You win, I lose!

As creative artists we have been trained to see things in a particular way which is if you win, then I lose.

We either get the publishing or recording contract or we get rejected.

We either get the gallery show or it goes to some other artist

We either get the sale, or we don’t

In this type of world, it’s fairly easy to see who are the winners and losers of this game.  Everyone is in competition with everyone else.  Everyone else’s win becomes our loss.  If they succeed, then we fail.

We watch as all of these other artists on Twitter and Facebook announce their latest gallery showing, sale, or publication and sometimes we can’t help but cringe inwardly because we know it means that it is yet another opportunity we have lost.

We can’t help but keep score in our head, and eventually we begin to measure our self-worth as an artist by it.

We’re afraid…

We’re afraid that these other artists are not only going to steal our ideas, but ultimately our paying customers as well

I’m certainly not going to sit here and pretend that I’m immune to these petty feelings of jealousy.  Those of you who have been hanging around these parts long enough know that I wrote an entire post about artist envy and beating the green-eyed bastard that certainly doesn’t paint me in the prettiest light.  I’ve also written frequently about the futile quest to keep the content scrapers and ne’er-do-wells from stealing your creative work online.

In fact, if one was foolish enough to actually go back and search through the Skinny archives, I would bet there are probably a half a dozen posts that deal directly with my own sense of professional inadequacy and fear of competition (and those are just the ones I’ve published!)

The more time that I spend online, however, the more I am beginning to realize that perhaps I have been looking at this from the wrong perspective.

There is no spoon.

Perhaps we have simply been asking the wrong questions.

Those of you who watch metaphorical and somewhat shlocky science fiction films may remember the film “The Matrix” that was released in 1999.  In the movie, the main character is forced to see the world around him from an entirely new perspective.  At one point in the movie the main character Neo is trying to bend a spoon with the power of his mind.

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you’ll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

In other words it all comes down to changing your perspective and the way you see things. The world doesn’t change just because we want it to bend to our will.  The world changes when we are able to alter our perception of it.

It’s a leap of faith.

There is no spoon and ultimately there are no other competitors for your creative work

The idea of you competing with another artist is simply a flawed way of looking at things.

The online art world is not a zero-sum game where if someone else wins, you lose.

There is a matrix or web of connections that runs through every online community.  Simply by being online we have joined this massive community and have become connected in some way to one another.  Every day we can choose to either strengthen these connections or weaken them.  We can build those relationships, or we can neglect them.  We can embrace them or we can fear them.

For example, if we introduce Artist A to Buyer B and Buyer B ends up purchasing Artist A’s work, then both of them are happy because they each got what they wanted.   I know what you’re thinking, well that’s great for them, but what about me?  I’m the one who introduced them and I’m the only one who didn’t benefit from the deal, shouldn’t I at least get finders fee or something?

Here’s where it gets interesting, though.  Remember you are the one who introduced Artist A to Buyer B, so chances are Artist A likes you at this point and Buyer B is going to think that you are well connected and have your fingers on the pulse of the arts community.  In other words, both of them are likely to become your personal ambassadors and start telling everyone just how awesome you are.  So maybe you didn’t get the sale, but you got something potentially even more valuable, which is their friendship and respect.

You can bet the next time Artist A talks with someone who is looking for a piece of art, a certain song, or a manuscript that matches your particular writing style — your name will probably be at the top of the list.  The same holds true for Buyer B as well……

This is the power of making connections and building relationships that have nothing to do with making your next sale.  It’s all about offering something of value to someone else, whether it is a referral, praise for their latest work, or simply a word of encouragement. There’s nothing calculated or mechanical about this — it’s simply what friends do for one another.

In other words, there are no other artists, there are only friends

Once you recognize this, you will discover that it is not everyone else who has changed, it is only yourself.

Welcome to the real world…..

Here are some other articles you might enjoy:

1. How to Create (and destroy) your Reputation Online as an Artist!
2. Parting with your Art
3. Introducing Skinny WordPress!

Copyright is Not the Problem, You Are!

by: Cory Huff

Pinterest is upon us!

For some reason, the Internet decided to throw a giant fit over copyright over the last few weeks. It started (sort’ve) with this interesting blog post by a lawyer who tearfully deleted her Pinterest inspiration boards. Her post spread like wildfire, got picked up by a whole bunch of major blogs, and even garnered a personal response from the founder of Pinterest. Of course, her post isn’t the only one. There have been hundreds of articles written about Pinterest’s copyright issues.

