Hello Selina,
I have been following your art online for quite a while. I first came across your artworks on deviantart and from there I found your homepage and blogs
I really enjoy reading your blogs because they are helpfull and informative to me ( and I am sure they are to many others as well)
But, I hope you do not mind me asking this teeeny...weeny little question.
You see, just like billions ( well...not billions but thousands at least haha) of other people I want to make it in the artworld ( How original haha)
I am already working hard in improving my artwork and doing more freelance work ( although they are still small jobs..) but I want to move ahead but I am not sure were to go from here. I read your article about "ideas on how to make money from your artwork" ( Wich had good ideas in it) and I did many of those things that you described but they either did not work very well for me or it did not work at all ( like being rejected by book publishers, galleries etc.) because of the rejects/failures it does not mean that I immedeately give up but I am a bit lost on what I should do next...especially since I have been trying for years now. I am probably doing something wrong but I have no idea what and more people are coming up to me lately asking me when i am going to give up ( no kidding!) but if I give up I feel like failing at it completely wich I absolutely don't want.
Anyways I hope my email is not that annoying to you. Even if you do not have any awnsers to my problem, that is totally okayGetting into the artbusiness is a really difficult thing to do, I know and I admire people who manage to succeed like you, but I reaaaaallly love it so I really want to do this more than anything.
Anyways, thank you very much for your time. And even if you send me just an email to say "hi" I would be glad haha, because I would also love to befriend more artists since I do not have that many artistic friends yet.
Have a nice day ^_^ and good luck on your new artworks!
Greetings
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I'm glad you find my blogs useful! With all the artists I know currently who are "succeeding" with their art (by which I mean they are making their living from their artwork income), they all do it in different ways. I think every artist has an area that works for them where the others dont. For example, one artist I know does really well at fayres and markets, but not well online. Another does really well with licensing, another makes all her sales on ebay, another only sells original paintings and another only does book illustration, and I make almost all my sales from my website. It takes time to find the area that you excell the most in, and I'm glad to hear you've tried a few different things already! Once you find that area, you can focus on it more and let all the other jobs and areas have less attention. You said you've been doing some freelance work, you mean for custom artworks for people? This is also a great way to earn money and develop your art. Have you tried sites like Ellen Millions "Portrait Adoption" site (google the name you'll find it)? Also, try Jessica Galbreths new Artists Manual book, it's got some really good tips in for getting started.
If you have any more questions let me know, if you want to send me your website link I can give you some more tips from there. Hope I've helped!
Selina
