Your dream of becoming a famous artist may not be as incongruous as it seems: child prodigy Sir John Everett Millais was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and won a silver medal at the Society of the Arts at the age of nine, Pablo Picasso, co-founder of the Cubist movement was considered a brilliant child. Even today, young artists like Akiane Kramarik are recognized as prodigies in their art. If you're talented, your name could mark an era. Are you ready to learn how to do it?
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Working on your skills
Step 1. Practice your art
To feel called by the Muses is undoubtedly something wonderful, but you won't get far if you don't have the technical skills to make your ideas come true. Whatever field you choose, become an expert on it and in all its facets.
- Devote an hour or more every day to perfecting your artistic technique.
- Focus on the places where it hurts the most, but also cultivate your strength.
- Leverage your connections and the resources available to you. Art supplies manufacturers and art stores often offer free brochures, painting lessons, videos, and web addresses full of tips, technical advice and more.
- Some brands also offer weekend painting techniques seminars, where you can not only learn new skills, but also meet other artists.
Step 2. Work in the field that you love
Pick a subject that is meaningful to you and that you want to paint with passion.
- Start with a still life or a photograph that belongs to you, has fallen into the public domain, or that you have permission to use. Draw or paint the same motif over and over again, using a different technique each time, an oil or pencil canvas, an abstract or realistic approach, whatever can inspire you.
- Start with simple subjects like a rubber ball or a rectangular figure, then try more complex subjects like a rose, a light marble slab or a shiny metal bowl and try to take care of the details: the curves of a petal, the transparency of the glass or the superb reflections, so that even Escher, the pope of graphic art, would have been impressed! Each of these patterns will improve your overall painting ability.
- Practice the timed drawing. Pick your subject, set your timer for two to three minutes, draw and then stop when the timer has stopped, even if the drawing is not complete.
- Restart the timer. By doing ten times three minutes of drawing, you will learn more than taking half an hour to draw the same subject in detail.
Step 3. Vary the use of your art tools
Start with a pencil, then try chalk, crayons, pastel, oil, whatever interests you. Never be afraid to try new tools or techniques.
- If you want to try an expensive medium, first contact by email the manager of an artistic store who could give you a sample of the product. Most art supplies suppliers also receive samples, unless the manufacturer sends you a scaled-down version of that overpriced paper or canvas so that you can experiment before deciding what to buy.
- This gives you the opportunity to try it first and see if you like it. Try more than one brand, the swatches are usually not the same color and during these tests you can know which part number is right for you.
Step 4. Accept criticism from family and friends
Make sure you have an honest opinion and not a vague remark like, "I love you, so whatever you do is wonderful." If they think it's good, then you're on the right track! If they think not, you're still on the right track: If several people think your technique is great, but your subject is poor, it's time to do your self-criticism and learn something.
Don't confuse criticism with personal judgment, especially if that person doesn't really want to see you become a real artist
Step 5. Look for an opinion outside your social circle
See what people who paint better than you think. Make friends online by contacting real artists whose work you admire. Praise them and ask them relevant questions about their technique. You will quickly find that many artists enjoy giving advice to beginners and are always happy to share what they have learned.
When you know more, contact those who are starting painting. You will learn more yourself every time you explain your art and demonstrate your knowledge. It is very common for teachers to learn something from their students
Step 6. Learn to receive heartfelt praise
When friends and family love everything you draw and think it's wonderful, or when your mom has stuck your kid's doodles on the fridge since you were two (and thinks you'll be a new one someday) Picasso), relax and enjoy them as moral support.
- The more artistically gifted you are, the easier it will be for others to like you and find talent in you.
- Compliments can turn into criticism sometimes, and these are very valuable! If an artist whose work you admire gives you a compliment like, "I like the treatment of colors," it means that he is not only kind enough to congratulate you on your work, but is also given the time to understand and appreciate your artistic choices.
Step 7. Develop a very strongly personal style
Do it by learning to paint or draw your favorite subjects the way any painters you love have done. The more you learn about the techniques and understand your own passions, the more likely your own style will emerge.
- A personal style is the meeting between a good practice of drawing and painting in your preferred medium of expression and a sustained attention to your favorite subjects.
- You will become a specialist, a "registered trademark" when you have reached a certain level of competence. Mastering a subject and a medium comes later, when you can work without having to think about how to do it while still having excellent results each time.
Step 8. Be prolific
To exhibit in a gallery, you should have a portfolio containing a dozen of your best works that all have one thing in common, whether it's subject or style, size and skill level.
Your work should be available in as many formats as possible, so that the gallery owner interested in your work is not prevented from exhibiting you
Part 2 of 2: Promote yourself
Step 1. Publish your work
The best way to become famous is to make yourself known! The Internet offers many possibilities to be seen and to promote works, it is important in this 21st century saturated with information to use all the tools at your disposal to make a name and a reputation for yourself.
- Set up a daily blog that talks about your work and include images that illustrate your approach as well as those of a gallery that could exhibit and sell your work.
- Visit all the art galleries in your area and meet their owners. If you are old enough to do so, attend as many viewings as possible, not to promote your work, it will be time to do it later, but to make yourself known to the artistic community.
- Create a Facebook wall dedicated to your art and encourage visitors to share your page. Contact other artists via Facebook. As with visiting galleries, it will help you take your place in the community and Facebook can reach an audience far beyond your entourage.
- Tweet regularly about art. Your art, art history, pop art, all kinds of art. The more you know about art, the more you will be noticed and taken seriously. At the same time, follow artists and galleries and reply to their Tweets. This will encourage more people to follow you, including gallery owners.
- Create a Flickr account and post videos or snapshots of your art. This is an active community, if you don't get a lot of constructive criticism on Flickr, you will make a name for yourself and maybe become the virtual friend of very talented artists.