Here’s the thing – this issue is not new. Pinterest is just the latest round of copyright and privacy issues on the Internet. The same thing has happened with Facebook, Myspace, Flickr, various blogs, and other online media. Remember burning CDs? My favorite example, however…

The Music Industry

In 1999, Napster rocked the music world by becoming the first highly successful file sharing site. Millions of people began using Napster to share files, and some of them were using Napster to illegally swap music. The music industry leaders freaked out and spent millions of dollars going after individuals who downloaded music, making examaples out of them. This led to countless ridiculous stories about children and elderly women being imprisoned and slapped with terrifyingly high fines.

This did nothing to curb the decline of the music industry. People continued to download music and share files with each other. The music industry spent millions more lobbying and got the Digital Millenium Copyright Act passed. Suddenly small websites were getting nailed for doing innocuous things like linking to another website that was illegally hosting a copy written song. It’s still going on, and it’s a legal nightmare.

In the mean while, along comes Steve Jobs and Apple. This next part is really important, so pay attention. It’s detailed in Jobs’ biography, and it’s just fascinating. While the music industry was busy arguing about who was at fault for declining revenues, and suing everyone, Apple invented iTunes and stole everyone’s lunch money. They found a way to get people to pay for what they had been doing illegally. While the music labels said it couldn’t be done, Apple went out and did it. They were looking for a solution, not a problem.

Copyright Will Not Make Your Career

Here’s the part where I explain why I’m talking about the music industry. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, the art world is in a very similar place to where the music industry was back in 1999.

People are sharing images online – without your permission. It’s happening, whether you like it or not. Sure, it would be great if you could stop anyone who tries from profiting off of your work – but that’s not my point here.

There are some artists who don’t even worry about copyright. Check out painter Gwenn Seemel’s take on art careers without copyright law.

Sharing is What Makes the Internet Work

The Web gave people the ability to share images easily. That’s why there are thousands of image sharing sites like Flickr and SmugMug. People want to share images that excite and motivate them. Sharing is how the internet works. We link to things that we find interesting. We talk about it on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. Personally, it’s one of the best things about the Web.

If I can find a piece of art that I like, I don’t just bookmark it. I want to subscribe to their blog, follow them on Twitter, and tell everyone else about their work. If the artist is smart, they’ve added some sharing buttons to each of their individual pieces. This is how people build buzz about what they do. It’s how the Internet has changed things.

Where’s the Disruption?

You can protect your work if it’s that important. Add a watermark to your images. Reduce the resolution to 75 dpi. But don’t disable right clicks. That’s just annoying (and you can just take a screenshot anyway).

There are several companies that are doing very innovative things with art on the Internet. Art.sy is interesting. ArtSumo is surfacing art from obscure places. Artsicle lets you try art in your home before you buy it.

Technology is not the only way to disrupt a market. You can change the way that you sell art. One of the early bands to recognize the change in the way that that the music business was heading is Radiohead. They began offering their music as a pay what you will download from their own website. They did an end run around their music label and it worked.

What will you do? Can you start selling directly to collectors? Will you find an innovative way to offer prints? Build your own social networks built around your art?

I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments.

Cory Huff runs TheAbundantArtist.com, where he teaches artists how to sell art online and dispel the myth of the starving artist.

Image courtesy of Horia Varlan

Here are some other articles you might enjoy:

1. What the #$@% is a Creative Commons License? [Video]
2. Stop stealing my sh*t!
3. Introducing Skinny WordPress!

Actually I guess that’s not really fair because as a writer, I never actually went to art school because as I was stuck in “writers school” which I’m pretty certain sucks. Then again, if the esteemed Jamie Berry says that Art School Destroyed his Creativity that’s good enough for me.

What I’m really talking about is any type of  so-called “art school” whether it’s music school, design school, fine art school, or your plain old useless Liberal Arts degree (of which I am all too familiar).  While I’m certainly not the first person to question the value of attending a traditional art school, I still can’t help but wonder if attending an art school or a liberal arts program really is the best way to become a better artist, musician, or writer?

[Don't feel like reading all of this right now?!  Now you can listen or download the entire audio podcast of this post and enjoy the surprisingly irritating sound of my voice anytime!]

A simple question

I suppose the basic question behind this article is this:

Does the learning and training that you receive from these types of arts programs really help you become a better artist/writer/musician, or is the time (and money) you spend on them better used for getting the experience of actually doing your art?

Let me back up for a moment

Before all of you begin to accuse me of unnecessarily corrupting the minds of our youth and somehow suggesting that school isn’t cool, I want you to know that I have always been a supporter of higher education.  As both a former high-school teacher as well as someone who has invested literally thousands of dollars and hours to obtain a liberal arts eduction, I am the poster boy for racking up hefty student loans on a couple of degrees I barely use.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m certainly not suggesting that going to college or art school is a bad thing.  Getting yourself an education is a good thing, and I truly believe that anyone who has the opportunity to attend college should consider going . . . if really you need to.

