Artist Academy

This week’s episode features New York artist ELLE. She’s been featured in a variety of different high-profile brand collaboration projects and has traveled around the world painting murals.

I always give the advice of doing a free mural or two to get practice/photos to advertise later, but ELLE got her start painting, not just for free, but illegally on the streets of New York. She put her art in front of passerby eyes to see and get noticed in order to get jobs. She wasn’t just spray painting her name up on the wall. ELLE practiced to create eye catching art that served as a building block to the career she now has.

I’m so impressed by her and I know you will be too. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with street artist ELLE.

This week’s episode features sculptor/ceramicist Curt Hammerly. Curt sold and shipped over 5,000 pieces of work this past year at about $100 per item. You do the math, but this dude has the credibility to be giving us all advice on growing a social media following and making sales.

With over 350,000 followers on Instagram, it’s best to listen when he gives tips on audience growth. Lucky for you, he gives plenty of no-bullshit advice in our hour long convo. He also drops the F bomb several times, which I appreciate because things like that help the conversation to not be so stiff. It’s basically putting an emphasis on his point but if you have little ears nearby maybe just use headphones.

Curt sheds some light on the idea that not everyone who has the artistic eye should be a full-time artist. I love the honesty and his reasoning behind this which you’ll hear shortly. He’s right. With making art for a living come so many other things like marketing or social media or whatever you need to do to sell the art you create. If those things are continually giving you a headache, maybe taking on a “real” job is best.

Listen to this week’s episode to hear if those points apply to you. I think you’ll like Curt’s very real advice on what it takes to create for a living and grow your creative business to new heights!

This week’s episode features abstract artist Jenna Kast. This is yet another interview with an artist who has a completely different perspective on creating than I do: she thinks about the art first and the money follows.

I tend to find myself thinking about how I’m going to sell a canvas before I create it, but not Jenna. She spent the early part of her career creating for others so that when she made the switch to running her own business it was all about painting whatever she feels like painting. That happens to be colorful abstract art which is sold through her social media and recent galleries.

Listen to get tips on both of those sales strategies in this week’s episode with Jenna Kast.

‘Tis the season for taxes. Hannah Cole, artist and owner of Sunlight Tax, was kind enough to come on the podcast and answer some of the most common questions like:

How should I file?
When should I hire a tax professional?
What items can I list as an expense/deduction?

Listen to hear answers to these questions and be sure to check out her extremely helpful resources below:

This week’s episode features Ukrainian-born, now New Jersey-based, artist Olga Muzician. About halfway through this interview I realized - we have two very different work styles. Olga has the drive and need for perfection in everything she does. Everything is organized, clean, and as efficient as possible. There is no room for spontaneity or winging it in her work life.

This interview is a great look at the opposite side of a previous solo episode I did where I confessed that I paint up to the value of my customer’s budget. If the customer is happy, I’m happy.

With Olga, if she’s not making her next masterpiece, then she’s not happy. There’s no good enough attitude happening here. Which explains why her project minimum is $3,500. Olga charges her worth and explains what’s included in her process to create a masterpiece every single time.

She also put into words the mental creative process that happens inside my head when trying to think up the next big idea (mockup) for a customer. That brain roller coaster that goes on throughout a couple of days or weeks of extracting that one-of-a-kind idea out of my usually stagnant creative brain for my new hopeful customer. I’ll let her do the explaining, so let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Olga Muzician.

This is what the seasons of my business typically look like:

Winter: Planning, practicing, resting - Do I want to repeat last year or change some things? How can I make this year more enjoyable?

Spring: Experimenting, pitching - Stick to the plan and welcome new, fun opportunities.

Summer: Hustling - Let’s go!

Fall: Slowing, regrouping - Avoid burnout.

Listen to this week’s episode to hear an explanation of each, including the things I’m currently doing in this winter season to prepare for having my most productive/profitable year yet. I also share recommended replacements for all of that negative self-talk new artists often given themselves in the beginning of their art careers. Things like, “I’m not good enough,” or “I’m not where I want to be yet…”

Listen to hear how I personally combat the negativity and replace it with hope! The Series Six Challenge starts SOON! Join us: Artist Academy Challenge1

This week’s episode features art marketer Jessica Craddock. Jessica mentors ADHD artists who are tired of marketing strategies that don’t align with their personality to sell 3x more art.

I like talking to other business minded creatives and I used this interview to extract some art marketing advice that I don’t regularly teach. Jessica comes from a business background and gives a clear look at her student’s businesses to help them simply describe their art and how to buy it.

We chat on subjects like outreach, how to get referrals, and how to start selling canvas art in your local area. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Jessica Craddock.

This week’s episode of the Artist Academy Podcast features an Atlanta-based multi-passionate artist Elise Garcia. Elise has a positively infectious energy about her that I know will spill onto you to brighten your day. Her outlook on living a fearless life is commendable as she has some hilariously terrible travel incidents to share with us today.

On the art side of things, Elise is still very much in the building phase of her business and trying anything and everything she feels called to.

One big tip I picked up from this interview is something I will 100% be implementing this year: collaborations. The best way to attract your ideal customer is to go somewhere they are already hanging out… like on another person’s Instagram page. Since everyone is on the social media hampster wheel of creating reels nowadays, my plan is to take some of that work off their to-do list (because I like creating videos) in trade for being seen by their audience. How can you be of value to someone who has what you want? Something to think about this Monday.

Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Elise Garcia.

This week’s interview is with a muralist/surfboard artist who is living the RV lifestyle, artist Nicole Miller. Her artwork is solid, and her marketing efforts are on point, so it’s no wonder Nicole is making a great living as an artist even though she’s traveling around every couple of years to a new location. Yep, she’s starting over every time she and her husband (and 2 dogs) change locations, which means her clientele starts over.

How does she do it? By going out and meeting people in person through live painting (mostly). She doesn’t stay within the walls of her studio, or in her case an RV or rented storage unit. She goes out into the world and boldly creates in public.

How about, instead of creating art in the safety of your art space today, you take it outside? If the weather isn’t cooperating then take it into an indoor public space. Or message an event center about live painting at their next shindig. Or go live online while you paint! Anything to get you out and about, because you have to be creating anyway. Why not create with an audience?

Listen to this interview to hear how Nicole is doing it and I bet her results will talk you into it. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Nicole Miller.

This week’s interview features New York artist Dean Christensen. Right out of school, Dean created a series of paintings then turned around and sold those paintings at an art show. He used that money to buy a one-way bus ticket to New York where he stayed on a friend’s couch for 2 months until he was able to get on his feet financially and kickstart his art career.

This interview aims to inspire you to take a risk towards doing the unique thing only you want to do and dig deep to create a style that’s all your own. We chat about the current projects we are working on and how they align with our strange/edgy/fun style.

Dean’s journey is very relatable, especially because it’s still fresh. He’s still in the beginning parts of his journey in some ways, but doesn’t let doubt or fear paralyze him into not taking action onto the next thing. He recently started an art gallery with a business partner and talks about the challenges behind that along with the unexpected success of it all so far.

This is a wide ranging conversation that spans across painting, NFTs, pop-up galleries, and diving into projects headfirst. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Dean Christensen.