At some point or another, all Artists have had to hear the phrase " Artists die poor ". At some point in history, this phrase did hold some truth to it, but it no longer holds any truth in today's world. In this blog post, I am going to explain where this myth originated from, why it is no longer true, and how as artists we can avoid feeding into that myth.
Where The Myth Started
The phrase artists die poor was commonly used in a period where the only way to be a successful artist was based solely on social classes and who you knew. It wasn't that artists were dying poor but that the only way to sell your art back in the day was to have it displayed in art galleries. Art gallery owners were people with wealth and your art had to be approved to get into art galleries. This created a lot of discrimination between rich gallery artists and poor artists. Art was sometimes never about the art itself but as a way for the rich to get richer.
Why The Myth is no longer true
The myth “artists die poor” no longer holds true in today's society because we have the internet. The internet is something that is accessible to all social classes in our society and It is the most powerful tool for becoming a successful artist. Artists no longer have to prop up their work on a gallery wall to be recognized. The internet, social media platforms, and selling platforms give you a much larger range of potential customers than an art gallery wood. So, in other words, artists don't have to die poor anymore. They just need to learn how to use these tools that are easily accessible to them.
How artists can avoid feeding into the myth
#1. The problem that I see with many artists today is that even though they are amazing at what they do, they don’t seem to be educated in business. If you majored in art in college, colleges do not do a good job at educating their students about the business aspect of art. No worries, it's never too late to learn. My advice is to take an Internet Marketing class or a social media marketing class. A big chunk of being a successful artist is knowing how to market your work.
#2. Get on Social Media. Do not fall into the mentality that I am too young or I am too old. Social media is a place for EVERYONE and If you want to sell you need to expand your reach. The best social media platform for artists right now is Pinterest, but I personally think you should have all of them. Facebook, Tik-Tok , Pinterest, Instagram , Twitter and YouTube. After creating an account for each of these you need to get educated about their algorithms. You need to understand that what might be good content on one platform might not be good content on another. For example, on Youtube, good content is videos that are about 10 min long, but on Tik-Tok videos that are under 15 seconds are ideal. Once you have mastered all social media platforms, you will have a community of art followers who will support your art and will result in sales.
#3 Decide how you are going to sell your art. Art can be sold in many different ways and you have to decide which one suits your lifestyle best. If you like to make personalized work and you have a lot of time, you can be commissioned for personalized paintings and charge more. If you are a very busy person you might want to just sell prints of your already completed work. Selling prices can still be somewhat time-consuming, and that is why some artists sell digital access to their paintings so the buyer can print them out themselves. You can sell merchandise with your work on it, and some platforms will directly ship the item out to the customers.
Overall making a living out of art is not easy nor simple, but hopefully, I have convinced you that it is definitely doable. I will always encourage people to take the road less traveled. You might be surprised at what you could find. I wish you all happy and peaceful art-making!
A successful artist was determined solely by your social class and who you knew. The issue was not that artists were dying poor but that many artists were already poor, to begin with. Artists
Ashley Garcia
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