Your dream of becoming a famous artist may seem impossible, but it doesn't have to be: child prodigy John Everett Millais was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' society and won a silver medal from the Society of Arts at age nine. Pablo Picasso, who pioneered cubism, was also seen as a child prodigy. Even today there are still child prodigies, such as Akiane Kramarik. If you have the gift too, you may be remembered forever.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Teaching skills
Step 1. Practice a lot
Being called by the muse is wonderful, of course, but without the technical skills to portray your vision, you won't get very far. Whatever medium you have chosen, make sure you become an expert in every area.
- Do nothing but practice your technique for at least an hour a day.
- Focus on the areas you are worst at, but also build on your good sides.
- Take advantage of the resources you can find. Art supply manufacturers and stores often have free literature, courses, videos, and websites filled with tips, techniques, and more.
- Some shops offer seminars, where you can not only work on your technique, but also meet other artists.
Step 2. Work on the things you love
Choose one subject that means a lot to you and that you would like to portray.
- Start with a still life of one of your own photos or a photo you have permission to use. Draw or paint the same object over and over, in different approaches - paint, pencil, abstract, realistic - whatever you want.
- Build it up slowly, starting with an easy object like a rubber ball or rectangular block and moving on to something more complicated like a rose or a glass or metal bowl. Try to get the details right: the clarity of the glass, reflections so beautiful that Escher would be impressed! Each attempt will further sharpen your skill.
- Practice quick sketching. Pick a subject, set the alarm for two or three minutes, start drawing and stop when the alarm goes off, even if you're not ready yet.
- Reset the alarm and start over. Doing ten three-minute drawings makes more progress than working on one drawing for half an hour.
Step 3. Vary your tools
Start with a pencil, switch to charcoal, colored pencils, pastels, paint, whatever interests you at the time. Don't be afraid to try new materials and techniques.
- Before you buy an expensive new material, you can check if they have samples in the store. Or email the manufacturer, they often make samples of their products so artists can test that expensive canvas before purchasing it.
- This gives you the chance to try it out to see if you like the material. Try more than one brand - they often differ in color and that way you can find out which brand you want to invest in.
Step 4. Ask for criticism from family and friends
Make it clear that you want a "real" opinion from them, not the biased "I love you and I think everything you do is beautiful." If they really like what you're doing, you might be on the right track! If not, you're still on the right track: If several people think your technique is great, but your subject choice is poor, you may want to take a look at yourself and learn from the critique.
Don't confuse criticism with personal criticism, especially if the criticism comes from someone who doesn't want you to become a celebrated artist
Step 5. Look outside your circle of friends for opinions
Ask for criticism from people who draw better than you. Become a Facebook friend of artists whose work you admire. Give compliments and ask intelligent questions about techniques used. You will find that many artists enjoy helping beginners and sharing what they have learned themselves.
Help budding artists if you're already further along. Explaining and demonstrating your knowledge is very educational for yourself. It is very common for teachers to learn from their students
Step 6. Learn how to take compliments elegantly
If friends and relatives love everything you make, or if your mom has been sticking your drawings on the fridge door since you were two (and believes you'll be a second Picasso someday), just relax and enjoy the support.
- The better you get, the easier it is for people to compliment you and call you talented.
- Compliments can also be disguised reviews, and they are very valuable! When an artist you admire says something about your work like, "I really like the use of color in this work," it means they're not only nice enough to compliment you, but they've also taken the time. to understand and appreciate your choices.
Step 7. Develop a personal style
Do this by teaching your favorite subjects to draw and paint in the ways your favorite painters have done. The more you learn about technique and the more you understand your own passion, the more your own style will develop.
- A personal style is a combination of learning how to draw and paint in your favorite medium while consistently focusing on your favorite subjects.
- When you reach a certain level you become a specialist in a certain area. Mastering a subject and medium comes later, at the point where you do it without thinking and while still making high-quality work.
Step 8. Be productive
To get your work in a gallery, you need to have a portfolio of maybe a dozen of your best works, and they all need to have something in common, the subject or style, sizing or level.
Make your work available in as many formats as possible, making it easy for interested gallery owners or patrons to find your work
Method 2 of 2: Position yourself in the market
Step 1. Publish your work
The best way to become famous is to get famous! The internet offers many opportunities to be seen and to promote your art. In today's information society, it's important to use everything you have at your disposal to build your reputation.
- Blog about your work daily, add illustrations to show the work process and show your finished work for possible sale.
- Visit all the galleries in your area and get to know the owners. When you're old enough, you go to as many openings as possible, not to promote your art - there will be plenty of time for that later - but to become a well-known artist in your community.
- Create a Facebook page for your art and encourage people to visit and like your page. Get in touch with other artists. Like visiting galleries, this will help you become known within a certain scene, and with Facebook you can reach audiences far beyond your community.
- Tweet regularly about art. Your own art, old masters, Pop Art, whatever art. The more you know about art, the more you will be recognized as someone to be reckoned with. At the same time, follow other artists and galleries and reply to their tweets. This will encourage more people to follow you, including gallery owners.
