So - you’ve decided you’d like to become a commercial
artist!
What you’ve actually decided is that your artwork is good
enough to make money from. Fair enough, but there are some things you should consider.
To begin with, where did you get this whole affirmation of your
talent? This is worth asking yourself, because
there’s an extensive list of significant others whose opinions mean almost
nothing. As a matter of fact, the more significant they are, the less their opinion
is likely to matter!
Some of the saddest - and most frequently - posted forum comments
are statements like “All my friends say I’m really good!”
And sadder still, “My mother says…” Unless you know with
certainty that your mother does not love you, you can safely dismiss any
critique of hers regarding your artwork.
Other opinions of questionable value:
Your wife or husband, your kids, your relatives, your
friends, your co-workers. Basically anyone who loves you, likes you or - at the
very least - does not want to hurt your feelings.
Now here’s the thing. They may be right! You may actually be
pretty good. Your work may be great! But because of the connection these people
have with you, their opinions may be suspect.
There is an old saying: “Never ask the butcher if his meat is
fresh. Confirm his claims elsewhere!”
Ideally what you’d like are critiques from people who
scarcely know you at all - and preferably with some artistic talent, or an eye
for it. The Internet has made it a lot easier to obtain critiques these days,
than in the past, and I’ll discuss Internet forums a little later. Briefly, however: If you post your work on an Internet
forum and receive a lot of positive feedback from people you don’t know, that’s
good. If you receive a lot of negative feedback from people you don’t know,
that’s not great, but it is useful. If you receive no feedback at all, that’s
bad.
The truth is you don’t really need anyone’s approval to
pursue a career in art. The only person who must absolutely believe in you - is
you. You need to be a little careful in that regard though, lest you become an
example of the second greatest
tragedy in all the world (related to me by my father). And what is this second greatest tragedy?
People who think they have talent…but do not.
Why is that a tragedy? Because they spend their lives
pursuing something they will never achieve. They are playing a game they can
only lose.
Let’s assume this is not your case. Let’s assume you
actually have some talent (we’ll talk about talent later). How do we turn this
into cash?
We Network.
Why?
Here’s another old saying (I like old sayings): “It’s not what
you know, but who you know.” Well, it’s not even that. It’s “Who knows you!” Until you start networking the
answer is Nobody.
I actually have a saying of my own that I came up with some time ago.
It goes like this. (drum roll please!)
Do the MIN to get the
max
MIN does not stand for minimum. It’s an acronym, not an
abbreviation. MIN stands for
M – Manage
I – Improve
N – Network
I’ll go through this in greater
detail later, but my bottom line: I felt that if I wanted to grow my business,
I would have to be doing these things continuously. The operative word – continuously!
You may be thinking that you’d
really rather get a job for now, and think about starting your own business a
little later once you have some more experience under your belt. Join the
club. It’s not that it’s a bad idea;
it’s just that jobs for commercial artists are not as plentiful as you might be
hoping.
Here’s a “Fun Fact” for you:
Every single commercial artist I
know personally - and I know quite a few - is self-employed; and that means freelance! Every single one!
The reality is that most
companies that use art don’t have enough work to justify employing an artist
full time.
Of course there are companies like Disney,
Pixar, Dreamworks, and others that are in the business of creating artwork; and
while a company like Disney may have many artists on its payroll, what it
typically doesn’t have are a lot of
openings. Everybody wants to work for Disney! Disney has a lot of money. They
can hire anybody they want, and they want the very best!
Don’t get me wrong. If that’s
ultimately what you want to do, then by all means apply to those companies.
Just know that they pick from the best of the best, and if you’re not quite
there yet, you may want to supplement your income in other ways while you’re
waiting for your big break.
In my next post, I’ll provide more
detail and depth on some of the points raised here.
Oh, and the greatest tragedy in the
world?
The person who actually has talent
- but does nothing with it.
Why is that a tragedy? Because then we all lose.
Curt
