This video is made with the support of NZ on Air Public Interest Journalism Fund. 

David McCracken has forged himself a strong reputation as an artist - quite literally.

A noted fabricating sculptor, the Tāmaki Makaurau-based creative works in steel with large-scale metal sculptures, with his work enjoyed in public art displays around the country.

But like many fellow successful contemporaries, it hasn't exactly been a cash cow. 

"I wouldn't recommend it for anyone thinking it's going to be a quick buck," McCracken quips dryly when interviewed for The Big Idea's video series. "It's been years - decades - of application and decades of financial insecurity. I've produced so much work, most of which ended up in the scrap heap or the bin."

Along the way, there have some profitable years - and some lean ones. But McCracken's always been focused on what matters to him; getting the time and opportunity to create.

"The goal was only ever to live to fight another day," he explains.

"Success is being able to keep going, success is being able to continue to work. You've never 'made it'. If I can keep working, turning up here (his studio) and keep producing work, I'm happy and I want very little more." 

It took McCracken almost a year and a half to complete his latest body of work, with his just completed exhibition at Onehunga's Gow Langsford Gallery, Attraction and Transmission.

"It's a very small market so you've got to stand out," McCracken reflects.

"When I was starting off, I would talk to older artists and they had to struggle so hard to sell anything at all.

"The relative wealth has grown and there's just a greater awareness of art in public places, in private places - the culture certainly has changed."