1. Decide what you want to do as an artist.
Choose your medium, topic, or theme, and find your voice. Some artists spend their lifetime waiting for it, but you can start at the idea where you stand now. Your thoughts will change with the years, get ready for this. Define your values, that which you stand for—they might be the most permanent components of your personality and your art. Build everything around them and you is going to be set for an extended time.
2. Define your target audience and future patrons.
Who are the people sharing the exact same values and passion as you? Marine artists should look at ship or boat owners and coastal dwellers. Wildlife artists should consider individuals with wildlife in their hearts—Greenpeace fans, safari lovers, hunters, landlords of large wild properties. If you adore kids, look at their parents; if you adore landscape, consider property owners and farmers. There is no secret—just 2% to 5% of society buys artwork: that part who has enough money and who values art. That doesn't just select visual art—music, dance, and the performing arts work exactly the same way.
3. Build your portfolio.
Keeping in mind your topic and your potential patrons, build your portfolio. If your topic is closely related to some particular interest, approach your potential patrons and look for non-monetary support in portfolio building. This is often access to a property or help through being truly a model. Oftentimes, it could result in your first sales. That is also the beginning of building your network. You can choose and manage your network for some extent. People attract like-minded people. Defining what type of people you would like in your network helps you to get them. It may sound like magic, but that is really a natural way for you yourself to select individuals to talk to about your art.
4. Gain recognition.
This can be quite a show, an opposition, or some other kind of recognition. Take time to inform the press, your existing patrons and other admirers about this. Most people like to have art piece by way of a recognized artist. Even when they bought it ahead of the recognition came, it will please them. Maybe even more, they could take credit in discovering you and your talent before others. Provide them with this small treat!
5. Fine tune Christians your brand.
Since the moment you made a decision to be an artist and began following steps 1 to 4, you've been building your brand. It is rooted in your values, your beliefs, and your view. It sparkles in your art, yourself and everything around you. Take the core message (as in step 1) and make an effort to incorporate it in most single step you make. Your web page, your opinions, your organization card—even the manner in which you dress—might be an integral part of your brand. You're the religion brand! Be careful the method that you get it done, though—be yourself and ensure that you don't trap yourself with your own personal brand.
6. Revise your pricing strategy.
It's no secret that recognized artists sell their benefit higher prices. So, as a rule of thumb, higher prices indicate that the artist is recognized. Don't forget to reflect your amount of recognition in your prices. Pricing is extremely sensitive thing—you have to find the appropriate spot. Underpricing will result in fewer sales and less fascination with your art. People love emerging artists, but you've to provide them the message you are emerging not merely starting. Among the hidden messages is your price. On one other hand, watch out for overpricing. If prices are excessive, people will begin deeper investigation and will quickly discover unreasonably high prices. Regardless, you need to calculate material costs and set an amount that covers at the very least your material costs.
7. Think about sales and information channels.
How can people see your art? Have you got an online portfolio? Are you experiencing a web site? Is your art exhibited somewhere? What's that place? Could it be a gallery or even a restaurant in a disreputable street? Be careful when selecting a route and area for your art. The context also sends an invisible message. You wont find the work of a premier artist in a small corner café unless it's under their studio or belongs to him or her!
After step 7, browse around: most probably you're already an artist who has their very own admirers, network and sales. Set a target for whenever you will quit your day job. Can it be an amount earned per month? Or amount of art pieces sold? Or quantity of blog visitors? Revise your strategy, sales, channels, target audience, branding and work until you reach the goal.
Read more about Transcendent Artist James Martinez