Picture this…
You’re working late in the studio with your headphones on.
Nothing else exists right now. Just you and the artwork.
You finally finish up the drawing and step back to gaze upon your work.
You are genuinely excited about this one. But really!.. What an inspiring drawing! This has got to be one of the most inspiring pieces that you’ve ever done.
You can barely contain your excitement as you rush to take some good photos of it. You want to get it uploaded to Instagram to see how people react to it.
You take a photo, edit it, write some inspiring caption, and finally the big moment… You hit ‘Share’.
Your heart is pounding out of your chest in excitement.
Likes start to trickle in. 5 likes. 10 likes. Now 20. Now 50.
Wow, over 100 likes in the first 10 minutes! You must be doing something right!
People are leaving comments and you enthusiastically reply to every single one. You’re so proud of the drawing that you worked so hard to make!
An hour later there are over 500 likes and still climbing! You’re just buzzing with excitement and a feeling of accomplishment. You don’t always make work that you’re proud of, but today you did. And people love it.
It’s late and you’re exhausted, but its the good kind of tired where you know you spent your time well. You crawl into bed, and check your Instagram one more time. With a feeling of affirmation and satisfaction, you close your eyes and go to sleep.
But it doesn’t stop there.
When you posted your work on Instagram you tagged some really big art blogs so they would notice your work. You even went the extra mile and sent a direct message to each blog to let them know about your new post.
The extra effort pays off.
That night, 4 of these blogs take notice of your work and end up posting your drawing on their Instagram page. They mention you in the caption include a link back to your Instagram page.
But these aren’t just any art blogs. These are the big guys. Each of the 4 blogs has over 200k followers on their Instagram account… And your drawing gets seen by hundreds of thousands of people.
The next morning you wake up and go through your morning routine.
You turn off your alarm, wash your face, sit down with your cup of coffee, and go through your morning routine.
You unlock your phone, look at your notifications then you remember…you posted a drawing on Instagram last night!
The drawing you posted last night has over 3,000 likes!
On top of that, you’ve got 18 new Direct Messages in your inbox, over 70 new comments on your drawing, and over 1,000 new followers!
You immediately check your tagged photos and find that your drawing has been featured on some major art blogs, and your featured posts get tens of thousands of likes!
You stare at your phone in disbelief for a few minutes as you read through all of the new messages… People saw your post and want to commission you to make drawings for them.
The next few weeks are going to be very very busy. Very busy with making art.
You lock your phone, take a sip of coffee, and take a deep breath as you sit back in your chair.
After busting your butt for years… everything is finally starting to come together.
If this sounds too good to be true then you are 100% mistaken.
This is what it is like every time I post my artwork to Instagram.
Its crazy, exciting, unreal sometimes, but it is one of the best feelings in the world – knowing that you made something that inspires thousands of people.
It took hard work and persistence to get this far, but the reward has been well worth the effort.
All of the art I made in college has helped me to grow a thriving side-business — selling prints of my work, and getting paid to make art for other people.
I took all of the drawings and artwork that were collecting dust in my portfolio, and I used them to build my personal brand.
Having a personal brand has allowed me to continue making art and doing what I love.
I know that many of the friends that I went to art school with are now working jobs that are completely unrelated to their degree, and they struggle to find the time and motivation to keep creating.
This breaks my heart.
I hate to see talented artists getting burnt out and feeling like they aren’t getting anywhere. And a lot of time it has nothing to with their art skills, but everything to do with their marketing skills.
I know this to be true first-hand.
In 2013 I posted a drawing that ended up getting 30 likes.
In 2017, I posted that exact same drawing and was able to get over 2,000 likes (and 10 – 15 commission leads the following week).
One major difference between successful artists and struggling artists is knowing how to market their work.
If you are an artist looking to get to the next level with your art career then you are in the right place.
I’ll be writing more about this subject over the coming weeks, and giving away everything I know to help you get the same results as I have.
The mission of Smart Artist Income is to help 5,000 artists earn over $1,000 with their art.
If you think that this is for you then I encourage you to sign up for the SAI email list, where I will send you the full story and step-by-step details on how I grew my instagram from 0 to 30k followers.
By the way, the story in the beginning of the blog post really is about you.
Now before I wrap up this blog post, I want to tell you a quick story.
I don’t normally talk much about my personal life, but I want to tell you a little bit about my girlfriend, Jolie.
Jolie makes $600-$700 each month selling scripts for short-films that she writes in her free time.
She also has a full-time college schedule, and works 15 hours/wk. waiting tables in a restaurant (& still manages to spend time with me <3).
I helped Jolie get started freelancing, and pretty soon the orders started to pour in.
Jolie was getting so overwhelmed with work that we decided to double what she charges to write scripts and she is STILL getting commissions. If the work keeps piling up, we’re going have to raise the prices even more.
I’m telling you this because I want you to know that you don’t have to be an expert to start bringing in extra income on the side. You just have to get started.
And hopefully I’ll be able to help ya there 🙂
So if you’re serious about your art career and hungry for growth, then sign up for the SAI email list so I can help you to unlock the full potential of your art and your art career.
(NOTE: I’m in the process of building a course where I teach exactly how I use instagram to get commissions, so sign up for the email list and check back regularly for updates and to learn more about how you can use Instagram to level up your art career.)
If you have any questions then send me a message on Instagram @BrandonMikelPaul.
I do my best to reply to every single DM 🙂
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