Artists have a funny relationship with selling their art. There’s this notion that if you sell art, you’re a sell-out. It somehow violates the integrity of the artist and his/her art. Therefore, art shouldn’t be sold.
Yet we have a deep creative drive. And we need to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. As a result, many of us artistic people end up in “creative” careers as designers, copywriters, hairdressers, backup musicians, commercial photographers, and the like, all for a “stable” income, disappointed because it isn’t the “true” art we want to make.
First, this approach is not as stable as many would like to believe. How many freelance illustrators/designers/musicians/photographers do you know who are scrambling for gigs?
Secondly, if it puts food on your table, be thankful. There are times it is necessary to do things you don’t necessarily enjoy so you can pay your rent. Doing “cute” graphic design work isn’t really what I like doing, and I’m not that great at it, either since my strength lies in corporate marketing design. But I have done it before and will do it again if I have to.
The “sell-out” thinking is misinformed.
Selling art is perfectly valid, since there are people who want what you make and are willing to give you money for it. The customer wins because it is something they want. You win because you get paid to do what you love. You’re only a sellout if you put your name on what you hate doing just for a buck. That’s when you’ve lost your integrity. If you’re an animal rights activist working on ad campaigns for hunting rifles, then you’ve got a problem.Now, if you’re only making art for your own enjoyment, that’s fine. You shouldn’t feel pressured to sell it. At the same time, if your art never gets shared, what purpose does it serve? Art is meant to be shared. It’s kind of a twist on the old “if a tree falls” question: if I make art but never share it with anybody, did I really make it?
For me, the question isn’t so much about selling my art as it is about finding the people who will buy it. Which really makes it a question about finding who I can share it with. Where is my audience? To use a buzzword popularized by Seth Godin, where is my “tribe?” So ultimately it becomes a marketing issue.
How do I find those people and connect with them, thus supplying them with the art they want in exchange for the money I need to feed my family?
I don’t have the answer right now, but I’m working on it.
