Whether painter, actor, dancer, potter, or any other artist, it seems there are some commonly held beliefs that all starving artists have.
Starving Artist Mindsets
Starving makes me a better artist. My biggest pet peeve of all time. I see so many artists who refuse to take a business class, refuse to learn about financial planning, and think that they are a better artist for it. Shakespeare was rich. So was Norman Rockwell, Picasso, Elvis, and a litany of other artists.
Money is evil. Money is just a tool. The pursuit of money is necessary to live in most places, so learning to value your art in terms of money simply allows you to feed yourself and provide shelter for your family.
The Big Break will come. Instead of creating a plan or creating something themselves, the starving artist believes that their Big Break will come and they’ll be instantly rich, famous, and happy.
I don’t need training – I’m brilliant. Sure, you might be brilliant. More likely, you were just right for a particular role, painted one canvas that resonated, or had some other one shot hit. Brilliant artists who have training have long lasting, productive careers that are fulfilling and leave behind a body of work that is full of brilliance.
My family & friends say I’m amazing. Of course they do. Do you trust their opinion? It’s good to have supporters and people who love you, but to have a sustainable career, you need (unfortunately) the approval of people who don’t know you. That’s why the audition phases of American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and So You Think You Can Dance are so painful – many artists have never ventured out of the family bubble.
I need a day job. While you do need to make some money, you also need time for your art. If your day job is killing your creativity and not leaving you enough time to work on your craft, then something has to change. I’ve seen it happen. If your creativity goes away, your ability to do your day job will too.
I don’t need a day job. On the flip side, if you simply spend your days being artsy and don’t make real world considerations, you won’t be able to get training, buy supplies, market yourself, or feed yourself. It’s pretty hard to be creative when your stomach is growling.
It’s okay to sell out your values. Just because being a working artist is difficult doesn’t mean you should try to find the easiest route. Doing illegal or immoral things just take your creativity and flush it down the toilet. If you are a dancer, there are better things you can do than take a job as a stripper.
Starving Artists Believe That They Shouldn’t
I shouldn’t charge too much for my work. Some artists are so excited about finishing a project and getting attention that they don’t realize that they should charge more for it. There are endless stories of famous artists selling their work for a pittance before they become well known. Don’t be that guy (or gal). If your work flies off the shelf, it might be time to charge more for your art.
I can’t say no to any jobs or commissions. Learn this one early and you won’t starve. You only have so much time to create. If you take a job that doesn’t pay or pays too little, you won’t have time for the ones that do. Decide how much your time is worth, and don’t take anything less than you set for yourself.
I don’t need technology. I’ve heard that some artists believe that selling or displaying their work on the Internet cheapens it. You really, really need to be found online. Even if you don’t sell your work directly, people will research you, your art, or your show before they decide to purchase.
I’m doing all the right things with my business. The Internet is breaking down old business models. The music industry is decentralizing, art brokers find they must use the internet, and filmmakers are creating new webisodes every day. If you are still counting on a record deal, a gallery showing, or a movie deal, then you are not doing all you can.
What about you? Which of these beliefs have you dealt with, and how did you overcome them? Are there any that are missing? Let us know in the comments below.
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I’m bookmarking this blog right now! LOL! I have believed at least one of these when I was a much younger artist. I grew up and disproved for myself every single one the beliefs I’ve seen disproved here and totally agree. This should’ve existed then LOL!
.-= Adam West´s last blog ..Seven Quizzes =-.
It’s funny how the “starving artist” look in the 70’s was attractive to art buyers and for some reason artists have latched onto what no longer appeals. It’s truly a myth now as art buyers are much more educated and careful with their spending.
artists have not latched on to the idea of being poor for the purpose of image. they are poor because most art galleries love to exploit young and new artists with the excuse of ‘promoting’ them.