How to open a Philosophy Store 101

Those of you who were a liberal arts major will probably already be familiar with this old joke.  For the rest of you, the story goes that one day a student told his parents that he wanted to major in philosophy in college.  His parents, who were paying for his education, asked him if he was planning on opening a “philosophy store” after he graduated.  The moral of the story, of course, is that liberal arts majors such as philosophy, art history, creative writing, and yes English Literature — often do not lead to jobs in the real world, unless that job includes steaming milk at Starbucks or sorting books at Barnes & Noble.  The irony here, of course, (and we English majors love our “irony”) is that you don’t actually need a college degree to get any of these jobs.

Let’s think about this for a moment. If you want to become a doctor, you go to medical school.  If you want to become a pharmacist, you go to pharmacy school.  On the other hand, if you want to become a writer, you simply tell everyone that you’re a writer.  If you want to become an painter, you buy some paint and tell everyone you are a painter.  If you want to become a musician. . . .you get the point.  When it comes down to it, there aren’t any real degrees or licenses to become an “artist”.  Sure we can enroll in art school and wear a lot of black clothes, but essentially all you have to do to become an artist is to have the guts to call yourself an “artist” (and eventually break the bad news to your parents).  That’s it!

Yes, you will also eventually need the skills to back it up, but how exactly we best develop these skills is what we’re going to talk about.

Knowledge vs. Experience

So how do we really become better artists?

Is it through knowledge of technique, reading books, taking classes, training under a mentor, or do we learn best through the experience of trial and error.  I’m not about to speak on behalf of everyone, but I have a sneaking suspicion that most of us would be far better off saving our tuition money and spending that time working solely on our art. Does this mean that we have nothing to learn from others? Of course not.  I’m just think that we should consider designing our own curriculum, and not allowing others to decide what we need to know.

You see, I had this problem. . .

I used to have this bad habit of wanting to know everything that I would possibly need to know before starting a new writing project. So for example if I was going to write a story that was set in a park, I would become obsessed with finding out, not only about what kind of animals lived in that particular park; but also what type of flowers, trees, and rocks could be found there as well.

Now did I really need to know all of this before I could write this story? Probably not, but what I initially justified as being an exercise in literary accuracy, turned out to be little more than an excuse to put off writing for another day (or ten).  You see instead of actually writing anything, I was busying myself with research.  Why? Because as a teacher, that’s exactly what I had been trained to do.  I had been taught to research the hell out of a subject and then methodically break it up into smaller digestible chunks for the students. So what would happen is that I would spend vast amounts of time preparing to write, and very little time actually writing.

I was simply following the plan. . . their plan.

Stumbling upon enlightenment

Okay, the word “enlightenment” is probably a little strong, but after years of continually doing things the “stupid way” I finally discovered something that was incredibly liberating and changed my entire working process.  It was simply this. . .

Learn what you need to know, when you need to know it.

Stupidly simple I know, but what it made me do was give up this obsession with trying to know everything I might possibly need to know before I got started. Now, my goal is to start a project and then figure out what I need to know as I go along.  It doesn’t matter if I’m writing an article or setting up a website, I make it a point to learn as I go. Now do I make a lot of mistakes along the way? Absolutely, but I also make it a point to learn from these mistakes and (hopefully) not repeat them.

The interesting thing is that I discovered that none of these mistakes, that I could have potentially avoided, were all that bad.  Instead of busying myself playing useless “what-if” games in my head, I made it a point to simply find out what I need to know to get started and then go from there.

What does any of this have to do with Art School?

At it’s essence, art school/design school/photography programs/music departments/and liberal arts colleges are all in the business of preparing you to create your art.  Yes, of course you are writing and painting and playing and designing and snapping pictures as you go along, but this is not really your art.  In other words, you are still following their curriculum, their program, and their path—not yours.  The only way you will be able to discover you own path, however, is when you have given yourself the freedom to choose as well as the freedom to fail.

Now it’s your turn. . .

All right, I’ve said my piece and now I would like for you to finish this post.

I would like to hear from those of you who have attended some type of formal art/music/writing/liberal arts program.

• What was your experience like, and given what you know now, would you go back and do it again?
• What do you think is the most valuable thing you learned during your time there?
• Looking back now, what is the one thing you wished they would have taught you more about in school?
• Finally, if you could go back and talk to your younger self, what would you say to this person who was just starting out?

Let’s hear it!

After you share your thoughts with us, I would like to invite you to watch this video called “What they don’t teach you in art school” that was put together by the amazing Erin Loechner and her team at DesignForMankind.com Enjoy!

