Least favorite aspect of being an artist?
Curious about the less rosy reality..
Posted in General (edited)
31
General
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The forward facing things… dealing with people, marketing, feeling like i’m competing with others. The usual fun stuff for serious introverts, ha.
18
I have the same issue. I'm introvert and not too good at talking to people in person.
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I know that feeling. I struggle with this often myself, but I figure the more I join a fun meetup event it helps me come out of my shell a bit at a time.
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really true, i'm an introvert myself, talking to people is very hard and especially dealing with people
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I know this feeling, but ArtHelper is gradually helping me overcome that desolate feeling.
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Yes I have so many self-doubts everybody else says oh it's good and then you look at other people's paintings and the techniques they use and how real it looks but artists are not the same at all. So everyone's art is unique and beautifully theirs. But yes, definitely the self-doubt agreed!
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Translated from Español
As long as you like it, that's enough; the others will have an opinion one way or the other, and they probably won't buy, so they don't have much right to comment either..
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It's a very hard life. Someone once joked that the secret behind every successful artist is a spouse with a good job and health care insurance.
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OR a spouse that's a much better marketer and people person! But that one needs time to help out.
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Translated from Deutsch
Alternative: One has a good pension and can afford the artist's life 😎
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Creating is the easy part. The social, marketing and sales… those are the struggle and the struggle is real. Maybe it’s because I’m introverted or just spend too much time inside my own head. I genuinely care about people and want to connect with them, but damn it wares me out.
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@Bobby Elam I'm the same way. Not only that but the time I have to spend taking pictures, editing (which I rarely do), typing the description, thinking about a title, etc. Just thinking about it, I'm already tired.
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I can understand that feeling as well. Sometimes it feels that no matter how much work I do there's a ton that still needs to be done.
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I’m the exact same way. I’m shy so interacting with people can really wear me out. I don’t mind it as much at an art fair or something, but when I have to do marketing over the internet… I am like a deer in the headlights because I don’t know what I’m doing!
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Sell my art mostly to friends and family, nothing on line. Having to spend a lot of money for exhibitions in a gallery and don't get even back my investment.
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Can’t even imagine how much I have spent on shows and fairs over my long career in art.
Beginning in 1972 Greenwich Village, NY.
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Sell my art! I’ve never been good at that.
When I used to sell my art at Renaissance Festivals, and I would leave the booth for whatever reason, my wife would always sell two or three pieces when I was gone. Outside of the ‘sales’ part, I love every aspect of being an artist. I’ve been doing art since I was 6 years old.
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Hmmm, which one lol. I believe it is the constant thoughts of will collectors like this? Will other artists like this? Is it trendy? Is it not trendy? Will my style sell will it not sell should I do what I like and what is fun or something that others might like? All those questions constant questions and questions and questions all that have to do with INSECURITY!
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DITTO! ENTRY FEES are RIDICULOUS in pricing! You can only set up ONE tent 8'x8' space for $100 and if you need 2 tents to display ALL of your art works it is $200 for about 5 hours?! So in order to "Break EVEN" that is $20 sale per hour! I've NEVER made $20.per hour when I was in the workforce fields.!
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the more good art I created, the more I got disrespected by most people.
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I give them as thanks for services at places I frequent (restaurants, dental, marijuana, and medical offices, trade with contractors for home services, like electricians, pressure washers, etc, and bring one for the host of any party I attend. PS
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"I love your artwork... I'll be back soon (or tomorrow)." ... They hardly ever come back. Also. meeting someone, showing pictures, then trading phone numbers, they promise needing and wanting paintings...then they never respond to my texts. If they do not buy today, they are too busy tomorrow to respond or remember their promises. In other words, buyers are liars or just in temporary lust when looking at artwork, but not really in love. PS
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I produced some graphic work I felt would adapt to good commercial prints,Placed them for sale with reproduction rights included on a popular online auction site hoping someone might enjoy setting up a small sales business reproducing them specificly for coffee shops. I recieved offers for all three but in Crypto currency, A asked the potential buyer what the value interpreted to in UK pounds ,it was more than my asking price, SUSPICIOUS !. I googled the currency and the first line read "A currency frequently used in art fraud". Why on earth do crooks try and make money from some of the poorest people on the planet.
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I just love creating but the hard part is wondering what to do with the art once finished and wondering whether it is really good or am I just being told what others think I want to hear.
