living off my drawings

[rodin]

so im a new member and i am hoping that someone will reply this, because this question is the main reason i tried to find a site like this. i am just getting out of art school- i love to draw. i mean like a up to a sketchpad a day- watercolors too- pretty lose, slightly abstracted. well, the question is... DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW I CAN MAKE A LIVING OUT OF IT???

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rodiN

[MichaelRH]

Hi, and welcome to Wetcanvas rodin!
I have heard that there ARE galleries that show drawings, there may be many that do. I don't have a list of gallery names for you though.
I have ALWAYS felt that drawings (and even sketches) are very important and I would like to see them valued more in the market. I also draw and sketch daily. I believe you are asking about making a living from drawing and sketching. I know that people make a good living drawing for Lucas Arts and Disney, but that is a special kind of drawing..and their portfolio requirements are clear and specific. Now, for a new or emerging artist to start to make a LIVING from drawings or watercolors...well, it may take a while before you get the recognition that you are seeking. Someone started a thread about being prolific...does it help..? I would recommend just continuing to produce a strong body of work..and then do all that is necessary to get your work seen. I have had thought about publishing a book of drawings, have made some inquiries, but this project is on hold at the moment. Just another concideration here.
I have a strong feeling that there are few over-night successes. rodin, have you ever thought of etching or print-making?
Does anyone recall the wonderful success of the artist Charles Bragg????!! I love his work..was VERY popular in the 60's. He could draw VERY well, and was able to reproduce his drawings as etchings and prints. rodin, best of luck in the future. Michael http://www.krweb.com/pages/mike/index.shtml

[This message has been edited by MichaelRH (edited May 14, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by MichaelRH (edited May 14, 2000).]

[arlene]

1. Start doing fine art art fairs. There are plenty in the tristate area. Go to a few before you commit. There's one up in Westport Ct. in July and I can't think of any others off the top of my head.
2. Put together a portfolio of 20 professionally taken slides of your best work, a cover letter, a resume, a bio, and start sending to every gallery you can find that might have work similar to the kind you do. Start by sending a postcard with an image of your work on the front.
3. Put together a web site.

There is no such thing as being discovered. You must actively promote yourself. And to answer your question, Yes it can be done.

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http://www.artdebut.com/arlene0.htm

[This message has been edited by arlene (edited May 15, 2000).]

[Painter]

American Society of Artists is a good resource.

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God Blesses!
Ched

[s mckee]

Just an obvious point here, but keeping your costs down is an obvious way to stay above water.

Drawings and watercolours are expensive to frame. If you can cut your own glass, cut your own mats, cut your own frames... and if you're really ambitious, make your own simple mouldings, you might be able to keep your costs low enough to make a go at it. This requires a lot of extra cash up front (say, $200 for a mitre saw and corner clamps, $300 for a router table & bits, $150 for a mat cutter, etc.) and you need to have a lot of space, as well as an understanding of how all this equipment works.

This may seem like stupid, expensive advice, but if you look at the cost of just the frame moulding, if you can cut your own out of construction-grade 2x2s, you're looking at a per foot cost of less than 20 cents. The equipment would pay for itself after about, say... 50 pictures?

[sgtaylor]

If you don't mind doing editorial illustrations, get copies of the Artist's Guild Pricing and Legal Guides. Also (if it is still available) get a copy of The Artist's Market (it used to be published by The Writers Market.) Use the information in these resources to prepare 5 of the best pieces you can manage, in the style that you want to work in. Stick to one style - if you do different kinds of work, make different portfolios (5 works per) for each style. Start looking for magazines, ad agencies, and stock houses that use the kind of work you do. Be sure to make your submissions exactly according to the requirements listed in The Artist's Market. You can also look for the address of the submissions editor(s) of the magazine you are interested in selling to. Write a letter asking about their policy on unsolicited submissions.

Expect to wait 6 months to a year before getting any work. These places purchase work well ahead of time.

There are no guarantees, but I do know artists who make good livings doing this.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

[rodin]

Thanks to all who replied, youre ideas were helpful. its true, theres no such thing as "getting discovered", at least not most of the time. i have checked out the illustration market, only to be turned off by it. every artist puts their heart into their portfolio only to drop it off in an office where its hardly ever looked at. i have met with disney and warner brothers, but as stated, they are realy looking for a specific type of artist. i am interested in fine art because i am very enthusiastic about making art, and then if someone wants it, they can buy it. its very different than doing "assignments". i guess i just need to find a sugar-mamma! thanks again, rodiN

[tammy]

Well Rodin,
At least you *want* to earn money with it.
I worked with a guy who could draw anything or anybody at the drop of a hat. He could do caritature with very original sayings (sp) too, and was great at it.
But did he care to earn money at it. NOOOOOOO
Such wasted talent. I envied him. He could have gotten a job as architech, cartoons, anything, but nope he didn't. Maybe he just got pleasure doing it. Anyway, good luck in your search and don't give up.

