My primary goal in these interviews is to inspire you with stories of people who make a living helping artists make a living making art and who consider it a real job. The art professionals I interview here have valuable tales to tell you about how to work with them. Scroll down for a list of other interviews and quotes.
Access past interviews:
J'Net Smith, All Art Licensing
Kelly Powers, Creative Catalyst Productions
Margaret Danielak, Artist Representative: The Inside Story
John Seed, Art-Explainer and Storyteller
Quotes:
- John. R. Cherry on taking charge of your art career
- Digital Arts Studio on Giclée printmaking
- Pat Fiorello on the myth of the starving artist
- Alexandria Levin on perseverance
- Darryl Mix on exhibiting your art widely
- Benny Shaboy on getting money
- Lee Silber on self-promotion
- Constance Smith on the long view of success
- Synthia Smith on balancing life & work
- Katherine Swift on not being limited by your perceptions about yourself
- Chris Welsh on the many hats artists must wear
John. R. Cherry on taking charge of your art career
"You can be one of the best artists in the world today, but if you do not get serious about the business of fine art then you are not likely to find financial success or recognition. Most artists cannot afford to hire a marketing manager to handle those pesky business details, so success as a professional artist means you have to have a business system. Whether you use a note card file or an online system … you must find a business system that works for you and then work it."
John R. Cherry, III is Founder & Co-Chairman of the Board, The National Fine Arts Title Registry. Please use this link for registering your fine art and help build ACTs of generosity, our scholarship fund. www.FineArtsTitle.com/0374
Digital Arts Studio on Giclée Printmaking
Digital Arts Studio has the technical expertise and marketing savvy to help you profit from fine-art Giclée printmaking. Barry Glustoff, Robin Zelizer and Peter Leafman opened Digital Arts Studio in 2003. They have 80 year’s combined experience in art reproduction, marketing and retail custom picture framing.
Digital Arts Studios achieves superior quality, color accuracy, and consistency on every digital imaging project. Color management is not only about technical expertise. Peter Leafman and Barry Glustoff have artistic backgrounds and keen color sense that make for a winning collaboration with all of their clients, digitally “savvy” or not.
Digital Arts Studios has an outstanding team of technicians, including skilled photographers, professional artists, graphic designers and digital imaging specialists. Using the latest and best possible technology, they can achieve superior quality, color accuracy, and consistency on every project.
Pat Fiorello on the myth of the Starving Artist
“Too many artists buy into the myth of the ‘starving artist’. If you believe opportunities are limited, that’s what you’ll find, but if you see that opportunities are truly abundant, that’s what you’ll experience. If you have a positive attitude and take appropriate and focused actions, you can make a living doing what you love.”
Pat Fiorello brings a unique blend of both the business and art worlds. For 20 years she worked in the corporate world as a marketing and general management executive. She received her M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and has been Vice President, Marketing for Coca-Cola and Nabisco. She left her “first” career to more fully pursue her passion for art and has been doing so successfully for over 6 years. In addition to selling her original paintings, Pat’s artwork has been accepted into over 60 juried shows, featured in over a dozen solo exhibitions, and licensed for greeting cards and home decor products. Pat is recognized as a Signature Member of the Georgia Watercolor Society. She has helped hundreds of artists develop their business skills through her work with arts organizations, workshops and private coaching. Pat has served as Chairman of the Atlanta Artists Center and President of the Georgia Watercolor Society. www.patfiorello.com
Alexandria Levin on perseverance
Image by Jonathan Lane “I was born with a demanding muse and an insatiable curiosity, and was always creating something as a child. I’ve been painting ever since I was 17, over 33 years ago. This is the one constant in my life. Perseverance means that your essential identity is that of being an artist. Nothing changes that; no life circumstances, no economic lows, no outside criticism, nothing. If you have to work a regular job five days a week, then you paint inside your head during those five days. Life changes all the time, pendulums swing. Things are good, then they slow down, the situation becomes disappointing, and then one day something shifts and whole new worlds of opportunity open up. If you are truly an artist you never give up. You don’t listen to those outside voices that say to quit - ever. You only listen to your muse - your inner voice. You create and grow no matter what."
Alexandria Levin has exhibited her oil paintings in galleries, museums and cultural centers across thecountry since 1981, including ten solo shows. Her paintings are in private collections from Boston toJapan, as well as in the state of New Mexico’s Capitol Art Collection in Santa Fe. She has lecturedon her art in the San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia and Tokyo, and was awarded major stategrants from the California Arts Council and Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council, plus she has receivedvarious exhibition and purchase awards. Ms. Levin attended Massachusetts College of Art to studypainting for two years and later returned to school at the San Francisco Art Institute where shereceived a BFA with honors in 1989.
