How To Launch Your Art Career in 2023 (seriously)

You guys are here for how to launch your art career .

11 , right ?

Oh Thank God .

OK , let's get started .

The first thing that you need to know about is social media .

Now you might hate social media or you might love it .

But either way it is a tool for you to use to get what you want that being recognition and financial stability .

So I want you to pick the platform you love the most or hate the least and run with it .

OK ?

But how do I post good consistent content without taking time away from making my art ?

And how do I even grow on social media ?

Fighting the algorithm and being up to date ?

Feels impossible .

I get where you're coming from .

But social media is a tool that can be used both ways , both as a means of marketing and as a means of accountability .

The benefit of posting on a platform like youtube is that you can use videos that you post online as an excuse to work on your goals as an artist .

I don't just use youtube as a means of growing my income and building awareness for who I am as an artist .

But I also use videos to work on drawing heads , portrait drawing .

I also use videos to try acrylic painting and oil painting and just you can post vlogs and painting practices .

You don't have to make content like anyone else makes content .

There are plenty of creators out there .

I know one personally that just post painting processes and a voiceover and make tens of thousands of dollars every month from their paid products and the other stuff they have going on with their art career , which we will cover later in phase three .

But all you need to do is record the process as for how to make quality content .

I think good lighting , good audio and a good story are really the fundamentals for success .

If you have that you are golden content creation can really be as complicated as you want it to be .

You can make really simple videos or you can make really in depth videos like I make , you can make content , however you want to make content , everything is up to you .

So I recommend the epic 1 to 2 platform and just post just make stuff .

And then once you have a good handle on the basics of creation , that's where strategy comes in .

There are two things that you need to know to succeed on virtually any social media platform .

The first is what the community is like that you want to be a part of who are the main players in the community .

People like Lee Elison , Radia Raman Jazz , for example , those are big creators in the art community community .

You want to figure out how they make their content .

What tropes do they use ?

What kind of lighting do they have ?

What are their camera angles , what camera gear do they use ?

And then you're also going to want to start paying attention to the current trends in your community .

You want to live and breathe the niche that you want to enter online .

And the second thing that you need to know , arguably the most important is what sets you apart from all of those other creators .

Every single content theater is unique .

Everyone has a brand , a look , a specialty .

This is also something that's sometimes called a comparative advantage .

What do you have that all of those other creators don't , what unique outlook or perspective or skills or knowledge set you apart in your content ?

What can you do to take the niche to a new level ?

How can you present new information or a new approach ?

This might be an editing style .

It might be the same content presented in a more engaging way .

A thing always said in marketing is that you can either be the first , the best or different , the first and the best are really hard to achieve , especially as a beginner , there are probably already lots of people in your niche .

But how can you be different .

That's what you want to figure out .

Let's look at my content as an example .

I don't just post studio vlogs and painting processes , but I'm also really into the data .

The numbers I post content about entrepreneurship , social media growth and how to start making money as an artist .

That is information that a lot of that art youtubers really share and I'm more transparent than a lot of other creators .

I post like exactly the numbers of how much money I've been making as I progress in my art career because I want this whole channel to exist as a resource for you .

I want you to start building your art career and then being able to look back on all of the videos in this channel to see exactly what I've done .

I am not just telling you the road map that I'm using right now , but all of the videos on my channel exist as a real life proof of the road map as I develop my career .

And that is my comparative advantage , my willingness to share with other creators don't .

And my overarching focus on strategy when I was just starting out , I really wanted information on how much money I could make as an artist , but there weren't a lot of videos out there , especially for the stuff that I wanted to make .

So I noticed a gap in the market and I filled it with my own content and once you've identified your comparative advantage and your identity as an artist and a creator , it's really just a matter of time of making killer content and being patient .

It took me six months to reach 100 subscribers here on youtube over a year and a half to reach 1000 .

But ever since hitting 1000 in September , my channel has been growing really well ever since .

So just stick in there , be patient .

But I actually have a little bit of a confession to make because you see when I mentioned that road map before , I've actually been guiding you along this road map the entire time .

And we're on phase three .

Phase one was what I like to call the starting out phase or born .

Absolutely getting your shit together .

You're figuring out how you want to market yourself , be it on social media or some other way like in person through conventions or on a blog and you just start doing it .

Phase two is the crucial strategy phase .

This is when you're going to want to start developing a coherent plan for your overall marketing strategy to figure out who you are as a creator , who you are as an artist and what your comparative advantage is for your business .

So this is the part where you start thinking about making money .

Now , there are tons of ways of making money as an artist .

You could go the traditional route of having your work in galleries where you could sell prints originals or whatever you'd like in an online shop .

And you could also sell a course to places like skillshare .

You could have your work in art fairs , uh , conventions .

I don't know , like restaurants , cafes , boutiques , I mean , the sky is the limit .

You can do whatever you want .

But that being said , I highly recommend that you start out with a couple of passive income streams , Passive income streams are not directly linked to your creative output .

