Many people who want to be an artist don’t dare to launch their career because they believe that being an artist is hard. In fact, most artists struggle with insecurities, lack of inspiration, and creative block at least at one point in their life. But that doesn’t have to stop you from being successful. There are certain good habits an artist should cultivate, and things an artist should NOT do to find success. In this post, I point out 10 things you should avoid right from the start to kickstart your art career!
Being an artist is kind of an extraordinary endeavor. It’s not like being a lawyer, an accountant, or a retailer. There are still lots of negative concepts around pursuing a creative career.
You’ve surely heard statements like being an artist is hard. You cannot make a living as an artist.
Odds are that, even if you know from the bottom of your heart that you want to be an artist, you’ve asked yourself more than once questions like:
Should I be an artist?
Should I really take the plunge and start a full-time art business?
Will my art ever be good enough to make money with it?
This is what most artists struggle with.
While I don’t have all the answers to what an artist needs to be successful, I know that there are a few threads that most experienced artists have in common.
In other words, there are things that an artist should not do, on the one hand, and some good habits that an artist should cultivate on the other hand.
In this post, I’ve put together ten things that you should shun right away if you want to be a joyous and successful artist!
I had to learn that stuff the hard way throughout my creative journey and I hope that the following tips will help aspiring artists avoid walking into those traps right from the start. And, if you are a seasoned artist, you might get a better understanding of what habits you should give up as fast as possible to find new inspiration to create art!
Let’s go…
10 Things an artist should not do [*Strategies for Success*]
Strategy for Success #1: An artist should NOT stop exploring.
First and foremost, you should never stop exploring and experimenting.
If you are a digital artist, why not take some time to try out traditional mediums, such as crayons, oil, acrylics, and watercolor?
Likewise, if you are a traditional painter, learn the fundamentals of a graphics editor like Photoshop. It’s not only fun to experiment with digital media, but it also enables you to process photos of your work or create mockups for your online shop.
Overall, I believe that experimenting with different styles and techniques will enhance your creative vision and make your artist life more interesting!
Strategy for Success #2: An artist should NOT let a day go by without creating anything.
‘Practice makes perfect’ is a popular saying, and it is very true for your artistic practice as well. It takes a lot of time to become proficient at your craft and develop a unique art style.
However, the more you practice the faster you will be there. Professional artists know how important it is to stick to a consistent schedule regarding their creative practice.
Set aside some time to create art on a daily basis, even if it’s just half an hour or 20 minutes. Your art doesn’t have to be perfect. But usually, it is better to create a bit regularly than a lot sporadically!
I myself used to make multiple creations at a time, while not creating anything in between. I thought it didn’t make a difference, until I realized I couldn’t be further away from the truth…
You’ll be astonished at how quickly the quality of your work improves if you push yourself to just sketch a couple of minutes every day. Give it a shot!
Strategy for Success #3: An artist should NOT go with the flow.
If you want to make art that everyone will recognize, you cannot go with the flow. You cannot look at what is trending and then create something similar, hoping that people will like it, too.
As an artist, you should strive to develop your uniqueness. You should create the art that is dear to your heart – regardless of whether people like it or not. If you can find a way to create work that hasn’t existed before, you have great chances to get attention as an artist and find an audience that wants to buy your works.
Creating such kind of art takes courage, but you’ll never know if you create a masterpiece until you try!
Strategy for Success #4: An artist should NOT be afraid of criticism.
Some artists are absolutely passionate about making art, but they never show their creations to the public. Either they are afraid of criticism or their inner art perfectionist tells them their work is just not good enough…
In any case it is a pity because you have put so much thought and time into it your artwork that you surely don’t want it to decay in a dark closet.
If you never show your work, you cannot hope to make money with your art or get any acclaim in the art world. Nowadays, there are so many ways to showcase and sell your art that you shouldn’t miss out on!
Strategy for Success #5: An artist should NOT create art for others.
On a similar note, you should never create art with the intention of pleasing others. As artists, we would want everyone to like our work, but that’s not going to happen. And with all the ‘Like culture’ on social media, it is easy to make the mistake and measure the worth of our work by how many Likes it get.