Ever think about teaching drawing? Some do that too.

[This message has been edited by tammy (edited May 15, 2000).]

[rodin]

thanks tammy. i would LOVE to teach, but i hear its a hard thing to get in to. unless you have a masters you can only teach at a private school, but the job pays very little from what i hear- public or private school. and about drawing, i know how your friend feels. i would love to draw and not think about the money for a second, but thats not the world we live in. but I WOULD MUCH RATHER DRAW FOR 15 HOURS A DAY THAN BE AN ACCOUNTANT OR LAWYER. thanks for the luck, i might need it -rodiN

[This message has been edited by rodin (edited May 16, 2000).]

[MichaelRH]

rodin..G..you sound a little like me. Guess I just enjoy entertaining myself, and YES!! I like making (some) money at it. I did billing adjustments and accounts payable...(YAWN!!!!!!!!!!). I do have a p/t job that helps support my art interests..and I do make occassional sales of my paintings. I think many of us here are lucky...in that we have something that we LOVE to do.. I've known some people that have a very difficult time entertaining themselves..I can't imagine not having hobbies, or creative interests.
btw, I have a very close friend who is a CFO for a rapidly growing company. He LOVES making money (with other people's money!!)..can't blame him, and he is VERY VERY good at what he does. He also loves writing and SF. I think he will be able to make enough money before long to retire..and persue his writing goals. It works both ways, people often cannot understand artists, but my friend's interest in finance is his own brand of creativity.

[bruin70]

rodin,,,,i like your "gate of hell".
drawings do not have the "weight" that oils do. pastels and watercolors fall in between. it would be a tough go. draw large. hit 'em with size. that'll add weight. you have to give them importance,,,,, not just sketches. check out holbein, klimt, scheile, fechin, and dinnerstein. you may want to try litho's, etchings etc,,,,overcome by selling with volume.....milt

[bruin70]

mckee,,,,he can buy molding at a lumber yard for cheap, and not have to rout. the grain in moldings would be tighter than what you get in 2x2's as well. so he can eliminate the router cost. and that's all additional time consuming stuff. when i used to do my frames, i cut my mats with an exacto blade. didn't need a matt cutter for any angle cuts. total cost of frames,,,,,about $50....milt

[s mckee]

Milt, you forget that I am King of the Cheapskates. I just framed a 49x14" painting on masonite for a total cost of $4.

My frames are not going to win awards (do frames win awards?), but they do the trick. I cut a 1/4" notch in the back, a rounded notch on the outside edge, and a more ornate rounded notch along the inside edge. I cut it, glue and nail it, sand it, and slop on a couple coats of flat black acrylic and a clear coat. It takes me very little time.

I use one type of frame only. I don't buy into the idea that a frame should specifically complement its picture. I use the Woody Allen principle. His movies, no matter what they are about, all have, more or less, the same credits: the same black&white, the same font, similar music... Anyway, you'd be surprised the neat effect of a wall of pictures, all different shapes and colours and sizes, but all wearing exactly the same frame. It's very sinister. Very cool.

Anyway, $4 and an hour of my time is pretty reasonable, I think. I mean, 50 bucks? Who do you think I am, Howard Hughes?

[sherridtn]

Hi,

This is my first post to this board.

I just had to reply to tell you that I get all the FREE wood I need from a local maunfacturing plant. There are MANY places that constantly throw away pallets, wooden crates, etc...that you can obtain free. My husband picks mine up where he works...Nice hardwoods: oak, walnut, cherry & some pine. He just made a beautiful 18"x24" solid cherry frame for a piece I just did.

Sherri

[rhoward]

Originally posted by rodin:
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW I CAN MAKE A LIVING OUT OF IT???



REALITY SANDWICH

You can spend your life traipsing about in a motor home from art fair to art fair, selling self-directed work for a few hundred bucks here and there. If you like oblivion, that's it. No one has ever launched a decent art career by starting as an itinerant peddlar.

The sure method requires that you can draw and paint well enough that, when someone says..."I'll give you $3,800 for a painting of Madonna belching up a dragon on Broadway...and I need it in three days," you might try illustration (the above fee is a walking-in price for a paperback cover, which a pro can turn out in a short time). It is the highest paid profession in the country...far beyond that of doctors and lawyers. It's also murderously competitive. But if you've really learned how to draw and paint, it's a great way to continue to develop your skills whilst making a six-figure income as a kid artist. That's how most of today's major portrait artists started.

