Visual Arts
The Mona Lisa. Apocalypse Now. The sculptures of famous men and
women that adorn so many of our public places. The food-porn photography in
Gourmet and Sunset magazines and the Food & Wine section of your local
newspaper. Comic book art. The Guatemalan tapestry you have hanging on the
wall of your bedroom. The expensive, imported ceramic trinkets your parents
collect. These things were all created by visual artists, who make art that
audiences can see: paintings, drawings, prints, engravings, glasswork,
video and film, photographs, Flash animations-even that wacky gallery
installation you saw that featured a ladder to the ceiling where a small
piece of paper reading "Yes" was mounted. The product of the
artist's efforts is the work of art: That's what sets the visual
arts apart from the performing arts, in which the performance is the art.
What You'll Do
The visual artist transforms raw materials-different colors of paint, for
instance, or unused film, or a giant block of marble-into works of art:
things meant to be beautiful, to inspire, or to provoke. Despite the heavy
focus today on marketing and making big profits, most of us still respect
and admire great visual artists and the works they create, whether it's
Michelangelo and his David, Orson Welles and his Citizen
Kane, or Georgia O'Keefe and her sensual paintings of flowers.
It can be a long, hard road to success in the visual arts. Tell your
parents, your friends, or a stranger on the subway that you want to be an
artist for a living, and you'll probably get a bemused smirk in reply.
The starving artist is one of the oldest clichés for good reason: Even if
you have talent, technical training, time, and tenacity, it's quite
possible that you'll never really earn a living from your work as a
visual artist.
Who Does Well
The first requirement for becoming a successful artist is a burning inner
drive to create your art. Artists often speak of having a mysterious need
to create, as though they would die if they couldn't paint or take
pictures. If you're reading this career profile, you may very well be
familiar with that need yourself. You might call it inspiration, or
passion, or a calling. Art isn't something you stumble into; it's
an irresistible force, it's in your blood.
This career profile examines opportunities in the fine arts, as well as
commercial photography. Many visual artists look to the graphic arts and
design disciplines to launch their careers. If you think you might be
interested in such an approach, look at WetFeet's design career
profile. Those can be fulfilling, artistic careers, too-with a whole lot
more stability and opportunity for success.
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Visual artists must have an artistic eye. They must also have a feel for
color, light and shadow, balance and weight, and composition. This can be
taught, to a certain extent, but much of it is innate.
It's important for all artists to supplement their talent with two
ingredients: skill and persistence.
Skill brings an artist freedom. When you know the fundamentals of your
craft, you are limited only by your imagination. Without technical
training, you're stabbing in the dark. Sure, you might create one or
two truly great works of art, but they'll be unrepeatable accidents.
You can create anything your mind dreams up only if you know how.
Persistence is probably the single most important factor in any
artist's success. All artists must be internally motivated. Artists
must spend time in the public eye—knocking on gallery doors, tirelessly
submitting their films to festivals or their photographs to magazines or
stock agencies. They may be rejected hundreds of times in their careers,
but they can't let it stop them.
Many artists have a formal education in the fine arts. You may enroll in
one of the big art schools or a state school's art department, or you
might take courses through your local community college's continuing
education offerings. There are also art schools that focus on teaching
technical skills and grooming their graduates for careers in design.
Even more than in other courses of study, you'll only get as much out
of an art education as you put into it. Visual arts insiders say that your
fellow students are just as valuable as your instructors. Find the best
students at your school and hang out with them, talk to them, and learn
from them. And spend some energy trying to learn from your fellow
students' mistakes, so you don't waste time (and the money
you'd spend on supplies) making the same ones.
Working as an assistant to an already-established artist can be extremely
helpful, especially in technical fields such as photography or filmmaking.
Many artists employ apprentices, and you can learn a great deal by working
under a master.
Once out on their own in the world, finished with any formal schooling they
might have had, many artists find it valuable to be part of the community
of artists that might exist where they live. It can be a harsh world for an
artist, a world that often seems not to appreciate art. And it can be
difficult for starving artists to look on as others in their age group grow
more and more materially comfortable. If you commune with other artists,
you'll be more likely to have people around you who can understand both
your art and your frustrations. Because of this, many artists find that
being part of an artistic community makes it easier to persevere in their
art.
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the number of jobs for
artists will grow at about the same rate as overall job growth between 2004
and 2014. But because there are always more aspiring artists than there are
art collectors, more wannabe film directors than wealthy producers, and
more young photographers than magazines to employ them, competition for
careers in the visual arts will be exceedingly keen. This is a career field
in which it can take decades of practice before you can support yourself
through your art. Indeed, many talented visual artists never reach a place
where they can quit their day jobs. The plum jobs go to the lucky and the
perseverant: Be aware that success in this field, as in all the arts, will
probably depend as much on your ability to network and market yourself and
your art as it will on your artistic talent.
Possibilities
Some non-art-for-art's-sake paths that might utilize your skills as a
visual artist include:
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Graphic design
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Advertising
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Education
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Journalism & Publishing
If you love to create visual art, but either don't mind doing so for
commercial purposes rather than to convey your own artistic message, or
need more career stability than a fine arts career usually provides, you
should think about pursuing one of these options. Of course, many artists
do both—work in a commercial art-focused day job, and create their own art
on their own time. If this is the path you're thinking about pursuing,
be aware that many, if not most, of those who use this strategy end up
letting their own artistic efforts fall by the wayside, as life
responsibilities (bills, family, etc.) grow and the would-be artist grows
accustomed to the comfortable life brought about by a steady paycheck.