But that is not what determines the true value of your art.
Fact is you will never be able to make art that pleases everyone. And you shouldn’t even try to. Bad critiques and rejection are inevitable. And the sooner you learn to deal with rejection, the sooner you will be able to create the art that you genuinely want to make.
That is the most joyful and satisfying experience of being an artist!
Strategy for Success #6: An artist should NOT work for free.
It can be challenging to put a price tag on your art, especially if you’re a new artist. But even more experienced artists often shy away from asking for an adequate compensation. After all, making art is fun, or just a hobby, so why ask money for it, right?
No. You must learn to value your work. Too often we forget the countless hours that we have spent on perfecting our craft.
How many hours have you invested into coming to grips with your digital art software? How much time did you put into getting your brush strokes right?
With all that time, money and effort put into your art, you should make sure to get properly compensated. Apart from prints, the most common things artists offer are art commissions. If you are unsure how much to ask, I have a complete guide on how much to charge for art commissions.
Strategy for Success #7: An artist should NOT compare their work to others.
Comparison is the creativity killer no. 1! By comparing ourselves to other artists (of course only those who are better than us) we block our creativity and take away our joy of art-making.
It only leads to art jealousy and art anxiety – we start to envy other artists for their work, and we let our fears and insecurities convince us that our art will never be as good.
We need to realize that every artist is at a different stage of their creative journey. That’s why we should only compare ourselves to our former selves. Instead of focusing on someone else, invest that energy into comparing your recent work with the work you made last month, last year, and five years ago. Have you evolved as an artist? That’s what really matters.
And, when you inevitably see someone else’s artwork, take it as an inspiration to move forward and grow!
Strategy for Success #8: An artist should NOT shy away from putting their work out there.
Putting yourself out there to be seen by the world may be daunting. It is not only difficult because people might criticize your art. It can also be scary because you expose a part of yourself to people that you don’t know.
Art-making can be a very personal activity. Many artists use art as a means of self-expression. They express their emotions, feelings and vulnerabilities through their work. That’s why the thought of allowing everyone to see it, judge and critique it might make you feel uneasy.
However, it is important to realize that oftentimes you are the harshest critic of your work. Stopping to judge your art is the first step to becoming a more confident and successful artist.
All long-time artists know from experience that true growth comes from within and not from outside approval. So, ask yourself honestly, would you still do what you are doing if no one liked your art?
Staying true to yourself is what ultimately matters. If you manage to build the creative confidence, you can follow your artistic path with more joy and happiness!
Strategy for Success #9: An artist should NOT believe in the myth of the starving artist.
We’ve all heard the myth of the ‘starving artist’. But nowadays, every artist is the architect of their own fortune. There are so many ways to monetize your art.
You can make money as an artist offline and online. And, you can even make money as a self-taught artist! Really, the sky is the limit.
Apart from selling prints, there are options like print-on-demand, digital printables, writing e-books, teaching courses, or licensing your art.
The more income streams you have, the more successful you’ll be at pursuing a full-time artist career!
Strategy for Success #10: An artist should NOT wait for inspiration to strike.
As Picasso so aptly put it,
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
(→ More inspirational artist quotes here.)
The truth is successful artists show up to the studio every day – even when they don’t feel inspired. They have a fixed working routine they stick to, no matter what.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, it is best to create something every day. Sure, sometimes you might feel unmotivated. But then it is even more important to get past that resistance.
However, you don’t overcome resistance by hoping or waiting for inspiration.
In other words, it is more effective to get to work every day than to wait for a flash of inspiration!
Stay inspired all year long!
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Regardless of where you are on your creative path, always remember that being an artist means lifelong learning and evolving. You will always want to soak in new skills and explore new ways of creating art. On that note, I hope that this post helps you avoid some of the mistakes that will hinder your artistic growth!
Let me know what you are thinking. Please leave comments and questions below or reach out to me on Instagram @ginangiela. I’d love to hear from you! Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new blog posts and other cool stuff. ♥
