art ADVISES.
"Art is not what you see, but, what you make others see.”
-Edgar Degas
Most people don’t realize how much courage it takes for an artist to show their work to people. Courage, as defined by Mark Twain, is not the lack of fear, but rather being able to move forward in spite of it. In my previous article, If You Are Addicted, I introduce the notion that there is a difference between making art and making a painting (sculpture, photography, or whatever your medium is). Expression of your unique form of creativity is an addiction that very few artists have any choice about. It’s the need that drives you, identifies who you are as a person to yourself as well as others and keeps you centered. But, creating ART, takes more than just making the object. After years of talking to artists too timid or too scared to show their work, I’ve heard just about every excuse in the book… fear of rejection, lack of time, not interested in exposure, not ready, the list goes on and on. But for some, there comes a point at which they can no longer ignore the need for their artwork to be seen. It’s as if the artwork itself is demanding exposure. It is here, that the distinction between an object that sits on the wall begins the transition into becoming art.
As I define it, art is the activity that occurs in the space that exists between my eyeballs and that object you have created. It is the interaction between the collective experiences in my brain, as I process the way you have chosen to express the collective experiences in your brain. It is only when this exchange takes place, that your work becomes art. It is when you share your creation with the outside world that you truly become an artist. Sadly, for many artists, this is an experience they will never have. My goal, therefore, is to help prepare you to take the leap from being an object maker, to being an artist. By understanding the responsibility you have to get your work seen, you can begin to take the important first steps in becoming an artist.
-Edgar Degas
Most people don’t realize how much courage it takes for an artist to show their work to people. Courage, as defined by Mark Twain, is not the lack of fear, but rather being able to move forward in spite of it. In my previous article, If You Are Addicted, I introduce the notion that there is a difference between making art and making a painting (sculpture, photography, or whatever your medium is). Expression of your unique form of creativity is an addiction that very few artists have any choice about. It’s the need that drives you, identifies who you are as a person to yourself as well as others and keeps you centered. But, creating ART, takes more than just making the object. After years of talking to artists too timid or too scared to show their work, I’ve heard just about every excuse in the book… fear of rejection, lack of time, not interested in exposure, not ready, the list goes on and on. But for some, there comes a point at which they can no longer ignore the need for their artwork to be seen. It’s as if the artwork itself is demanding exposure. It is here, that the distinction between an object that sits on the wall begins the transition into becoming art.
As I define it, art is the activity that occurs in the space that exists between my eyeballs and that object you have created. It is the interaction between the collective experiences in my brain, as I process the way you have chosen to express the collective experiences in your brain. It is only when this exchange takes place, that your work becomes art. It is when you share your creation with the outside world that you truly become an artist. Sadly, for many artists, this is an experience they will never have. My goal, therefore, is to help prepare you to take the leap from being an object maker, to being an artist. By understanding the responsibility you have to get your work seen, you can begin to take the important first steps in becoming an artist.
- Self Evaluation: Spend some time thinking about what your real goals are as an artist and write them down. Nobody has to ever see it. Don’t let yourself limit the possibilities just because you think they are impossible.
- Excuses: Try to define as many reasons as possible that you haven’t made a consistent effort to show your work…again, write this down. (No cheating, showing your work to one or two people that are friends or relatives doesn’t count)
- Objectivity: Try to make a realistic assessment of the quality of your work. This is not what other people have said about your work, including teachers or mentors. It is an honest, naked, look at your process, by YOU, to see if there is any room for improvement or continued exploration.
How to Become a Great Artist
Being Great Artists aren't just about good tools, pro education, and other expensive stuff like that. You can even do it at home with normal and simple tools! Just follow these amazing tips and you'll get drawing great in no time at all!
- Get your equipments ready. Well, in this article, I'd call it the Artist Emergency Tools. It should consist of a pencil, an eraser, a sketchpad or any notebook as the primary tools. You should bring these stuff almost everywhere you go. You might find time to sketch here or doodle there.
- Look for references about stuff you want to draw. If you want to draw animals, just go to a zoo, take an example of your pet bunny, or simply surf the internet. If you want to draw anime, find a good manga and check out the drawings. If you want to draw landscapes, you can go the expensive way and travel around the world looking for beautiful sceneries, or simply sketch out your garden. You can also see How-To videos on YouTube and such.
- Get practicing. You should start by copying what you see in a more simple way. Sketch at least two pictures a day, but more is better. This way, you'll understand the basics of the things you'll draw slowly, bit by bit.