Wait, there’s more!

Right-click to download the  “Why Art School (may or may not) Suck” audio podcast to your computer

Image courtesy of Aaron Murphy

Here are some other articles you might enjoy:

1. 9 Warning Signs of an Amateur Artist
2. How to Create (and destroy) your Reputation Online as an Artist!
3. Yeah, we know we suck!

[Don't feel like reading all of this right now?!  Now you can listen or download the entire audio podcast of this post and enjoy the surprisingly irritating sound of my voice anytime!]

Let’s face it, only bad things happen quickly

One of the things that I’ve learned about this whole building your artistic repuatation online process is that it’s going to take a heck of a lot longer than most people think.  In fact, one of the biggest complaints I hear from frustrated artists is that they are doing a lot of the right things when it comes to marketing themselves as artists but sometimes they feel like they’re just not seeing the results.

Myth of the Overnight success

So many times we have seen artists, writers, and musicians seemingly come out of nowhere and become overnight sensations.  The truth, however, is that the vast majority of these people have been working in obscurity for years on their art.  I talked about in an earlier post about how the Beatles played over 1,200 shows before they arrived in the states and became the overnight sensations that most people thought they were.

Many people see Lady Gaga’s sudden success and think that she is simply some sort of novelty act that came out of nowhere.  Now whether you think Lady Gaga is a great artist or not, it doesn’t change the fact that the artist formally known as Stefani Germanotta had been busting her ass for years as a musician and songwriter learning and perfecting her craft.

As a testament to her determination to succeed in her art, Stefani never gave herself an alternative to succeeding as a musical artist. She once said about this period of her life, “I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen.” Even when Lady Gaga was signed and then suddenly dropped a few months later from her first recording contract with Def Jam Records, she never gave up. Instead, she kept working and continued to hone her unique theatrical performances in the Lower East Side clubs in New York City.

In fact, there are hundreds of stories like these of  artists who worked for years behind the scenes in order to create a name for themselves.  If you get the chance, I would encourage you to spend some time reading up on the early careers of some of your personal mentors and idols in your field — I think you might be surprised what you’ll find.

The Online World is different (and not)

The problem for most of us is not that we necessarily think that we should all become overnight sensations as artists (although that would be nice).  The real problem is that because we are doing most of this marketing stuff online, we think that this process of creating a reputation for ourselves as artists should be happening faster, and it does. . . to an extent.

“Actually, I’m an overnight success, but it took twenty years.”

~Monty Hall

In other words, what might have used to take twenty or thirty years to develop a reputation as a performer or artist outside of your hometown, can now be done in a fraction of that time. Thanks to the internet and social media sites like Twitter , YouTube, and Facebook; we can now literally reach thousands of friends, fans, and potential customers with just a click of a button.

Now having said all that, why doesn’t any of this seem to be working for us?

It’s getting crowded out there

Well part of the reason is the fact that the internet is getting awful crowded these days

According to our good friends at BlogPulse who keep close track of these kind of things. There are now over 145 million blogs out there in cyberspace and roughly 56,000 new blogs are created everyday.  Not only that, but according to BlogPulse there are over one million new blog posts being posted each day.

So the question becomes, how are we as individuals who may have just joined this online mob supposed to compete and get ourselves noticed in this overcrowded environment? The answer it turns out is pretty simple

We can’t.

Wait, let me clarify that. We can’t do it by ourselves.  The internet is no longer the quaint little town where you can simply hang your shingle on your door and expect that sooner or later, somebody’s going to notice that you’re there.  Having great content is not enough to get you noticed by itself because there is simply too much competition for our time and attention, both online and off. The great paradox here of course is that you need great content to show people when they stop by your site, but at the same time, why should you be spending all your time creating great content if no one’s around to read it.

In other words, if a blog post falls in a forest and there is no one around to read it. . .

What’s the point?

Linear and Exponential Growth 101

Let’s go back to our high-school Geometry class for a moment in order to better understand why it takes so long to get noticed and admired in the online world.

You see, unlike many things in life where we gradually improve and see our progress along the way, building your reputation online as an artist has more in common with the swine flu then it does with common sense. The growth of your online identity, similar to viruses and bad movie reviews, does not occur on a linear but on an exponential growth curve.

Say what?!

Wait, before you click back over to Twitter, take a moment and look at the graph below:

On the red line we see what’s called “Linear” growth.  As you can see, linear growth starts off small and then slowly and steadily grows over time.  This type of growth can be found in such things such as our height when we are children (and unfortunately for most of us, our weight as adults).

The green line on the other hand represents “exponential” growth.  Exponential growth as you can see starts off small and doesn’t appear to grow for a very long time, but then all of a sudden the growth appears to suddenly take off out of nowhere. This is the so-called “overnight success” growth curve.

