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Do These 6 Things BEFORE Going Full-Time as an Artist

Hey!  How are you?  If we haven’t met before, I’m Lauren.. I’m your host of the Design Tribe podcast, and I’m an artist and textile designer.  In the last episode, I went into pretty great detail about what it was like working as a full-time artist and licensing surface pattern designs.  So if you missed that episode, be sure to check it out.

I know a lot of you are either trying to make it as a surface pattern designer OR you dream of one day being able to leave your day job to license your artwork to companies.

I spent 2 years as an independent artist, and although there were many things I loved about working independently, I ultimately went back to an in-house job as a Senior Textile Designer.  

A lot of these tips I’m about to share with you are things I WISH I did before making the leap to being a full-time artist.  We’ll talk about all the money stuff in the very last tip so be sure to stick around for that juicy topic.

Okay, so my first tip is to…

• Publish a class to Skillshare.

1. 1. 1. This might not be the advice you were expecting, haha!
      2. And to be honest, I’m a little annoyed with Skillshare, because last year they cut their teacher’s income by almost half - with no warning.
      3. From a business perspective, I understand if they needed to do this, but they really should have been up front about it and approached the cut in a much more gradual way.  So, it felt really crappy.. Especially when a lot of teachers relied on this as a dependable stream of income.
      4. BUT!
      5. The reason my first tip is to upload a class to Skillshare is because when you go full-time as an artist, you will need some recurring revenue coming in on a regular basis.  
      6. When it comes to teaching, Skillshare is one of the easiest places to start, because they already have such a great built-in audience with lots of students who are creative.  
      7. Domestika is another popular teaching platform you could choose if Skillshare has lost your trust.  I haven’t personally uploaded classes to Domestika so I can’t comment on whether I like the platform or not, but other artists seem to really like it.
      8. Another reason to upload a class is to just get your feet wet and see if you enjoy teaching.
      9. A lot of full-time artists teach on a platform like Skillshare or sell a course as a way to supplement their licensing income, which if you’ve ever done any licensing, you know very well it can fluctuate a lot!
      10. Your first class doesn’t even have to be related to what you WANT to do moving forward.  It’s easy to think:  “Well, I can’t teach about that, because I don’t have enough experience yet.”  And you would be right!
      11. Instead, think about where you were 5-10 years ago.  What have you learned since then?
      12. Your course could be about learning how to use Photoshop or how to draw a Still Life.  What are some things you learned in school that you could teach?  What did you major in?  It doesn’t even have to be art-related!
      13. It does help to keep your class topics related in the long term, but for your very first class - it could really be anything.

      14. The idea is for you to discover A.) if you enjoy teaching - e.i. Filming yourself, doing a little video editing, etc.  and B.) to start generating some recurring revenue.

• Develop your Art Style

1. 1. 1. When you’re working as an in-house designer, it can be really hard to find your own Art Style.  
      2. Often when we work an in-house job, you get really good at doing ANY style… depending on what the project needs.
      3. Companies often try to fill out the white space in their line by covering a range of styles from traditional to modern to boho, you name it.  That means, as the designer, you develop the skill of designing ANY style.
      4. The problem with that is… you start to lose a sense of your own style and who you are from the inside out.
      5. You might get excited by new trends or a new project that changes things up.  When you like soo many different things, it can be really hard to narrow down to just ONE look.  Especially, when you don’t know what’s going to sell or which style might be the most reasonable to pursue.
         1. When you can do any style, HOW do you pick?!
      6. This gets very tricky, because in LICENSING… companies are really only interested in licensing when your art brings something new to the table… something that they don’t already have from their own in-house designers.
      7. Companies want to know what YOUR perspective is.
      8. Think of the Jungalow brand.
      9. Justina Blakeney brought a brand new perspective to home décor by covering her house in an explosion of plants and colorful textiles.  
         1. In a time where Minimalism and white sofas were extremely popular, she did the opposite thing… and by staying true to her own vision, this Boho Maximalism style exploded.
      10. Think of Rifle Paper Co. and the unique style of Anna Bond’s florals.
          1. She brought a brand new look to florals that really highlights her own unique style that’s painterly, colorful, and friendly.
      11. Oftentimes, companies want to license work that’s the same, but different.  This means the subject matter is often the same… like the florals that are so famous from Rifle Paper Co.  But the WAY Anna Bond painted them was so different.
      12. Style is all about technique.