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Visual arts careers can be divided into "fine arts"—what you see
in museums, galleries, and Art Forum—and filmmaking, commercial
photography, and other arts. Each of these fields requires stamina, hard
work, talent, skill, and even faith. If you're embarking on an arts
career, don't delude yourself: It will be difficult. You will have to
prove yourself before you'll make any money or gain any recognition.
But money and fame are not why you're in the arts anyway, right?
Painting, Sculpture, and Photography
A life in the fine arts is often a hard life. Solitary work in a cramped
studio, an endless stream of rejections from galleries, and the
misunderstanding of loved ones and peers are all very real aspects of a
fine arts career. On the other hand, you're doing what you love,
setting your own hours, and possibly changing the world—or at least the
perceptions of other people in the world.
Fine artists often go to art school and earn bachelor's or master's
degrees. After college, they try to make it in the art world. They set up
studios or work out of their homes and devote much of their time to
self-promotion—calling on galleries with slides in hand, applying for
grants, entering competitions—and spend the rest of their time creating.
If they win gallery representation, artists must struggle with pricing
their work—work that has often been the sole focus of their passion.
Galleries typically charge a commission of up to 50 percent. Art supplies
and studio rents are expensive, so fine artists often work at day jobs,
unless and until they gain financial success. If and when they do reach
that level, they must work at keeping their style fresh and staying in the
public eye.
Filmmaking
The word "filmmaking" encompasses a broad range of disciplines,
from directing to cinematography to design and production. Filmmakers who
also consider themselves visual artists are likely to want to be in control
of their art, which probably means assuming a directorial role.
At the most basic level, a film director does all the work of making a
film. He or she finds or writes a script, scouts for locations, casts
actors, secures funding, buys film or videotape and a camera, and films or
tapes the movie himself or herself. At the highest level, a director might
be George Lucas or Martin Scorsese, maintaining creative control but
working within a system and as part of a large team. Filmmaking is possibly
the most expensive art you could get involved in, which explains why films
are often funded by huge studio conglomerates. It's very hard to do all
the work and raise all the money by yourself.
Some of the most talented and disciplined film school graduates might try
to get their works seen by Hollywood hotshots. They might enter their works
in film festivals or contests. They may work their connections to try to
get jobs assisting well-known directors on the set, hoping that they might
agree to watch their works or hear their pitches. On the other hand, they
may choose to remain outside the studio machine, making independent films
funded through grants, loans, credit cards, or day jobs. Or they may use
film or video to create multimedia art installations.
One bonus for would-be filmmakers: These days, with the advent of digital
video and relatively inexpensive video-editing software, it's a whole
lot cheaper to make a film than it was just a decade or so ago. We've
all heard about Hollywood film budgets in excess of $50 or $100 million,
but with digital technology, in some cases you can now make a short film
for less than a thousand bucks.
Commercial Photography
Many argue that photography is not art at all—and in its commercial
incarnation, it often walks a thin line. Are wedding portraits art? What
about glossy fashion-magazine spreads? Documentary shots from war-torn
nations? The question is supremely debatable, but in each case, the
photographers would most likely say they do consider their works to be art.
There are many different fields in which commercial photographers can find
work. They could take photos of small children in a studio. They might be
newspaper shooters, rushing out whenever and wherever news breaks.
Photographers can be foreign correspondents in Third World countries, staff
photographers at high-class fashion magazines, or still photographers on
movie sets.
A photographer may start out by working as an assistant to another
photographer in his or her chosen area of specialty. Photography is one of
the more technical arts, and apprenticing is a great way to learn the
fundamentals of the discipline—lighting, lenses, composition, and films,
for instance. Commercial photographers often do not print their own
photographs, and instead turn over their film to be processed by others.
When photographers are confident that they are ready to strike out on their
own, they may open a studio or submit work to stock agencies, newspapers,
or magazines. If their work is good enough and they are quite dedicated,
they could eventually find that work comes to them.
Other Visual Arts Careers
There are, of course, other visual arts. Some artists design textiles and
create beautiful fabric art. Installation artists set up elaborate worlds
in galleries or other public places. There are artists who work only with
paper; there are lithographers and etchers, glass blowers and mosaic
designers. In this post-Marcel Duchamp, post-Andy Warhol world, anything,
even a urinal or a soup can, can be art.
Visual artists who find the going tough will want a side job to keep food
on the table while they wait for their big break. There are many
art-related jobs that can fill the gap. Some work as caricaturists at
parties and corporate functions. Others paint holiday scenes on store
windows or murals on nursery walls. Still others enter into design careers.
And then there's teaching, the classic standby. One art insider says,
"If you want to be an artist, teach." Showing others how to focus
their talents can help you focus yours.
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Compensation in the arts varies wildly, from just-barely-making-it to
rolling in the dough. It cannot be said too often: Discipline and
perseverance are vital. To be successful, you must have faith in your
abilities, and you must be fanatical about self-promotion. You can't
ever give up on your contest entries or your gallery visits. You have to
believe that eventually they'll pan out. However, if you go down this
road, you have to realize that more than a few artists never earn a penny
from their work, most create their art while paying the bills with a
"real" job, and only a small percentage strike it rich.
Following are a few average compensation ranges for visual artists in
salaried positions:
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Painter/Sculptor/Illustrator: $20,000 to $75,000
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Multimedia Artist/Animator: $25,000 to $85,000
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Photographer: $15,000 to $70,000
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Filmmaker/Director: $20,000 to $1 million or more