Artists succeed when their work is good. We all know this. All an artist has to do is make the art and if they are good enough somebody with money will show. If nobody appears to make money for an artist that artist is a failure. Nothing to be done about it but complain.
There are those artists that take things into their own hands but they are just trying to avoid the inevitable fact that once they stop trying nobody will care. A true artist bothers not with business or finance but rather inspiration and whim.
The point of art is not to try hard to succeed (it will not work) but to put your stuff out there and fail as quick as possible to avoid further embarrassment. The sooner you find out whether you are no good the sooner you can start telling people how you "could have made if only..." and stop the criticism.
In an effort to help artists reach this point I've compiled a few items they will want to avoid in order to speed up the process of failure.
Keeping A Day Job
For an artist that wants success it is crucial they not disillusion themselves by being able to survive at a level above poverty while trying to make it. If you were to keep a day job while making your art you might be tricked into thinking you could actually do so your whole life. Success is selling your work. Not working. The sooner you are broke and lonely the sooner you will quit and know without a doubt that you have no talent.
Learning Business
Why would a smart, savvy business person want to sweep you off your feet and make you rich selling your work if you are already trying to do so yourself and will likely argue with them over tactics. Business is a drab, dreary, dangerous road to travel and doing so will give you ideas about the world that will frighten you. Artists are left-brained and learning business will make you right-brained and hence a worse artist. Leave it to the pro's.
Finding A Sugar Mama/Daddy
The only route to artistic glory is doing what you want when you want and getting someone else to do the stuff you do not want to do. If you find a benefactor they will likely want you to do personal projects just for them in exchange for their financial support, which is just like having a real job. Someone footing the bill while you slave away will only detract from the real goal: finding out if you have what it takes. With money already flowing you will never get a chance to find that puppet you need to make your dreams come true without effort.
Believing In Luck
You will hear stories about this or that artist who found themselves in this or that situation based on happenstance that miraculously manifested in a career. These are PR fairy tales crafted to keep you chugging along though you have already missed your station years before. There is no luck involved in art. It is an orderly system which requires no wishing or hoping on your part: you just do your work and let people judge it and wait to "get married". That is all there is too it.
Selling Out
Some artists feel the way to success is to alter their work in an effort to meet the public's taste halfway. Which is the same as saying they will take a job as being the artist other people want you to be. Once you stop doing what you want to do and start making others' dreams come true you have the illusion of success with the trimmings of failure. If you like ketchup in your coffee then go ahead and do it, otherwise keep do not mix chocolate with peanut butter.
If you were that good somebody would come along to make money off you and for you. The characteristics of a good artist are diametrically opposed to that of being a business person. You risk your social status by mixing the two. If a bad artist you will just have more chances for people to laugh at you and if a good artist you are just wasting your time. There is an order to things, find your place in it.
