Time
Time is a precious commodity that many of us have little of. Many people have a dream to be a game designer or comic artist or fine artist, but have little time to devote to their dream. To achieve your dream requires a different approach to make this dream reality.
You Have To Structure Your Time Logically
For people who want to learn the basics of a skill, learning from a professional who is a good teacher will propel your understanding forward exponentially. These professionals have gone through these steps themselves and know what worked for them. Your chosen teacher may not be the best artist or most well known artist, but they have great fundamentals and know how to teach. Now if you already have the skills needed to draw a graphic novel or fine art, you have to make a plan. Especially if you have a project in mind, by this point you know how long it takes you to draw a comic page or artwork. Make a plan, something that is feasible and allows you to live a normal life. In the end you are working slowly towards a completion of a project. If you travel on the public transport to go to work, use that time to sketch. Whereas if you drive to work, listen to podcasts and Youtubers who work as artists or as art teachers, because they give advice that could increase your productivity and improve your skills. They may give you insightful business advice.
Make A Backlog Of Your Art Before Posting On Social Media
If you are a comic book artist or graphic novelist who has a series or a book, you should finish your project before posting. If you do not have the time to continue making art and posting at the same time, you need a different strategy. It doesn’t matter if you are talented and have an amazing idea, it is difficult to be noticed in the first place. That is something I am learning because it takes me some time to finish an artwork. At the moment I am just a making art. You have to have a backlog especially if you are a comic or graphic artist. So you can then post consistently. Trent Kaniuga is a well known concept artist who has worked for Blizzard Games designing for their games. He also has a comic called Creed. Developing video games takes years and the amount of hours people work on a game per week are long hours. Trent mentioned working sixty to seventy hour weeks. For the little spare time he had, he worked on his comic. If you are posting sparingly even with a well known name, people are less likely to become interested in your comic. This is something he said to do which I think is a great idea. When you post you are giving people the whole project in a succession. That allows people to become intrigued and see your comic( for instance) to its conclusion, until you can make another story. When you have a comic or graphic novel, there are free lists available for you to put your work on, so people can discover you. What you have is a finished product people can buy and enjoy.
By Having A Project To Post And Repost You Can Focus On The Business Side
Building a website, growing on Pinterest and having a strong social media presence, takes time to build. Once the project is completed, you can focus on marketing yourself. At the moment my focus is on Pinterest and blogging. That is what I am using my time on while painting. Doing it at the same time as painting is time consuming, but I have to make time. At the moment I am not focusing on posting art on other platforms because I am making a backlog of art. In the future when I focus on Twitter or other possibilities for Instagram alternatives, I hope to increase my follower base and I will have a lot art to post. While you are building up your social media presence, you can already be thinking and working towards your next project. But at this point you have something on your CV and portfolio, possibly a book to self publish or an exhibition amount of art. Your day job can give you to own exhibition and have enough funds to hire a place and frame the art. In the future I will write about that experience, because I did just that, but I wasn’t on any social media platforms at the time.
Start An Email List
Especially if you cannot post all the time, but already are growing a following, start an email list. This allows people to subscribe to updates on your website. Maybe update every quarter with your best work. People are more likely to come back to your website or social media platform because they will see your email and go I remember this artist I liked a few months ago. People will be curious to know what you have they been up to. It doesn’t take much time to make a new message especially if you are only updating every quarter. It increases the chances of making long term fans especially when you are starting out. I use Mailchimp( not in anyway sponsored by them) the first 2000 contacts are for free. If it grows I may go somewhere else as you can import your contact list through the varies companies. This takes some time to get a reputation and portfolio. With an email list it just increases the chances that people will come back.
It Requires Sacrifice And Patience
Having a side project takes time away from your family and other things you enjoy doing. But if this is something you wish to turn into a career, you need to sacrifice some time to do this. Other people are working all the time on their comics and concept art for their career. They are making art all the time and this is who is the setting bar for what is expected by fans or prospective employers. With patience and diligence you can get a following. Your next project may be crowdfounded and take your fan base to new heights.
