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What Does It Take To Be A Good Artist? Find Out Here

Some people say that you are either born an artist or you aren’t, but Pablo Picasso was of the opinion that every artist is once an amateur. What Picasso was getting at is that even though you are gifted, to create exceptional quality work you need to put in the hours, you need to learn the techniques and you need to transition from being an amateur to being a professional. No matter how skilled you are, there is someone else somewhere on the planet who is just as gifted and they are putting in the effort to improve every day. In fact, some of the best professionals that you will come across are those people who weren’t exceptionally talented but they were exceptionally hard working. Just putting in the time to perfect their craft took them to heights of excellence that even naturally gifted people would never be able to achieve because they just aren’t putting in the same amount of effort.

As an artist, it’s not enough to just know that you need to practice, that you need to perfect your skill, you need to know how exactly you can progress in your art whether you are doing it for passion or as a professional endeavor. Regardless of which art form you are pursuing, these are some tips you can apply to your life to improve yourself as an artist.

1. Study The Best

When you look at the top achievers in any industry there is usually a pattern of behavior that is common to all of them. Whether that is their daily habits, their education, or their personal traits, there is plenty to be learned from high achievers and all you have to do is emulate that behavior. There have been several studies showing how children emulate the behavior and learn through emulation and actually do things better than the people they emulate. There is no need for you to carve your own path to success, it’s so much easier and effective to follow the path of those who have made it and adapt their techniques to create success in your own life.

2. Be Unique

While emulating top performers you don’t want to lose your own unique take on your work as that is what makes your work stand out from the crowd and will often be your unique selling point. With enough work and dedication to your unique style, it could quite possibly become an industry-standard in the future and you could create your own niche. If you look at the work of Austrian artist Rosina Wachtmeister you will notice that it depicts a lot of cats, and that’s because she really likes cats in real life. She allowed her love for her pets to radiate into her art and it became something unique which she is renowned for today. Moreover, working on your unique style gives you the freedom to really express yourself and makes what you do that much more enjoyable.

3. Learn To Market

A great artist is one who people say is great, not one who claims to be great. In order for people to know your work and to appreciate your skills, they need to see your work, and it’s your job as an artist to put it in front of them. Many artists think of this as an egoistic thing to do, but it’s only the reality of life, you need to market yourself to get recognition, no one is going to walk into your house and exclaim what a wonderful artist you are. Thanks to digital technology and the internet there are so many ways through which you can market your art without ever having to meet anyone face to face or have to hard-sell your work to anyone. At the same time, simply posting a picture of your work on your profile is not going to be enough either, be proactive in getting your work out to the public and the criticism you will receive will also help you grow as a writer.

Being a good artist is not really about how well you can do what you do, it’s about how well you can learn, grow and adapt to market requirements. Like it or not, being a professional artist is a business, it’s a very crafty business, but it is a business. In order to get to the top, there is a lot of learning that you need to do which will not be directly related to your art skills. Even as an amateur artist, to get better you need to tackle things in a holistic manner rather than just improving your skillset. Work on all facets of being an artist and success will be just around the corner.

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