Alexandria is currently living and painting in the Philadelphia area, and has recently written two bookson the arts and creativity. She is also working on two collections of poetry and song lyrics. As always,and as the top priority in her life, she is painting whenever possible; continuing to build her two currentbodies of work with well over a hundred and seventy paintings to date and going strong. www.alexalev.com
Darryl Mix on exhibiting your art widely
“You may exhibit in many non-traditional venues, but galleries still have an important place in ambitious artists’ career plans. In this class, you will learn from our guest Darryl Mix, of SA Contemporary Art in San Antonio, Texas about how to prepare for working with galleries. Artists who work with galleries want to exhibit their work to certain kinds of buyers, arts writers, and museum curators. You have to know who is interested in your work and where they go see art.”
Darryl Mix is the Director of Art SA, a commercial art gallery located in San Antonio Texas. Art SA is still in its infancy - after only 10 months in operation. Darryl's focus as Director and Curator is to successful fulfill the gallery's promise to its audience, to "Discover The Art of San Antonio."
Darryl's current role as the Director and Curator for an art gallery is a second career. For more than 17 years, Darryl worked as a fundraiser, marketer and public relationsist for non-profit health and arts organizations in Southern California and San Antonio. Darryl liberally applies the principles of "affinity marketing" and "collaborative outreach" that have proven effective in the non-profit sector to the "art world", a ubiquitous segment of the "for profit world."
Benny Shaboy on getting money
“Unless you get lucky, being financially successful is extremely difficult. But that's actually to your advantage, because 95 percent of the other artists aren't willing to work as hard and as smart as you are. And the smarter you work, the luckier you'll get.”
Benny Shaboy studied sculpture and drawing at The University of the Arts and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Founding editor/publisher of studioNOTES (1993), he is currently editor/publisher of "Art Opportunities Monthly," author of "The studioNOTES Treasury” and "The Art Opportunities Book: Finding and Winning," as well as numerous articles.
Lee Silber on self-promotion
"Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just create great art and everything else would simply take care of itself? Unfortunately, we need to sell ourselves, our work and in some cases, our decisions. It’s called 'Self' promotion for a reason. If we don’t do it, nobody else will."
Lee Silber is the award-winning author of eleven books including the popular title Self-Promotion for the Creative Person and his latest book, Organizing from the right Side of the Brain. Silber also is a radio talk-show host, the founder of five companies and an amazing self-promoter with over 750 articles/and media appearances to his credit.
Constance Smith on the long view of success
“Last year, I was invited to an Artist Residency in Japan and had the time of my life. This is a golden opportunity to experience Japanese art and culture. It will consist of art and crafts exhibitions (three locations), demonstrations, and home stays as well as the exchange of ideas, friendship and participation in joint art projects. Selected Berkeley and other East Bay artists will be invited to exhibit their work, participate in demonstrations, and visit Sakai next spring.”
Synthia Smith on balancing life & work
"Synthia Smith is my friend, mentor and business coach. She has been my best source of resilient thoughts, behavior and actions for over ten years now." ~ Aletta de Wal
Synthia helps you find the effective, natural leverage points to balance your life and work. Synthia has been a Professional Coach since 1995, serving hundreds of clients located across the US, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. In addition, she brings over 25 years of Fortune 500 and independent business experience in training, human resources, geoscience, management, project management, and consulting. Synthia suffers from an incurable love of meditation, exploration, great conversation, and learning.
www.themitragroup.com/id4.html
Katherine Swift on not being limited by your perceptions about yourself
“You are only limited by your own perceptions. I am classically trained in the facts of science yet am making a career out of my creativity. Learn to do both. You will be surprised what you can do.”
A.C.T. 101 Graduate Katherine Swift grew up on a dairy farm in Virginia. She graduated from The Ohio State University in 1997 with a degree in veterinary medicine and began her veterinary career that same year. She began her art education a few years later. She now combines her love for both in a line of agricultural themed jewelry. Her experiences of being a veterinary practice owner and a jewelry artist give her a unique perspective on making a living from art. She features this jewelry, along with other artists’ agricultural themed art on her online art gallery, www.cowartandmore.com. Her own line of jewelry and gallery cater to the agriculture industry. Katherine has exhibited at many art shows throughout Florida, including the Walt Disney World Festival of the Masters and has sold artworks worldwide.
Chris Welsh on the many hats artists must wear
“Artists who show and sell their work must wear many hats that are unrelated to making art. If you bring only part of yourself to the business side of art, it can feel like drudgery. Understanding the stages of creativity can help you tap into your whole being and make art marketing a creative and enjoyable activity.”