      13. If this is something you’re struggling with, I do offer a self-paced online program called Art Style Academy.  When you go through my program and do the work, you will develop your own style by the end of the course.  If this sounds interesting to you, you can check out the link in the show notes or check out my website at LaurenLesley.com - and Lesley is spelled with an E-Y.

• Create a Portfolio with a Large Body of Work

1. 1. 1. Once you’ve developed your Art Style, the next area of focus is to build out your portfolio.  It will be sooo much easier to get the ball rolling if you already have a full portfolio to sell.
      2. From there, you can decide if you want to work with an agent, upload to an on-demand site, or exhibit at a tradeshow.
      3. So, you might be wondering… “Okay, but how many pieces do I need to have in my portfolio?”
      4. Honestly, you probably need close to 100 pieces in your portfolio.  I know this sounds like a lot, but it’s important to work in collections and some of these could be coordinates.  For each collection, you also need to work in a limited color palette and make sure your pieces are looking related to each other.
      5. If you are cold-emailing Art Directors, you don’t necessarily need 100 pieces to start.  You can pitch collection-by-collection.
      6. But if you’re investing a lot of time, money, and energy to exhibit at a tradeshow, I recommend going in prepared with A LOT of work.  You’re more likely to gain contracts if you have a collection that really resonates with a client.

      7. Okay, so what else?

• Start uploading to ONE On-Demand Site

1. 1. 1. Etsy
      2. Society 6
      3. Spoonflower
      4. Creative Market
      5. Patternbank
      6. Minted
         1. Uploading to On-Demand sites can be a bit tricky for a lot of reasons.  I feel like that might be another whole podcast episode.
         2. But I think a lot of artists try uploading to one site, find that they’re not having success so then they switch and try a different site.
         3. A lot of time gets wasted posting and re-posting your designs on so many different sites.
         4. I think it’s important to figure out WHICH site you like the best up front - before you quit your day job.  Figure out which site is converting to sales.
         5. For example, my Character Builders sold really well on Creative Market.  Customers on Creative Market are usually other designers and they understand how to use programs like Illustrator.  They buy these products to save themselves a little time.
         6. However, when I tried to sell the same designs as Clip Art on Etsy it didn’t do very well.  I had too many customers sending me private messages wanting me to customize the clip art for them and I was trying to get away from hourly work.
         7. I ended up preferring Creative Market to sell digital products, because I made the most money and customers weren’t asking me to customize the artwork for them.
         8. I also like Patternbank the best for uploading pattern designs to the internet.  But I’ll admit I have a love-hate relationship with this platform.  When a design sells, the money is a lot better than other sites I’ve experienced.  However, I’m constantly agonizing over which patterns I want to remain in my Licensing Portfolio and which ones I want to sell on Patternbank.  
         9. If there’s something I no longer love, or don’t feel as strongly about, in my Licensing Portfolio, I sort of think about it like putting those patterns on clearance by posting them to Patternbank.  It doesn’t make them bad, but it’s something I am just kind of “over” and I want to get rid of it.  
         10. Because I spent time on it, I want the ability to earn some kind of ROI, but I don’t love it enough to continue spending future-time on pitching it to clients.
         11. I think artists have a lot of different opinions on these ON-DEMAND sites.  Some feel that it devalues the industry and isn’t worth the low pay.  But other artists sometimes “get found” on these sites and it can really boost their career.
         12. Other sites like Minted and Spoonflower offer design challenges that I think can really help you understand what types of designs sell and how to level up your artwork.  So, if your artwork skills need developing this is a great place to get an education!

         13. The main point I want to make here is to play around with this option and figure out if you like it BEFORE quitting your day job.  I’d recommend only choosing one or two On-Demand sites you like and stick with it.  If you try to post to all of them, you’ll spread yourself too thin and you won’t make any progress.