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I give them as thanks for services at places I frequent (restaurants, dental, marijuana, and medical offices, trade with contractors for home services, like electricians, pressure washers etc, and bring one for the host of any party I attend. PS
0
Dealing with the world outside the joy of creating. I don't deal with with selling myself or marketing either.
The dissing of my work, the endless scams tight now, the lack of recognition because of being self taught primarily and the very central Euripean thing of not having Papers, the occasion I experienced rank hostility and being told to remove my exhibition at some local venue, the endless disappointments. Making a sale, but only for peanuts because after all, I havn't got a Name. The infividusl who offered an exhibition at a modest venue but then picks an argument, accusing me of bypassing her, and fhen attacking me.
The time a Saatchi sale went south after having to get yet another paper from the government after the nightmare of bulding a crate. The buyer cancelled after it was already flown across the Atlantic. A tiny piece of clay falling off an artwork after the potential customer asked to see it in person. The website that bans a work of mine that made sales over some new rule over so-called misleading tags with no negotiation or warning. Never being the one to win a prize at various local competitions, so feeling that 45 years of endeavour there is not much to show for it but falling on stony ground yet agsin.
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That moment when i need to take a break to rest my muscle memory as i'm not seeing the same level of quality output - (dried up inspiration)
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I want to sell my stuff but have trouble parting with it especially the time and effort spent. My art doesn't bring in enough to justify parting with it sometimes.
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Absolutely hands-down MARKETING! And yes, my own inner-voice about whether my work is "good enough" to even bother doing the marketing. AND the fight NOT to compare with other artists work and also their marketing habits too. Egads... I know I am not alone as I read other's comments! We're mostly all in the same boat...
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I donot like marketing nor the social media needing constant attention.
Answering the routine question about how long it takes to paint a painting and that being an artist is not viewed as a profession which needs respect and adequate payment for your work
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The first is marketing. I spent many days learning how to market, downloading over 1000 room mockups, trying small classes for viral impact on Instagram and I’m so sick of doing it, I’m taking a break. Five sales in over a year and I know there are even some artists who haven’t made one sale all year. I am also a 35 year art festival participant and that certainly has its highs and lows— great show one weekend and then the next weekend $500 in the hole. It’s not easy being an artist, but I still love being one.
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Self-doubt, imposter syndrome, no one understands that this is work.
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Wanting to make a living from art, but absolutely hating marketing, selling, and social media. This platform and company help with some of that, but it's ultimately up to you how much desire and effort you put into "making it."
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My least favorite is trying to get my paintings seen, networking, and doing shows (I've only done one). I'm not good at marketing.
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@Jen Apelt, I struggle with networking. I don't do shows or festivals because I'm introvert and don't talk to people like that. To me it has to be online or if someone wants to see it in person, I'm ok with that but not to be sitting all day by a booth.
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Ok for me it’s marketing and the need to post on social media goes along with that. Time consuming no matter what form it takes!:
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Just wish to spend my time creating , which I do at least four hours a day, on weekdays. I also enjoy curating my or Group shows, love Talking about my work- but absolutely DO NOT LIKE all the Marketing side. Entering Open Calls, applying to galleries, etc. is not exactly my cup of tea. But well-itsall Part of the Game.
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Lack of space. While watercolour takes up less space for both the painted products and the materials, I am still running out of places to store paintings, paint etc. Without money for a studio, it feels like I am always struggling to find a place to work and a place to store things. I gave up on Marketing and trying to sell as it was a downer - if people like it great, if not i paint for myself now, for the joy of it only. But that means that my little house is full of boxed up paintings.
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The least favorite thing is hearing a few people voice how they could have done better, or other comment. Being rude is not necessary. If I am present and hearing this I usually tell them to go ahead and do so, with a smile, then continue by saying they need to be talented and brave to be able to pull it all together... still with a smile. Seriously people, let's stay kind.
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Creativity blocks. I go through extended periods of not creating because I just dont have the drive or inspiration.
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creating something you really like or love & sharing it with others & no response, No likes or love, Just nothing, Which makes me sometimes regret sharing it with others.
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Having to worry about money. I just want to create stories and draw things that touch people not have my biggest worry be if I have enough money to live.
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THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT BEING AN ARTIST?
You didn’t ask what the least favorite thing of being a businessman is so I will dispense with an answer to the question about marketing and all of the other minutia.
