(T4T) Tips for Tuesday - 10 Artists Share - How to Be a Professional Artist

 Ever since I've been a little kid, I've had a love of art and especially drawing. I would've gone to art school if a family member hadn't intervened and said "you know, artists tend to struggle financially" or something to that effect when I was at a very impressionable age. In an instant a dream died.

I mention all that to say - that family member didn't know what they were talking about - here are some artists who are making a living doing their art full-time and their tips on how you (if artistically inclined) can too:

1)
Walter Herrmann

Find out more about Mr. Herrmann at: studio75art.com

Mechanized Organic

"prepare for sacrifice!!!"

2) 
Geoff McFetridge

Find out more about Mr. McFetridge at www.championdontstop.com

Unititled

"Don't wait for a perfect time. Don't wait for a better studio space, or more time, or to take a month off to start making something. It is better to do a doodle every day than put off making a masterpiece for years."

3)
 Alan Reeve 


Find out more about Mr. Reeve at: www.reeveart.com

Adoration

"Devote all the time you can to making art. The more time you put into your art, the more you learn, the better it becomes. Strive to be the best at what you create. If your work is the best, people will want it."

4)
Andrea "Dre" Fox


Find out more about about Ms. Fox at : dreafox.com

I can't let it go (because it won't let go of me)

"The best tip I could give artists that want to pursue their art as a full time "job" is to treat it like it is a job. Dedicate a space for work only... Go to that space every day at regular times just like you would if you were leaving the house to go to an outside job. Develop a network of other artists that act as your peer "support group" that you would likely have at a job. That way you have like minded individuals that you can bounce ideas off of, collaborate on projects with, and vent to. Sometimes routine and schedule do put a crimp in a creative process, and it's OK to occasionally blow off your regular routine and spend 3 hours watching Ab Fab and eating popcorn with one of your also creatively stymied friends, but as a general rule, if you treat it like it's a job that you have to actually go to, the chances of rampant procrastination lessen significantly. "

5)  

Daric Gill

Find out more about Mr. Gill at: facebook.com/toeheads

Absolute: Radiance

 " 1). Make as much work as you say you do. Or make as much work as you say you would like to make. 2). Full-time artists work full-time hours. Most likely more. That means not just a few hrs when you feel like it. 3). Study pricing how-tos. Know your work's value. 4). Grow continually. Make a list of the top 10 questions you DON'T want to be asked about your work. Those are the loopholes that you are purposely avoiding. Find their answers instead of hiding from them. 5.) Learn how to talk about your work. Don't hide behind, "It's too personal". If you've agreed to discuss it visually, you've agreed to talk about it verbally. 6.) If you're local to a gallery, visit it first before pitching your work to them. 7.) Rejection is part of the job. Learn how to handle it gracefully and use it as a positive motivator. 8.) Know when to be confident not boastful and when to be modest but not retreating."

6)

W. Ralph Walters


Find out more about Mr. Walters at: www.wralphwalters.com

Our Lady of Guadalupe

"Promote your work. I know so many artists - good artists - that are far more likely to push folks to watch a TV show or movie or book they like than ask people to look at their work. It's okay to like your work. To be successful, you have to like your own work. So talk about it! Share it with people, like you might go on about a movie or book or band you like. If you're part of a group art show, pimp that art show. If your work comes up in conversation, make sure you have business cards with an address to a portfolio site you can pass out. Let people know what you do, and watch opportunities start sprouting up."

7)
Jeremy Deller

Find out more about Mr. Deller at: jeremydeller.org

Bless This Acid House

You can find more of Mr. Deller's work at his site above but, In addition to his piece above I really enjoyed this short youtube clip where he talks about failure:

"Be really good at it and try not to copy other artists too much"

8) 
 
Dale Ziemianski

Find out more about Mr. Ziemianski at d-alien.com
  

Supergirl - Dale Ziemianski

  "Go to every Craigslist Creative Gigs in every city in the world - every forum where people post art jobs (Like Deviant Art, Polycount Forum, etc) and pipe them all through an RSS feed (like Netvibes or Feedly) and check it every day - even if you already have work, because if you get more work than you can handle you can then start to raise your prices. Also - streamline your workflow. Every second you save gives you a raise. 

 http://theoldreader.com is the best replacement for (the soon-to-be-defunct) Google Reader. It streams all the various RSS feeds chronologically despite their source and can be viewed just as well on a mobile phone - so whenever you're away from your desk and bored you can fill that time looking for work and messaging the jobs to your email address to research once you get home,."

9) 

Derek Stewart 

Find out more about Mr. Stewart at: redbubble.com/people/derekstewart

Mermaid - By Derek Stewart

"[Don't] be too rigid in your working methods. This is something I struggle with, but I'm finding that different projects can often have a different process of coming into being even within the same artform or medium. Some drawings require laborious planning to execute while others may seem to appear spontaneously. Some stories require a beat by beat outline and some find themselves on the page. I think a lot of people are too preoccupied with either finding or sticking to their way of doing things when in reality any way you do a given thing that gets it done becomes your way.... [So]If you are struggling with something, try approaching it differently. For most artists, all of our creations are different animals and maybe they should all be respected and treated as such."