This exponential green line is the way that the internet appears to work as well. For the longest time it seems as if we’re getting absolutely nowhere, then all of a sudden we reach what appears to be a “tipping point” and at that moment everything changes.  Things suddenly begin to fall into place and we begin to pick up momentum rapidly.

So the question is, how long does it take before we begin to hit this up curve?

Obviously this depends on many different factors including your personality, your level of engagement with others, the size of your social network, and of course the quality of your work itself.  The one thing you have to realize is that when you are stuck in the “flat-line” building stage of this curve, you are actually creating the foundation of your future success.  This is when you are busy making the connections and perfecting your craft that will prepare you for when you eventually reach the up curve and your career suddenly takes off. At the same time, it appears that very little is happening.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

~Thomas Edison

The only real secret then to making this whole thing work  is that you can’t give up before this happens. You simply need time to not only master your craft, but also to build the social connections and realationships that will eventually take your career to the next level.

The moral of the story here is. . .

Just keep going

Although there are very few reliable statistics in this area, I would have to think that at least 80-95% of these blogs started each day are eventually abandoned  by their authors.

I mean let’s face it, blogging, gallery site building, and building your personal brand online is hard and unrewarding work.  The secret weapon we have as creative artists/writers/musicians, however, is that we are already used to doing hard work with little or no expectation of a reward.  We are by our very nature, persistent and stubborn souls who keep going no matter what the results.

Now’s the time to take that same sense of stubbornness that you use everyday in your art and apply it to building your reputation online.

The only way you fail is to stop trying.

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Wait, there’s more!

Right-click to download the  “How long is this going to take?!” audio podcast to your computer

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Photo courtesy of andreyutzu

Here are some other articles you might enjoy:

1. How to Create (and destroy) your Reputation Online as an Artist!

Are you a “Professional” Artist?

I’m not talking about if you have a corporate sponsorship or whether or not you are earning the big bucks.  I’m not even talking about quitting your day job, if you have one, and living on ramen noodles and Starbucks (because even if you’re poor you still need your Cafe Mocha) What I’m talking about is changing your attitude and the way you think about your art.  What you’ll discover is that more often than not people will take your art about as seriously as you do.

So what are some of the warning signs of an Amateur Artist?

1) Amateur Artists wait for Inspiration

While a professional artist will make a point sit down and work on their art every single day no matter what, an amateur only works on their art when the “mood” is right.

Professional artists/writers/musicians know that you can’t just work on your art when inspiration strikes them or when the moon is in the seventh house of Aquarius, the true creative professional shows up and does something every single day.  It may not turn out to be that great and it might eventually find its way to the dumpster or recycling bin, but a professional shows up and works no matter what.

2.) Amateur Artists work until something else comes up

A  professional artist does not simply sit down for an hour and write half a chapter or paint a few strokes on the canvas and call it a day because Work of Art is starting in ten minutes.  A professional artist/writer/musician continues to work until their Muse has used up every last bit of creative energy in their body and then keeps on working just to make sure that nothing is forgotten or left behind.  A professional knows that the first hour or two of work is simply a warm-up exercise until their fickle Muse finds them worthy of her attention.

3.) Amateur Artists are constantly changing their focus

A professional artist knows that it takes years if not decades of experimentation and practice to perfect their craft.  While an amateur tends to change their style or medium as the mood strikes them, a professional artist knows that a “jack-of-all-trades is a master of none”.  Even though professional artists have been known to change their focus as their work and skills evolve, they do this only sparingly and often only within their chose medium.  In other words, painters continue to paint, writers continue to write, and musicians continue to play.  Of course there have been professional painters and musicians who are also very good writers and vice versa, but they are the exception rather than the rule. The vast majority of us would be far better off focusing our time and energy practicing and honing our chosen craft rather than risk diluting our creative power.

4.) Amateur Artists believe that if they build it, you will come

A professional knows that there is more to being an artist then simply creating art.  They know that there is only so much macaroni and cheese and spaghetti their family will eat before they will be dragged down to the employment office to get a “real” job.  Professional artists never get too attached to their artwork because they know that someday they will have to sell it in order to have the opportunity to create more art.

Professional artists understand that they not only need to know how to create their art, but they also have to know how to market and sell their work as well.  They make a point to find out who their potential customers are and where they hang out. They also know that they need to develop a relationship with these potential customers before they ask them to pull out their wallets.  Professional artists understand that in the 21st century they will need to create and build their reputation as an artist online as well as in the real world.

5.) Amateur Artists believe that success will happen quickly

While an amateur artist believes that it will only take a year or two to create their reputation and have their career take off, a professional artists knows that this process will often take much longer than they imagine so they understand the importance of getting started immediately.

