Call yourself an artist before anybody else does. Waiting for permission can take forever.

No committee exists, no threshold number of followers, no moment when somebody official confirms it. Waiting for that means waiting forever while people who simply said it get on with the work. The word describes what you do with your time, not a rank you are awarded. Using it changes small things, like what you say yes to and how seriously you protect your hours.

Say it plainly next time somebody asks what you do. No qualifiers, no trying to be a writer, no sort of into music. Watch how differently the conversation goes, and how differently you treat your own schedule that week.