• Start Outsourcing

1. 1. 1. Hire an Assistant Designer
         1. Believe it or not, when you become a Full-Time Artist you have also decided to become a Business Owner.  You’ll need to set up an LLC (if you’re in the U.S.) and save at least 30% of your income for paying taxes.
         2. When you go independent, you’re no longer just an artist.
         3. You’re also the CEO, head of Marketing, Sales, and Accounting.  You are the only person in the business which means you have to do everyyyything.  What’s so frustrating about this is that it can leave very little time for making art.
         4. When you’re still working a day job, it’s kind of a similar boat - where the majority of your time is spent working on your day job… so you don’t exactly have enough time to build up your side hustle.
         5. Unfortunately, this doesn’t change when you go independent, because you suddenly have so many more responsibilities.
         6. That’s why I suggest outsourcing as much as you can BEFORE leaving your day job.
         7. You need to get your systems in place so that the business can run smoothly when you are ready to take the leap.  You don’t want to be scrambling.
         8. Your website should be in a finished state.
         9. I really recommend hiring an Assistant Designer who is a jack-of-all-trades.  My assistant designer is amazing, because he can work on all kinds of things that require proficiency in everything from Illustrator or Photoshop to video editing in Premiere Pro.
         10. You can find really great design help on places like Fiverr or Upwork.  They keep track of the contract and the hours which is a huge help.
         11. From there, I like to use Asana to organize my projects and give a due date.  My Assistant Designer can keep up with the projects in Asana and knows what he can work on next.  It’s all in there.

         12. That frees me up to work on my artwork.

• Figure Out Your Money

1. 1. You really need to get a good handle on both your personal and business expenses BEFORE leaving your day job.
   2. I found that business expenses ended up being a lot more expensive than I ever would have guessed.  Everything from paying for a website, to an email list, to attending a trade show, to outsourcing a mountain of tasks… really adds up!
   3. Some of you may be able to move into your parents’ house or you may have a partner who supports you in the beginning.  This is all helpful, but you’ll still need a way to fund your business - especially to get it up and running.
      1. Using your day job’s salary to fund your business in the early stages is a strategy I quite like.
   4. The more you focus on building up Passive Income Streams like classes or selling digital products BEFORE quitting your day job… the more you’ll be able to focus on your licensing portfolio.  The only issue is it does take more time.  Try to be patient.
   5. It’s good to layer on an Active Income stream as well - especially if your Passive Income streams are slow or sporadic.  What I don’t like about Active Income streams is that it’s trading hours for dollars.  
      1. But!  You can generally earn more money more quickly.  
   6. Put on your Accountant hat and make a spreadsheet.
      1. Get real familiar with what your expenses will be!
      2. Ignoring them does not make them go away.
      3. Try to reduce your living expenses as much as possible.
         1. For example, my husband and I share a car that’s already paid for.  We don’t have a car payment, and because the car is old, our insurance isn’t too high either.
         2. Pay off your student loans!  If you still have student loans, you are not ready to quit your day job.
         3. Get rid of any credit card debt.
      4. Build up your resources.
         1. Think of any equipment you might need to start your business.
         2. BEFORE quitting your day job, go ahead and buy all of the fancy things.
            1. A new computer
            2. An iPad
            3. A good camera (can be used)
            4. A microphone
            5. A Pantone Book
            6. All of the art supplies you might want
            7. Any art books

Okay, so to recap the 6 things you should do BEFORE going full-time as an artist… we talked about:

• Publishing a class to Skillshare or another platform like Domestika.
• Develop Your Art Style 
• Create a Portfolio with a Large Body of Work (100 pieces)
• Find ONE On-Demand site that you’re liking 
• Start Outsourcing Business Tasks
• Figure Out Your Money

There’s honestly so much more I could say on this topic, but that’s a really good place to start!  Feel free to DM me over on Instagram @LaurenLesleyStudio  if you want to chat more.  I always love hearing from you all!

Have a wonderful day and good luck on all of your amazing art businesses!  Talk soon.