- Prepare for more equipments! This time, you might need a black marker (most likely a Drawing Pen - rather pricey but worth it). You should start coloring from now on, so get some color pencil or charcoal and the bunch. You should just prepare what you want to color with, for example: If you want to color your drawing black and white, I'd recommend you use charcoal. If it's watercolor, use paint. You can also just simply use pencil to shade it and such. And also, you need some canvas or paper for you official drawings.
- Experiment on colors and combine them with your drawings. Draw this in red, add a tint of black, add a bit of yellow to make this look glisten, smudge this to create a glowing effect. You'll come to understand what type of coloring your drawing is suited best for.
- Once again, get practicing. You might need more practice than before, but the time you'll take is longer, so set up a target, like drawing 6 drawings in a week, and such. This might take a really long time, but with spirit and practice, you might even get better than those pros.
- Once you've become a great artist, start publishing your works. You should also start a business, like selling your paintings and such. But here's a tip: Give it out for free in the first times, just so others can see your talents. And then, when your popularity has rose, start pricing it!
- Take it to the next level! You might as well find a job in art. You popularity should've rose, and people might be asking you for more! Sign in as a cartoonist, a magazine illustrator, a manga artist, or anything suited for your style of drawing! You'll be a star in the art world!
How to Become a Famous Artist
Your dream of becoming a famous artist may not be as far-fetched as it might seem: child prodigy Sir John Everett Millais was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and won a silver medal at the Society of Arts at age nine, and Pablo Picasso, co-founder of the Cubistmovement, was regarded as a boy genius. Even today, young artists such as Akiane Kramarik are heralded as prodigies.If you have what it takes, your name may be destined to be remembered throughout the ages. Ready to learn how? Read on!
Part 1 of 2: Building Your Skills
Part 2 of 2: Marketing Yourself
Part 1 of 2: Building Your Skills
- Practice. Being called by the muse is a wonderful thing, without a doubt, but without the technical abilities to realize your vision, you won't get very far. Whatever your chosen medium or media, become an expert in every part of it.
- Set aside an hour or more each day to devote to nothing but practicing your technique.
- Focus especially on those areas that are the weakest for you, but build your strengths as well.
- Take advantage of the communities and resources that you can find. Artist supply manufacturers, and art stores themselves, often have free literature, tutorials, videos, and websites that are loaded with tips, techniques, and more.
- Some stores even offer weekend training seminars, where you can not only pick up some new skills, you'll also meet other artists.
- Work on the things you love. Choose one subject that is meaningful to you and that you want to be able to draw well.
- Start with a still life, or a photo that's yours, in public domain, or that you have permission to use. Draw or paint that same photo over and over, using different approaches—paint, pencil, abstract, realism—whatever moves you.
- Build up from easy subjects, like a rubber ball or a rectangular block, to more complicated, difficult subject, like a rose, a clear glass marble or a shiny metal bowl. And try to get the details right: the curves of a petal, the clarity of the glass, or reflections so good that Escher would be impressed! Each of them will improve your ability to draw in general.
- Practice timed gesture drawing. Pick your subject, set your timer for two or three minutes, start drawing, then stop when the timer goes off, even if the drawing isn't finished.
- Set the timer again and start over. Doing 10 three minute drawings will give you more skill than taking half an hour to draw the same thing in detail.
- Vary the art tools you use. Start off with a pencil, then go to charcoal, colored pencils, pastels, paint, whatever interests you. Never fear trying new tools or techniques.
- When trying an expensive new medium, visit Dick Blick or Jerry's Artarama and email them for samples. Many types of art suppliers make sample sized products or the company will send out just one stick or a small piece of the expensive paper or canvas for you to test before deciding what to buy.
- This gives you a chance to try it first and see if you like it. Try more than one brand—the samples are usually not the same color and you can find out which brand to invest in by those trials.
- Get critiqued by family and friends. Make it clear you want a real opinion, not just a biased, "I love you so everything you do is wonderful" opinion. If they think it's good, then you're on the right track! If they don't, you're still on the right track: if several people think your technique is great, but your subject matter leaves something to be desired, that's an opportunity for self-reflection and to learn something.
- Don't confuse critique with personal criticism, especially if the critic is somebody who is not interested in seeing you become an artist.
- Look outside your circle for opinions. Look for critique from people who draw better than you do. Make friends online with real artists whose work you admire. Compliment them and ask intelligent questions about their techniques. You'll rapidly find that many artists enjoy teaching beginners and will be happy to share what they've learned.
