What being a pharmacist didn't teach me about being an artist

I get to the venue 45 minutes early, pulling my trolley of supplies, donning an outfit I haven’t worn since my days working full-time as an industry pharmacist. My company contact greets me with a warm hug and leads me to my table. It’s exactly as described in my agreement: 6 feet, black linen, two chairs. Both the table and the venue (easily accommodating 400) are larger than I imagined. I begin to unpack my paints and supplies as my assistant (read: my sister) arrives, and the first guests trickle in. My station isn’t even open yet when the first group of guests come by asking for a live portrait. Let the chaos ensue.Despite the months of preparation, wins and disappointments that led up to this moment, this is when it starts to feel real—I’m an actual working artist, getting paid to do what I love. Looking back, I don't think becoming an artist happened when I booked my first event, it happened earlier; precisely seven months ago. My pharmacy training taught me to value evidence, precision and careful decision-making, all qualities that serve patients well. Building a creative business, however, has asked me to strengthen a different muscle: embracing ambiguity, experimenting before I feel ready, and allowing myself to be a beginner again.In this article, I want to time-travel to a few months ago, to when I decided to make more room for art and creativity in my life, and share what happened between then and now. My hope is that if you, too, are a pharmacist and want to expand into something entrepreneurial, creative or simply different, you'll see that meaningful change rarely comes from one giant leap. It comes from deciding to start and then taking consistent, small steps in the right direction.Nov. and Dec. 2025 In my Notion journal, I wrote “Today, I decided to be an artist.” I broke this down to three components:Mindset: Overcoming self-criticism and limiting beliefs, and reconnecting with joyExpanding my network by attending events and sharing more onlineMaking art daily—no matter how small. I had no idea what kind of artist I wanted to be, and am still working with that question, but I took the inside-out approach that I usually gravitate toward, making the internal changes I knew were necessary before the external ones. I travelled across the U.S. and China, and I brought my sketchbook along. I drew during every spare moment what was most accessible: people and spaces around me. After over a decade away from art through university and the early years of my pharmacy career, I felt rusty. While pharmacy often asks us to be prepared before we act, creativity has required me to learn by doing, trusting that repetition and persistence would gradually close the gap between my taste and my ability. When I catch myself overthinking a painting, I remind myself: no lives are on the line.Jan. and Feb. 2026I began to share with close friends about wanting to start live guest portraits at events and weddings. I began seeing a coach regularly, built my website, worked through pricing and developed a consistent portrait practice. Rather than waiting until I felt "ready," I focused on building the foundations: improving my skills, experimenting with materials and packaging, and learning the operational side of running a creative business. I even landed a small wedding stationery project for friends, which gave me confidence that there might actually be a market for my work.March and April 2026I started sharing my portraits and practice sessions on Instagram, and accidentally booked my first wedding! I then officially launched my live guest portrait offering, painted portraits for friends as practice, and started posting in Facebook groups, where I made many new connections. I got ghosted by a potential client for the first time, and hosted my first free community art event at a cafe, a speed portrait jam session. I attended life drawing sessions across Toronto and made new friends through art.May and June 2026I booked and painted portraits at my first corporate live event, and booked another wedding for 2027. Behind the scenes, I refined my operating procedures, from invoicing and HST to client communication and CRM systems. I continued practising and experimenting regularly with both art and the business, attending workshops, hosting another free community event (Doodle Club), and refining my artistic style.So—that’s the low down on the past few months. Looking back, the journey wasn’t just about learning to paint, but about developing a product, building systems, learning marketing and sales, all of which are still ongoing. I worked part-time in community pharmacy throughout, alongside other pharmacy-related contract work. It’s an arrangement that has been working really well for me, although it means accepting that growth in any one area will probably be slower than someone pursuing one path full-time. Many of the skills I developed as a pharmacist transferred surprisingly well. Attention to detail, organization, documentation, and evidence-based decision making are all helping me to build the business. But some of the ways I approached learning and growth needed to evolve. In creative work, I couldn't wait until I felt fully prepared or confident before taking the next step. I had to learn by doing and trust that experience itself would become the teacher. Some of the internal shifts we don’t often talk about include:Cultivating the courage to show up onlineOvercoming doubts about whether you're good enough or worth the price you're chargingRecognizing that the mindset required to care for patients isn't always the same mindset that helps you create, experiment, and build something newSelf-compassion paired with discipline has become one of the best ways to prevent burnout and actually keep going. If there's one lesson I've taken so far from this experience, it's that reinvention isn't one dramatic decision, but rather hundreds of ordinary ones. Working in both pharmacy and art has taught me that context matters: some environments demand precision, while others require more experimentation. Learning to recognize the difference has allowed me to carry the best of my pharmacy training into creative work while letting go of the belief that I need to feel ready before I begin. In doing so, I've found not only a creative practice, but a deeper capacity to keep growing.

What being a pharmacist didn't teach me about being an artist

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Dian Han

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