Mala just nailed it….OK… well…. a while back….i’m 45 . I have been painting since graduating in 95. I have a family. We have no savings. I have $9 at this moment which i got from begging on Facebook…….it is NOT ROMANTIC and DEFINITELY NOT DESIRABLE…it destroys your self esteem to where even IF people wanted prey upon me? they won’t be getting my best work because I have no time, I am depressed and cannot grow. You think people embrace the starving ANYTHING ideal? Cry your way through a few Christmases with a daughter you adore. Have assholes that like to slit the artery of your career because you didn’t have wire on the back of your art at install date career-block the fuckola out of you because they don’t want your voice to have any clout about what true jackasses they really are (even though you are smart enough not to burn bridges, why should they risk it?)…. Then have those people move on to positions of power ow the city and hold grudges. That’s what all these advise or career guidance pages never take into consideration. If your are broke, you DON’T HAVE MONEY… that means ANYTHING YOU SUGGEST THAT COSTS OVER $10 is a investment and even then …find me $10 that isn’t supposed to go somewhere yesterday. Enough promises of help and getting jacked by design or ignorance by your benefactor will make ANY ADVISE suspect. Even the most obvious “no brainer ” paths you have taken or been taken on ended , not just badly, but worse than you even wished to fathom! Fear of failure? Oh my god yes….but that’s because i have failed over and over spectacularly leaving me looking around thinking “ok…i did what i set out to do and….wow……wtf ?….wow”.Nobody enjoys being poor if they actually have experienced it. The “starving artist” crap that keeps getting spewed all over everything for years is all clients ever remember when they approach an artist. They “carrot dangle” to the point of artists saying .”.forget you and, by the way…go to hell” then your not savvy “your difficult to work with” because they are used to people dropping trousers and bending over for even something as ambiguously useless as EXPOSURE. Guess what? My family is DYING of exposure….my landlord doesn’t accept EXPOSURE … but you ask for a fair price in the face of ridiculous attitudes towards hiring or commissioning an artist?… get ready to be called out or, more aptly, not called at all. This career has been almost suicide inducing from the shit i endure and the loss of so many years and good times due to poverty. You want to get swarmed for commissions? tell everyone your broke and desperate and you’ll see the vultures swoop in. You’ll spend the next 4 months trying to complete the crap you agreed to so as to pay this months rent…..it’s not about embracing it…it’s just where you are headed, no matter how hard you work.. I would NEVER support my daughter entering the arts as a career. Sure, she can have fun doing all that fun stuff…but for a living? OH MY GOD….fuck that.! i wouldn’t allow myself to watch it and know i encouraged it.I know what your thinking, well …this guy must just not be very good or is bitter due to his own failings….ok maybe in some areas i was never educated in, like promoting and business….but not in the talent department. Not because i am not prolific…go ahead. Look at my website. And wonder…….what the hell is going on here? I’ll join you.
I’m going to be very blunt.
Your attitude sucks and it’s no wonder you’re not making any money.
Have you – even for a brief moment – considered that the art you make might actually be mediocre?
Ever thought of packing it in for a year, getting a job, working to acquire savings, and losing the run-on bitch-fest that is your post? My God, your poor family, having to listen to you.
I’m sorry but Geraldine made me chuckle but I share her sentiment.
Don’t worry, artists aren’t the only ones averse to taking jobs other than what they perceive they are made for. I know quite many engineering and business students who are too proud to begin their journey working at a retail store or other service jobs that don’t require a certificate. They think that service jobs will hurt their non-existing resume.
Cabe, your art is phenomenal and I hear you! Don’t look for my website, I couldn’t afford it anymore. I have a fb page though.
Another insightful post that helps clear my field of vision and challenges me to do more. Thanks!
I really relate to the mindset of charging too much for your work.
I believe that experience and education along with your supplies and time should be considered. I am sure you have heard someone ask “how long did it take you to paint this”? I like to add a little humor with my answer: “all of my life” because I started learning and drawing when I was 2 and I still use all I have learned in each of my paintings.
Another thing that has helped me and might work for you is that I realized that this creativity was a gift from God.
It helped me to respect my art and realize the gift that has been put in my heart is worth the price that I put on a painting.
Of course studying others art and what they charge might help but again…I think the price is as personal as the painting.
Taking a step back, this erroneous thinking usually comes from a place of believing one does not have resources – rather than from a mind-set of abundance. Things will happen for you and needs will be provided if your intentions are clear and focussed.
I’m afraid you don’t understand the mind-set of the artist. “Starving makes me a better artist”: no artist thinks that just the act of starving makes his art better, but time does. Working 8 hours a day in a bank is 8 hours wasted that you could spend more efficiently. A great artist does not care as much about happiness and luxury as he does about his art. The art itself comes above everything else, and without this attitude, works of genius will not be created.
