5 Practical Career Tips For Making It As A Successful Artist

If you want to make it as a successful artist, here are some practical career tips to help you to succeed.

If you’ve ever been to the El Dia de Los Muertos cemeteries, you’ll see people have left offerings for the deceased. It’s their way to remember and honor the memory of their loved ones.

This tradition comes from the ancient Latin American belief of the three deaths. 

It’s been said…

• The first time someone dies is when the breath leaves his body and the heart ceases to function.
• The second time it happens is when one’s corpse is lowered into freshly turned earth to spend the eternity away.
• The last time someone dies for good is when there are no longer any lips left to utter his name in remembrance.

For generations, people have craved immortality. Nowhere is this notion truer than when it comes to the world of art.

When an artist completes their work, often they have a goal for their artwork to become famous, so they’ll be forever remembered. But truly…how challenging is to make it as a successful artist who’s not only famous now – but remembered for centuries to come?

5 Practical Career Tips For Making It As A Successful Artist

Nowadays it’s even more competitive than ever to make it as a successful artist in the art world.

So let’s take a look at some practical career tips for succeeding as an artist.

1. Art Should be Born from Inspiration not Replication

Nowadays social media has helped artists to find their fanbase. 

Scroll down your feed and you’ll find thousands of art pieces. Unfortunately, many of this artwork melts together – and looks the same.

People wind up copying each other in ann attempt to imitate what’s getting the most attention. But in the end, these copy cat artists get no attention, because they look like everybody else.

This also happens in the world of film. Every new movie feels like another remake in an endless series of remakes. But filmmakers don’t care – as long as it rakes in the cash.

What happened to Disney and the magic of its 2D animations? Why are Disney’s timeless animations being turned into live actions? Why is the plot of every movie adapted from that of a best selling book?

The career lesson successful artists know:

If you want to make money online as an artist, you must resist the urge to imitate other successful artists. You must develop your own unique style – and keep on reinventing yourself. You’ll have more of a chance of standing out in the crowd.

2.  Refrain from Using Perfectionism to Feed Anxiety and Self-Doubt

Perfectionism can be a form of pride. It’s a trait that is often uttered in the same sentence as triumph. As kids, our parents often tell us us to keep pushing ourselves harder – until our good is better – and our better becomes best. 

Unfortunately endorsing the quality if perfectionism can be harmful for artists. It promotes anxiety.

Perfectionism becomes a curse which vanquishes an artist’s natural instinct to explore, experiment, brainstorm – and thereby potentially fail.

Anxiety and self-doubt are inborn traits common to everybody. But it’s hard to be a successful artist when every attempt at your art is clouded by a haze of negative emotions. Or when you can’t even begin a painting or drawing, because you keep succumbing to the dread of being incapable.

The career lesson successful artists know:

You must drop the urge to be perfect. Instead you must step back and cut yourself some slack. If you observe the works of even the most renowned artists, you’ll find wonky lines, minuscule flaws, and out of place paint flecks. In fact, sometimes a successful artist’s mistakes wind up becoming the very thing which makes their work of art spectacular.

3. Comparison is the Death of Ingenuity

Whatever we do, usually someone else is already doing – and better – or more.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more prominent than in social media feeds.

Here, thousands of artists are churning out millions of content at a vast scale. The result? You can feel inadequately productive!

You wonder: “How on earth am I supposed to compete with that?”

Artists of the past were inspired by their organic exposure to limited quantities of art. As a result, they never suffered from witnessing the overload of content from artists on every corner of the globe.

The career lesson successful artists know:

You should keep up with the work of your peers. But you should limit this exposure – so you don’t feel overwhelmed.  You should also regularly remind yourself: Artistry is a process. And like all things worth doing, it takes time.

4. Cultivate Your Versatility by Switching between Mediums

The famous American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”

Every artist has their desired medium in which they excel:

• watercolor painting
• oil painting
• digital illustrations

But successful artists are open to going out of their comfort zones and exploring other mediums. By doing so, these artists once again rediscover the exhilaration of creating.

Why?

One reason: They are less likely to be as hard on themselves when they are working within a medium outside their level of expertise.

Failure at the beginning of doing something is always expected. Therefore, it could be a much less stressful experience to work within an unfamiliar medium, than when you feel stuck working in your traditional way.

The career lesson successful artists know:

If you are just starting out with a certain medium such as acrylic or oil painting and are intimidated by the complex paintings or tutorials you have seen so far, you might want to look into Paint by Numbers. This page will direct you to an extensive collection of artwork kits where the pigment and art are labeled by numbers. You’ll know which color will be painted onto which section. As a result, you’ll wind up making the daunting process of painting feel effortless – and you’ll re-energize your confidence.

5. Draw Inspiration From Your Experiences and Roots

Your culture and background are determinants of your personality. Basically, culture and background shape who you are and what you like.

As a result, these two factors can wind up greatly shaping the category of the artwork you choose to produce.

A noteworthy example…

You should take a look at the art by famed artist Gustav Klimt. He was notable for focusing on themes of love and intimacy in his paintings. During his Golden Period, his distinctive style consisted of him using complicated patterns adorned with gold leaves in his art pieces. How did he get this spark of innovation? Well, he was inspired by studying the intricate detailing in Byzantine mosaics. One of his famous paintings, The Kiss could have been a reimagining of him and his companion Emilie Louise Flöge as lovers.

The career lesson successful artists know:

You should start out paying attention to both the art culture of your past and your present contemporary trends. You’ll wind up getting more insightful ideas and helpful perspectives on different themes in art. As a result, you’ll figure out some styles of art which will feel most comfortable for you to pursue.

I Hope These Practical Career Tips Help  You Make It As A Successful Artist

I hope this article enlightens and inspires you to keep trying to pursue your art. Often, it is all too easy to start to feel hopeless – no matter how much joy creating art brings to you. However, it is important to remember your two biggest allies: persistence and practice! Good luck on your journey!

Develop the Superpower of Calm

Join my Anxiety Cure Video Course

Get a range of Eastern and Western relaxation techniques to further help you to reach the inner peace you’re seeking. Start now!