how do people actually make money doing art?

Seriously.

?

 

They get lucky.



How that fucking piece of shit is worth $140,000,000 I have no idea.

Infact when I first learned that I lost my faith in humanity all together.

 

very few people make a living doing it, skill isnt everything

you also have the matter of marketability (popular tastes at the moment)
luck (being "discovered")
personal effort to get recognition (a small factor compared to others, but definitely important)

its common for many great artists to die in abject poverty, or at least relative poverty...even obscurity....

most talented artists who are not so called "starving" artists are either enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame or are working commercially for other people (advertising, packaging, commissioned works, and so on)

i bet you most of the big names in current art will be less well known in the future, and some very misunderstood or unrecognized artists will, down the line, be recognized as some of the greatest of our era

 

i would, if I accepted money for my art.

my art is the art of love.

 

You gotta know how to manipulate your environment.

What to do
where to do it
how to do it
when to do it

who to market to
how to market to

being in the right place at the right time

I have a few friends who do it,
and I've sold some of my stuff by posting them up at art shows.
Made hundreds one night off of one piece because the art show was in a very "rich" location.

If you want to make big money, you have to make a name for yourself
and that takes character and a desire to innovate.

some people just get lucky, yeah, but what is that luck? break it down and you'll see the patterns.

 

charge no less than $500 for anything

 

If I decide to sell my art, I would put the most ridiculous price tag on it, mostly because I dont really want to sell it anyways. But hey if someone pays 76 mil for some shit smeared on some canvas- il be happy.

 

It's true.
You put the price tag on your work.
If people like it, they will buy it.
I sold a 2.5'x1.5' ink and colored pencil for 500$

 

It's possible...

Some people are really talented and do really bizarre odd things that people want to have, so they make money, thusly making a living...

 

I have a friend who makes bank off of metal work + sacred geometry.

 

by selling it to people that like art!

 

Sometimes it helps to be dead. Then your art goes up because there will be no more.

Think about it, if birds shit diamonds, no one would care about them anymore because everybody would have a car covered in them. bling bling

 

sometimes...
other people like alex grey get at least $30,000 for a painting.

 

By selling their souls to the devil.

But really it's just a matter of the right people finding your work interesting.


I know a looooot of artists, most of them do their art as a hobbie and work in some profitable artsy job, like graphic design, advertising (photography, writer, whatever). Actually most of the people I know, that's what they do.

 

You can...it's hard work like any other profession though.

I would imagine it would help to live in a city or community that actually values it's artists. That also means more competition between artists for the dollars that are out there. But that can only motivate those that have the will to make it their life...thereby forcing them to be better artists.

Yes, luck has a bit to do with it.

Self-promotion is another key element. You could be the next de Kooning but no one will know if you kep it to yourself. Get out there and show it off. Make them believe you're the best shit since Wonder Bread.

Always remember that everyone's definition of success is relative. Loving your life and what you do goes a long way when funds are limited. Someone once said that "Artist live better lives beneath the poverty level than most other people".

 

A little bit of talent and a whole lotta luck.

 

Well technically the printing plates at the U.S. treasury are artwork so if one is involved in creating those then both in the literal sense of manufacturing greenbacks and in earning a wage they are making money doing art... as is any person working with the minting dies involved in making coins.

 

Anyone see that documentary, My Kid Could Paint That...?

They have a very popular art fair here once every year, where people can rent booths and show and sell their art, I was somewhat surprised at some of the prices on the art that had just one or two paint strokes on it, but hey if someone wants to spend their money on it, than that's up to them...Haha, if someone spent money on things I create I'd have to questions their sanity level...l

 

Im not good at anything....except dancing. And i can make stained glass art. But that is too mechanical.

 

I like pottery....