For a professional artist, art is not a hobby or a pastime, it’s a business which is why they insist on treating it like one. They not only show up everyday and work at their job, but they also know that they will need to work their way up from the bottom just like they would in any other profession.  They are in it for the long-haul and are willing to work on all aspects of their business (creating, networking, marketing, consuming) a little bit each day because they understand that true success will arrive in years not weeks.

6.) Amateur Artists believe that real artists don’t need schedules or organization

While the amateur artist embraces the idea of the artist as a hippie free-spirit who doesn’t need to follow society’s rules, the professional artist knows that one has to be organized and disciplined in their life in order to be reckless in their work.

A professional artist knows that it’s  important to honor their creative productivity time and save routine time-sucking tasks like answering e-mail and updating their Twitter and Facebook accounts to a later time. They know the importance of scheduling their activities, organizing their work space, and avoiding distractions can have on their creative  productivity.

7.) Amateur Artists never finish their work

An amateur artist is always busy editing, revising, reformatting, redoing, and re-recording their work to ever consider it finished.  This not only keeps them from moving on and working on the next piece or art, but it also keeps them from having to release it to the world.  They tell themselves that they are simply “perfectionists” and with just a little more time, they could get it right.

“The seed of your next art work lies embedded in the imperfections of your current piece. Such imperfections are your guides–valuable, objective, non-judgmental guides to matters you need to reconsider or develop further.” ~David Bayles

Professional artists have learned that their art is a process and nothing they create will be perfect.  They have learned to accept this and they continue to put their work out there anyway knowing that some people will criticize and not understand it.  They understand that the sooner they finish one piece the sooner they will be able to begin work on the next piece.  Each work therefore becomes not a destination but simply a stepping stone on their journey.  They don’t make the mistake of overly identifying with a piece of art or making it part of their identity as an artist.  They simply let it go, knowing that the experience will have taught them what they needed to know.

8.) Amateur Artists are too busy learning to do anything

Amateur artists are often so busy reading books and attending workshops that they rarely have any time to create art. Professional artists know that there will always be more to learn but that does not stop them from making the mistakes and learning as they go along.  They know that the best teacher is almost always experience, and the faster they make these mistakes, the sooner they will learn what they need to know.

Books, classes, and workshops are great as long as they don’t prevent you from actually creating your art.  A professional doesn’t worry about knowing every technique in the book and doesn’t get bogged down by the “what-ifs”.  They simply learn the basics and then get to work discovering what they need to know as they go along.

9.) Amateur Artists isolate themselves from the artist community

As artists/writers/musicians etc.. we are not only creators but we are also consumers. We must surround ourselves not only with the work of others artists in our field but also the artists themselves.  

If we are writers, we need to read other people’s work.  If we are musicians, we need to listen to other people’s music. If we are visual artists, we need to look at other people’s art and photography. We don’t do this in order to become envious or to start another round of pity and self-loathing.  We do this because we need to get outside of our own heads and see the world from a new perspective.

We also need to connect with other artists and the larger arts community.  Far too often amateur artists tend to isolate themselves from other artists because they either feel envious of their success or unworthy of their attention.  We have talked extensively on this site about the power of artist peer groups and about the importance of going out there and connecting with your artist tribe.  Specific strategies on how to connect and build valuable relationships with other artists is a topic that we have covered in detail throughout our latest Skinny Art School Series “How the @#$%! Do I Get More Traffic to My Website?!” as well.

Being a Professional Artist means. . .

Being a professional artist means, above all, taking your art seriously.  If you want to become a professional artist, writer, photographer, musician, or any other type of creative genius; you need to do what the professionals in these fields do.  Being a professional is not about having fancy business cards or making lots of money (although that’s pretty cool too!).  Being a professional simply means that you have decided to take this creative obsession of yours and make it into your career.  Let’s face it, we create our art because we want and need to.  We don’t do it for the money, but we also have to realize that without the money, we won’t have the time or energy to create our art.

Strive to learn from those who have gone before you, do what you have to do, and always Live Your Art!

What do you think it means to be a “professional” artist?

Here are some other articles you might enjoy:

1. 5 Fears that can Destroy an Artist
2. How to Create (and destroy) your Reputation Online as an Artist!
3. Are you Afraid to be an Artist?

Unlike high school, getting a reputation online as an artist isn’t easy.  We can’t just smile and charm our fans and potential customers with our good looks.  Sure they might stop by and admire your stuff, but chances are they’re not going to be buying anything unless they end up feeling a real connection to you, not as an artist, but as a human being.

