Ryu's Blog

Advice from someone making a living as an artist.

Excerpts:

Most people who enjoy making art should not try to make it their full time job. When you turn an avocation (hobby) into a vocation (job) you have to do new things you do not enjoy…Even the work itself can become a burden because you now have to make it. Amateurs can wait for inspiration; professionals must create every day.

You can look at art through an aesthetic lens (how does it look?), a technical lens (how is it made?), an emotional lens (how does it make you feel?), an interpretive lens (what does it mean?), and a political lens (what does it say about our world?).

There are a set of things that excite you artistically, and there are a set of things that the public enjoys, and you are looking for something in the intersection of those two sets. You can make work that is commercially successful while still staying true to your artistic interests.

Just make art that excites you, and make enough of it that you eventually make work that resonates with people.

Art is absolutely an expression of yourself. But your art is not you. Try not to entangle your ego with your art. 

I have heard this approach referred to as “shots on goal” — the more shots you take, the more likely you are to succeed. If you are too scared to show your work to anyone or too defensive about the feedback you receive, you will have fewer shots on goal and thus less chance of making a living as an artist.