What most artists get wrong is that they believe creating art and letting their close friends and family know about it is all they need to do to be a successful artist. As an artist, you'd have to get in tune with your creative side and also your entrepreneur side. Only being really good at creating art and letting the people come to you will not work. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work an artist has to do to get seen by potential buyers.
Don't end up like the starving artist. A starving artist is someone who can create things very well, but doesn't put much emphasis on the business aspect of things. The best type of artists of the ones that can blend talent with commerce together.
One of the main things you should do as an artist is to build an audience. If you have no audience then who will you market to? Who will know that you created a new piece of art or know any special events that you're doing? Using things like social media and email marketing are two of the best ways to build an audience.
Become An Expert In Your Craft
You need to work on your craft for a large amount of time to determine and have the confidence that you are good at what you do. If you don't have confidence in yourself and the art that you create, then you won't reach your full potential as a full-time artist. You will have to be objectively good at your art. Your mom or any close friends who compliment your art does not count. Sure, they could be honest, but no one is as honest as strangers who see your work for the first time.
Present Your Work In A Professional Way
You should have a place where people can see and view your work. A great example of this is a portfolio. People need to see examples of your work in order to trust you enough to buy your product or service. Always present it in a professional way as well because it is important to have your best foot forward. Try building a portfolio on social media or build your own website.
Monetize Your Craft
When it comes to making money as an artist, you can do this by providing a service or product to your customers. A product is you condensing your skills and experience into something someone could buy. You have to create value that people would spend their money on. If value is present, money will follow. A service based business is you as the artist trading your time and experience for money. I do this by offering custom artworks to be done for people at a hourly rate or flat rate depending on the project.
Get In Front Of People
As I mentioned previously, how can people buy your art if they don't know if you exist in the first place? The main thing that you can do is free to use is social media to your advantage. Simply posting your behind the scenes process or posting a video of you drawing will get your art in front of people. If you have the funds to do paid advertising on these social media platforms. With this method, you can easily target your audience who are most interested in your product or service and you can directly advertise to them.