People don’t buy art — they buy the artist

Let’s be honest here, people can get good-looking art or decent sounding music virtually anywhere these days, which is why nobody’s really looking to go out and buy another piece of art to hang up on their wall or another book to shove in their bookcase — what they are really wanting to buy is a story.  This might be a real story that you tell them about how a particular piece of art came to be along with the thought process and motivations behind its creation, or it could also be the story of you.

This second type of story, however, is far more important because it’s not a story that you tell directly, but it’s a story that is told about you by other people. This is your reputation as an artist.  It could be good story, it could be not-so-good story, or there could be no story yet to tell (i.e. they’ve never heard of you).  Either way, it’s up to you to create, build, and then maintain this reputation throughout your career. Great artists such from Warhol, Versace, Dali, Picasso, Hemmingway, Twain, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, to Lady Gaga understood the value of  creating a very specific reputation for themselves.  We’ll talk a little bit about how we can create this type of reputation in a minute, but first we need to take a closer look at some of the reasons people would choose to buy something online from one person but not someone else.

What do they want from me?

The internet offers us as some unprecedented opportunities, as well as some unique challenges to selling our creative work online.  Since most of our customers will never meet us face to face, they have to base their decision on what we say or do online.

We buy from people we trust

Think about this for a moment. When you’re looking to buy that new book or DVD online, are you more likely to buy it from a site like Amazon or from a site called MovieTimeRUs.  Chances are you are going to go with Amazon because most of us have not only heard of Amazon, but we also instinctively trust them because we know they’ve already had millions of satisfied customers.  This is called “social proof” which essentially means that if everyone else is doing it, then it must be okay.

Unfortunately, there is no universal e-Bay like feedback rating system for us as creative professionals, people who buy our work rarely write reviews or testimonies about our greatness.  So instead we  have to rely on our word-of-mouth reputation as well as our charming personality.

But what if no one knows who I am?

We buy from people we like

This turns out to be the real secret of online success for the individual artist. When it comes to buying something like art, writing, or music we want to buy from someone we know and like.  Again, we can find good art/music/writing anywhere these days so what often makes the difference between one artist and another is how we feel about them.  [Keep in mind that I'm using the term "Artist" here to describe any kind of creative professional]

Okay Dale Carnegie, so how do I get these people to like me?!

Create – Share – Connect

We do this by first creating an online home where our future friends and fans can stop by and get to know us a little better.  It can’t just be a one-way conversation either, which is why we have to find ways to interact with our visitors and show them what a cool cat we really are.

We also have to share something of value with them.  This could be a story, an idea, a resource, etc.. The point here is that we have to give them something other than our sales pitch when they drop in for a visit because nobody likes to get the Amway ambush when they’re just stopping by for a cup of coffee.

Finally, we have to find a way to connect and grow our own circle of friends by going out and visiting our neighbors once in awhile.  After all, it’s kind of hard to meet new people if you never actually leave your virtual house.  Go out there and explore the online world around you.  If you take the time to look around, I think you’ll discover that there really are some cool kids out there to hang with.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps:

Create

• Create a virtual home for yourself where people can easily stop by and visit you.  Be sure that you have complete control over this space because it will be the foundation on which your future reputation will be based.
• Create some content on your site that has nothing to do with the work you are selling. Remember that you have to give your visitors a reason to stop by and visit on a regular basis.  Give them a valuable resource or tool they can use.  Things such as how-to tutorials, interviews, and other website tools and resources.  Also keep in mind that the many of your visitors will find you for the first time through search engines so think about what your visitors will be searching for and what they may want to learn or know.
• Create a space for building community and encouraging interaction.  This could be anything from creating a forum, running a poll, to inviting your readers to comment on your content.

Share

• Share your story. Remember that it’s going to be your personality that will set you apart from all of the other artists in the world. The best advice I can give you here is to not try and be someone you’re not. Most people these days have a pretty keen online bullshit detector and if it starts going off they’ll not only avoid you, but they’re going be telling all their friends to avoid you as well.
• Share your successes but also share your doubts, fears, and vulnerabilities. Nobody likes to hang around with that one kid who never shuts up about how great he is, and whatever you’ve done, he always seems to have done the same thing better — Don’t be that person!  Look, we are all already feeling insecure enough without listening to some jackass telling us how great life/business has been for him.  It’s okay to talk about the good stuff, but don’t forget to include some of the warts and worries as well.
• Share other people’s stuff.  Believe it or not your not the only person who’s out there busting your butt trying to make a name for themselves online.  Remember that we’re not playing a zero-sum game here where if you tell someone about another great artist you know, they’ll end up falling in love with her and you’ll lose a potential customer. Sometimes we just have to take a step back and put our little food-grabbing reptilian brains on hold for a minute in order to understand that this just isn’t the way things work online.  This is an idea that we’ve talked a lot about in our latest Skinny Art School series.

