These are some of my most popular articles that dig into the nitty gritty of being a professional artist. If you’re looking for help that’s more tailored to your specific needs, you can hire me as an art guide!
Blog / Best of Art Business Articles
- 2024 The Alchemy of Art in a Capitalist Society
- 2021 Why Artists Hate Putting a Price on Their Art
- 2021 Why Artists Charge More for Custom Art
- 2020 How to Start a Patreon for Your Art
- 2019 What I Learned Running a Kickstarter Campaign
- 2019 Why Artists Should Be Paid Every Time They Exhibit
- 2018 Living Simply Is Part of Being a Full-time Artist.
- 2017 All the Ways Artists Spend Money
- 2016 All the Ways That Artists Make Money
- 2015 How to Make a Living as an Artist
- 2012 How to Price Art
- 2024 How To Make a Press Kit for a Visual Artist
- 2021 Figuring Out Who Will Like Your Art
- 2021 Scientific Proof That an Artwork’s Success Is Arbitrary
- 2018 The Success of Mediocre Art
- 2017 How to Start Promoting Your Art
- 2017 Are You Qualified to Be an Artist?
- 2016 A Conversation about Pay-to-play Promotion
- 2016 The Art Business Isn’t Like Any Other Business.
- 2024 Gwenn Seemel on Instagram Isn’t Actually Gwenn Seemel.
- 2022 Social Media Is Dead.
- 2022 How Social Media Misleads Us (In a Marketing Sense)
- 2022 Quitting Instagram and Facebook: The Perspective of 8 Artists
- 2021 How to Get Art Opportunities When You’re Not on Facebook and Instagram
- 2021 The One Thing You Must Do When You’re Deleting Social Media
- 2022 How to Have a Successful Unconventional Art Show
- 2021 The Long-term Effects of Censorship on Artists
- 2017 How to Avoid Art Scams
- 2016 What to Do When Gatekeepers Are Biased
- 2016 Shipping a Painting
- 2014 7 Lessons Learned while Doing Public Art
- 2013 How to Publish a Book of Your Art
- 2012 Taking Someone to Small Claims Court as an Artist
- 2011 Artists’ Contracts
- 2011 How to Build a Stretcher for Canvas
- 2008 How to Show Your Art
- 2023 Mistake #1: Putting Off Making Changes
- 2023 Mistake #2: Publishing Art That’s Not My Best
- 2023 Mistake #3: Trying to Be Like Everyone Else
- 2023 Mistake #4: Worrying About Being Too Sensitive
- 2023 Mistake #5: Blaming Myself for Being Too Nice
- 2023 Mistake #6: Confusing Bravery with Confidence
- 2023 Mistake #7: Not Realizing That People Want Me to Succeed
- 2023 Mistake #8: Hiding My Queer Identity for Years
- 2023 Mistake #9: Feeling Guilty About Wanting to Earn a Proper Living with My Art
- 2023 Mistake #10: Not Asking for Help Enough
- 2023 Mistake #11: People Pleasing
- 2023 Mistake #12: Being Afraid of Feedback
- 2023 Mistake #13: Not Listening Enough
- 2024 Mistake #14: Believing in the Big Break
- 2024 Mistake #15: Thinking My Positivity Would Make My Art Better
- 2024 Mistake #16: Getting on Social Media in the First Place
- 2024 Mistake #17: Expecting My Creativity to Be Linear
- 2024 Mistake #18: Worrying About Cheating in Art
- 2024 Mistake #19: Being Afraid to Start
- 2024 Mistake #20: Failing to Appreciate My Mistakes
- 2023 Why Human Art Will Always Be More Interesting to Us Than AI Images
- 2021 Web Free-point-oh: NFTs, DAOs, the Value of Art, and the Cutest Kitty on the Internitty
- 2019 Why Artists Rip Each Other Off (And How We Can Stop Them)
- 2018 How to Free Your Art from Copyright
- 2014 My TEDx Talk!
- 2012 Copyright Is for Scaredy-cats.
- 2011 A Business Model for an Artist Who Does Not Use Copyright
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #1: Identify Art That You Find Boring
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #2: Learn to Appreciate Other Artists’ Work
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #3: Talk about It
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #4: Determine What Parts of It Make You Happy
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #5: Figure Out What Worries You Most
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #6: Decide on What’s Right and Wrong in Your Art
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #7: Play with Your Self-expression Versus Communication Ratio
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #8: Document Your Work
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #9: Inventory Your Pieces
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #10: Give It Away
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #11: Charge a Lot of Money for It
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #12: Take a Break from It Now and Again
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #13: Don’t Claim the Copyright on Your Work
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #14: Don’t Let Jerks Near It
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #15: Introduce It to All Your Favorite People
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #16: Celebrate It
- 2020 How to Love Your Art #17: Define the Word “Love”
- 2018 Why Artists Need So Much Validation
- 2016 How to Keep On Keeping On
- 2015 How to Love Your Art (and Yourself)
- 2018 Dear Diary #1: Thoughts of a Baby Artist
- 2018 Dear Diary #2: Comparing Yourself to Another Artist
- 2018 Dear Diary #3: Perfectionism and Self-confidence
- 2018 Dear Diary #4: When Your Friend Likes Bad Art
- 2018 Dear Diary #5: Feedback for My First Show
- 2018 Dear Diary #6: My First Business Lesson
- 2018 Dear Diary #7: Make Them Love You or Hate You
- 2017 How to Choose between the Self-taught Route, Going to Art School, and Getting a BA
- 2015 7 Reasons to Try Being an Artist Even If You Don’t Think You’re a Real Artist
- 2012 How to Be a Professional Artist