How to Become a Full-time Artist

How to start your artist career/balancing working full time and being an artist.

Transitioning from your day job to being an artist full time can be like stepping off a ledge blindfolded. I'm going to talk to you about how I did it, the thought process I went through, and the tough questions I had to ask myself before I decided to pursue art as my career path. I began selling my pencil drawings when I was around 17 years old for pocket money. I was doing black and white drawings of friends kids and pets at first, and then as I got better, they started telling their friends and their friends told their friends, and so on. So let's say, I knew from early on that if I got really really good at it, I would be able to do something more serious with my ability. So before I could even start to think about earning a living with my art, I had to ask myself some really tough questions: am I actually really good at this? do I have what it takes, in both talent and discipline, to make a lifetime career out of it or should I keep it as a side job? How much am I willing to sacrifice in order to make this a reality? I did not truly discover the answers to these questions until I was in my mid-20s after I had been through uni and had experience in full-time work. All the while, throughout the years of not knowing myself, and what it took to be a full-time artist, I kept doing commissions, and as I got better, people talked and shared. Word spread, slowly, but it spread.

I need to mention here that when I was just starting out, it was easy to look at another artist's career, see what they were doing, and want to copy their work. Let me say this before I say anything else, I knew very early on that if something was working for another artist, it didn’t mean it was going to work for me. It meant It’s been done. Learn from it but don’t copy it. I never copied the work of artists I admired because I never wanted my work to be associated with theirs. For example, David Yarrow's animal portraiture - his wildlife photographs are so stunning its hard not to want to paint them, however, he is so well known, that if I painted one of his photos people would look at one of my paintings and say, “Oh that’s a David Yarrow”. I see so many artists trying to be recognized in the art world by copying the art of the artists they love… but the problem is, they are setting themselves up as copyists, not originals. Copying an artwork for practice is totally fine, but copying and promoting another artist's painting as your own is detrimental to your long-term career. I don’t need to copy a Robert Bateman to prove to myself or anyone else that I could be as good as him. And I knew this right from the start. 

If I wanted to make a long-term career as an artist, I was going to have to find my own voice, my own vision, and my own style. I knew this didn’t have to happen right away, that it would be an ongoing process for years, but I knew I didn’t want to waste my time being a copyist. I wanted to be an original right from the start. 

I also knew that word of mouth was the most powerful marketing tool an artist could have. And people talk when they are either super impressed or deeply disappointed. I always made it my priority to make sure my clients were 100% happy with their artwork. I never allowed myself to shortcut anything and created the best quality art I knew how to. My knowledge was significantly limited during the early years, and I knew that. So I was always pursuing the things I didn’t know. If I had a question, I jumped online and did the research. I never waited for anyone to tell me something because I didn’t want the excuse “I didn’t know” or “but you never told me” to limit my potential. There is so much information at our fingertips these days, that ignorance is no longer bliss, it's just simply unprofessional and annoying, and waiting for someone to answer your questions just isn’t good enough.

In 2014, when I was 23 and dropped out of uni, I moved to Australia from New Zealand because I viewed that move as something that would open up my possibilities. Bigger country, bigger market. I rented with some housemates, worked full time as a legal secretary, and then weekends as a framer for a couple of years, while doing commissions at night… during that time I did all the research I could on how to set up a small business, and started the process on making my earning from commissions legit. I followed instructions on tax law for small businesses and did bookkeeping to the best of my ability. Juggling full-time work while starting a career in art meant I needed to be willing to sacrifice certain things in my life, for example, I didn’t socialize or party much (if at all)… I became very strict about my budgeting and didn’t spend my money on things that were not essential. Time became a currency for me to spend wisely, being careful to make sure I didn’t burn out while making sure I was doing what I could to slowly make progress as a startup. At 25 I moved states with my now husband who was in the army at the time. I was having trouble finding part-time work in the new location, so took the risk and decided to paint full-time, focusing on originals. 

This was the real risk for me as these were artworks that didn’t guarantee a sale, and needless to say, it was a disaster. I went months without a sale and ended up starting a part-time job when my bank account reached $0.80. It was also at that time when I sold my first original painting, the brown bear for $3,000. This first sale of an original painting happened almost 3 years after I made my decision to pursue a career in art. I had an Etsy store where I sold limited editions of these originals and had a very small, and slow social media presence. The slow sales of originals meant that I still needed to maintain my commissions.

2017 came along, with a part-time job at an art store, along with my part-time art career. I started to notice that sales were coming in a lot easier, and the number of originals vs commissions were increasing, meaning I had a lot more satisfaction in the work I was doing. And This was all done through social media marketing. 2018 is when I FINALLY  discovered my painting process!… this was now 4 years in… after years of experimenting and trial and error, I had finally found my way of painting that allowed me to be both efficient in the time it took, and stunning in results. I dropped down the days I worked at my part-time job to 1.5 days. And quit my part-time job altogether in 2019. 

Now, at the end of 2020, after almost 2 full years of being full-time… I can say I am glad I took the time and allowed myself to move away from a secure day job slowly, only when 

I felt my art was at a point where it could carry itself. This is not going to be the way for everyone. I have heard many success stories where an artist had enough financial support in place to be able to quit their full-time job in one go and focus entirely on their art. This was not my situation… I needed to pay off a student loan, and pay bills alongside supporting my ambition, which didn’t always guarantee a weekly income. So I was both risk-averse and followed my gut. This slow transition allowed me to experiment with different business ideas, and see what worked for my style of art and what didn’t. There are so many different avenues an artist can take with their work, to think you have only one way forward is to put yourself in a box. So that’s my story. I hope that has helped someone out there, either showing you what to do, or what not to do. If you have any questions or would like to share your experience, please write them in the comments below. Because as always, I look forward to hearing from you.