There's a common thread among artists who succeed. They are passionate about what they do and they don't want to do anything else. In some cases,they don't even feel they can do anything else.
If you're passionate about your art and you truly, deep down in your soul, don't want to do anything else, then this article is for you. Those of us who are passionate about art know something that will sound corny to the rest of you:
Art Transforms Lives. Art Can Change the World. And Successful Artists Want to Change the World.
In most cases, changing the world starts (and sometimes ends) by changing the world inside of the artist himself or herself. Look at Sarah and Hugh. Their world is alreadya better place because they fulfill their hunger to create...and thus, the world is a better place. Simply because they have both listened to that voice inside of them that says, you must create.
Imagine Hugh stuck inside a cubical working on spreadsheets. Anyone who knows or follows him is laughing - that idea simply doesn't compute...especially considering he calls many of his cartoons "cube grenades." Or think about Sarah making smoothies all day instead of paintings....she'd be miserable (she actually did have a smoothie job...and she was miserable. )
The wonderful news is that, as Dr. Stephen Covey said in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, "Private Victories Precede Public Victories." Once you change yourworld, by listening to that little voice, to the Hunger...you change our world too. Your artwork is a gift...no...a responsibility. And you need to share it with the world. We're all waiting for you to share it with us.
So, answer this question for yourself: why do you create?
If you don't truly feel the Hunger, if you don't experience Maker's High, if you don't believe or want to change the world with art, then it's not likely that learning a few marketing and sales tips here and there will help you all that much. And setting New Year's Resolutions, will simply create goals you don't truly desire. And you will likely fail to reach them because, without obsession, discipline relies on willpower, which will eventually be depleted.
You must ask yourself where your heart truly lies, "Do I desire my craft? Or Do I desire success?" If you desire your craft, you will always be successful, perhaps not in the worldly sense, but in your heart, you will enjoy your life as you pursue your craft. Having said that, if you truly desire your craft, you can and should be successful, in the worldly sense. But if you desire success first, for success' sake, you will be unfulfilled in life and will likely never truly master your craft.
The truth is that an artist cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve your soul and the market. You must serve your soul first, and then, and only then, find your market. You can be in the market, but you must not be of the market.
A child makes art solely for himself. He makes art to say something about his interpretation of the world and he shares it freely as a gift. He tracks no metrics and he doesn't ask his audience what they want. He is an artist, not a creator but an artist in the truest sense. A child is a real artist and I hope you are too.
It is the insatiable hunger to create is what drives true artists. The temporary satisfaction of that hunger, via creation, is the only true satisfaction an artist can ever have. This is the inescapable yin and yang of creators.
It is important that you have this intrinsic drive to create your art because art is not like other products. Art isn't even similar to what "content creators" do. Content creators and marketers of most products are on a never ending treadmill of pumping out content, getting feedback from the market, and adapting or changing their products based on that marketplace feedback.
That's not what artists do. Your art must come, not from feedback you get from the marketplace (which is illustration, not art), but from deep inside you. Your art must start and end with your vision for what you are trying to say. So if you don't truly feel that hunger to let your art out, then our marketing ideas won't work for you. Because if you don't feel that, you're an illustrator or creator, not an artist in the truest sense.
But if you DO feel the Hungerto create, and you do feel there's nothing else in this world you'd rather do, then congratulates, you've already accomplished your most important "resolution."
Until Next Time,
