If You Want to Make Art for a Living, Understand These Two Things
You’ll save yourself a lot of pain when you have the right mindset
Making a sustainable living as an artist is harder than, say, earning money as a doctor, programmer, or marketer. I’m not saying the job itself is harder — it’s just more difficult to monetize the practice of making art.
Why? Because the metrics that define what makes money in art are highly subjective.
There is subjectivity in other professions too, of course, but it’s not as pronounced as in art-making.
For example, Ernest Hemingway and Franz Kafka were both talented writers who produced great literary works. But only Hemingway received recognition and income from his writing while alive.
Many talented artists don’t become famous or successful. That’s because if you don’t create art that resonates with people’s tastes during your lifetime, people won’t pay for it.
And even if you try to create art that resonates with your target audience, there’s little guarantee it will do well in the long run.
Think about all those knock-off “50 Shades of Grey”-type books that proliferated when E.L. James became a bestseller. Or the people who suddenly tried making NFT art after the…
