The path to becoming a full time artist can be both challenging but rewarding. That being said, most people don’t know how to actually turn their passion into a lucrative career. There are many different avenues you can take as an artist such as creating bespoke pieces of art of your choice and selling those or by live event painting. Most don’t know that live event painting exists, but the most popular for sure is live wedding painting.
To simplify this, the artist will attend a wedding and paint either throughout the whole day or capture the most heartfelt moments chosen by the couple. Both of these can generate an attractive salary but there are a few steps you must take to increase your chances of success.
1) Develop Your Skills And Style
Like any niche career the more skilled and talented you are the higher your chance of success. Take the time to perfect your craft, learn new techniques and develop your own unique style along the way. Having your own unique style will set you apart from other artists, it will also allow you to hone in your skills in that style as practice makes perfect. Once you have achieved a good level of skill in your chosen style it may be a good time to put it into practice.
2)Build A Portfolio
In order to showcase your ability you are going to need to provide clients with a portfolio, so they can see previous work. This doesn’t have to be a live wedding portfolio as you may not have started yet, but it must show any portraits, sketches or pieces of art you have previously created. Clients are going to not only want to evaluate your skills but to see if your style aligns with theirs so it’s not always a showcase of skill. Having a portfolio will also allow you to build up an initial level of trust with potential clients.
The stronger your portfolio the more likely you are to be chosen as you can provide more evidence of your work. Reviewing your portfolio often and including the most recent pieces of work are essential. This is because your skills will improve as your portfolio improves, so you want to keep changing out older pieces for newer ones.
3) Network And Self Promote
In order to bring in new clients you need to get your name out there. These days this can be done several ways through the likes of social media, art exhibitions or going to an art gallery. We believe there is no better way of doing this than having a presence within the art community. Attending art shows, galleries and events can be an easy and exciting way to do this. Aside from this you still need to make sure to promote yourself on social media, and websites as well to expand your reach. This gives you the best possible chance of being seen or heard of.
4) Look For Opportunities
Opportunities can come when you least expect them but being on the lookout is essential, you never know what might pop up. Opportunities can arise in many different forms such as exhibitions, social gatherings, promotional offers or grants can be a good step forward. These are usually the most low-cost ways to get your work in front of more clients as well.
Exhibitions allow you to view others artwork drawing inspiration from each piece. If you are able to show your own artwork at an exhibition as well that is an added bonus. This will be a fun way to start networking. Not only will you be networking with other artists, but you will be networking with potential clients who are already established within the art community.
Social gatherings are similar to exhibitions apart from no one is showcasing their artwork. However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for you to do so. You could take business cards to a social gathering, or a journal with a small portfolio inside. If the conversation flows into a situation where you are able to show someone your art then that’s a bonus. It’s all about being prepared and, if the conversation doesn’t go that way, you just keep your journal closed and no one is the wiser.
Promotional offers and grants are slightly different in the fact they will give you opportunities in a financial sense. If an art gallery is having a promotional offer that now falls in your budget, it’s now a cheap way to get your art out there. Grants are a good boost of cash that can help with supplies or even promotions on websites to increase your reach.
5) Sell Your Art Work
Selling your artwork can be done in several different ways through online marketplaces, through social media (although not the best platform) or via a website. Each have their own benefits depending on who you are trying to target, your expertise and online presence.
Thinking about your target audience most of your clients may search for ideas or paintings on social media as they are of a younger age range. Whereas others may be more custom to using website or put more faith in a website.
There are many good sites that allow you to create an online presence and showcase your art. This lets you get on with the more important aspect, painting!
6) Be Persistent
Transforming your passion into a career isn’t easy and to do so will take a lot of time and effort. Not allowing yourself to get discouraged can be the difference between failure and success. You can be working relentlessly for a year without a sale then one more week you can sell 10, it can happen that fast.