A starving artist is an artist who sacrifices material well-being in order to focus on their artwork. They typically live on minimum expenses, either for a lack of business or because all their disposable income goes toward art projects. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starving_artist)
Here are some facts about artists:
The artist has a long historic tradition of enjoying a low standard of living in order to secure the time and materials to practice his art. All artists have come to know this fact in various levels and usually at the beginning stage of their path. Artists are emotional and egocentric. Art comes from an unnatural part of a person that for some reason, only the artist is able to tap into. As an artist creates art, the art and the artist are inexplicably connected. Artists recognize the difference between constructive criticism and praise and wish only to receive praise. Any disagreement with the artist will result in the artist refusing to part with his art and most artists will not compromise their art if they don’t ‘feel’ like it. The starving artist sticks to this lifestyle when he refuses to compromise any part of his art in exchange for the money that will allow him to rise above the starving artist lifestyle. This refusal is very common.
Here are some facts about the Hustle:
What is not so common is that some artists have an inherent personality that allows them to hustle. Hustle is the death of the starving artist and the beginning of a fruitful artistic career. Hustle is an exact science. We live in the world of the hustle 24/7. From the television commercials, to magazine spreads and fashion trends; they are all part of the big capitalistic hustle. Capitalism calls their version of the hustle Advertising. Young entrepreneurs call it Marketing. The hustle comes into play when you try to convince a person to spend money on something other than the basic necessities needed to live in this world: Food, Clothing or Shelter. Soft drinks may be refreshing, but water is the basic necessity. Yet soft drink companies spend large sums of money trying to convince you to buy their brand. Who really needs art? Nobody needs it. But art is a billion dollar a year industry. How? Everybody likes art and someone is supplying the art demand. Art is the one part of life that can be appreciated by babies, children, teens and adults. There are many types of art for every taste and someone is making a profit on it.
Here are some facts about Artists and the Hustle in 2010:
The idea that the starving artist exists in 2010 is an emotionally immature and adolescent idea. Wow! Yes, there are those who practice art as a hobby. They are not artists. There are those who practice art because they like painting/drawing/sketching pretty pictures. They are not artists. Kindergartners can draw, does that make them artists? An artist is a person who has taken on the path to express themselves visually as the only means of their existence. You can add wife/husband and kids as part of their lives, but art is their number one reason for living. Art is what they dream, what they eat, what they speak, what they read, what they write, what they wish, what the want, what they need. Art is what they live for. Art is what sets apart the artist from the general population. Artists invest all their available time to practice, to explore, to improve their art. Artists overflow with ideas on what is their next project. That is an artist.
An artist who wishes to follow on that path of self expression, must at some point come to terms with the fact that the necessities of life must somehow be afforded thru the profit of art. Sure, anyone may have a mundane job that affords him a comfortable standard of living and also support a family, all the while painting/drawing in their spare time. But that’s not an artist. Art is a hobby to that person.
Art costs money in itself. The materials used in the practice of art are not cheap. Pencils, pens, markers, brushes, paint, canvas, papers, rulers, tables, lights, etc. Plus the amount of time spent mastering the specific type of art. Add the basic necessities of life and now you can get a clear picture of why an artist must make money with his art to be able to afford even the lowest standard of living. If the best standard of living that the artist is able to afford is The Starving Artist, then that artist is missing the HUSTLE.
An artist is emotionally immature when art only comes thru “feeling”. Feelings do not pay bills. The phone company will not accept this month’s payment in ‘feelings’. An artist must be able to produce a piece at will when money is on the line. An artist is adolescent minded when he has not taken the time to come up with a plan that will allow a means to produce profit with his art.
“Amateurs practice until they can get it right. Professionals practice until they cannot get it wrong.”
The Art Hustle in 2010 starts with asking questions, research and practice. That’s it. Practice the art skills. There are lots of doodlers on this earth. Loved ones will tell a person that their art could be in cartoons, comics or t-shirts. Professional eyes will tell that same person that they need more practice with their art. Practice the art skills and get a professional opinion, then accept the professional opinion and practice some more! Research your industry. Comics, cartoons, anime, manga, children’s books, album covers, etc. Look online and find more information. Find out by what process other artists have gone thru to get to their current success. Cant afford the literature? A lot of that information is online for free. Join the forums, clubs and organizations dedicated to the desired industry. Ask questions to other artists, those artists who are actually living the type of success that allows the art to flow. Get to know working artists and emulate their business practice. Find out as much from different artists as possible. There are many correct answers; the only wrong answer is to do nothing. The year 2010 affords so much freedom of information and cheap marketing. Once the artistic basics are covered (practice, research and asking), THE HUSTLE BEGINS.
The Hustle on the Cheap/Free:
Start a blog (blogger.com) with your art and discuss who, what, when and why of your art. It’s free and it comes with a free email account thru Gmail.com Open a free deviantart.com account. Post artwork and ask for artistic advice from the worldwide community of artists who are already at Deviant Art. Explore all the free social media available. Facebook.com, Myspace.com, Twitter.com are some of the sites to begin with plus don’t forget that there are new sites popping out on the daily. THEY ARE FREE TO JOIN AND PROMOTE YOUR ARTWORK.
One evening, after attending a drawing session, I uploaded some sketches online. The next morning, I checked my messages at that networking site and there was a comment from a client asking me to design their logo using one of the sketches I had just uploaded the night before! Within a couple of weeks I had produced and got paid for the design. The networking site was free to join. The sketch was free to upload to the site. The only expenses at the time were the drawing session fee, paper and pencils. These expenses I had incurred not knowing that a logo job was on the way!
I am a full-time artist and dare you to try to do the same.
Additional consultation available with Daniel ‘Denominator’ Flores thru email or appt. dtmkal@denominatorgraphics.com www.dacreativegenius.com
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