There is a vast difference between being an artist and being a successful artist. Of course, not every artist wants to make their passion into their career, and they are more than happy keeping it as a hobby or something that brings in a little money every now and then. However, there are some artists who dream of being able to make their art into their one source of income; they dream, in other words, of being known and prosperous. So what does an artist really need to succeed?
Find Your Passion
If you want to be successful, you need to enjoy what you are doing, so when it comes to your art you need to find your passion. Once you know this and you know what medium you want to work in, you can start learning as much as you can about that medium. Find out who the famous pioneers were and what made them so great. Discover who is working in your chosen medium now and what they are doing. Look at your own art and think about how commercial it could be (assuming that’s the direction you want to go in). You need to know as much as you can about what you are doing so that you can position yourself as an expert and become successful.
Make A Website
Artists these days must create a website to showcase their work. If you want to be successful, you need to show your work to as many people as possible, and you also need to show that you are serious about it. A website can do both of these things; someone who wasn’t truly serious and passionate about what they were doing wouldn’t make a website about it all, and your website can be your opportunity to exhibit your work to the world. You can also use social media such as Facebook and Instagram (the ideal platforms for visual images) to boost your followers and so that you can keep your fans updated, but a website built to show off your portfolio is the most powerful tool of all.
Price Smartly
How much your art is worth is a difficult thing to gauge. It will take some time to come to terms with what you should be charging people, and it may not make you very comfortable at all because for some, pricing art is impossible. However, if you want to be successful at what you are doing and make a living from your art, you will need to set a price. An auction is not a good way sell your work because it can mean that it sells for a lot less than it should depending on the time and place you put it up for sale. This can even devalue your entire body of work if you’re not careful.
It’s a good idea to look at other artists and how they are pricing their work. There will be someone you can compare yourself to (in terms of your style, not in terms of who is a better artist – that won’t be helpful) and you can follow their lead. Make sure you have something in a range of different price brackets so that you can appeal to the broadest audience.
