Four phases every working artist must go through – in order

You’re done being a hobby artist. If you decided today to officially put your ALL into your career as an artist, what would that look like? There are four phases every working artist masters.

You’ll focus on these four things (in order):

1. Your product.
2. Marketing your product.
3. Delivering your product.
4. Refining the process.

NOT THE ONLY, BUT THE BEST WAY

Before we get into details about the phases, I want to mention that I used to have a different take on the process of becoming an artist. In this article, First four steps to take to become an artist, I talk about how the first things you should do are make it known, make a sale, sell at an art show, then make your online shop. 

I will be leaving this article up because it details the actual steps I took at the beginning of my journey. I did my first art show because a friend peer pressured me (thank god) and I never once thought about my art style before jumping into sales. I had no plan. It was a hobby for me at the time.

But now that I am much further along in my journey as a full-time working artist, I realize there is a better, faster way. 

I love that my journey has been messy and DIY – in a cute nostalgic kind of way – but I want to save you the time and headache and give you the BEST roadmap. 

So let’s get into it.

PRODUCT IS PHASE ONE

Your product comes first because the other steps rely on it. 

Your product as an artist is mainly about

• Your art style
• The item type

Getting clear on these is essential. If you remain vague about what you actually offer, it’ll be much harder to do the following two phases. (What are you saying in your marketing if you aren’t sure what type of art you make?)

This is the biggest mistake I made in the beginning. I ignored art style, and sales suffered as a result. If you dig for photos of my first art show in 2015, you’ll see how scatterbrained all the paintings are. There’s no connectivity between them at all.

Art style is a topic I could wax poetic about the benefits of for an entire book. To summarize: the next phases will be easy if you nail style and item down first. 

Art style is a set of consistent choices that results in a unified appearance. It’s the visual brand of your entire portfolio. It’s the mood, the aesthetic, the vibe. Your body of work should all share the same art style. Each piece should look like it belongs to the same artist.

Here’s an example of no style and style:

Struggle with art style? There are many blog posts on A Cup of Cloudy about it. You can also enroll in Elements of Art Style to get a complete and thorough portfolio makeover – I highly recommend it.

Item type is about the commodity you actually sell. Are you offering only one-of-a-kind original paintings? Only handmade clay jewelry? Or will you use your designs on notebooks, pens, flower pots, fabric, prints, stickers, floor tiles?? Surface design opens many doors for artists who want their work on multiple item types. 

Maybe you want to specialize your branding and offer only greeting cards and postcards. You’d become “the snail mail artist.” 

Your art business will be known according to your art style, but also according to item type.

MARKETING IS PHASE TWO

Marketing is second because there has to be a product to talk about, but you have to let people know your product exists before they’re going to buy it. If they don’t know about it, they can’t be interested in it.

My favorite marketing avenues are online content creation and in-person art shows. Mostly art shows. 

Want to learn how to get into vending events? I wrote an ebook on it here.

But there are MANY ways to get your artwork shown to more people. 

You can also hang flyers, leave business cards in bathrooms, give out free slap stickers, send mailers, pay for online ads, pay for billboard ads, pay for radio ads, pay for podcast ads, do a podcast interview, perform a publicity stunt, show at galleries, enter competitions, submit your art to magazines, and so much more. 

Marketing contains aspects like messaging as well. How do you speak about your art? How do other people talk about it? I hear what strangers say about my work as they pass by my booth at an art show. They use adjectives like “cute, dreamy, spooky.” They look at it and say “aw!” They call it whimsigoth or cottagecore or witchy. They tell their friend “I think my little niece would like this.” They plan where in their home they would hang it, or what they would drink out of it, or what journal prompts they’d write in it, or what shirt they’d pin it to. What they have to say directly stems from art style and item type. Your messaging about your artwork will too.

Basically, you show up and talk about your art. Then let people know it’s for sale.

Whichever way you can do that is great.

Doing it with a branded message is better.

DELIVERING IS PHASE THREE

Delivering your product is third. After someone buys your product, you have to process their payment and give them the art. This is where a lot of working artists get tripped up, because it’s less about the art and more about the business.

Delivering the product includes website shop design, bank account setup, packaging, shipping, and customer service. It includes refund policies and late fees and commission contracts. It also includes legal things like LLCs and taxes, because if you want to keep selling art you need to give the man a cut (womp womp).

You must master this phase if you want a customer to become a repeat collector. They’ll be inspired to collect multiple pieces from you based on product, but they’ll change their mind if the delivery is horrible. Getting good at this part is essential for the longevity of your career as a working artist.

Delivering on your promise is where the nitty gritty of business happens. 

Art business is half art, half business. Don’t forget that.

REFINING IS PHASE FOUR

Refining is taking everything from the other three areas and making it better. 

Like the famous quote: A piece of art is never finished, only abandoned. The same is true for your career as a working artist. You essentially go through each phase during each sale, and at the end you must include the refinement. Ask yourself, “what can I do better next time?”

Each phase will get reworked a bit as each sale is made, as you gain experience and notice issues.

What this could look like in the other phases is:

For products: Tweaking your art style to lean into what people are actually buying. Honing in on your skills. Switching from 8 oz. coffee mugs to 11 oz. 

For marketing: Focusing on longform content instead of short form because you can be more consistent with posting that. Applying to bigger art shows. 

For delivering: Investing in sturdier mailers for your art prints. Automating emails. Creating a custom art submission form. 

Refinement is small improvements in each area that make a big difference. This is where a small full-time artist becomes a Lisa Frank or a Henri Matisse. You’ll go from decent to good to great to THE BEST with lots of refinement. 

It’s a beautiful thing not having to stress about getting things perfect the first time you do them, because the refining phase is never ending. You will inevitably go back and retouch the previous phases – life is long and being an artist is longer. 

BECOME A WORKING ARTIST

Now that you know the four phases every working artist must go through, you might be hoping for some more detailed guidance. 

Come hang with us in the Artsy Friends Patreon group! It’s a group of artists who are serious about their career as working artists. There’s exclusive education videos from a full-time artist (since 2021) and a community that will lift you up. We’re all going through the same phases!

It’s always more painful to remain where you are than to do the work to move forward.

Let’s do the work together.