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Reviewing your art: 3 tips to get clarity
LOOK BACK TO MOVE FORWARD Everyone critiques their own artwork — or at least they spend a lot of time criticizing it. Any rough review can be discouraging. Adding a pinch of strategy when reviewing your art will take it from negative self-talk to constructive ideas. Today I’m gonna give you three big tips for analyzing your work so you can move forward and progress instead of wallowing at your current level of artistry. It’s time to move forward. It’s time to make better art. 1. ASK BETTER QUESTIONS Your brain is like a computer. When you ask it a question, it will answer that specific question. When you ask,…
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3 reasons you still don’t have a creative voice
BE HEARD Finding your creative voice. Adding your touch. Building a visual brand. Having an art style. Whatever you want to call it, you know what it means to look at an artist’s work and they just have it. The thing that makes the painting look like their painting. If you’ve been struggling to get to that point with your own artwork, there could be a few reasons why. Here’s the top three. 1. Not developing observational skills Observing the world around you is a skill. It’s a skill that will advance your art style by leaps and bounds because it will help you see your art more clearly. The…
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5 tips to tackle the artist’s busy season — the holidays
GIVE YOURSELF THE BUSIEST SEASON YET Colder weather might signal a slow season for some professions and trades, but not for artists. Right now is our busy season. Let’s do what we can to make the best of it. Here are five supreme guidelines to follow for making your busy season the best few months of the year in your art business. 1. Focus on one special thing that you offer during this time I know as a creative, you probably have all types of different paintings, ideas, sales and schemes in mind. If you’re like me, you’re already plotting your new year’s resolutions. But right now the name of…
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Compiling a body of work and repurposing content
NEW LIFE FOR OLD WORK Today we’re gonna talk about accumulating artwork into an official body of work and repurposing content to market this work. Making art is what being an artist is all about — obviously. But what you create isn’t always equal in quality, and it can serve different purposes. Some art is fit for your “body of work.” Others fit better into “promotional content” or scrap content. It gets deeper. Let’s dive in. Preparing to compile a body of work A lot of artists have a vague goal of building up a large body or collection of works. A body of work can define you as an artist,…
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I love painting custom artwork — here’s why it’s the best
UNIQUE ART FOR UNIQUE FOLKS I love painting commissions — portraits, homes, meaningful places, plants — because custom artwork is always so much more personal. When I paint illustrations just for me, they’re super personal to me and hopefully others can connect to it on a deeper level. But when I make custom artwork for a client to be specific for them, it’s guaranteed to be a meaningful piece of art that they’ll cherish. Painting commissions wasn’t always fun for me. A few years ago I vented about these growing pains here. I used to find them stressful because I had a hard time managing deadlines and adding more work…
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8 Mistakes you might be making as an artist
Everyone makes mistakes. But not everyone corrects themselves. Being a working artist comes with challenges, and you’ll have a few of your own to overcome. It’s all good as long as you bounce back! Be sure to set yourself straight after realizing you may be doing one of these 8 things: 1. Not embracing artistpreneurship In other words, if you’re learning how to sell art then you need to learn the art of sales. An artist who makes money from their art is an entrepreneur and a business owner! Embrace the world of sales, systems, legal setup, website tech, and the business of setting up shop. Ignoring these things can…
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Michigan Parks and Places: print series with a cause
I’ve decided to start an illustration series called Michigan Parks and Places! It’ll feature outdoor destinations in my home state that are fascinating beyond measure. I plan to make prints of each piece and send 20% of sales to the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan to help protect our wild places! I hope this series will encourage people to get outside and take care of our home — the earth — right where we are. WILDERNESS: A LOVE STORY I’ve always had an acute love for the outdoors. My family owns a piece of property up north that’s entirely forest and marshland. We visit often, so many of my…
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What is a skills gap in art?
GOING THE DISTANCE IN ART Ever heard of a “skills gap?” A skills gap is the distance between the art you actually make and your taste in art. It’s mostly psychological, and can be the reason why artists are stereotyped as being the harshest critics of their own work. When you loooove hyperrealism and want to make artwork that looks ultra detailed, but you can only manage to draw basic outlines of a person and a few wrinkles around their eyes, you may be disappointed with your work. It doesn’t look how you want it to. Not because you don’t have the vision, the taste, the style — but because…
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Art style and what it can do for your creative business
I talk a lot about art style because I think it’s the most important thing for an artist who wants to sell their art. Creating my art style meant honing in on qualities I loved in my paintings, and when I perfected my style, I fell in love with art all over again. What is an art style? Your style is made of choices you make consistently in your artwork. Line and shape, color palette, subject matter, composition, and texture all play a role. If you paint with thick outlines consistently in your work, that’s part of your style. If you never use the color gray, that’s part of your…
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Offensive comments about your art + how to handle them
As an artist who shares or sells your artwork, you hear a lot of feedback. Most of the time, the comments you’ll receive are appreciative and uplifting. Sometimes though, the comments are offensive — even if that person means well. In this blog post we’ll talk about a few common offensive comments about your artwork and how to handle them. I also have a video where I cover these same comments. If you’re a video person instead of a reader, feel free to watch it here 🙂 “Anyone could do that.” This comment is offensive because it undermines your skill as an artist. If you have a simplistic style, do…
