Why is it so Hard to Be a Successful Artist?

Now and then I answer a question on Quora. If it's interesting enough, I'll answer it here, too.

Q: Why is it so hard to be a successful artist?

I think there are two main reasons.

The first is that there's an entire skill set involved in actually selling your work and supporting yourself with it—and nobody teaches you that part.

They don't teach you marketing in art school. Social media? Nada. They don't even teach you how to price your work so that you actually make a profit.

I am acquainted with a very talented artist on Facebook whom I've followed for years. I'll call him Tom. (Not his real name, but close. LOL.)

Tom wasn't making it with his artwork, so he decided to get into live wedding painting. He figured the first thing he needed was some wedding artwork for his portfolio, so he created several pieces.

I was blown away by how beautiful they were.

And then he posted them on Facebook.

Once.

No story behind them. No hashtags. No wedding groups. No real marketing strategy. He put the work out there, didn't immediately get any weddings from it, and gave up. He decided he must not be a good enough artist and became a truck driver.

What a waste of an extraordinary talent.

I tried to give him some advice, but he wasn't interested in hearing it. Eventually, his circumstances became even more difficult, and the last I knew, he was living in his truck.

Meanwhile, all that artistic talent was going unused.

Being a Good Artist Isn't Enough

That's one side of the coin: the hardworking artist who learns the craft but has absolutely no idea how to market themselves.

If that's you, please understand that not selling your artwork does not necessarily mean your artwork isn't good. Selling art and making art are two different skills.

Fortunately, the business side can be learned. There are books on marketing. There are successful working artists who teach what they've learned. You can learn SEO, social media, sales, pricing, networking and how to build a business around your work.

There's also the related problem of perfectionism and impostor syndrome. Those affect just about everyone, including me, and I've been a working artist for 27 years.

You have to learn to ignore that voice in your head sometimes. You really do. If that's something you struggle with, try reading The Artist's Way.

But First, You Have to Learn the Craft

Then there's the other side of the coin: people who want to be successful artists but don't want to put in the years it takes to actually learn how to make art.

It doesn't work that way.

It takes hard work to become good at anything. And to become successful at something, you also need persistence and resilience. You have to be willing to fail and try again. And again. And again. Thousands upon thousands of times.

You have to be willing to put in the work.

I think that's one reason AI-generated art has become so appealing. Someone who has always wanted to make art can now produce an image almost instantly without spending years learning anatomy, perspective, color, composition, drawing and all the other skills artists traditionally spend their lives developing.

But generating an image isn't the same thing as developing a craft.

If you want to make a living as an artist, the craft has to come first. Then comes another mountain of work: learning how to market yourself.

Build a website. Learn social media. Make business cards. Get a business license. Go to galleries, fairs and festivals. Meet people. Learn how to sell. Read books about business. Watch videos. Keep your records. Do your taxes.

And make more art. Then make more. Then make more.

And keep going.

That's the part people don't always see when they look at someone who is making a living doing something creative. They see the finished painting, the successful commission or the artist working an event. They don't see the thousands of drawings that came before it or all the business work happening behind the scenes.

So Why Is It So Hard to Be a Successful Artist?

Because you really have to learn two professions.

You have to become an artist.

And then you have to become a businessperson who knows how to sell that artist's work.

Being talented without learning the business can leave you with beautiful work nobody ever sees. Learning marketing without developing your craft might get people's attention, but it won't give you the skill to keep them.

You need both.

Just like anything else in life, if it's worth doing and it's your dream, you can do it. But be prepared to put in the work.

About the Artist

My name is Kathy Buskett, and I'm a working artist—a caricaturist, to be specific. I've been drawing professionally for 27 years, including 10 years drawing caricatures in Las Vegas.

I've drawn for clients including Samsung, Topgolf, Coca-Cola and Cirque du Soleil, and today I travel to weddings, conventions, corporate events and other celebrations drawing people all over the country.

After all these years, I'm still learning—not only how to become a better artist, but how to become better at the business of being one.

And I think that's the real secret.

You never stop working at either one.

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My name is Kathy Buskett. I'm a working artist - a caricaturist, which makes me a Unicorn. (there are fewer caricaturists than brain surgeons!)

I travel all over drawing caricatures for events. I have 27 years of experience, 10 of them drawing caricatures in Las Vegas, and I have had clients such as Samsung, Top Golf, Coca Cola, Cirque du Soleil and more.

I currently live on the Gulf Coast in Fairhope, AL near the Grand Hotel, and I draw at conventions, weddings and trade shows all over. As one of the fastest caricaturists in the world, I can draw 30+ faces per hour.

You can see some of my work at www.caricaturesbykathy.com

And you can reach me at kathybuskett@gmail.com