- Create a Flickr account and put your scanned or photographed work on it. Flickr is an active community, you won't get a lot of criticism that will help you, but you can build your fame and maybe befriend talented artists.
Step 2. Join an artist society and enter competitions
Start with student-level competitions and small local competitions.
- Give workshops. This will give you fame as an artist and you will be recognized as an expert in a particular field.
- Build your skills to compete in important national and international competitions.
- Participate in art shows. Getting your work in an art show with a jury is in itself an achievement to put on your resume. If you've competed in a lot, shorten your resume by listing only the most important shows.
Step 3. Find a reliable agent
Read about artist agencies and get in touch with their other clients. Find out if they're happy with their agent or dissatisfied, and if they feel like they're being cheated. Agents market you and your art and they represent you in contract negotiations. Make sure they have good contacts and are good with contracts.
Try to work with a reputable attorney who specializes in art. While an agent may know a little about the law, their job is to advertise. The sole duty of a lawyer is to be aware of the law
Step 4. Paint what you care about
If you don't care about your subject, you can see it in your work. Many artists fall in love with their subject, whether it be a fruit bowl or a model.
- If you like to portray anger and dark emotions, you can study dark painters. If you like abstract work, then study abstract work. Each style uses its own technique, it didn't come about because someone accidentally threw some paint on a canvas and then called it art.
- If you like the outdoors, buy a small portable painting kit and paint outside in your favorite places.
- Whatever your passion is, try to find a way to get that passion on the canvas.
Step 5. Keep growing as an artist
Being a true artist is a life's work. Even if you are famous and have more than enough money, there is still plenty to strive for.
- Always focus on the future, keep evolving, never think your best years are behind you.
- Never throw away old work. As your style changes, your older work becomes more valuable. Collectors will become interested in everything you have made in your life, even your children's drawings can be worth a lot.
Tips
- Be sure you want to be famous. Being famous isn't always fun, so decide how famous you want to be in the long run. A successful local artist can make a good living without being world famous, and it's still a good job. Being the best artist in your school is also being famous; fame is simply appreciation for your work from people you don't know. How much fame makes you happy is a choice you make in your life.
- Think about your privacy as you gain a certain amount of celebrity. Your fans are interested in your work and some aspects of your life. You must be willing to be able to talk about why you love painting and why you paint what you paint. In a biography you only have to mention the existence of family and your place of birth, you do not have to say what you eat for breakfast or what brand of toilet paper you use. As a famous artist you don't have to join the fast-paced world of celebrities - many famous artists live in isolation and it is only their work that comes out, along with some interviews. They are more likely to associate with family, other artists, and people they share their hobbies with.
- Enjoy art. As you learn to paint and draw better, you will observe the world around you more precisely. You can find beauty in the most unlikely places: the light falling on a piece of broken glass on a sidewalk, the curl of a leaf of some weeds, everything can become beautiful with the trained eye of an artist.
- The more you learn to appreciate beauty and find pleasure in art, the richer your life will become, in all aspects. You become more and more aware of the good things in life: the taste of wine, the aftertaste of a delicious meal or the nice feeling of exhaustion after wandering the polder all day to paint some fog for 15 minutes - that journey is its own reward.
- As you learn to enjoy the art of your favorite artists, you will eventually understand that what you create does the same for your audience. You find treasures in this world that no one else sees and you convert them into images, even a blob of paint on your abstract work can make the viewer understand and express his feelings better.
- See your development as real and valuable work that you have to study for just as long as you would study medicine or law. It's not just raw talent: developing yourself as an artist takes time. Children have an advantage because they pick up things quickly, if they learn something while their brains are still developing they learn faster than adults. But adults really don't learn it any less deeply.
- Assume that learning to paint or draw will help you grow as a person. You are literally using parts of your brain that other people don't. And it works just like any other muscle, your brain functions are constantly improving and changing. You may become more intuitive and creative in other areas. You may become more expressive or visually oriented. You are more aware of colors and that sense of color will influence your choice of clothing and people will think you look better. Most changes are positive.
Warnings
- Never pay an agent in advance. If they don't get you work they don't deserve to be paid. If they do ask, you should ask yourself if they can be trusted. Do a background check, if the person in question makes it all look too good and paints you as the next Picasso it's probably too good to be true. Then leave him or her.
- One of the worst ways fame can destroy your life is if you give in to the stereotype of the alcoholic and drug-addicted artist.
- Personal change can be scary at times. If you feel intimidated by powerful feelings and insecurities, you can use painting to face the fear and get over it.
- Believe in your own abilities. Your social identity will change from how you used to think about yourself to seeing yourself as an artist. Some people will think this is stupid and reject you. They will call you a narcissist, insult your work and say it is not real art, they will say you are fake and lazy and they will definitely tell you to go back to being who they think you are.
- Relationships can suffer from your artistry, your partner can become jealous of the attention and time you spend on your art. Maybe you can fix this, maybe you can't. Try to be patient with your partner, but if it doesn't work, try to find someone else who doesn't mind you being an artist.