No artist believes that money is evil, the question is how to get it and still give yourself completely to your art. Furthermore, it is often forgotten that most artist feel themselves cursed: they HAVE to create, and this “job” of being a creator simply has no real place in the world. They feel themselves often incapable of doing something else and label themselves as failures in life. The only thing they can do is create: not for the public, nor for the money, but merely for themselves, which is often a painful thing to realize and nothing to be proud of. Read the hunger artist by Franz Kafka, it is nothing to look up upon, the artist is simply choiceless.
Yeah, totally agree. Painful, but true.
You obviously have been meeting the worng kind of artists. Most artist DO NOT want to starve. Artists dont have steady jobs and therefore do not always have money. Making art takes time and artists do not get paid according to the amount of time an art work takes but get paid according to where they stand in the art field. You obviously have not been keeping up to date with the art field. Many artists use technology as a medium for their work along with traditional methods like painting. Please dont make the common mistake many people make that is if you can see the art you can judge it. it takes many years of learning and studying, a life times worth of experiences to make a great artist. this is why it takes time for artists t make money. it doesnt mean that artists starve to promote themselves.
I have been illustrating a book, but now must get serious about promoting my work. The advice on this site has been very enlightening.
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While I agree with some of the points you make out, as everyone said (and I’m glad I DON’T have to) Artists don’t want to be in the cold. They want to make a living and feed there family but in today’s world it’s getting smaller and smaller. I gave up art years ago never told my family I just shifted from it and lost the interests because I wasn’t “competitious” enough. I moved on to applied science and use my art skills for designs and sketch art every now and then I just don’t like working in digital visual arts anymore, competition to draw the most realistic tits on a elf girl or a chick with sword and some armor…with bigger tits is not appealing.
I miss the old days where it was simple requirements and not the whole damn world makes a few photoshop artworks to make a quick buck because they think “it’s easy!”. I’m sorry for ranting but thats how I see it today and I don’t want to be a starving artist.
I think one of the most harmful of all in these thoughts is the imagination that the big break will come if one keeps focus on one’s art.
It is true that one has to focus on one’s art, however, it is the carefully execution of planned, systematic marketing (I do not mean by advertising with a lot of budget) with the combination of great work that can bring on the big break.
You don’t get one important thing though. There are people born with a need to create, they sometimes becomes artists, and people born with a need to make money, and they sometimes develop businesses. These 2 drives don’t necessarily meet in the same person, I’ll even argue that they are so different that it’s uncommon for them to meet. I’m an artist, I work for others to make money, but with my own personal work I never made a single cent. I love my own work infinitely more than any meaningless stuff I’ve ever done for others.. I want to work on amazing things, but the real world has much lesser needs. I end up finding boring jobs, working for unimaginative people, helping them fulfill their unimaginative dreams. I’m not a businessman though, I hate the very idea of business, I don’t see myself learning about or risking to do any kind of business, I’m totally against risks of any kind. If I knew a business person able to capitalize from my art I would love to quit my pointless job and start working on my own stuff. But this is a daydream, it’s not going to happen. I admire and I envy the people who manage to make a living with their art. They are the fortunate few. For the rest of us.. I wish there was a way. If we could only meet someone to complete us. Like a writer or a publisher needs artists to illustrate books.. I wish I knew how that works. Or if making a living drawing comics was possible, that would be amazing. But I doubt any of those options pay enough to keep from starvation. Sure there are people making money drawing comics, but I bet that’s not their only source of income. I’m keeping my job and will continue to envy smarter artists. And no, I can’t be some other guy who dares to risk it all and knows how to start and handle some business. That’s not me, I don’t want to, I can’t be that guy, just like that guy can never be me. : ]
Apart from shaming strippers and broad sweeping title, I pretty much agree with the sentiment of this article.
I think I’ve cleared out those beliefs 🙂 Still need to work more on the planning and marketing though, since it isn’t working the way I want it to
I struggled for a long time with the belief that I “Can’t say no.” Of course if I’m saying yes to everyone demanding absurdly low prices then I’m gonna be poor forever. I think its rooted in another deeper false belief of “Making money is all that matters.” It might sound backwards that a starving artist would believe that, but its sort of the founding core belief underneath a lot of these other ones. At least for me in my own personal experience. Also, “Making money is all that matters” is like this weird mantra that for a long time almost every non-artist in my life from family to friends would angrily chant at me over and over again to try to pound into my head as if they thought it would help me.
