Are you dreaming about making money with your art from home or remotely? While it’s one of the hardest creative professions it’s also never been easier to get started and actually make money online with all kinds of art forms. Our quick guide will help you get started and learn the basics before you start your own business.
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Making Money With Your Art: First Steps
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Building an art career takes time and dedication. If you look online, you’ll find tons of articles and guides on starting a professional career as an artist. Before diving into them, you first ought to understand that things might not turn out as you planned. However, there are a few important steps you can take to make sure you achieve your goals in the shortest amount of time possible.
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You will have to not only work on being an artist but should also understand entrepreneurship, business, and how to move past bruised egos. However, with perseverance and some tactics, it is indeed possible to turn your passion for art into a career.
Learn to Manage Time
Being an artist means that you need to figure out how to work on your time without having to compromise on other facets of your life. If you are just starting out as a student or a fresh graduate, this can be even more challenging. For instance, you might have to deal with a part/full-time job and other social activities.
Some online resources such as WritePaper can help students delegate their college papers, so find time to focus on art. This will allow you to find enough time to be creative. More importantly, you will also need to dedicate time to get your work to be seen by others, both online and offline. In other words, effective time management is key.
Visit Galleries and Museums
Now that most businesses start via the internet, you might assume that nobody actually goes to galleries and museums to purchase art. However, that isn’t the case. Art aficionados still hunt for their best buys via curators.
And according to experts, it is crucial for an artist to see works in person. Even though museum collections are just one click away, how you engage with the art in person could be different. It would also work well to build a relationship with gallery owners and other artists by going for openings and exhibitions.
Learn to Speak About Your Work
For an artist these days, it is not sufficient that you create art, but you should also know how to present your works and speak about them to others. If you had been to an art school, you might have had to do this for presentations in class. In the real world, this skill is even more important. In fact, you might have to sell yourself to collectors and gallerists which means building your creative confidence is a crucial step in this process.
Unfortunately, the art industry is still making room for introverts or those who prefer not to talk about their works. Until it becomes more inclusive, artists will have to hone their ability to articulate the work in front of others. This might take time, but practicing public speaking skills can help.
Know What It Means to Be a Business Owner
Everything is a brand these days, and things are not so different in the art world. Whether you work with a gallery owner or art collector, you are essentially trying to sell your work, making you a business owner. And in this sense, artists also need to obtain an understanding of how market trends work. Today, interacting with the audience has become easier – thanks to the internet and social media. More and more people have exposure to art; however, that can also make things challenging.
To begin with, every artist should have a website that features their portfolio. Social media presence is also becoming necessary if you are trying to sell work online or build more contacts. Similarly, artists should keep an inventory of their work, know how to price them, and think of the logistics of shipping their work to the buyers. If you are setting up a shop, taking an online course on running a small business won’t hurt.
Balancing Business and Creativity
While understanding the business side is important, you might also want to minimize your time on administrative tasks. Once the business kicks off, you might want to consider delegating some of the busy work to others so that you can focus on creating more.
Many artists recommend hiring an assistant before you think it is necessary. These days, you need not even hire someone full-time. Instead, there are virtual assistants that you can ask for help with when required.
It is best not to wait until things are already hectic. For example, you wait until things are tough to hire an assistant. In that case, the transition will be more challenging and will make things unnecessarily cumbersome.
Don’t Rely Only on Money From Art
If you are just commencing your career as an artist, it might not be a good idea to expect your artwork to cover all your expenses. As we discussed already, it can take time to get noticed as an artist, even when you are bursting with talent.
So, until your art business takes off, you should have other sources of income to rely on. Not having to worry about money will also provide you with some room to experiment and work on what you truly want to make.
Even once your business takes off, it might be challenging to hold on to a steady stream of cash, especially if you are relying only on money from selling artworks. Therefore, it would be best to set up an alternate source of income, which will lessen the pressure on you.
Consider Art-Related Professions
Sometimes, being passionate about art does not mean that you need to be an artist yourself. Instead, you might find yourself enjoying art more in other roles. For instance, you could become a gallerist or an art consultant for collectors.
You can also explore other career fields such as design, animation, graphics, fashion, or architecture – that are closely associated with art. You can even become an art critic or start your own blog or channel that discusses artworks.
Some of these creative professions can be considered as a side hustle or might offer you more stability – depending on what you are seeking.
About Facing Rejection
One of the most important abilities that artists need to work on is to keep going when times are tough. You should be prepared to face declines and your audience not responding to or even liking your work at all times.
This can be extremely hard, especially when you pour so much into your work. Assuming that it will connect with collectors and curators. However, you should try your best not to get knocked down by rejection and pick yourself up from disappointments.
Understand That There is no Right Way
Every artist is unique, and so are their works and how they communicate with the audience. In other words, there is no right way for an artist to start their professional career. Instead, you will need to find a path that works best for you. It is quite easy to get overwhelmed in the art business; after all, it is fiercely competitive. You might compare your work to others or worry about how your art is received.
However, it is pertinent that you be confident about what you have to offer. If there is anything that the history of art teaches us, it’s that there is a place for everyone, so do not be afraid to stand out.
Thank you for reading!
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