Last weekend I taught an online version of my class “From Amateur to Professional,” an intensive introduction to the business side of being a fine artist. Each time I teach it I’m reminded both of all the work that goes into making a career in the arts, and how daunting it is to get started.

When we’re beginning as visual artists, it’s all we can do just to learn our craft and figure out what we’re trying to say with our medium. As our confidence in our work grows and we start to share it with the world, some of us wonder, “Can I actually make my passion my job, and make a living as an artist?”

Henri Matisse, “Self Portrait in Shirt Sleeves” (detail)

That’s a hard question to answer. The field of art is opaque and mysterious when you’re looking in from the outside—and even when you’re trying to figure it out from the inside. Art doesn’t play by the clear rules of other careers. As self-employed artists, we’re tasked with the effort of both making a product and figuring out how to sell it. That’s a lot to handle.

So how does one begin to juggle all of these moving parts, and make the daunting transition from student to working artist?

Speaking from my own experience, and a few decades into paying taxes on my art business, here are the five steps I would recommend for someone trying to make the jump from amateur to professional:

1. Feel competent in your medium.

Take the time to learn your craft. It’s not unusual for visual artists to have seven years of formal education in painting, sculpture, conceptual art, whatever medium they choose. You don’t need to get a BFA and MFA to be a professional artist, but you do need to study with teachers whose work you respect, and allow yourself time to experiment and practice.

I don’t mean you need to enter your professional life feeling like a master of your medium—the truth is we never stop learning—but you do want to feel competent with your tools and skills.

2. Build an inventory.

It may sound crass to call art “inventory,” but when we’re trying to sell our creative work, that’s is an accurate description of the paintings piling up in the studio corner. The fact is that once you’ve launched a professional art career, you’ll need a steady stream of new work to supply galleries and clients.

How do you meet that demand?

Keep to your daily schedule for creative work. Don’t try to do everything—framing, photography, shipping, record-keeping—yourself. Don’t be a perfectionist.

Work in series rather than one-offs (see below.) I find that having painting projects rather than approaching each painting as an individual effort helps me to be less of a nitpicker, and less likely to get bogged down in the details.

3. Create a series that shows a unified style and point of view.

When we start out as artists, we want to show everything we can do. “I paint in watercolor, oils and acrylics, make sculptures, do abstractions, landscapes and figures!” That range may seem like a strength, but it’s better for your artistic and professional development to have an identifiable image and style in your painting. By limiting our possibilities, we become more focused.

How do you get started with building a series? Look at the different styles, subjects and mediums you’ve used, and ask yourself, which is most compelling to you? Which is most uniquely yours, which the most challenging?

Then try five pieces with that approach you’ve selected. When you finish, evaluate what you have and try five more. Consider picking a specific format (horizontal, vertical, square) for your series, or one size.

Narrow down your subject—not just “still life”, but still life with a particular kind of prop, color sense, painting technique. Limitations that force us to hone craft and meaning are how we grow as artists.

3. Have a dedicated work area for art.

When I ask students where they do their art work, many say they take over the kitchen table or an office desk for their creative work time. That’s a set-up for failure. You need a dedicated studio space if you are going to grow as an artist.

A studio doesn’t have to be big or fancy, but it does need a door you can close for privacy, a place to store equipment for easy access, and adequate lighting. Think about which room in your house (guestroom, grown child’s bedroom) you can take over for work.

Maybe there’s an attic or basement space you can fix up—or perhaps you’d do better renting a room in someone else’s house as a studio, or finding a space in an artists’ building. Think creatively. There’s some place out there, or at home, that will work for you.

One of the most productive periods I’ve had was in a funky room in a decrepit office building above a porn store. It was cramped and dusty, and minimally furnished with the big drafting table and desk lamp I needed for large watercolors. But it provided the most important thing I needed at that time in my life—peace and quiet, a private place to focus only on my art.

5.Feel enough confidence in your artwork that you’re ready to share it with the public.

Notice I said “enough”. Confidence builds slowly, and is never completely secure. Artists judge themselves against the best in their field and the best in art history, so we often feel less than completely confident. In fact, we often struggle with feelings of inadequacy.

But we do need to be confident. That means we are proud of our work, we believe in our abilities, and we look forward to sharing our art with others.

What if you don’t have the confidence to show your art work to the public?

Go back to Step 1, and study and practice your medium and skills enough that you feel more competent.

Try Step 2, and create a series. That alone is guaranteed to help you build confidence.

And at some point, when you feel competent but still not confident enough to share your work with the public, you may just need to climb to the top of the high dive, and jump! Taking a risk is also a necessary skill for artists. . . .

Here are some other things you’ll need in your tool kit as you transition into professional art:

—A business card and postcards that show images of your artwork.
--A website with a portfolio of at least ten related paintings (your series,) a short biography, and a way you can be contacted.
--An account on Instagram and/or Facebook that presents your art.

--A mailing list stored in a database that you can use for sending announcements, invitations, and newsletters about your art activities.

--An art resume that you’ll continue to build by getting your art out into the world.

Check out these related posts:

A Studio of One’s Own

Portrait of the Artist as Sole Proprietor

What Painters Do

Your comments are welcome below!

Your First Five Steps into Professional Art