is not a cheap field to get into - the supply is not cheap and the demand is not cheap. When you're starting off, if you don't have the following that you need to keep this going, have a backup job, something to keep you going while you're building your base. You need to understand that art is a cutthroat industry. One day you could have it all, the next, somebody could come up right behind you and you could lose your clientele. You have to be able to adapt, you have to be able to adjust, and you have to be able to keep your clients. If you're not adaptable and you're not able to adjust, you could lose everything. Art is a very nuanced field, and if you're not ready for it, it can eat you alive.

The biggest challenge in my field is creativity - coming up with something that's original, something that people can look at and go 'Wow.' You have to create something that's thought-provoking, something that makes people think and makes them pause. It's hard to create something original that people haven't seen before. Art is always evolving, and you have to be up-to-date. That's the hard part, because art is always changing, art is constant. If you're not on top, you fall behind, and that's always a game changer in this field. If you don't evolve with art, you're gonna sink.

For me, the most important values are grit and integrity. Integrity is especially important in my field. When you're working with art, especially digital art, you have to give proper credit where credit is due. No matter who you're working with or what you're working with, you have to give proper credit. In the art field, that is our bread and water. If you steal from an artist, that is the lowest of the low. Even when we have an original idea, we research it to make sure if something like that is already out there, and if we reference it, we cite the source, much like a researcher does when they're writing a medical journal or a science paper. It's about integrity and respect. When you're working with other people and you're working with other people's work, it's just the right thing to do. The worst thing you can hear in the art field is art thievery. Respect is also crucial - when you're working with other people, it's just proper respect.