[tylerlarson]

Become an artist. Don't make art based on your expression of your feelings or whatever. Take it on like you would a startup. Create things you think will sell and based on what works iterate quickly. Make lots of work, sell it at cost and increase your price as you refine your process.

You can involve computers in the process of creating work. Things like conceptual art doesn't even have to involve any artistic skill necessarily, but there are many other areas that do if you want to try it out. Paintings from unknown artist can sell for $5K and if you have the energy and space to make sculptures, they can sell for much more.

Always keep in mind who the buyers are, it isn't always directly to customers (galleries, governments, large corporations). Only make work that sells. In the process your pitch will need to be refined. It can't be simply that you want to make money, it has to speak the the audience.

There are many different customers out there looking for different things. Keep in mind there are very few people who devote themselves to this and few of these people have any sense of business, branding, marketing, or even creativity as deep as what is available in technology today. Sure many people can draw or whatever but this isn't want makes a successful artist.

Success comes from all of the same stuff that every other industry focuses on.

R.Mutt QED

[tedmiston]

> Success comes from all of the same stuff that every other industry focuses on.

Sure, but a major difference is that art is highly subjective and typically bought with arbitrary disposable income as opposed to a value-based purchasing decision. The kind of art that large corporations buy isn't what any artist actually wants to make.

[_dingus]

>The kind of art that large corporations buy isn't what any artist actually wants to make.

I think that's exactly what they are suggesting. Make art that will sell, not art that artists want to make. Methodically approach art to appeal to a specific niche (be it corporate clients, government orgs all the way down to stay at home moms and anime fans). You could argue that at that point it isn't really "art", but that's kind of the idea. Take art out of it and sell a product to appeal to a certain market.

[cousin_it]

Great perspective! If I ever go into art, that's how I'll do it. That wouldn't even feel like selling out, because what makes my teenage self's taste (which defines what I'm driven to create by default) any more valid than other people's tastes today?