How to Make It in Art & Animation

Pick an art goal to get started with and then start taking steps that get you closer to your goal… 

You don’t have to know the whole route that you’re going to take in your art career and there isn’t just one way to get to where you’re going. ðŸ˜Š

You just have to choose the first step that you want to take and then keep going! 

Keep Learning

If you have a Metropolitan Library Card, you can use it to log in to LinkedIn Learning for free! There are lots of updates in various art fields. Search for trainings that will help you learn more about what you want to be known for. 

This isn’t just for learning software and art skills. You can also learn how to market yourself. Here’s a course about that right here: Social Media Production for Musicians, Artists, and Engineers

Here’s the link to log in with your library card. https://www.linkedin.com/learning-login/go/share 

Also, Artstation Learning is currently free and has lots of training by artists who are making it in the field. 

Learn Online with Others…

The following options include lessons and an online community of learners that you can connect with as you learn. They do cost money but far less than traditional schooling and are high quality options:

Social Media & LinkedIn

Put your art “out there” regularly. Once a month — or more if you enjoy it. Don’t think that you have to only be showing your latest finished masterpiece. It can be small or a work in progress. You can show yourself just getting set up with a cup of tea nearby and ask other people what they’re up to today. 

Join LinkedIn.com (not LinkedIn Learning) and follow people and companies in the art business. Lots of people find work by being on LinkedIn.com. LinkedIn Learning has a training on how to set up a LinkedIn.com profile here: Rock Your LinkedIn Profile

Just posting on social media isn’t enough to get you fans of your own, but it’s a start. Read on to find out how you can collect your fans without scratching your head trying to beat an algorithm. You can do this if you put yourself out there in other ways too!

Collect a Fan List to Send a Newsletter To

Learn how to use a newsletter service like Constant Contact or Mailchimp to collect people who are interested in your work. Your fans are people who want to know when you do something cool, so start asking people to sign up for your newsletter and then email them monthly or more often. You can go to their websites or check out this training from LinkedIn Learning about Digital Marketing Tools here: Digital Marketing Tools

Remember, if you collect this list of fans yourself, you can’t lose your peeps the way you can when all your fans are only connecting with you through Facebook or some other social media company that you can’t control. If Facebook or Instagram goes out of business or sets up a ghosting filter, etc., you’ve lost years of networking contacts. But if you’ve collected a list of email addresses, you are in control. 

These people will support you in your future endeavors that you may decide to do! Maybe one day you will launch a Kickstarter to publish a Comic or Graphic Novel. Or maybe you’ll offer a Patreon. Or sell at a Comic Con. Or self publish a book. These are things you can share with your fans. 

Set Up a Website

You need a website to be professional. You may want to sell on it one day. Mainly, you will use it as a portfolio where you can send prospective clients or employers or agents. 

These aren’t free.

I’ve heard Wix is pretty easy to set up.

If you aren’t afraid of setting up your own WordPress site, a guy whose podcast I listened to used to build WordPress sites and now he doesn’t do it anymore so he sends people to his free info on how they can do it themselves just so he doesn’t have to turn people down when they ask him to build their site, lol. Here’s his podcast episode about it: https://www.authormedia.com/how-to-build-an-author-website/ It has instructions to get you started and a link to a free course he gives away too!

Set Up Freelancing Accounts

Here’s a link to the character design part of Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=character%20design&source=main_banner&search_in=everywhere&search-autocomplete-original-term=character%20design

Set up some “gigs” for designing whatever it is that you want to get work for. Could be illustrations, animations, or motion design/vfx. This is a great way to get started. You can get some clients this way and learn the ropes and then you can break away from the site if you want to. 

You can try Fiverr.com, freelancer.com, 99designs.com, Upwork.com.

Research what other artists are doing and try it yourself.

Local artists in OKC recommend:

https://dribbble.com/

https://tongal.com/

Network with Other Artists for Critiques and “Talking Shop”

You need a way to get feedback on your work through critiques as well as talk to others who have insider knowledge of the business. To do that, you need to find out where other artists are hanging out, either in person or online.

