According to Wikipedia.com, an artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everydayspeech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only. The term is often used in the entertainment business, especially in a business context, for musicians and other performers (less often for actors). “Artiste” (the French for artist) is a variant used in English only in this context. Use of the term to describe writers, for example, is certainly valid, but less common, and mostly restricted to contexts like criticism.

This is a message to all off the emerging artists in the world. Whether your a Filmmaker, Actor, Comedian, Photographer, Graphic Designer, Painter, Writer, Musician, Sculptor, or any other type of artist, you know you love what you do! We are all very passionate about our work and we are always looking for new ways to re-invent ourselves and our work! That’s what makes us so special and unique. We are way too creative to be working 9 – 5 in a cubicle or serving tables or bartending or selling cars or any other job other than being an artist. However, sometimes we have to take on other jobs to pay the bills until we become successful. Unfortunately, this is a tough industry to break into. There are millions of artists out there so success may take some time. Hence the phrase “starving artist.”

However, the internet makes it a lot easier for us to find success. There are tons of websites now where you can upload and sell your work directly from their website. Some examples of these are CafePress.com, Spreadshirt.com, & iTunes! With the help of Social Media it’s becoming easier to get your work seen by a mass audience! Social Media is extremely powerful. In fact, it’s a lot more powerful than most people even realize! If you’re an artist, exposure is the key! You need to have every type of Social Media there is. If you haven’t already now is the time to sign up for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, & Google +! Sign up for all of these websites and tell all of your friends and have them tell their friends. The more people that see your work, the better your chance of success! So many people become famous because they made a YouTube video! Why can’t that be you? Any of us can make a YouTube video! That’s the easy part. The hard part is getting millions of views, but with the right video and the right amount of exposure, it can be done! As an artist you have to promote yourself. Word-of-mouth is amazing and effective but it all starts with you promoting yourself and/or your services. Some people say “my work promotes speaks for itself,” and while that’s true, it doesn’t get seen by a mass audience. You have to advertise and network like crazy!

Don’t ever give up! Quitters are weak, you are strong! You have to keep doing what you love! Life may not be the greatest now while you’re working a full-time job that you probably don’t like but things will get better! It may take a while, but one day you will be making tons of money and you will love your job. Seriously, imagine getting paid for doing something you enjoy. Stay thirsty my friends!