Hello my friends, I am Leonardo Pereznieto and today I will share with you 5 tips to be a successful artist!
One.
Realize that as an artist you don´t have a boss. You are THE boss. What that means
is that you need to demand your own production and quality.
As an artist I am sure you demand a great quality of yourself, however, where we lack
sometimes is demanding the production.
For this, I suggest you work out a schedule where you have a daily time which is at least
8 hours where you create in your studio.
And if you are not a full-time artist this may even be more important. You should set up
a blocked out 2 hours or so a day where you are undistracted in your studio creating
your marvels!
Two.
As an artist you are exposed all the time and the critiques to your work usually feel
very personal. You may have a great exhibit where 100 people told you how much they love
your art and one little person, that known art critic, or a "dear friend" mentioned how
your work stinks, and he hated it.
It is very likely that that night when you go to bed you will be thinking about that
one comment.
Don´t do that! No!
What you should do is write on a piece of paper the evil comment, make a ball, and throw
it in the garbage can, where it belongs!
Three.
Never be too contented or too pleased about your own work of art. When you finish a piece
look at it and find out a way so next time you will do it even better.
Sometimes people tell me they don´t want to learn a specific technique because then
they will be restricted by it. That is just silly of course. The more techniques you master,
the more freedom you will have to create your own things.
We should understand that talent and skill are 2 different things. Talent you are born with.
Skill you achieve by learning, practicing and working. I am not saying that one is more
important than the other. I have seen very talented young artists who, because of lack
of effort, they never achieved anything. And I have also seen artists who were not as talented
to start with, but through work and dedication they became great artists.
If you were born with talent, congratulations! But regardless of that you can be a great
artist through dedication, passion and work ethic.
And if you achieve skill in this way and if you have talent, then you are bound to be a star!
Four.
Once upon a time artists needed galleries to survive. But things have changed. Now we
have internet and social media.
While earlier it was nearly impossible for an artist to contact the collectors directly,
now is actually very easy.
And do not get me wrong. It is great to have a gallery who represents you, or many galleries.
But a gallery is not your solution financial wise. Because a very good gallery has a lot
of artists and they may give you an exhibit every year or 2 years. And you won´t survive
with that. At this time you don´t need to put your destiny in the hands of a gallery.
Imagine for a moment having a collector list of ten thousand collectors world wide.
When you finish a work of art, you could take a picture of it and send them a newsletter
showing it, telling them: "I just finished this work of art, do you like it?"
It is very likely that from ten thousand collectors one would buy it, instantly.
So imagine being in a situation where, when you finish a work of art you sell it from
your studio, no commissions to anyone... instantly!
Ok, so, this is how you do it!
You need to start compiling a collectors list. So put together the names and email addresses
of all the people who have ever bought any work of art from you, and the people who had
real interest in your work, and the people who have ever supported you artistically speaking.
I don´t care if you start with a list that is made out of 6 people and 3 of them are
members of your family! [chuckles]
Then set up a website, if you don´t have one. And set up a Facebook page as an artist,
if you don´t have one.
Next set up an account in a mailing system such as iContact, AWeber, ChimpMail, etc.
These will give you an opt-in box that then you set up on your website and your Facebook
where you can collect the addresses of the people who really love your work.
Promote your art on Youtube videos, twitting about them, etcetera and ALWAYS refer them
to your Facebook page or your website where you can collect their addresses.
In this way day by day you will compile a big list of people who love your art and who
are giving you their address because they want news from you!
Then you can send them a weekly or monthly newsletter when you show them your new works
and you can tell them about your future projects!
Five.
If you have big goals and you have the determination and desire to accomplish them, I truly believe
you can achieve ANYTHING you want!
Big goals seem unreachable when they are not correctly programed. So lets quickly go
through the steps to materialize a dream!
First write your big, overall goal. Let´s say what you want to accomplish ten years from now.
Like, being a successful artist who is financially...rich, why not? And internationally recognized and
represented by galleries in the 5 top cities of the world.
The goal for this year would be to get a good gallery in your own town. And for that you
need to have 2 solo shows. Or something.
Now lets set up a goal that is 4 months from now. Lets say: Having a solo show.
So now for the show you need to have, lets say, 5 drawings and 3 paintings. So you break that
down further to the point where you have your battle plan for today.
And the battle plan for today is... Start the first drawing for the show.
In that way it is not difficult. You will get all your work done for the solo show, you will have
the 2 solo shows, you will get the local gallery, then maybe an international gallery...
It is very important that every day of your life you will be making forward progress toward
your big goal. And if you keep going in this way, one day before you know it, you will
be living your dream!
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