Chris Welsh is president of Mastery of Learning®, an international education and consulting company he founded more than 20 years ago. Chris began his unique research and development of non-traditional learning techniques in 1969 while training killer whales and dolphins for the U.S. Navy in Hawaii and earning a black belt in aikido. Chris specializes in the application of chaos and complexity concepts to accelerated learning, project management, creativity, and change management. The end result is a simpler, richer life.
The Inside Story of Art Licensing with J'net Smith
There is often additional information on the recording that is not in this written interview. Inspire yourself and listen while you make art.
 J'Net Smith, All Art Licensing |
Jeanette Smith, founder and owner of All Art Licensing, is the consummate art licensing coach - she is passionate about helping you achieve a level of success beyond imagining. In just six short years, J'net turned Dilbert™ from a relatively unknown syndication-based comic strip into a 200 million dollar a year global brand. Then in 2000, J'net translated and expanded on her extensive experience to train, advise and license all types of creators. She has helped hundreds of artists, graphic designers, painters, photographers, authors, illustrators, design firms, fine artists, creative companies, non-profits and agents to maximize the power of their brands and talents.
Today I have the pleasure of bringing you the backstory to her company All Art Licensing through this interview.
J'net/AAL: Licensing found me; I'm pretty sure of it. I worked in marketing and advertising at the beginning of my career and moved from Seattle to New York City. Why? I just knew I had to. There I met my mentor Ann Strunk, then a VP at Macmillan Publishing, who taught me the licensing business and a great deal about contracts and negotiations. I will always be grateful to her for the time she spent with me in those early days, and her profound belief in me.
Once I learned about licensing, things really fell into place for me. First of all, I got very excited because I really wanted to be involved with EVERY aspect of a product; from its initial concept and development, down the line to production, distribution, retail and, of course, customer purchase and satisfaction. Licensing is such a terrific business model, as it allows many people who can't afford their own production and distribution to have products and brands on the market. It really facilitates everyone, such as artists, manufacturers and retailers, handling their area of expertise in order to create more wonderful types of product.
Now through licensing, I'm not just providing the brand strategy, marketing plan, advertising and sales function for new or existing products, but I'm also working with creators from the beginning to the end of the product cycle. My first actual "licensing" experience was with a very good but boring English as a Second Language training course, and it was here that the light bulb clicked on! I wanted to take this experience and work in the entertainment industry to market more creative products, such as art and characters, with a sense of style and humor! This revelation actually led me to my position as Vice President Licensing at United Media, where I began marketing the Dilbert™ comic strip and characters for cartoonist Scott Adams.
In less than six years, I built the Dilbert™ brand from its infancy as a syndicated comic strip in about 150 newspapers to a global corporate icon with more than $200M in annual retail sales, two New York Times Bestsellers, 26 animated television episodes and 750+ products in more than 40 countries. Following the astronomical growth of Dilbert™, I left United Media to start my own business.
J'net/AAL: What I learned from the explosive growth of Dilbert™ is that there are marketing "truths" that are valid for starting businesses, as well as building companies, brands and properties. You can then adapt them and use them in different ways depending on the type of creative work you do, your target audience and your budget. As a consultant, I have worked behind the scenes for many companies as well as coached individuals and companies to set up their own licensing systems and departments.
While attending the International Licensing Show over the years, it became quite evident to me that artists were an under-served market in the licensing arena. Except for partnering with an agent, they had no one to help them build the bridge between fine art and licensing, or graphic design and licensing. And at the same time, finding and signing a good agent was becoming increasingly competitive. Often artists thought they were ready for an agent. And in many of these instances the agent turned down the artist, not because their art wasn't good enough, but because the artist really didn't understand the licensing business and wasn't able to offer the agent the type of portfolio and skill sets that they require to immediately get started licensing their art.
Frankly, being an art lover all my life has also fueled this passion. My parents were artists, as well as collectors who filled our home with beautiful pieces of art from all of their travels.
I really hate to see artists be so vulnerable in the business world. And I want creators of all kinds to learn how to generate income from their talents through licensing, whether they choose to do-it-themselves or partner with honest agents that have their interests at heart. With these goals in mind, my desire was to specifically teach artists how to succeed in licensing through specially designed classes or one-on-one coaching. That's how All Art Licensing got started.
J'net/AAL: Art licensing equals a small percentage of the overall licensing industry, but to those manufacturers who depend on art and design to create products it is essential. I believe the biggest challenge in the industry is really the match-making. Whether an artist wants to go-it-alone or find a reputable agent, the actual connection of the right art - with the right manufacturer - at the right time - is difficult at best, yet very rewarding.