You basically make them or set them up once and they make money in the background .

This is stuff like youtube adsense .

It could also be a skill share course or digital products .

These are easier income streams to set up and they don't require a lot of active work from you after you get them going .

This is a really great way to have money trickling in while you keep working on your marketing strategy and start building on other more active income streams that require more attention like an online shop or trying to get your work in an exhibition or a gallery .

Once you have some smaller income streams set up and a little bit here and there trickling in , add in another one , maybe a Patreon or an online shop , just keep adding income streams , making sure to have a healthy of active and passive until you have enough to make ends meet .

OK .

This might be starting to sound a little bit overwhelming and like a lot of things to market .

But this is where Koji comes in the sponsor of this week's video .

Koji is so much more than just a Lincoln Bio service .

So they are the best Lincoln Bio service for artists like genuinely .

But there are a place where you can have all of your income streams and your entire presence online in one place .

It is so easy to organize .

It looks great .

I have my Twitter , my Instagram , my youtube channel , uh my email , my email list .

You can send it from my newsletter .

I have my workbook there .

My notion templates my Patreon , I have what else ?

I have a tip jar .

I have my affiliate links .

I have my website , my online shop , like so much of my presence online .

My entire presence online is found on my Koji profile and it isn't just a place where you can have links .

You can actually make money from your profile .

So you don't have to worry about conversion rates or even having a website because having website let's face , it is actually really expensive .

Um And it's time consuming to maintain .

So you can sell digital and physical products directly on your Koji profile .

You can take commissions , you can take donations , you can take tips , you can again build an email list and so much more coi has hundreds of mini apps on their marketplace .

I don't even have time to talk about them often being 100% honest , but there is limitless potential with your Koji profile .

It is honestly a great place to be and I would really recommend it for each and every one of you guys .

I am new to working with brands on this channel and I only want to take sponsorships with companies that I genuinely believe in .

And Koji is one of those .

So it's a really great service .

I would really wholeheartedly recommend it .

And if you guys want a video where I show head up your own Koji profile , let me know in the comments and I might make that .

But anyway , when you're in phase three , you're gonna have a lot of stuff going on and the time that you have to make art might take a hit .

Trust me , I know .

But at this point , you probably have a fairly solid marketing strategy .

You are used to posting on social media and you have a good grasp of what you're doing .

This is when you should start considering scaling back the quantity of your content and increasing the quality .

So this might totally be a hot take .

But I would argue that the artists with the best marketing strategies are the ones that make you drop everything .

When they release a new exhibition or post a new video , you drop everything that you're doing and you cherish their work like a fine wine .

It is an event when they do something and then they fuck off for three months and you miss them with social media .

We can get a little bit of everything all of the time .

There is an endless sea of content always at the ready .

But here's the thing , art is not content .

The goal here remember is to launch your art career not to become a content creator .

There is a difference .

We are using social media as a tool to get what we want .

Recognition and financial stability , but you don't have to use social media like everyone else does .

The drop model of the posting schedule for artists should be different than other content creators .

We are a different class of person .

We're not a lifestyle blogger or a tech reviewer .

It takes time to make what we make and we should give that the respect that it deserves .

So don't be afraid to post irregularly make your art an event that people stop what they're doing to go and experience .

And now we're in phase four expanding .

Remember you do not own the social media platforms or the art galleries or conventions for art fairs .

You sell your work at they could vanish at any moment .

Phase four is all about cementing your career to actually have a stable income for the rest of your life .

You want this to do something that you can retire on .

Ok .

Internet careers burn out .

They're short , they're fast .

You want to surpass that you want to exist beyond that .

And you know how you do that ?

An email list , an email list is literally the holy grail of marketing .

OK ?

An email list is a direct line of connection to your most engaged followers that give me a list that will live far beyond the life span of a social media platform .

OK , youtube might go down tomorrow but email lists , baby , those are forever .

OK ?

And you don't need anything special to start building an email list .

I build mine through Koi and my website two great options .

But I'm calling Phase four the expansion phase because it really is all about direct expansion .

You are not only expanding your longevity by building an email list , but you also want to branch out and get involved in your community .

This might look like being interviewed on a podcast , starting a podcast , collaborating with other artists in your niche .

You want to spread the word and spread the brand awareness of you out into the world .

And at this point , you're probably already well on your way to building an art career that will last the test of time that will guide you through your entire life .

Your art will change and evolve .

But email lists and social media platforms , they will follow you to the end .

And at this point , you have built a career that does not rely on you being available 24 7 and you probably have more time for your creative practice than you ever have before .

And that , that is literally the dream .

So does this cover everything ?

No , it doesn't , but it should help you get started .

If you liked this video , you want to support the creation of more like it , consider supporting me over on Patreon .

And thank you again to Koji for sponsoring this video .

I hope you guys have a great rest of your day and I will see you in the next one .

Ok .

Ok .

All right .

What are you , what are you still doing here ?

Seriously ?

You , you have so much work to do .

Oh my God .

Leave .