10) 

Tona Pearson 

Find out more about Ms. Pearson at: artpartycolumbus.com/tonapearson

Unititled

 "...You need to decide pretty quickly whether or not you are making art for yourself (because it makes you happy) or for other people (to sell art). I think that many of us fell into a "But I wanna create stuff that I WANT to create, and people should just buy it" rut, when really, you have to go out and sell yourself, and your stuff in ways that you probably aren't going to expect. If you want to make money full time as an artist, you have to be willing to make art for other people, and not just yourself."

 

MMV: Monday's Motivating Video - Accountability - Denis Waitley

The start of something new

Instead of the usual post from experts that we've been focusing on the past several Sundays I plan to shift the timing a little as an experiment.

This coming Tuesday we'll experiment with "Tips 4 Tuesday" and this week we'll focus on Full-time Artists.

(TOT) Thought on Thursday: Smoke

As I was meditating the other day, I looked up and saw the incense for the first time:

The smoke is so much like our lives.

They burn quickly for a moment

Begin to take form

Then in an instant the thing just beginning to take form, disappears.

Hopefully your life is beginning to take form.

(OWW) Outside Wages Wednesday = $2.67

Source - Adsense.

So I effectively crushed last week's earnings with my adsense earnings this week + month.

Now, I just need to develop other sources of income. We'll see what me and my wonderful assistant can accomplish.

MMV: Monday Motivating Video - Failure is Fertilizer for Success - Denis Waitely

7 fitness experts give habits to break away from...today

So this week I reached out to fitness experts again and asked the following question: 

“What is one bad fitness habit you often see that people should break today?”

As usual the responses were phenomenal:

1)       

Jason Yun 

Owner

Improvement Fitness Warrior

[Forgetting that] "It's all on you. 
 There is nobody else to blame but you. Where you are in life is because of the choices you made. If you are not fit, if you are overweight, if your job sucks, if you kids don't listen, on and on and on. As soon as you realize that you are responsible for everything the sooner you can change your life for the better.”

2) 

Leigh Ann Garstecki

 Nutritionist and Certified Strength and Conditiong Specialist at

University of Maine - Machias

"Stop making your strong muscles stronger, and your weak muscles weaker! If you are only using machines to do strength training you're creating a larger muscular imbalance than you had to start with. ... If you are using a machine to do - chest press, your strong side is pushing a greater majority of the weight than your weak side. Therefore, you will never be able to equal out the strength of the muscles used on the right and left sides. This will also put a limit on how strong you can actually get. If you are going to use machines, make sure to either balance it out with use of free weights and body weight exercises, or try lowering the weight and doing single side sets!"

3)     
 

Zach Even-Esh

Bodybuilder, Trainer, Owner of: 

ZachEven-Esh.com

 

“Poor exercise technique is a habit that must be broken if results are to be achieved. Learn from an expert and focus on technique as a priority before trying to increase intensity.”

4)       

Flavia Del Monte

Author, Registered Nurse, Certified Personal Trainer, Masters Nutrition Certification

Owner - Flavilicious Fitness

“Say "no" more than you say "yes" this summer. Would you like fries with that? Dessert? How about a beer? No, thank you. Saving the "treat" meals or snacks for special occasions will help keep thousands of calories off during these summer months full of parties and outdoor events.”

5)       

Juan Carlos Santana

Founder

The Institute of Human Performance

"Stop doing cirque du soliel balancing acts and calling them functional training!!

Balancing acts have been generally called 'functional training' by those who obviously don’t know what functional is.  Balance exercise have been touted as using a greater amount of muscles, burn more calories, burn more fat, increase strength, and host of other fitness and health benefits. ALL LIES!!  Balancing, for the most part, teaches you how to balance – not how to do anything else.  I can teach you how to balance on a board – that does not mean you are going to play better soccer, or get lean for that matter.  

Put your feet on the ground and move as much weight as you can, as long as you can, and as far as you can and you will get in shape, be functional, and if your diet is right  – you'll look great too.

6)       

Nick Tumminello

Personal Trainer, Fitness Educator & Author/Producer of the DVD 

Strength Training for Fat Loss

NickTumminello.com

“Going into the gym and attempting to demonstrate strength (i.e. quantity) instead of trying to focusing on good technique (i.e. quality).

Sure you want to lift loads that challenge you, but not loads so heavy that you can't maintain control of and have to cheat to lift.

A good general guideline for the goal of building muscle is to use the heaviest weight you can lift (using good form, without cheating) for 8-12 reps... with each rep performed with a 2-3 second eccentric lowering portion.”

7)       

Mandy Ingber

Fitness and wellness expert, speaker, producer, instructor, and Author of 

Yogalosophy:

“Setting lofty goals. It's important to have the feeling of meeting your goals and feeling accomplished. When we set lofty goals, like "losing 25 lbs", we get discouraged when we don't see immediate results. Set short term goals that you can accomplish, and you will build self esteem.”

So what do you think? Are there even worse fitness habits to get rid of? Do you additional advice to share? If so, leave a comment below.