Art Career Education

How To Continue Developing Your Career as An Artist

© by Carl (CAKUart); all rights reserved
 

One important factor to consider when it comes to developing your art career education is simply knowing what you actually want to achieve.

Your career as an artist is primarily governed by where you actually want to go. It's great that you want be an inspiring artist. But what is ultimately fuelling your creative engine room? What is it that will help you stay on track as an artist?

Perhaps consider asking yourself:

• Who do you want to inspire
• How do you want to inspire people
• Why do you want to inspire them
• What motivates you as an artist

The first stage of your art career education is creating a vision that will fuel your journey. Developing your own vision helps to stop referencing everything you do with the work of other artists and gives you a real sense of creative independence.

Art Career Education – "The Power Of Discipline"

I firmly believe as part of your education in becoming a good artist, you must appreciate the importance of discipline. 

In fact, educating myself on the principals of discipline has given me a lot of clarity in terms of how much time I wasted in the past, and how unproductive I was as result.  

While it may not have been a good thing to come to terms with, it was good that I did wake up to it. 

But I am by no means confirming that I have mastered the act of being disciplined in everything I do.

Everyday for me requires effort and commitment. Sometimes self-motivation for me is like trying to move a palette of bricks with a sack truck trolley – it's difficult and perhaps seemingly impossible (wink).

I don't always get it right, but I make sure I am constantly aware of the importance of working towards the discipline required for me to achieve what I am aiming for.

I think it is a good habit for artists to develop their mindset through personal development books and audio. I am not sure if it is a good idea to become completely reliant on them though. 

The reason for this is a lot of us are prone to analysis paralysis. The idea is to take what you learn and put it into action. Ideally we want avoid study for the pure purpose of "reassurance" or "intellectual entertainment". The goal is to use the information to produce positive results.

Knowing What You Need To Know…

One of the biggest frustrations of developing your art career education is simply not being aware of what it is you need to know.

In addition to the on going development required by an artist to master his or her specific media, skills are also needed to develop a marketing education.

I struggled with the whole marketing concept. Marketing for me was something somebody else was going to take care of because I didn't know anything about it and besides… I was too busy as it was producing art.

But as soon as that art began to pile up I clicked, "Oh, I had better find out how I am going to get this stuff out of my studio".

The answer was of course… marketing.

I personally think that in this day and age each and every artist has to develop his or her skills in self-promotion. Marketing is not somebody else's responsibility as I once hoped it would be. It is our personal responsibility.

But that doesn’t mean it has to be a chore. Marketing can actually be a lot of fun. But it is more effective if you have a plan rather than just trying anything and everything.

Mastering Your Craft

I think an artist never really stops learning. Your art career education will always be ongoing. After all, being artist is predominantly about growth, experiencing new concepts, thoughts and feelings, and it is about developing your craft.

So don't be prepared for the biggest education of all... mastering your craft.

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