5 Tips That’ll Help You Succeed As An Artist
You dream of selling your artwork and making a great living as a full-time artist.
But you know this is not going to happen unless you make the right connections and start selling your work.
You search Google for tips, you'll find a lot of big promises.
The truth?
There's no magical tip, trick, strategy, or hack capable of turning you into a fantastic and successful artist overnight.
But if you want to learn how to be better, if you're looking to up your career game a level or two, a few useful tips and tricks (combined with hard work) can help make it happen.
Look Beyond Your Current Skillset
Running has become my proof that it is OK to set new, impossible goals and start aiming for them, head up, wings out, no limits.
When I signed up for my first marathon, I thought the training would be like starting out as an artist— all about persistence when the going gets tough.
But as my training progressed, I discovered that success would depend on much more than logging the miles.
Getting to the finish line takes:
✔ Deliberate planning
✔ Determination
✔ Practice
✔ A support system
Marathon training is a serious thing, and much like being an artist, it takes you on a road of discovery full of unexpected twists and turns.
To reach your goal, you have to put on your shoes and hit the pavement, regardless if you feel up for it or not.
Creativity works the same way, it's a skill, and its practice should never end.
Dedicate yourself to your art career and constant learning.
Are there any skills you think you need to get better at?
Like writing a killer exhibition or project proposals? Talking about your work or networking?
Think about which skill you could focus on improving and schedule daily practice time on your calendar. Even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes, if you stick to it you will see an improvement.
Like marathoners, artists need to have a plan.
The way to improve is by setting consistent, incremental goals.
Typically, whilst training for a marathon, the distance increases by 10% every week.For artist wanting to make a living from their art, growth is everything.
✔ Grow your audience
✔ Grow your mailing list
✔ Grow your body of work
✔ Grow your network
✔ Grow your achievements and recognition.
✔ and much more
I always find it super useful to have a plan which outlines the action steps needed to reach my goal.
Big goals can be overwhelming but breaking them down into small manageable weekly or daily chunks takes away the enormity.
I add my daily tasks to my calendar.
This way, I am always ready to go and don't waste time establishing what needs to be done.
Get help if you are not sure which steps you will need to move forward
There are many ways to figure this out, for example:
✔ Ask fellow artists
✔ Talk with more experienced artists or industry experts who have already gone through this process; they may be able to help by sharing what steps they took
✔ Network, ask a question on industry-specific forums or Facebook groups
✔ Buy a book or search online for a guide or manual
✔ Take a course
✔ Work with a mentor
Be open to learning new tasks and skills if needed, and keep in mind that it's impossible to know everything. Keep researching and asking until you can create a realistic action plan.
When you try new things and move towards your goal, you will find opportunities, mentors and support you never expected.
🢧 Keep visualizing your long-term goals
You'll be less likely to cave to temptation when you focus on the long-term gain. Visualize yourself meeting your goals and reaping the rewards that you'll gain by practising self-discipline daily.
Turn A Solitary Venture Into Teamwork
Understand the importance of your support team.
Marathon running, like being an artist, is often a solitary effort. But even a solo effort is often teamwork in disguise.
I went on most of my training runs alone, but towards the end, I had a few training sessions with a faster friend — I quickly increased speed by more than 30% on that run.
Don't underestimate the value of the people cheering you along the way.
Your support network will push you out of your comfort zone to do better.
The people who support you and cheer you on will help you grow by pushing you outside your conventional patterns of thought.
You will achieve more success if you share the same goal with the people around. Furthermore, you’ll find the resilience in your support systems to continue.
🢧 Join a more structured organizations that can teach you about grant application and business and exhibtion skills wich are also vital.
Network Like A Pro
I was never a big fan of industry events or private views. But my attitude changed after I considered private views and other networking events as the equivalent to job hunting.
A job search with less misery and more booze.
Whether you are searching for commissions or trying to advance your career, networking gives you the change to meet industry professionals and expose yourself to new opportunities.
Private views profoundly impacted my career; it's where I made contacts and build my network, which has grown and evolved with me over the last 20 years. It is where you can meet like-minded spirits and bond with newfound friends over a shared love of art.
Private views are like tribes; you will see the same people over and over again. People will start recognizing you, and eventually, people will know your name and what you do. Going to private views gets your face known and makes galleries more open when you approach them at a later stage.
🢧 Sign up to gallery newsletters.
🢧 Listen to the art chitter chatter online.
🢧 Know what’s going on.
🢧 If you can, go to openings and start networking.
If “real world networking” is not an option use the internet. The internet provides us with great opportunities. Online you can connect and compete with the top players in the industry — surely that’s a good thing, right?
Embrace A Bumpy Road
As a professional artist, you deal with never-ending problems, challenges, and rejections. Only a large amount of grit and absolute persistence will get you through.
It is heart-breaking to meet talented artists who produce incredible works of art, yet lack the drive or ability to work hard and sustain the industry's intensity.
Unfortunately, talent alone is not enough.
Only a fraction of artists presents themselves as a complete package with a convincing body of work that would stand a good chance in a very competitive market.
Artists are required to be highly determent which is difficult if faced with financial pressure or otherwise.
But determination and self-discipline are components of success in any field and the good news is that we can increase our determination and learn to be more self-disciplined.
No one wakes up one day suddenly feeling blessed with self-discipline.
🢧 Stick to your plan and its daily action steps to reach your goals.
🢧 No matter what.
If you want to make a living from your art, you owe it to yourself to take it seriously and make it happen.
✔ Challenging yourself
✔ Making full use of your talent
✔ Be dedicated
✔ Be determined
Give it your all and your potential will not go to waste.
You are in charge of your career, and the artists that get attention in the industry are the ones who continuously learn and generate a buzz from their own efforts.
Identify your goal and take your artistic venture to the next level.
Imagine how much you can achieve by taking small weekly or daily steps.
🢧 Stay at it and you’ll get there. ⭐ ⭐⭐