Here are a few places you might be interested in:

SCBWI. Join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators: https://www.scbwi.org/regional-chapters-new/ They meet monthly for critiques at the Full Circle Bookstore and they have a conference yearly where you can sign up to meet with Agents who can represent you.

Society of Visual Storytellers. They have free forums where you can network and get critiques and find out more about how to break into the business.  

Other Online Forums. You might find your peeps on Reddit. Or just try googling to see where your future fans and friends are hanging out.

School friends. You could also start your own critique group that meets and gives each other feedback and networks. Collect the contact info of your friends in class and set something up! You guys might decide to rent studio space together or do gallery shows or Comic Con or art festival booths together where you split the costs. 

Go to bookstores where other artists go. Like Literati Press https://www.literatipressok.com/about
Who knows, they may want to publish your Comic!

Keep Learning About How to Make It In the Field

Listening to podcasts is a great way to do this! For illustration and the occasional info about animation, I like this one: https://www.svslearn.com/3pointperspective and on Youtube.

This podcast can help you learn how to market yourself, how to use Patreon, how to launch Kickstarters, how to sell at art shows, and tons more.

Find your own new favorite podcasts in the field you want to work in and then listen when you’re driving or doing the dishes. It will give you some great ideas of ways to get your art out there and make it in the business!

If you find a great one, send me a link and I’ll share with other students. 

Sell Your Work In Person

Comic Cons. Doing a Comic Con with other artists might be fun. There are a few around here you could visit and see if getting a booth or table there sounds like a good idea to you: 

https://oafcon.net/Oklahoma Alliance of Fans Convention. Norman. 

https://soonercon.com/art-show/

https://newworldcomiccon.org/ New World Comic Con 7.  Oklahoma City – July 30th. 9 am – 7 pm

https://www.uncannycomicexpo.com/

Galleries. If you end up getting into making prints of your art, you can see if you can sell those in shops in OKC, maybe Paseo or Plaza district. DNA Galleries is a cool place you could check out.  Galleries or anyone selling for you would take a cut of the profits. https://dnagalleries.com 

Ask your favorite coffee shop if they would let you hang your art up for sale. 

You and your friends could go in together to sell from a booth at an antique store or your own art studio. You’d be paying rent for the booth or studio and would have to decide if you can make enough to keep that going.

Art Festivals. Some artists travel to other states to sell at a booth and make thousands of dollars. Here’s a list: https://www.fairsandfestivals.net/states/OK/ You’ll need to research the kind of buyers who go to art festivals to buy. They might be looking to furnish their home or office. Go to some of these to do some research!

Sell Your Work Online & Consider Doing Fan Art

Search Etsy to see how similar artists are selling and pricing their work. Etsy takes a cut of your sales. But you’re benefitting from the fact that people know to go to Etsy for custom cool artistic stuff! 

Harness your Fandoms and special interests. Give it a try! People who are searching for keywords related to your favorite fandom will find your fan art and maybe become a fan of your art too!

Figure out something fun to make that would appeal to a fandom you love. Be careful about copyright but see if you can sell something that will get their interest. Once they find you on Etsy, they can join your newsletter and you’ve found a new fan! I buy stuff for my daughter who loves Final Fantasy on Etsy all the time.

Publish a Webtoon

If you want to improve your comic book or graphic novel sequential storytelling skills, try this! Collect your fans from here and then send them special content through Patreon or your newsletter. 

Try to get published in Okie Comics.

Create a Youtube Channel and/or Vimeo Profile or Maybe Your Own Podcast

  • Share your art tips. Share your Procreate draw/paint video replays.
  • Or share your latest awesome animations and motion designs or VFX!
  • Send a link back to your website. Get them to sign up for your newsletter. 
  • Interview other artists. Provide content if you like doing that kind of thing. 

Use Indeed.com and Glassdoor.com to Search for Positions

  • Search for keywords like “adobe” or “after effects” or “animator”.
  • Apply for related jobs.
  • Collect a list of companies that hire for the kind of thing you are interested in and check their website frequently.
  • Check to see if the jobs you want require college degrees. If they do, check into starting college at a smaller college like OSU-OKC or Rose State. You also may want to look into Southwestern State University and USAO. You can get started with college somewhere small and then transfer after you get your basics taken.

Use FTEmploy to Search for Jobs