There are seven major signs you need to optimize your art:

1. You have a talent for creating art.

2. You’re willing to put in the time and energy needed to create great art.

3. You know how to find clients or customers who can pay you for your art.

4. You have the ability and willingness to promote your art so that people will want it, even if they don’t know why they want it.

5. You have the ability and willingness to deliver your art on time and as agreed upon, in whatever format is negotiated.

6. You know how to get paid for creating your art, beyond just waiting for people to pay you what they promised (and hoping they do).

7. You can afford to create art without anyone’s permission

There are lots of ways to create art. Some cost money, some don’t. But usually there’s a lot involved with getting paid for your art.

Here’s a list of things you should try to do if you want to get paid for creating art:

* Make something that people want. It doesn’t have to be much of anything, but it has to be something someone is willing to pay for.

* Learn how to promote yourself and your work. You need a website, online presence, social media, and probably a blog (and not just one of those tumble-dried corporate blogs). You need to get out there and meet people in person so they can see, touch and feel what you’re doing.

Note: you may wish to combine this step with the next one…

* Find people who will buy your art before you make it. You won’t get paid if no one wants your work, so find people who are willing to pay for it before you make it and then figure out how to make it happen.

In short: make something great, promote yourself well and sell it before you make it!

7. You’re Not Making Enough

If your art is not impacting your audience, you are not getting paid enough.

You must take into account the cost of your time in order to be able to figure out what is fair compensation for you and your art.

You might be making $10 per hour, but if it takes you 5 hours to make a painting, then you are only making $2.50 per painting. That’s not enough.

You need to calculate how much time it costs you to produce each piece, and then charge accordingly.

What does this mean? If you can make a painting in 1 hour and it costs $20 for the supplies, then charge $20 for the painting.

I am going to write a post about each of these, but I wanted to put them up here as an outline:

1. You need to be able to explain your art, and why it is worth paying for.

2. You need to give people a reason they should care.

3. You need to make it easy for them to pay you (make it easy and cheap for everyone, including yourself.)

4. You need to be able to contact your customers, and let them contact you, in a way that makes it easy for you both.

5. You need to know how much the market will bear, so that you don’t undersell yourself.

6. You need to trust your art enough that you are comfortable selling it at any price, even if no one buys it at that price today.

7. You need to know how much time it takes you to create the art (and how much time it takes your audience to consume it) so that you can price accordingly

What is the difference between art and design?

The following was written by a wood artist of some renown:

“Art is the search for truth. Design is the application of truth.”

While that sounds good, it’s not really true. The distinction between art and design is really a matter of emphasis. Art emphasizes expression, while design emphasizes function. In reality, art is concerned with both expression and function, as well as whatever else the artist wants to express or fulfill. Since artists are human beings, this usually includes at least some concern for function.

It’s more useful to think of art as an act rather than an object. An act is a process, not a thing. Expression and function are both integral parts of any act or process that we would call art. A painting has both form (expressive) and function (to cover a wall). A building has both form (expressive) and function (to provide shelter). A decorative sculpture has form (expression) and also functions as a doorstop or paperweight or whatever it happens to be used for in the end.