How do you make money from your art?

Question

Design

How do you make money from your art?

Answer 1

I make good money from my work. Just what I do, I do well. And I always try to do it so well that I would not be ashamed, first of all, in front of myself. And if you do something with this approach, then the result in itself is good.
Below I will give a few "tactics" that are related.
one.
I believe that in order to achieve high quality in your work, you need to do only what you like. But not in such a way that the client asked you to make such and such a site, and you make another one, the way you like it best. No, the point is to start making chairs if you like it and if you enjoy it. Or woodcarving, or modeling, or logistics. Doesn't matter. And drop this design if you feel it's not for you. And over time, you will achieve success in your business. All of the above can be summarized in one ancient phrase of Confucius: "Do what you like and you will never have to work again in your life."
And I try to follow this principle because it works. Often I tell people that I don't work at all. I just do my hobby, for which I am also paid.
If you are doing what you like, keep going and the quality of your work will grow over time. The reason is that when a person does what he likes, he is ready to do it both on weekends and at night. Time and place are completely irrelevant. After all, you get satisfaction from work and you do it more and more. If there are no orders, then you are doing something for yourself (for the portfolio). By working constantly and a lot, you gain experience and the quality grows.
In general, it all works, I checked it for myself over the years.
2.
You also need to be self-critical. Sometimes it is unpleasant, but without it nothing will come of it. This point is closely related to the third. The bottom line is that even if you are doing something that you really like, it will not be useful in practice if the quality of your work is poor and does not improve. Because the result is of no use to anyone.
Every time you once again finished some work or stage, take a nap. And the next morning, find similar projects on the Internet with undeniably high quality workmanship, put them next to your work and compare. It will be sad. But you will know exactly what to fix, where to move and what weaknesses to develop. Many people are either too lazy to do this, or they are afraid to admit their mistakes. Relax - perhaps no one but you will see your mistakes. And it's important to be honest with yourself. Because otherwise you are deceiving yourself.
Where to look for "inspiration"? Where can I find high-quality projects that you can't doubt the quality of?
I may be banal, but on the site behance.netthere are plenty to choose from. Just use the search and filters and look for what you need. If you're not sure how to distinguish really high-quality work from low-level work, then filter by "Exhibited" or "Top Graded".

And another example. Let's say you're a self-critical wedding cameraman who wants to improve his skills. Whose work do you compare your wedding films to? Forget about that "cool" Vasya Pupkin from the site Video-Svadby.ru, who is in first place in their rating and for whom everyone prays. Compare your work with the work of, say, Oscar-winning directors and cinematographers from Hollywood. You can also look for just good "candidates" with awards like the Cannes Lions or the Palms. Offhand, I can name the Tool company with their directors:toolofna.com/#!/directors/live-action
Of course, you may never become the second Cameron, but by putting your work next to him, you will definitely see your mistakes and see what to improve. And this will give a much better result than comparing yourself with Vasya Pupkin. If you want to develop, then you cannot be a king in your own swamp.
The second way to look at your work critically is to find some authoritative person with a high professional level and ask you to straighten your brains without any hypocrisy. This will also be annoying. People really don't like being told the bitter truth about their work and pointing out their mistakes. But without it, you won't get better.
It can be difficult to find the right person or keep in constant touch with them. Moreover, all professionals are usually very busy.
There was once a site deforum.ru - a forum for designers. He is actually still online, but has been dying for a long time and there is no activity. So here is their slogan: "Runet's carrot and stick." At one time (about 8 years ago) I often read it and posted my work and constantly “got it in the brain”. The bottom line is that the audience there was such that they did not stand on ceremony. They poured shit on my work, but at the same time, there was always constructive criticism. And if (rarely) really good works slipped through, then they talked about it that way. This forum trained me and it is one of the reasons why I became what I became.
3.
When I studied at the University of Economics, one teacher told us a phrase that I remember very much: “If you want to earn money, first satisfy the needs of others.” This was shown in the context of a discussion of the First Law of Economics.
If you want to be paid money, do something useful and necessary. If as a result of your creativity something useful is obtained, then people will definitely come to you and pay.
If you do retouching or collages at a very high level, then this will be visible immediately and customers will come to you themselves. And this applies not only to art and design.
To have orders, it is not necessary to be a guru and stand out from a bunch of other specialists. You just need to do your job well so that it is enough to achieve the goal of your customer. Reach your customer's goal and he'll pay and keep coming.
If you are sure that you are doing useful and high-quality things, then perhaps you have not found your target audience? If you paint great Jackson Pollock-style paintings and wonder why they are not being bought in your provincial town in Western Ukraine, then you should take a sober look at the situation: no one there wants your paintings, no matter how masterpieces they are. Try selling them to interior designers and architects in Paris. The mentality of your potential customers, their way of life, age, history of their country, ability to pay, culture - all this matters, everything must be taken into account.
And there is no need to hide behind the "distant" abroad. Everything is close to the internet. And you can make your own website for free without any special technical knowledge. You just need to want.

Answer 2

"An artist must be hungry"

Answer 3

Hourly, silently, to the music.