- As you learn more, reach out to those who are just starting. You will learn more every time you explain and demonstrate what you already know. It's very common for teachers to learn from their students!
- Learn to accept compliments gracefully. When friends and family members love everything you draw and think it's wonderful, or your mum was putting your childhood scribblings up on the fridge from the time you were two (and believes you'll be Picasso someday), relax and enjoy that as support.
- The better you get at art, the easier it is for people to compliment you and call you talented.
- Compliments can sometimes be critiques, and those are very valuable! Should an artist whose work you admire give you a compliment such as, "I love the colors in this," this means they are not only nice enough to compliment you on your work, but have taken the time to understand and appreciate the choices you made.
- Develop a strong personal style. Do this by learning to paint and draw your favorite subjects in all the ways that every painter you like best has done them. The more you learn technique and understand your own passions, the more your own style will emerge.
- Having a personal style is a combination of learning to draw and paint well in your favorite mediums while consistently paying the most attention to your favorite subjects.
- You will become a specialist, a "brand of one" at a certain intermediate level of competence. Mastering a subject and a medium comes later, at the point when you could do it easily without thinking at all about how you do it, yet always have consistent results.
- Be prolific. To get into a gallery, you should have a portfolio of up to a dozen of your best works, all of which have something in common, be it the subject or style, general size and level of skill.
- Make your work available in as many formats as possible, so that there are no barriers for interested gallery owners or art patrons to view your work.
Part 2 of 2: Marketing Yourself
- Publish your work. The best way to become famous is to get known! The internet offers many avenues to be seen and promote artistic works, and in the information-loaded 21st century, it's important to use all the tools at your disposal to build your name and your reputation.
- Blog daily about your work, and include illustrations showing your process and a gallery to show (and/or sell) your finished works.
- Visit all the galleries in your area, and get to know the proprietors. If you're old enough, attend as many openings as possible, not to promote your own work—there will be time enough for that later—but to become a known artist in the community.
- Create a Facebook for your art, and encourage people to visit and like your page. Reach out to other artists through Facebook. Like visiting galleries, this will help place you in the community, and Facebook can reach well beyond your neighborhood.
- Tweet about art regularly. Your art, historical art, pop art, any art at all. The more you know about art, the more you'll be recognized as somebody worth paying attention to. At the same time, follow artists and galleries, and respond to their tweets. This will encourage more people—including gallery owners—to follow you.
- Create a Flickr account and post scans or photos of your art. It's an active community, and while you won't get a lot of helpful critique on Flickr, you will build your name recognition, and perhaps become online friends with some very talented artists.
- Join fine art societies and enter contests. Start with student level contests at first and small local art contests.
- Teach workshops. This will help you not only get known as an artist, but also as an expert in your field.
- Build your skills until you can enter major national and international contests in your chosen medium.
- Enter juried art shows. Getting a painting into a juried art show is itself an achievement to put on your resume. When you have too many, shorten it by listing only the most important shows.
- Find a reliable art agent. Read up on art agencies and contact the agent's other clients. See if they are happy with the agent, or are generally discontented or feel as if they've been ripped off. Agents will market you and your work, and also represent you in contract negotiation. Make sure they are well-connected and good with contracts.
- You might also want to work with a reputable attorney who specializes in the art world. While an agent may know a bit about the law, their job is promotion. A lawyer's only job is knowing about the applicable law.
- Paint what you care about. If you don't care about the subject, it will show in your work. Many artists fall a little bit in love with their subject, whether it be a bowl of fruit or the artist's model.
- If you like expressing anger and dark emotions, study dark painters. If you like abstracts and splatter paintings, study them and do them—they take their own techniques and don't just happen because someone threw paint at a canvas and called it art.
- If you love wildlife and the outdoors, get a small portable painting kit and paint "en plein air" (outdoors) in your favorite places.
- Whatever your passion, find ways to capture that passion on the canvas.
- Keep growing as an artist. Being a true artist is a lifelong pursuit. When you've reached the level of fame to which you aspire, with plenty of money and acclaim, you will still want to look forward to something beyond that.
- Continuing to learn and invent, even after you are famous will not just keep you on top of your game, focused on the future instead of putting your best years behind you.
- As you style grows and changes, older paintings you've done become more valuable. Collectors will be interested in the entire history of your life's work. Even the drawings you did as a child become valuable: what your mom stuck to the fridge has the seeds of your current success, so don't throw away earlier works.