Starving Artist: IT'S A MYTH! WHICH MEANS "NOT TRUE"!

I have been doing some research into the whole myth of the "starving artist" lately. Most of what I've found so far has appeared on other blogs whose authors echo the same sentiment. Namely that the whole myth is precisely that. It's had some romanticized appeal over a long period of time and now, that time has past, or at least, it's about time that it did. This is 2010. The second decade of the 21st century, and while it can be argued that the first decade saw an increase in idiocy and howling-mad insanity the likes of which has not been seen in recent memory, you can also argue that the '00s have seen artists of all stripes smartening up and realizing that if you want to actually make a living doing this (drawing, painting, singing, playing the dulcimer, acting in something more high-brow than community theater), than you have to treat it as a business and your skills as the product you're offering. Even if you do other things at the moment.
Most of us look to transition out of that "other thing" whatever it is into doing artistic work full time. The truth about that seems to be that it means finding a way or ways to promote what you do. You cannot be shy about it if you want to make money with it. A lot of us look at Vincent van Gogh as the sort of prototypical starving or tortured artist. I would suggest that he probably is not the best model for our aspirations. Just because he created art in the midst of great depression and sadness does not mean we have to. Nor is that the only fuel for our work. A more modern influence might be Kurt Cobain or Layne Staley. Artists and tortured souls, both. AND THEY'RE BOTH DEAD. Imagine what they would be able to give us if they weren't tortured, drug-addicted, and demon-possessed. We all have so much more to offer the world as sane, healthy people. It's just not so that great art comes from great suffering, anymore than it's true that great character comes from great suffering. These are myths. They were never the truth and it's time they were re-examined and let go. Our sanity, viability as artists, and our financial stability depends on seeing this for what it is. Far from a romantic notion, it's an impractical and destructive idea that has no value for us.

KCD