The Biggest Mistake Artists Make

Marooned
If you don’t market your art, you are figuratively marooning your art career on a island. Don’t isolate your art from the rest of the world. Get it out there.

What makes an artist successful?

For some, the satisfaction of having created a piece art is enough. These are the people who make art to relieve stress, to spend time creating their own worlds, to exercise their imagination, or just to pass the time. For them, it does not matter if someone else sees their art. Their art was successful to them simply because they made it and liked it. If this is all you need from art, more power to you; this article is not for you. You are already a success and need read no further.

Many artists, however, want more than the simple self satisfaction of creating art. They may want sales, or they may want to make a statement. They might want to influence minds, inspire others, or simply make people happy. For these people, success as an artist means RECOGNITION.

So what is the number one mistake these artists make?

The biggest mistake artists make in trying to achieve success is this: They spend too much of their “art” time making art and not enough getting people to look at it. The key to success as an artist is to find your audience and to get them to see your art. For an artist, the blanket term for this is Marketing.

So how much time should I spend marketing?

Well, it depends a bit on how good your are at marketing and the various channels you use as well as how fast you can produce art, but on average you should be spending about fifty percent of your dedicated art time to marketing. Yes, I said that. Roughly, HALF your time dedicated to art should be spent getting your art out there to be seen.

Why so much?

You need to spend that much time marketing because the art market is huge. A lot of people want to be artists, and there is a flood of art out there. People are not likely to find your art by accident. You have to bring them to it, and doing so requires effort.

So how do I market art?

The good news is that countless ways exist to get your art out there. For a creative person willing to find new ways to market, the sky’s the limit. And, guess what? You’re in luck; you’re an artist. That makes you a creative person.

Just to help you out though, at least for marketing online, you have this blog as a resource. In coming articles, I intend to share with you some of the methods that I have found for successfully marketing my own art, and perhaps they can work for you as well.

Regards,
Daniel

P.S.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s sponsor, Dick Blick Art Materials (since I offer this site for free, I have to fund it somehow 😉 )

www.dickblick.com