The best career opportunities have you doing both — earning and learning. Every career plan should have you doing at least one. You know you're in the wrong job if you're doing either.
Though artists generally aren't aware of it, that end work is a by-product of a greater desire. We aren't creating to produce or sell material products. The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm. A longing to transcend. What we create allows us to share glimpses of an inner land-scape, one that is beyond our understanding. Art is our portal to the unseen world.