![]() He looked around the hospital for something to entertain the 4-year-old. However, the Clintonville, Ohio, resident didn’t begin Etch A Sketching in earnest until 1988 when his daughter, Ellie, was recovering from heart surgery. Etch A Sketch-has learned to be patient, precise and persistent while mastering the popular baby boomer toy.Īs a child, George played with one of the first Etch A Sketches manufactured in 1960 by the Ohio Art Co. “It’s a matter of patience.”ĭuring the last 25 years, George-known as Mr. “If you make a mistake, there’s no selective erasing,” George says. Just embrace who you are, have no shame, and people are gonna love that about you.Twirling the white knobs on an Etch A Sketch, Tim George, 63, creates a near-perfect circle, demonstrating the mechanical drawing toy for a small group of spectators at Blendon Woods Metropolitan Park in Columbus, Ohio. "Just capitalize on you, because you're awesome. She hopes her journey empowers others to follow their dreams and embrace who they are, even if they're pursuing what others may deem a "silly career." Labowitch is continuing to do live streamed Etch A Sketch art for her 475,000 TikTok followers, in addition to commissions and running her own store on Etsy. This translates to $143.58, which she rounded up to $150. But what I would ideally like to do is use my platform for future philanthropic endeavors, finding the right causes at the right times, while still being able to maintain and sustain myself."įrom June 24 to June 30, Labowitch received 28,716 TikTok "diamonds," each worth 5 cents. I did a smaller fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. "I decided I'm going to take a break from this particular fundraiser that I was doing. But shortly after, the overturning of Roe V. Shortly after paying off her student debt, Labowitch decided she would start another fundraiser for a new computer setup. Shocked at the support her followers gave her to obtain these "arbitrary" items, Labowitch decided she would do live stream art for a bigger cause: wiping out her student loan debt. I did it again for a farm-themed Etch A Sketch and, bam, $40." Just like that, in an hour I had raised $60. And I said, 'alright, everybody, any funds that I receive today are going toward the purchase of this ridiculous item I don't need in my life.' And it was incredible. "I found this very silly Etch A Sketch on eBay. She had no idea that she'd start making money as quickly as she did. Labowitch started out accepting donations on her live streams to buy new limited edition Etch A Sketches. So TikTok was kind of this new avenue to explore to see what I could do with it." "I had lost a lot of work that I was doing with my sketch art, like teaching workshops, going to live events and doing live portraits. She started experimenting with live streaming her drawing process after losing in-person opportunities. Like many millennials, Labowitch joined TikTok at the beginning of the pandemic. By leveraging her TikTok following and unique Etch A Sketch art, she managed to pay off her remaining student loans in 30 days. To pay off the outstanding balance, Labowitch got creative. And I was particularly determined to get that paid off first before my federal loans, knowing private loans kind of play by different rules." ![]() "I would say around 20 grand of that was Sallie Mae specifically. "I was very adamant toward attacking those loans," says Labowitch. After graduation, she was left with about $53,000 in student debt.īy living with a roommate, working part-time while doing commission Etch A Sketch art and ditching a car, Labowitch was able to start paying $750 a month on her student loans shortly after graduation, and brought her debt down to $13,484.58 by March 2022. After high school, the Michigan native relocated to Chicago to attend the American Academy of Art, where she got a bachelor's degree in illustration. But following her passion came with a hefty price tag.
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