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Neediness
Art must be created to give, not to get.
If you expect to live off your art before you have a large enough fan base, it is possible you might be expecting too much. It’s quite important, therefore, before embarking on a journey of art marketing, that you arrange your life situation so that you are not in a position of needing to sell art because you need the money. If you need the money in the short term, your situation will force you into a mindset of getting rather than giving.
Once you are in a position of needing your art to sell, unless you happen to be extremely mentally disciplined, your financial need may lead you to do things for short term gain because you will fall prey to bad marketing advice that is outdated or simply wrong. As we’ve discussed, this happens because most internet marketers don’t actually know how to market art.
Marketing art is a long term endeavor. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Engaging in wrong, outdated, or questionable short-term tactics will work poorly. Internet consumers have become quite sophisticated and can see through obvious tactics to “drive traffic” or “grow an email list.” Everyone’s finely calibrated bullshit detector alerts when encountering these off-putting tactics.
If you are needy, or if you’re desperate for attention, we can all feel it. It will be slightly repellant to those who encounter your work. It will feel wrong.
As I mentioned, today’s internet consumer is sophisticated and it’s obvious to almost all of us when you are trying to hijack our attention because you simply need it to work quickly. Or, alternatively, if you engage in such tactics because you have developed such an inflated ego that you must have attention to validate yourself (hello Instagram “influencers”), we will similarly feel something is “off.” No matter how handsome or pretty you are, posing with your painting in skimpy outfits or dancing like a clown is absolutely not the way to market your divine gift.
While these cheap tactics may not always be apparent to us consciously, we will recognize them unconsciously and our guard will be up when dealing with you because the energy just won’t feel right. And that will destroy your efforts.
That all sounds like bad news, but it’s not.
When you are secure in your art, and you aren’t desperate, we can all feel that vibe as well. And that vibe feels good. It makes us trust you. It makes your art seem more desirable and valuable. It makes us feel that you know what you’re doing. And ironically, the more you project confidence, and a sort of laissez faire attitude about your traffic and online attention, the more people will be attracted to you.
In other words, to get the thing you want, you have to not actually care if you get it. Again, we’re back to the comparison to a Zen-like attitude: you can’t find the enlightenment you already have as long as you chase it.
In any case, having an open, confident, and abundance-mentality vibe will go a long way in your marketing efforts. You have to be in the market but not of the market. Otherwise you will chase every marketing tactic you hear about, or worse, paint for what you think the market wants, and, in doing so, you will destroy the very thing that drew you to art in the first place.
If you’ve captured the feeling and energy that inspired you to create an artwork, and you are happy with the finished piece, then the work is a success, period.
It may not be a commercial success, but the final sale (or lack thereof) is not what determines the success or failure of a work of art. In fact, the market is often a poor judge of the merit of a work of art. What is popular is not the same as what is good.
For the work to be a commercial success, a plethora of puzzle pieces, beyond the greatness of the work itself, must align, many of which are beyond of your control.
I say this not to discourage you, but to prepare you: You must fortify your mental defenses so that you do not get discouraged when a piece of art doesn’t sell. This is a major reason that it is so important to not be in a state of neediness.
Even if you achieved everything you wanted with a given piece, or body, of artwork, it may not sell, at least not in the short term.
Practically, avoiding this state of neediness might involve setting aside a chunk of savings before embarking art full-time. Or it might require keeping a day job to support your art, at least for a while. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I ran FASO on the side for nearly five years before leaving my day job and pursuing it full-time.
And, as I now embark on a new chapter of writing, I’m not abandoning FASO, I’m doing my creative writing on the side. I need to be able to do my writing for me, for the love of it, to explore creative directions, to learn and improve, to master my craft, and to naturally attract the right kind of people - readers, supporters, and like-minded colleagues - into my orbit.
That all takes time. And I need to be free to do all of that while remaining unconcerned with having to “monetize” anything. That attitude is the same attitude you will need to develop with your art, at least until you’ve achieved certain milestones. And if you are unable to adopt a mindset that allows you to maintain this mental firewall between making and marketing, then you may need to consider having someone else, such as a spouse, agent or gallery, do your marketing for you.
Sum ergo creo.
Creatively,
Clint Watson
BoldBrush Founder
Creativity Fanatic
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So well stated, Clint, and glad you said it.
Thank you, Clint! Every now and again, because MY art journey is ‘new,’ I have to remind myself exactly what you said in the article and to hear it come from a person of experience helps solidify that mindset within me.