Why would someone be incapable of saying no in the first place? This is an exaggeration because while I do realistic work I also do cartooning, but if somebody is offering me some work to illustrate some art to be printed on their products and they’re offering to pay me a sum total of $3.25 for 5,000 hours of work then I have no choice but to make that money! Because making money is all that matters! If any money is offered at all then I have to make it at all costs to my own personal well being. Even if it kills me. As long as I’ve got that $3.25 in my pocket when they bury me in the coffin then I succeeded at life!
Why would someone refuse training? Because going to art college costs money! You see, if you pay a school money then you’re losing money. Since “making money is all that matters” then I must only do what increases my money and never do anything that involves me losing money. Same for technology. If I buy a computer, domain name, and hosting then I’m losing money when I spend it. So by not getting technology I’m being smart and saving money!
Why would someone sacrifice their values? Because if “making money is all that matters” then your values don’t.
Why would someone charge too little for their work? Again this is an exaggeration to make a point, but if I raise my prices then that homeless guy with fifteen cents in his plastic cup can’t afford my painting. That’s fifteen cents I will lose. I’ve got to do everything I can to make all the money I can. I can’t afford to lose that fifteen cents so I’ve got to price this painting, that I spent a thousand dollars in paints to make, at fifteen cents so this hobo can afford it. You know, to make money!
I’d even go as far as to say that a starving artist might believe that “starving will make me a better artist” just so that their art becoming better will make that “big break” more likely to happen. And that they’d do all of this because making money is their actual one and only underlying reason.
I’d even say an artist would make the claim that “money is evil” in hopes that they’ll sound like a good person who is not greedy in any way so that you’ll give them more money without them even asking.
I finally personally overcame the “can’t say no” belief when a company had hired me to do some illustrations to be printed on their products. First of all they were offering me low pay in the first place. But the guy would also constantly insult me and my work as well and keep talking about how I was so lucky to even be offered any work at all from somebody as important and great as him in the first place. When he sent me an e-mail that said “You’re kind of a waste of my time” in order to try to motivate me to hurry up and finish the project faster, that’s when I finally couldn’t take it anymore and had to let him know that in reality he’s a waste of my time and I’m never going to do any work for him again no matter how much money he offers me because of how rude he is. It felt like making a deal with the devil. So I finally said no to somebody.
It took some deep reflection on why I started making art in the first place and realizing money was not it. I saw a lot of artwork that I was a big fan of. I wanted to be like my heroes and make beautiful artwork just like all the art that I love so much. And the reason I want to be a full time artist with a full time income from art is because I love making art so much that I wanna do it all day every day. Its fun. Yes money is important. But on a list of top ten priorities its maybe number two or three or maybe even lower. There are things that matter more than money. Like integrity, self respect, honesty, etc… When I think about it, the “Making money is all that matters” belief is basically the same mindset as criminal bank robbers have. “Well making money is all that matters so I stole it to make it as fast as I can. Yes, I had to murder a few people on the way out. But hey, I made money!” Its evil.
I heavily disagree with this article. I make art because it makes me happy, and personally helps me. I don’t care about getting rich or famous, because being rich and famous doesn’t make you happy, if it did then why would all these celebrities we see today commit suicide or struggle with substance abuse? Some people can’t be employed by actual businesses due to disabilities, that’s why they employ themselves. What’s wrong with being independent and following your dreams? Yes, you do need money to have a roof over your head and feed yourself but you don’t need a mansion or fancy, overpriced clothing. I do believe money is evil. Everyone praises the rich and famous and looks down on the poor and struggling. This article is a good example. “Struggling artist” is just a negative stereotype. Pricing is the artist choice. Social media is a great tool In today’s time. I don’t think I’m a genius, I don’t think I’m brilliant. I’ve had family and friends who’ve said they didn’t like my work. Ive had family and friends who loved my work, I’ve had people outside my circle who had both reactions also. But my art makes me happy. I hope it’ll make others happy too. Let’s stop stereotyping and discriminating. Give people a chance, you might actually see some cool art.
top advice, thx for this post