How many people, over the last hundreds of years, aspired to be an artist? Of those people, how many, other than myself, have been told that their artistic ambitions will amount to nothing and would not put bread on the table? My guess, quite a few. Just imagine if someone discouraged Dante, or Da Vinci, or Michelangelo. We’d live in a world much less textured and beautiful than it is today.
Even today in our modern world, effort needs to be applied to dispel the myth of ‘art isn’t work.’ Put right, art is very productive, and can be an amazing tool to push our humble species forward.
So, let this post be a celebration to those who have found utility in their artistic careers, haven’t backed down from applying their artistic ambitions top to bottom, and who wish to move forward. Not all of us are meant to be sat behind a desk!
If you are an aspiring artist, please, consider:
Freelancing
Just because you may not make your main salary through whatever art form you practice doesn’t mean you cannot exercise it where available and use it for monetary gain. You might translate work from one language to another, or perhaps fulfill illustrations for people, or act as a production assistant on the creation of certain recording tracks.
Over time, you might build a reputation, and this can lead you into the best possible situations to build a career. If you do this, you can also keep your skills sharpened and also find yourself staying much more positive about your passion year after year.
Who knows, over time, this might become something more, or could help you with a portfolio you may need to secure work in your field. It’s not hard to see just how many artists have found employment and satisfaction in freelancing work, and so we would recommend you attempt this if you find no other success. It has worked for many talented people before you.
Look For Courses
Just because you do not have career prospects with your artistic talents right now doesn’t mean you cannot improve them and potentially network as part of an educational program. From fine art to filmmaking to online makeup courses, finding your niche and becoming as accredited as you can will not only help you learn more about your craft, but also its history, and the know-how of where to network and how you might focus on gaining a career.
Like any career, you often get out of it what you put in, and so taking a proactive step in this direction might be the best thing that you have ever done for yourself. Looking for courses online takes less than an hour to do, so dip your feet into your options, and from your research you may select something worthwhile.
Attend Shows
Attending art shows, comedy events, young filmmaker exhibitions, poetry slams, writers’ groups – these things will connect you with people who are very much active and dedicated when hoping to make their dreams a reality. Attending these shows can help you feel routinely excited and interested in your ambitions, and will also lay that nest egg of inspiration deep in your soul.
That might be needed to inspire you to take that course, to travel to that country, to read that book. When you’re around people who are actively trying to make their dreams come true, you are much less likely to pay credence to those who are trying to actively tell you this is not a good path to follow.
Don’t Consider It As Work
It might be that you’ve been told that you’ll never make your art form your daily work. Sometimes, the best response to this is ‘who cares?’ If you fall in love with a craft, allow that to sustain you, and try to better yourself within that.
If you can do this, then over time you will stop considering it as something you need to monetize at all costs, and instead something you just love doing. This can help you look to the future, and potentially give you the means to overcome the pessimism of needing to be financially sustained by your project.
If you don’t consider it as work, then you will have a much more positive outlook year after year. To us, that is the essence of wealth in the first place.
With these tips, you’re sure to break through these myths immediately.
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Enjoy, Ann
