How to: develop your career as an artist
Ann Quinn, a young artist living and working in Belfast, explains how to develop your career while keeping a firm hold of your artistic vision.
If you’re a budding artist yourself, have a look through Ann’s 7-point guide to artistic (and business!) success.
1. Look for Training and Development Opportunities
Ann knows artistic vision alone isn’t enough to make a living as an artist in today’s highly competitive marketplace; you also need a solid grasp of business issues. If you have the talent but lack the business brain, research what business training opportunities are available to you. Perhaps Creative Choices' Find a Course facility would be a useful starting point.
In 2000, Ann won a scholarship with the British Council Northern Ireland Business Education Initiative to study in Florida. This taught her how to keep one eye on her art and the other focused on her balance sheet - the course included core business modules as well as choice modules in Art and Design.
Ann is also a graduate of the ‘Invest Northern Ireland’ Start A Business Programme (SABP).
“This was a really valuable experience, by speaking to people who had set up their own businesses I learned how to do it for myself.”
2. Always be Prepared for Inspiration
Wherever Ann goes, she makes sure she takes her camera with her. She doesn’t know when inspiration may decide to strike, and it’s good to be prepared.
‘I could be inspired by anything. If I have my camera with me, I can quickly take a few shots so I don't forget.’
Ann’s key motivations are:
- Images that convey freedom and beauty - 'flowers can convey an incredibly positive energy and sense of freedom if they are depicted in a certain way. One of my upcoming pieces depicts a cherry blossom tree branch outstretched towards the sky. This was an image from Sydney Botanical gardens.'
- Colour and movement - 'such as the sky at dusk or the commotion and colour I saw once in a Hong Kong flower market.'
Her ever-present camera means she can take quick snapshots of images that could later be worked into paintings - as in 'View of Harmony of Belfast from Queens Bridge'.
'I found it to be an inspiring image of hope on the edge of Belfast's Titanic Quarter, an area of re-development for the future. It looked remarkable caught in the twilight against the back drop of the Victorian architecture of earlier generations. I had my camera with me so drove back around to take the photograph and painted it some months later.'
3. Get Your Brand
A successful artist is a brand manager as well. They have their products (their paintings for example) which they want to sell.
Andy Warhol is perhaps one of the finest examples of the artist as a brand – his art was literally of products – just think of his rows of soup cans or vibrant multi-layered Marilyn Monroes.
‘People see an image and instantly connect you with it,’ explains Ann.
Ann’s trademark is her flowers. Although she diversifies with other themes as well, these flower paintings are becoming her own personal brand.
‘When you’re starting out, get identified with one thing – something that becomes your own shorthand.'
4. Get a Second Job to Pay the Bills
Ann has a full time job during the day. In the evenings and at weekends, she paints in her studio. She admits this double life can be hard at times.
‘I often work very late – sometimes into the early morning. It can be difficult to keep all plates spinning at times’
Ann’s second job is very important - and not just so she doesn’t have to worry about being able to pay the bills. As she’s not reliant on her art for a wage, she can turn down offers of work.
'A second job means you don’t have to compromise your artistic integrity and work on something you don’t believe in,' explains Ann.
“A second job means you don’t have to compromise your artistic integrity and work on something you don’t believe in."
‘I was offered work that would have been totally unlike my normal paintings. The style they wanted was very minimalist. Although the painting could have been unsigned so nobody would have known it was me, I decided against it.’
But Ann admits it’s very important you don’t just take any second job to bring in the money. It needs to be something you can enjoy.
'To create art, I need to be in a positive frame of mind. My artwork thrives on being surrounded by positive energy and a sense of hope.'
As her day job is also in the creative industries, it fits in nicely with her artistic second life.
‘As a creative person, you can find it hard to work in an area where others aren’t creative – it has to be somewhere you can fit in. If I’m not happy, the negative energy would come out in my work – you need to find your own space.'
5. Decide on Your Target Market
As a young artist starting out, it’s vital you have a clear idea of who you'd like to buy your work and target your potential buyers accordingly.
Anne saw a niche in the high end market.
‘My work was initially exhibited on the gallery circuit. There have been some spin-offs from my work there. Interior design companies have contacted me after seeing my work in a gallery enquiring about a special piece to fit in with their own room and decor.’
However, Ann admits getting that initial display in the gallery can be difficult. 'It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario - you need exposure to establish a reputation so you can get your name out there.'
So although it initially might feel like a 'bouncer' is always telling you "if your name's not down, you're not getting in", if you are genuinely talented, perseverance should eventually pay off.
Try contacting local entrepreneurs. Ann found keeping an entrepreneurial network around her kept her levels of encouragement high.
'I have a lot of close friends who run their own successful businesses. I also found attending regular seminars organized by my regional development centre Invest NI helped to keep me on track.'
It was through attending seminars and events that Ann met Ruth Wilson of Beaufort Exclusive Interiors, one of Ireland's leading interior design houses and Charles Gilmore of Charles Gilmore Fine Art Dealers, a leading dealer in the Irish art world for over 14 years. Having them both recognise her talent when she was first starting out gave her the encouragement to keep going.
‘They really wanted to encourage emerging artists like myself and provided a really valuable platform for my work to be seen by the public.'
6. Know What You’re Worth
Ann knows her work is commercial, this is evident from the number of sales she has made and enquiries she gets from interested parties.
When it comes to pricing, she admits she found it very difficult to price her own work as she was so close to it.
'You have to be realistic on pricing. There is a danger of underselling yourself when you start. It’s not just painting you have to take into account when you put a price on your work, but also the sourcing of the images that might have provided the inspiration, the meetings you might have to attend etc. You have to balance your books at the end of the day so you can continue doing what you love and get paid for it.'
7. Find Funding
If you do mange to obtain funding for your work - congratulations! But here are some words of warning. If what you produce is important to you, be careful you don’t lose artistic control.
Art funding can come attached to special criteria – there might be cultural or economic development criteria for example.
Ann says, ‘be careful you’re not bending too much what you want to do to please those who are funding you – you need to be true to yourself so you always produce your best work.’
If you're on the search for funding for your work, have a look at Creative Choices°' Find Funding.
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