Young artist listen up.

Earlier today I was perusing the booking of face and ran across a young artist stating they were giving up the art page they had created. Many commented to the young artist including my wife, so I decided to offer up my two cents worth, here is my direct copy of my comment. Enjoy and let me know what you would add or subtract.

Ok so as the artist part of the wife of an artist in the earlier comments I have a lot to say on this matter of self promotion, creating art, not selling/selling art and being criticism of ones own work.

First make art you are passionate about, if you don't enjoy the process and are only doing it for money/crackers/peanuts you won't enjoy it the work will show it and you will earn less peanuts.

2. People not only buy art they like they are buying a part of the artist. They want to know how you did something or what you ate for breakfast. It is the voyeuristic aspect of people.

3. The business of art is hard, its 90 percent selling your self and 10 percent making. So set a schedule, treat it like a business. Yep it takes dedication and self discipline but it's not impossible. Treat it like a job, work that shit 9-9 or 12-12 or whatever but realize to be successful its gonna be a lot of working half days don't matter if it's the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours.

4. Self promotion, see above. It is a bitch and a full time job in its own right. There is a reason there are people whose job it is to promote others on social media. It's not impossible to do it, first thing make content to engage people. Second make lots of content, third post that content when people are more apt to see it, fourth use all media platforms but play to your skills the most. I always build my posts on instagram because I prefer its layout, then it's a simple cross post to twitter and Facebook and done. Fifth realize social media changes and you have to change with it, alogarthms or however it's spelled suck ass.

5. Set reasonable goals for yourself and your work. Don't be disappointed if it doesn't sell, just sit down make more art, practice, learn what you like, be critical, find a group of artists to be critical with and whose opinion you respect, make art, make crappy art, make less crappy art, make good art, make art, make great art, make crappy art again, make art that pushes your boundaries, make art.