Of course, if you don't have those skills, it's a moot point and that's where the art fairs, pictures in the window of the local bank, entering local art shows and art clubs and other support groups come in. That reduced level of commitment and skill is perfectly valid and the rewards are commensurate with the skill, talent and drive that you put into it. The thing to remember is that entering the field of professional art is like finding yourslf in combat. It's not neatly divided into beginners fighting beginners and masters competing only with masters. The beginners go head-to-head with the seasoned pros, and none of us are so generous that we will forego our new Benz in order to further the career of the up-and-coming competition. Obviously, we will try to grab everything for ourselves (hey, that's the way the Old Master did it).

The jump from the secure sandbox of art school into one of the toughest gigs on earth is the reason that fewer than 20% of art school graduates are in the field one year after graduation. They simply have not received adequate instruction because the majority of the instructors themselves have never been working pros and had to learn the higher level of skill required. It's a tough truth about a tough business where we marshal our sensitivity for the canvas and present an insensitive rhinocerous hide to the world because, no matter how good you get there are always rejections to deal with. If you cannot stand having an art buyer tell you that your work stinks, don't seek fulltime work in the art field.



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Cennini Forum http://studioproducts.com/forum/forum.html

[rhoward]

Originally posted by MichaelRH:
I have a strong feeling that there are few over-night successes. rodin, have you ever thought of etching or print-making?
Does anyone recall the wonderful success of the artist Charles Bragg????!! I love his work..was VERY popular in the 60's. He could draw VERY well, and was able to reproduce his drawings as etchings and prints.


Michael,

Charlie Bragg began life as an illustrator, developing the requisite skills by having to solve problems he did not come up with. Facing those daily challenges is what helps one grow as an artist, rather than simply showing off a few skills one's already perfected. Bragg's exceptional abilities can be traced to being forged on the anvil of illustration.

For those delicate souls who feel that they have a unique message to deliver and enjoy singing, "I Did It My Way," to an empty house, there's alwways the excuses about subsuming one's creativity for nothing other than evil commerce. Not being a crypto-Marxist, Bragg understood that art was a profession that had certain guidelines that succesful artists have followed for centuries. As we say, "Why create mediocrity when you can copy genius."




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Cennini Forum http://studioproducts.com/forum/forum.html

[rodin]

this is rodin again- thanks for the reply. i actually went to school for illustration at pratt, and not to brag, but people say im pretty good. i am sure that i can get work doing illustraion, but the reason i have been straying i that i wonder if it is as satisfying as doing my personal work- ya know?

[rhoward]

Originally posted by rodin:
i wonder if it is as satisfying as doing my personal work- ya know?

I wonder where that ends and art therapy begins?

Art is what I do for a living. I went to school for it and worked hard so that I could do it for a living. I also cook and garden. I did not go to school for those to make a living. I find all three quite satisfying. When someone presents me with a challenge as an artist, I find that just as much, if not even more fun than something I'd give myself to. I was thinking to the last artist who had just graduated school who actually had something to say. Sadly, Raphael never lived to see forty, but even as a kid artist he was fully prepared to work in the field and TAKE COMMISSIONS. The artists who took commissions were the successful ones, the ones who couldn't get commissions did there own work and tried to sell it at art fairs and door to door. I'd tell you more about them but they've all faded into the shadows of time, whereas it was the working pros who, when the Pope said, 'hey Mickey, can you break out the rollers and do my ceiling' were able to transform a simple request into a very special result. Remember, Michelangelo did not have a choice of subject matter. He couldn't paint a bunch of two-toned '57 Plymouths floating in space and call it the Christine Ceiling (sorry), he had to go with a Pope who said I want this saint here and that one there (and no one but God argued with the Pope).

Could Michelangelo have done better by "expressing himself" as a door-to-door painting salesman. Did the imposed subject matter crush his delicate artistic sensibilities? Maybe, but what managed to come out was pretty nice.

Not trying out for the majors could be viewed as a cop-out. The only definite thing I can tell you is that you'll always kick yourself if, after going to art school you don't try to be a pro and you settle out for a straight day job and paint at night as a hobby.

There is one suggestion I can make that might mmake your drawings saleable, Michael suggested that you try etching, but metalpoint is much easier and it has been gaining a wide audience willing to pay considerable sums ($10,000 or more) for a drawing. It's quite easy to do; just put a proper ground on heavy paper or board and draw with a tool that contains the metal rod. The effect is an ethereal, precise drawing that, over time, tarnishes and takes on a very special quality.

We've designed and produced a silverpoint tool and a number of artists have written to say that their drawings are taking off. The work in silver, copper, gold and platinum. You might want to look into drawing with metal point to expand (or develop) a market.

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Cennini website http://studioproducts.com/forum/forum.html (http://studioproducts.com/)

[This message has been edited by rhoward (edited June 21, 2000).]