I started my business five years ago and I realized I can’t believe it. So I decided it would be helpful if I can share with you my top 10 lessons I’ve learned in the last five years when it comes to my artwork and art business.

Watch this video to go deeper into those lessons!

1. It will take you longer than you think you will

I remember when I started my art business I thought it will just take me a year or two to sell my art and figure out my art style. But after five years I still struggle. It will take you longer than you think and it’s alright. You just have to keep pushing through and have patience with yourself. 

2. The importance of investing in yourself

It’s so important to invest in yourself and your art. This means investing in a good quality art supplies. Be okay with spending money on learning like taking online classes or going to art school (traditional or not). Be okay with not being a self-taught artist.

3. Learning the foundational art skills

I recently enrolled back into art school and I’m relearning the foundational art skills like shading, values, color mixing, etc. It’s good to learn and relearn the foundational art skills to help you on a correct path of your artist journey. 

4. Don’t work on your art skills and start an art business at the same time

I had the mistake of working on my art skills and starting my art business five years ago because I was trying to grow two different things at the same. Progress on both will be slow because your focus is split between two things. 

5. Importance of passive income

Passive income has been a game changer in my art business. Because of it, I was able to take two full months off when I had my baby and I still made money. My passive income streams are youtube, online classes I sell, and affiliate sales.

6. Having an email list is so important 

50% percent of my passive income sales come from my email list. I try not to sell too much on social media and used my email list instead because those who are on my email list are more serious about investing in my artwork and purchasing my classes. 

7. Try as many mediums as possible

I started out with oil painting then moved to watercolor and I feel like I really limited myself for years as I worked exclusively on watercolor for two full years. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with different kinds of mediums and it’s not fun but it also challenges my art skills and has been helpful in figuring out my voice as an artist.

8. Paint as much as you can

Your skills won’t improve as an artist if you don’t paint very much. Paint as much as you possibly can even if you feel uninspired. I think it’s really important as an artist to create art every day to improve our skills. 

9. Be okay with pivoting your art or your art business

Be okay with the change. Be okay with changing direction and trying new things and know that it’s alright. Your art style will continually change as you grow as an artist. 

10. Not devalue your art 

You don’t want to devalue your art by having your price so cheap, doing lots of sales, or discounting your art. When you price your art so cheap you attract people who don’t really value art too much. It’s okay to do a discount on your art once in a while.