Advice on Art as a Job
I wanted to ask people some questions about how to make a successful future for myself. I have been having a hard time of it for quite awhile now. I do not really fit anywhere with well, anything. I deeply loath working for people other than temporary and I would love to be my own boss. There is only one problem with this, I have no idea where to turn. What I do for art right now will not make me much money, but I do not want to do any NSFW content. I'd appreciate suggestions on how to do art in a way that could make me some income and also a way to fund my art that would keep me above water. I know what I am asking for is a hard question to answer, but I could use all the help I can get figuring it out. I deeply appreciate whatever advice you have to offer.
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make sure to know how to market yourself well!
Whatever you do, do it and advertise the living shit out of it. Case in point:
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And like Vineris said, you need to put your entrepreneur hat on and figure out what it is that people want to buy, and also consider what makes YOU buy things, and then do the shit out of that. Next case in point: I love pencil skirts, so I joined Redbubble and am putting out designs to be printed onto pencils skirts and all sorts of other junk. I try to make every design something that I'd be interested in buying, because if you turn out crap that you don't like, it shows in your work.
MORE ADVERTISEMENT. Check out my sick pencil skirts, all of you pencil skirt-buying fabulosos
www.redbubble.com/people/ikisk…
And like Vineris said, you need to put your entrepreneur hat on and figure out what it is that people want to buy, and also consider what makes YOU buy things, and then do the shit out of that. Next case in point: I love pencil skirts, so I joined Redbubble and am putting out designs to be printed onto pencils skirts and all sorts of other junk. I try to make every design something that I'd be interested in buying, because if you turn out crap that you don't like, it shows in your work.
MORE ADVERTISEMENT. Check out my sick pencil skirts, all of you pencil skirt-buying fabulosos
www.redbubble.com/people/ikisk…
Those skirt designs are pretty neat. Pencil skirts and my butt do not play together well but if anyone ever asks me where to get colorful pencil skirts I'll know where to point them at!
Thank you! And aww, pencil skirts play well with everyone's butts! Some people say you shouldn't wear them so much if you have a bigger butt, but I've always thought they looked good on them! <3 (which is good for me and my gigantic ass )
)If you want to "be your own boss" then you have to do research into people's artistic needs. What kind of art do people buy? What kind of art do YOU buy? What do your friends buy? I'm sure you pay money for things other than porn, whether that's t-shirts, notebooks, custom presents for other people, and so on.
Like I'm working on a comic because I have a couple bookshelves filled with graphic novels. I KNOW people buy that stuff because I do. Same with books. You have to find the intersection of what you like to do (or wouldn't mind doing) and what people are willing to pay for. A lot of people just do the default like offering commissions because they're like "shit, I can do THAT!" but they don't think about it from the customer's point of view. Then they are disappointed that they can't keep themselves above water when they've done basically NO research into what people really want.
After that you have to do more research into where people buy that kind of product, how much they're willing to pay and so on. And you have to do that for every kind of art you do. Like the research that I did into selling comics and webcomics didn't overlap a whole lot with the research I had to do to sell paintings. It's a different process for whatever art you want to do and whatever audience you want to reach. And selling works best if you can reach a niche that isn't already full of competition. Like it's natural to put a comic book in a comic book store but it takes a little thinking outside the box to get, say, a wildlife store to carry it (if your comic is about wildlife).
The best advice I can give you is to start thinking of it as a business and start to learn about business and selling things. Because if you're your own boss it's unlikely that anyone's going to sell anything for you until you have a proven record that people want your stuff.
Like I'm working on a comic because I have a couple bookshelves filled with graphic novels. I KNOW people buy that stuff because I do. Same with books. You have to find the intersection of what you like to do (or wouldn't mind doing) and what people are willing to pay for. A lot of people just do the default like offering commissions because they're like "shit, I can do THAT!" but they don't think about it from the customer's point of view. Then they are disappointed that they can't keep themselves above water when they've done basically NO research into what people really want.
After that you have to do more research into where people buy that kind of product, how much they're willing to pay and so on. And you have to do that for every kind of art you do. Like the research that I did into selling comics and webcomics didn't overlap a whole lot with the research I had to do to sell paintings. It's a different process for whatever art you want to do and whatever audience you want to reach. And selling works best if you can reach a niche that isn't already full of competition. Like it's natural to put a comic book in a comic book store but it takes a little thinking outside the box to get, say, a wildlife store to carry it (if your comic is about wildlife).
The best advice I can give you is to start thinking of it as a business and start to learn about business and selling things. Because if you're your own boss it's unlikely that anyone's going to sell anything for you until you have a proven record that people want your stuff.
Thanks for the advice! Are there any good sites that would help with someone that likes doing cartoons and semi-realism? Also, are there any areas that you feel might be good areas to explore art wise?
That's way too broad. Cartoons and semi-realism is a style, you could do a lot of things with it -- anything from making plushies to making a videogame. You're going to have to narrow things down to actual products that you want to sell that people might want. In the next week or month wander around and look at everything you interact with with the idea of "how could I cross this with the kind of art I like to do."
You're gonna have to be an entrepreneur here and use your brain, looking for an easy step-by-step is just going to take you someplace where a lot of artists have arrived before you.
You're gonna have to be an entrepreneur here and use your brain, looking for an easy step-by-step is just going to take you someplace where a lot of artists have arrived before you.