Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/74

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her employer orders. She cannot substitute some sudden, inspirational idea. If she is one of those rare creatures, a genius, an iconoclast in art, if she must do things in her own way or not at all, then she must not enter what we may term the field of commercial art.

Broadly speaking, girls who want to earn their living by pencil, pen or brush may be divided into two classes: those who wish to work in their own homes, and those who can and will fare forth in search of work and salaried positions. The resident of a large city, like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago or San Francisco, naturally has the advantage over the girl in a smaller city or village or on a farm. She can do the most practical forms of art work, such as designing for textiles and metals, fashion drawings, book covers and illustrating, and still live at home, while the girl living far from an art, manufacturing or publishing center must leave home to gain practical experience and to make her reputation.

The girl with the brush who cannot make this change in residence must cultivate her talents so as to use them in her environment. Only one girl in a thousand can establish herself as an art-worker through correspondence. This does not apply to high-grade illustrators, many of whom prefer to work far from publishing centers, but to girls who wish to secure regular