Connect

• Connect with other artists in your field.  When you are first starting out, the vast majority of your visitors are going to be other artists who are trying to find their way through the online jungle just like you.  Some of them may be looking for advice or inspiration, but chances are, most of them are simply looking for a friendly face.  The one thing no one tells you about being a creative professional is that it can often be an isolating and lonely experience.  We live the majority of our lives inside our own heads which means that our social interaction with the outside world can sometimes be lacking.
• Get involved with the community.  Where do artists in your field hang out? Make an effort to find out and then go there on a regular basis. Forums and communities on sites such as Flickr, DeviantART, WetCanvas, and RedBubble were made so artists could have a place to hang out, complain, and put off work for as long as possible.
• If nothing else, get on Twitter and Facebook.  Even if you can’t imagine dragging your introverted little self into the forums, you should at least get on Twitter and Facebook in order to connect with other artists. We’re not trying to make ourselves out to be some kind of experts here, after all it wasn’t that long ago that we became Twidiots ourselves.  And as far as our sad little Facebook page goes, we obviously don’t have a clue what we’re doing, but we’re still out there making it up as we go along.
• Comment and Link to other artists blogs. Everybody wants more comments and links for their own blog or website, but stop and think for a moment about how many links and comments have you given out in the last week? How about in the last month?  Somehow it seems that most of us forget that we have to give in order to receive.  Giving other people comments and links makes them feel appreciated and loved, which is just good karma for everyone.

One last thing. . . .

Your online reputation builds slowly but can fall apart quickly

It takes time and persistance to build your online reputation as an artist.  It’s not a one week, one month, or even a one year kind of deal.  Not only does it take years to build this reputation, you also have to guard it carefully because it often only takes one act of stupidity in order to destroy it.

I was reminded of this fact recently when I read about  Thomas Kinkade the world-famous artist who spent years carefully creating his reputation as this moral and religious “painter of light” only to see it come crashing down around him with a fraud and public bankruptcy hearing and more recently a DUI arrest.

The lesson here may be that in a world where news travels around the world within minutes, we cannot afford to risk our reputation as an artist.  Luckily, it turns out that the easiest way to protect your reputation is simply to . . .

Be Real.

Be Yourself.

Support Others.

Live your Art.

.

How are you building your reputation online?

Photo courtesy of

Here are some other articles you might enjoy:

1. 5 Fears that can Destroy an Artist
2. Stop stealing my sh*t!

One of the biggest myths out there in the art world seems to be that a true artist should do nothing but create their art and perfect their craft.  This is known as the “Field of Dreams” art marketing theory where if you build it, the customers and financial reward will eventually come.

For whatever reason we have this misguided idea in our head that great art will somehow sell itself.  As artists we are told that if we create a great product or service we can simply sit back and watch the money roll in. On the other hand if we make any effort to actually market our work, we are  ”selling out” and we are somehow unworthy of the title of true artist.

Is this true?  Are all of the great artists simply discovered through no effort of their own? Think about it for a moment, think about the artists who’s work you studied in school or some the artists you may try to emulate in some way.  Were they really as pure as you were led to beleive?

The most seductive thing about art is the personality of the artist himself.
-Paul Cezanne

Some of the most popular artists of the modern era (Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Dali, Madonna, Warhol, Versace, Leibovitz, Dylan, Haring, Banksy, etc…) are masters of their art, but they were/are also masters of drawing attention to their art as well.  In other words, they all made great art, but they also managed to create a very specific image of themselves as an artist.

Here’s another little secret in art marketing, most people buy the artist and not the artwork.  In his later years there is a famous story  about how Picasso could scribble on a napkin and people were willing to buy it.  Why? Not because it was necessarily the best drawing ever, but because it was a frickin “Picasso”!  In other words, he had created such a reputation for himself by that point in his career that he could sell anything he wanted on his reputation alone.

Now obviously Picasso created great art, but he also created a great image for himself which ended up selling that art.  In other words all of these phenomenally successful artists listed above understood the importance of being both an artist and a marketer. The difference is that they weren’t trying to sell their artwork, but they were selling an image of themselves as an artist.

How many artists, maybe even you, might be masters at their craft but are still struggling to get their artwork noticed by others? That is what Skinny Artist is all about, finding ways to not only getting your artwork out there, but to also help you create an image of yourself as an artist.  It doesn’t matter if you are a singer, composer, painter, juggler, writer, photographer, or whatever your passion is; you need to create great art, but you also need to create yourself as a great artist.

What is the image that you are creating for yourself with your art?