What many artists don't realize is how long it will take to create a profitable business. You really need to do your research and make sure this commercial industry is for you, and then give it 2-3 years to get established (note my 20 Rules of Art Licensing: Rule #4).
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J'net
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J'net/AAL: I have services and products for every budget level and stage of the business. For those with limited funds my blog, combined with my Professional Creator's Licensing Series (PCLS), is a very affordable way to begin your education. The PCLS audio courses come with very detailed presentations. The complete beginners series (PCLS 1-4) is more than six hours of art licensing training, covering an introduction to the industry, how to create art collections for manufacturers and agents, sales, negotiations and contracts. It's very comprehensive and many artists have started their business with this series.
I also have audio courses that cover trade shows, annual business planning, character licensing, and legal issues - copyrights, trademarks and contract language. In addition, there are many art licensing topics I've covered in my 60 minute Ask J'net Q&A sessions. New intermediate level courses for those who want to continue their learning include: Doing More Deals and the Manufacturer Mindset.
Other artists want one-on-one coaching to evaluate their art for licensing and help them develop a personalized strategy. I do this in my 3 hour SmartStart Session consultation, that starts with the artist sharing their artwork, background, goals and aspirations, through documents, art files and web sites. I spend one hour reviewing the art and all types of information from the artists before we begin. Then we have a two-hour phone consultation, which is also recorded, to provide the artist with an evaluation of their art, plus a strategy for building their business. Artists are amazed at the amount of information I can assess and deliver in this time frame. The response has been tremendous. And depending on what an artist needs to get to the next level in their business goals, whether negotiation skills, finding an agent, developing collections, sales or all of these, that's exactly what they will receive.
The benefit of these products and services is that you can cut through the clutter and get right to business. I have been told by clients that the SmartStart Session alone saves 2 or more years of research and planning. It is really my most popular service, as the format can be adapted to fit the individual needs of the artist. I'm often told that by listening to the recorded session at a later date the artist will pick up new pieces of information they didn't catch the first or even the second time listening. I have coached many artists who went on to find an agent, and many who chose to represent themselves.
J'net/AAL: Yes, there are lots of artists both in the field and pursuing the industry. But I don't want the competition to deter artists from giving it a try. If you love your art and know it will sell on product, especially if you have proof from your own gallery, etsy, juried art shows, and direct customer sales, then consider art licensing as a possible new revenue stream. With some thought and planning, you may be able to have your gallery and licensing business too. Everyone is different in terms of where they are at in the business cycle, as well as how they want to spend their time. So I have to say it all does really depend on many factors. I help artists evaluate their goals and options, and then provide advice and training to achieve those goals, as quickly and affordably as possible.
J'net/AAL: This really depends on the type of fine art, as well as the subject matter. Some products lend themselves to art that tells a story. Other products, due to their size or shape, may require art that can be re-purposed. This means extracting elements and then designing the product using the various artistic elements.
Many artists start out with products in the stationery and gift product categories, such as note cards, stationery, stickers, greeting cards, calendars, journals, recipe cards, magnets, mugs and book marks, and then expand into the areas of home décor. Other areas of entry include scrapbooking (though this has slowed down tremendously), fabrics and infant products.
J'net/AAL: Three areas provide the biggest challenges for fine artists.
First, fine artists may find it challenging to change their thinking from creating a complete scene and story in a full picture format, to the creation of central images, elements and possibly patterns, all of which can be used when designing various products.
Second, technology is a cumbersome obstacle for many artists. Some are able to get excited and learn the computer skills and technology necessary to work in the art licensing arena, and others get by with a little (or a lot) of help from their friends, colleagues or business partners. Whatever works!
Third, there is definitely a challenge of balancing the fine art side and the new - more commercial - licensing portion of your business. There are branding and distribution issues, if you want to continue to have sales in both high-end galleries and mass market retailers, not to mention the pure time management factor.
You can save yourself a lot of frustration by readings J'Net's 20 Rules for Starting Your Art Licensing Business.
J'net/AAL: I think that most artists create income from multiple sources, and if they don't, they really should. So I want to support artists in all of their creative and revenue making endeavors. Artists may want to do licensing, but they also have a gallery business for their originals, or have a good business at juried art shows.
As I got to know Aletta and learn about Artist Career Training , it became clear that our philosophies about helping artists, as well as how we work, are complementary. We both provide artists with solid business advice and information in our specific, but related fields, as well as thorough and thoughtful coaching. I was excited to find a like-minded professional who could help my clients in areas of their art business that are not my expertise. We both have clients who have benefited from our connection, in fact, all clients who have been working with both of us, have been thrilled with their combined results. That's exciting!
If you want a solid foundation for your art licensing, register here for your Smart Start session: http://www.artistcareertraining.com/jnet-smith/
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