Let me say that one of the least favorite things is also one of the greatest things, and that is the ability to feel, when others do not, it is the ability to see something, that others ignore. It is the sensitivity that we develop that enables us to create such magical artworks, that also causes us to feel like we don’t belong when we bring all of that into the world. It is this damn pattern recognition that we develop to enable us to see structure in a painting, to see a proper composition, a harmony of colors and textures, that we also carry into the outside world. These things can cause us to feel different in a situation because we pick up on so many clues that the rest of the world can ignore.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way, being an artist is a blessing.
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I really love the process making the art, being able to let all creativity flow and see where it takes me. But I also like it when people can not live without your art on their wall in there homes.
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I absolutely love that too I dont have a business aspect of art yet but the love people give me about my art is bigger than mo ey if that makes sense xx̌
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Being a complete newbie to this field, I genuinely appreciate the support from ASF with marketing, 'how to's' on just about everything. That being said, I have yet to discover the feeling of a first sale. It's still very early days for me, so patience is needed. My gripe, if there is a real one, is that I am not finding the time during this establishment phase, of travelling widely and limitlessly, as I normally would! Collecting 1000s of photos as I go. I truly hope the work I'm investing in now, will allow me to return to my random roamings and seamlessly continue with turning images into art! Maybe I'm delusional. 🤪
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The need to sell. Creating for a cause is so much more rewarding than selling.
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I've made a study of cultural attitudes toward art, especially the motivation to build art into one's home, including how fine art is discussed, with assumptions about those who make and/or purchase it, and how we teach or don't teach the values of art and its appreciation to our children. I see the result in my own neighborhood, affluent homes with educated families, displaying chalkboard art, saccharine clicheés as stand-ins for the real thing, black and blood, digital screens filling spaces once priorities for real art. I have a perspective based on how I'm treated as an artist in contrast to the respect my professional life engendered. As for me, I'm far more proud of my life as an artist: it was harder to achieve, more intellectually challenging, requiring a more generous and open conversation, and far more personally satisfying. I do worry about the future of art and artists.
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Feeling like I have no talent when I see the work of others who's work I am impressed by. I try to turn that into inspiration to do better, but I do not always succed.
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The selling art were artists not shop keepers ....that's the hard part if only we could just say to someone you sel it and you keep ten percent they could get the most money and we could do the easy part ..the actual art.....im sure these people exist ....its just finding them .....
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I want to open a gallery for this very reason. I think a gallery should be approachable, raw, interesting, affordable. Somewhere people can walk in without feeling like they need an art degree. I want to represent unconventional creators—painters, tattoo artists, graffiti artists, sculptors, leather workers, headphone/audio designers, mixed-media artists—and handle the part many of them struggle with: presentation, storytelling, pricing, promotion, events, customer relationships and sales.
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Waiting to hear from a gallery that I have sent materials in for representation.
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When people don't get your your creativity and try to either get you to stop or wanna tell you what they would do instead and not in a like minded way but in a very inside the box way.. Also when loved ones or friends get embarrassed by your work.
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Absolutely the marketing! And for technologically impaired people like me, a website? Oh my……
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drawing, i hate drawing because i suck at it, but to make what i want i need to learn how to draw, so yeah
0
For me three things:
Sitting down for longer hours and feel backpain.
Forgetting my lunch when I paint
Marketing by mu idea and in person totally different.
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My least favorite part of being an artist is that I have to work a full time job and have very little to time work on my ideas and my head is full of them. I also don't like when I loose confidence and stop working on a piece.
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@ Taylor Sinople, MARKETING! I hate this part of being an artist. I don't make enough money to pay for someone else to do it, and it takes time away from creating for me to do it for myself. I also did not like the festival exposure, sitting in a chair all week waiting for people to come to my booth to smile and interact and have most of them leave without buying a thing. Entry Fees is another area of annoyance. I essentially wind up giving money for someone else to win the contest. Wish I had all my former entry fees back! OH, and don't hang in restaurants! You help decorate them with no sales and the work comes back smelling like French fries! OK, thanks for letting me vent for the day. Peace
You are spot on, Marcella!
Thanks for saying what a lot of us are feeling!
I totally agree with Taylor on all the subjects, however, item # 1 is the most annoyance as it totally takes away from my needed time of creating the artwork and I'm not computer knowledgeable, consequently that adds to the time delays of constantly having to learn new methods to produce the marketing to the best advantage.
dat herken ik
Absolutely marketing. That's the only thing that's stopping me. I'm starting to learn ways but also having the time. So now I'm making the time because I'm disabled now so I'm trying to put all I have into it. So we'll see what happens