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Great art advice
10 years ago
eluti
lazy-spoon
lovelycreamie
wifi.thesabercat
TsukaiHoeru
xenotrosis
discomilfTaken from 
pita-tenten
Some of the best advice ever given to any artist ever. I promise this will help a lot with your career as an artist.
P.S. If you like this advice, I suggest you save it somewhere else, because I'm very notorious for deleting journals.
P.S.2. If you don't want to read the whole thing, just read the bold parts.
1: "Make sure you do it now, or else future you will get mad at past you for screwing you over!" -Bill Galvin
I was in a comic book internship a few years ago, and this is what the dude said. :D It's also why I have a thicker lineart style. By the way, this dude has a comic book series called Scrapyard Detectives! You should check it out. :D
2: Learn to draw before stylizing your work! -Unknown.
I read some article somewhere, and the dude said that. :D
3: Don't be afraid to fail. -Arnold Schwarzennegger.
Not necessarily art advice, but it's true. If you want to be an artist, you have to be prepared to fail millions of times. If you can't handle failure, people critiquing your work, rude people, impatient people, then you better not even think about being an artist as a profession (Have fun with it in your spare time though.)
4: If you don't practice for one day, you'll know. If you don't practice for ten days, your friends and family will know. If you don't practice for one hundred days, everybody will know. -Some character from Princess Tutu (I think)
It's very true. You have to practice everyday to become good at anything! But especially art. You have to work and build your craft constantly until you achieve your goal, then you have to work even harder to keep pushing forward, and for people to still be interested in what you do.
5: In order to achieve glory, you must practice the basics. -Some character from Princess Tutu.
Being an artist can sort of be repetitive. You're drawing animals all the time, or humans, or furries, or monsters, etc. So if you always draw those, then you must learn how to draw the basics correctly. Practice circles, squares, triangles cylinders, any shape that's common in the body. If you learn how to draw it correctly in the first beginning, then it will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
6: If you want to make a living doing what you want to do, you need to first get your name out there. -Slugbox.
Build a following. You cannot become famous over night. It takes a large amount of followers, and your art has to be appealing enough to get commissioners. Since it may take a really long time, start small. Do free art for people. Free art, trades, etc. Once your name is out there, then you pray that people like your art enough to commission you. However, it may be really hard. Some people have enough success that they can make a living off of just a few hundred watchers. For most people however, they need thousands of watchers just to barely scrape by. On furaffinity, you can't really make a living until you have around five thousand followers, and even then you'll struggle. On deviantart, the amount to make a living may be the same, or it may be even more.
7: If you want to sell yourself, let go of your pride. -Slugbox.
You do NOT have to let go of ALL of it, but you should be willing to draw all kinds of things. A lot of artists refuse to draw certain things because they don't know HOW to draw it. Learn to draw basically everything. Humans, males, females, children, furries, ponies, monsters, nature, cheese, etc. You have to expand your art in every way. If you broaden what you can do, and are willing to do, so more people are willing to follow you. HOWEVER! Even if you let go of your pride, make sure you have some left. If you don't want to draw adult oriented art, then don't. Just try and keep yourself open to most ideas.
8: Have a backup plan. -Mom.
Art is extremely hard to succeed in, even with the many jobs an artist can get nowadays. Think about another possible job/career, and try to succeed in that as well in case your art life doesn't get a chance to fly off.
9: Understand your market. -Mom.
If you're trying to sell Ice cream in to someone who hates sugary cold things, you're most likely going to end up with melted ice cream in your hand. If you want to attract Naruto fans to you, then draw Naruto fanart. If you want bronies/Pegasisters to come to you, draw pony art.
10: Be True to Your Art. -Every Artist I've Ever talked to Ever.
Just because you need to let go of some of your pride for art, you don't need to get rid of all of it! And if you feel other artists are influencing yours too much, then take a break from them, and allow yourself to grow. Art is about finding yourself, your style, what you want. If you lose that, you can never truly succeed. Stay true to who you are, and what you like to draw.
11: Be Nice to Everyone, but Don't be a Pushover.
Art is a very hard career. You have to deal with people who either aren't certain at what they want, or they're bad at communicating what they want, or they're a little too specific and test your patience. Remember to take it slow with everyone. Some people may be difficult to deal with, and you may have to give them a refund or something if they're too difficult. Just handle everything in a calm and adult like manner.
Also, some people want free art, and get extremely angry if you do not give them what they want, and some will even take it so far as to pester you for it. Well don't give them free art. Calmly tell them that you're not going to give them anything, and if you need to explain yourself why you won't. However, you have every right to not explain why you won't give them free art. If they continue to pester you for it, do NOT feel bad if you have to block them.
12: Post your art Everywhere!
It's best to try and build a following everywhere. You never know who will find your art and be interested in what you do! So post everywhere, and build a following in all kinds of places!
13: Try different Styles.
You never know what interesting things you might like to draw that you didn't draw before. You may adore drawing insects, but you didn't know you did until you tried drawing in the same style as someone who does draw them. You may also discover you enjoy using bright vibrant colors! Trying new things in art will help you grow!
14: Draw from life.
This will definitely help you get better the fastest out of every way there is to get better at art. It can also help you increase your speed. Please remember, that this is the best way to grow quickly, it will still take years of practice to be great at art.
15: NEVER GIVE UP.
Art is hard in every aspect, but if it's something you seriously want to do, and it truly makes you happy, then continue to strive for it! If you get stressed, take a break. There's nothing wrong with taking some time for yourself. Everyone in this world needs a change of pace from time to time. Remember that you have friends and family who care about you, and what you do. They're cheering for you, probably even more than you're cheering for yourself. If you're having a hard time, just go talk to them. Just keep pressing forward, and you will achieve your goal.
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