Step 2. Join fine arts related companies and enter contests
Start with competitions at an amateur level in a regional setting.
- Set up painting lessons in the studio. This will not only help you gain recognition as an artist, but also make you an expert in your field of expertise.
- Hone your skills until you can participate in national and international competitions in your expression register.
- Take part in artistic criticism shows. It is a consecration to add to your career summary to have a work selected for an artistic criticism program. If you have too many entries, select only the most important shows.
Step 3. Find a reliable talent agent
Consult artistic agencies and contact an agent who already has other clients. See if customers are happy with their agent or if they are rather unhappy and find that they've been cheated. An agent will put you and your work on the art market and will also act as an intermediary during negotiations and contracts. Make sure he has good interpersonal skills and is good at negotiating contracts.
You might also need a good art lawyer. While an agent may have some knowledge of legal matters, his field remains artistic promotion. The job of a lawyer is to know the application of the laws
Step 4. Paint what is important to you
If you don't feel anything for the subject, it will show in your work. Many artists tend to fall a little in love with their subject matter, whether it is a saucer filled with fruit or the artist's model.
- If you like to express anger and dark thoughts, study tormented painters. If you enjoy the abstract and projection painting, study them and copy them - painters use a technique all their own and don't just throw paint on a canvas to name it art.
- If you love wildlife and nature, get a portable painting kit and paint "outdoors" in your favorite spots.
- Whatever your passion, find a way to capture it on the web.
Step 5. Develop yourself as an artist
To be a true artist is the conquest of a lifetime. When you reach the stage of the fame you aspire to, with a lot of money and popularity, you will keep looking for something beyond that.
- Persevering in learning and creating, even after you have found fame, will not only keep you on top of your game, but also force you to focus on the future rather than leaving behind the best years of your career..
- As your style develops and evolves, your older paintings will gain value. Collectors will be interested in the history of your complete works. Even your child's drawings will gain value: the ones your mom pinned on the fridge already contain the seeds of your current success, so don't throw away your childhood works.
Advice
- Consider protecting your privacy if fame comes in beyond your privacy. Your admirers are interested in your paintings and in some essential data of your life. You should be able to talk a little bit about your passion for painting and why you paint in your particular genre. Mentioning family, pets, and maybe where you were born is enough for a biography, you don't need to reveal what you eat for breakfast or what your favorite shoe brand is. The artistic glory does not require sacrificing the lifestyle of the "people" of the jet set, many famous artists are very reserved about their private life and it is their painting that must be visible as well as some recorded interviews. They will be more comfortable with people around them, other artists and people who share their passion.
- If you learn to appreciate fine art through your favorite artists, you will understand that your designs will provide the same joy to each of your buyers. You make discover the hidden treasures of this world, a single swirl of abstract painting on a canvas which expresses rage or joy or love will help someone to understand, to live and to express feelings.
- Make sure you want to get famous. Fame isn't always that much fun, so see how funny you can be in the long run. A recognized regional artist can earn a middle-class income without necessarily being recognized worldwide, which in no way detracts from his qualities. Fame is also being the best artist in your school or in your fan club, fame is only the appreciation of strangers who love your work. It is a life choice to decide what kind of fame can make you happy.
- Appreciate the art. When you learn to draw and paint better, you will see the world more acutely. If you are looking for beauty, you will find it in what is ugliest, strangest, least expected: the play of light on broken glass on even the most banal of sidewalks, the ripple of 'a weed leaf or the smile of an ugly old woman that suddenly becomes magnificent under the trained gaze of the artist.
- Learning to paint and draw will transform you and make you grow as a human being. You use areas of the brain that most people ignore, these brain functions will improve and evolve constantly, like a muscle. You might become more intuitive and creative in other areas as well. You could become more expressive in a different way or focus on your visual acuity. Your awareness of colors and their balance will influence your clothing choices and as a result, you will look better in the eyes of others. Most of these transformations are positive.
- The more you love beauty and find joy in art, the more your painting skills will enrich your life in all its aspects. The awareness of living your life to the fullest: the bouquet of wine, the satiety after a good meal, the happy fatigue that overwhelms you after you have walked all day through soggy fields to capture in fifteen minutes on your canvas the fog that falls on at dusk, the expedition contains its own reward.
- See your work as something tangible that has value and that learning can be compared to studying medicine or law. It's not just raw talent that appears to the lucky few: even artists who seem to learn very quickly or had early talent were content to put in greater effort than others who started late. or took a long time to perfect. Children have a natural talent for learning faster than adults if they start learning while their brains are growing. But adult learning is not lacking in depth.
Warnings
- Believe in yourself. You will also change your social identity, going from what you thought you were to being recognized as an artist. This will make some people angry and reject you for daring to persevere in your art. They will find it stupid or pretentious, they will laugh at your work and say that it is not a real work, they will call you an impostor, a slacker and try to make you revert to the one they believed you were. were.
- Don't pay an agent up front. If he can't find you clients, he doesn't deserve any reward. If he asks for it, it is the red flag that we cannot trust him. Do a morality inquiry, if the agent seems to promise wonders and already calls you a future Picasso, chances are he's too good to be honest. Run away from these kinds of people.
- Romantic relationships can become confrontational if your partner is jealous of the time, attention, and feelings you devote to your art. The conflict may or may not resolve itself. Try to be patient with your loved one, but if that doesn't work, find someone who is right for you and who will appreciate your talents as an artist.
- Personal changes can be badly lived. When you are assailed by unsettling feelings or uncertainties, you can use the paint to confront and release the fear.
- Fame can destroy your life in the worst possible way, if you choose to replicate the media cliché of the drugged, alcoholic, rotten snotty celebrity.