My Recommended Artist Skills

There are two sides to art: the fun, creative side and the business side. Every artist would rather spend their time creating new pieces and learning new skills rather than analyzing numbers and promoting themselves through multiple avenues. Everybody wants to draw silly little guys or write about them, rather than stress over profits and analytics.

But, unfortunately, the business side is the most important part if you wish to be an independent professional artist. 

Basic Webpage Design

Knowing some basics in CSS, Bootstrap, and HTML gives artists another potential avenue of sharing their art. They can make pages about their characters on highly customizable websites such as Toyhouse, or they can make a basic shop or gallery as a searchable webpage.

The ability to design a webpage is another avenue of creativity that can make projects stand out more. There is also a technical aspect that may scratch a certain itch that some minds may have. While this more technical aspect is not for everyone, it is worth a shot to see if it is satisfying for you.

Talking to a Camera/Microphone

Whether you want to do a voiceover or start a video-based social media account, being comfortable with a camera or a microphone will go a long way. If you wish to get into fashion, costuming, dance, or any other forms of art involving your body, then you will need to be able to handle having pictures of yourself taken and posted publicly online if you wish to share your creations.

Even if you are an illustrator, you may want to share your process or give some advice. You might want to experiment with other forms of art. Getting over a discomfort of using a camera or a microphone could make trying new things a lot easier down the road.

Writing

Speaking of a skill that will make experimenting easier, writing is another creative skill that is paramount. If you wish to make comic books, start a blog, or try animation, then you need some basic writing skills so you can make passages or scripts.

Being able to write down at least an outline will help give a sense of direction for bigger projects, especially if they involve a story. An outline will keep your project structured and prevent it from becoming directionless. It will give you a guideline to work with, even if you don’t want to use a full script.

Handling Social Media Backlash

The final skill every artist should have is handling social media backlash. For a long time, artists will just be posting into the void. They’ll make works they’re proud of and be ignored. While this will eventually change for many artists, it does have its consequences that are far worse than not gaining any interaction.

Not everybody who interacts with posts enjoy what they are interacting with. Sometimes, the people who may not like you or your work will come in large waves. Or perhaps you will make a social mistake that will make people feel the need to come and harass you. This is a situation that ended many careers for artists, scaring them away from the internet and causing them to never post or create again.

Being able to handle social media backlash and online harassment is perhaps the most important skill to have in your arsenal. The ability to weather the storm and not get destroyed by how cruel people can be will allow your career to persist past the lows and climb to the highs.

Conclusion

If you know these four skills, then you are well on your way to being a well-rounded artist who can make projects that stand out. While there are more skills you can learn to further improve your craft, the skills recommended are simple to get started with a low barrier to entry. Everybody has a means to write, and everybody has a camera in the form of their phone. There are plenty of free resources for learning and practicing HTML.

Although I can’t recommend one resource or one way to learn these skills, as different resources will work for different people. So, look around the internet and find what resource works best for you. Either it be a video, a book, or a full course.