After spending years harnessing your art skills, you are finally ready to make a big leap and start working professionally as an artist. All those years of spending your weekends on improving your art and now being able to make a living out of it can be exhilarating, especially when you know you are good enough to make it big.
Moreover, you are also aware that there will be long hours ahead of you, and you will struggle at first. But you have the drive, the motivation, and the finances to get your own private space studio to focus all your time on your art. You think you are ready, and for the most part, you are.
But have you ever experienced a professional career as an artist? Nope. This is why all kinds of unexpected things can happen that no business book would have prepared you for.
Disturbed Life and Work Balance
Simply knowing that you are going to work long hours is not enough. There are times when you get too excited and work for too long in the studio, missing out on important sleeping time that would have revitalized you for work the next day.
In other cases, you might have been optimistic about a deadline and promised your client a piece that you are struggling to complete. As an independent professional artist, there will be no one to tell you to take a break, no one to congratulate you on your progress, and no one to give you a well-deserved vacation time.
What you will need is to create a proper schedule and become extremely strict about sticking to it. Only then will you be able to get a good night’s rest and agree to deadlines that you can actually finish the work on time.
From Practice to Business
As a professional artist, you will no longer be creating art for the sake of practice and will instead start viewing your art as a vital asset within your business.
You need to start thinking this way as this is going to help you financially support yourself and your future career plans. This means being able to talk about money and manage it properly to keep doing what you love as a profession. Fortunately, there are several software that can streamline your catalogs, invoices and keep track of your art’s current status.
The Benefit of Mentors
In every professional sector, it is a known fact that surrounding yourself with professionals is a great way to learn how to move ahead in your career. The same can be said about the art industry.
Bolli Blas – a British contemporary artist and painter – is one of the few people who has worked towards creating art that introduces the world to new perspectives on life and uses her experience to help young aspiring professional artists.
Bolli’s paintings are known for their unique wide-eyed character aspects, known as ‘Bollis’, which was inspired by the events that took place when she visited some of the poorest countries around the world. She is also the co-founder of the prestigious ArtsyNFT, a fine art NFT platform, and is working on holding exhibitions in places where the lack of art influence needs to change.
Moreover, aside from focusing on her own career, she has also been working with emerging artists and helps guide them on their journey as they start out as professional artists in the field.
