Turning Art into a Fastlane Business

[MUISaiyan]

Hi fellow Fastlaners!

I was curious if anyone in the forum had any ideas about turning Art into a Fastlane business.

I have done a lot of research and seen many successful artists, cartoonists, etc making fortunes from their artwork of off royalties, contract deals, products, and more.

Here is what I have so far for a plan:

Phase 1: Create the artwork (traditional, animation, comics, whatever)
Phase 2: Copyright it
Phase 3: Promote the crap out of it
Phase 4: Land some sort of licensing deals with major brands, celebrities, etc with hard work, phone calls

I can handle Phases 1-3 but not sure about the final part how to handle that without getting into any bad deals or losing rights to my work somehow.

Some examples of successful artist:
The 15 Richest Living Artists | Complex
Seth MacFarlane is now as rich as Oprah - well, almost - The Mayor of Television

Added - Britto had a small shop, now celebrities/companies pay him millions to use his artwork:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-06-10/news/for-romero-britto-luck-and-charm-trump-talent

Maybe I should call some of these artists directly

Any tips or recommended reading on licensing royalties would be great!

Thanks
Antonio

 

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[JEdwards]

1. Are you any good? Cause you need to be great to make it. (and not 5 of your friends saying you are good)

2. Is it all about the money with you? From your post it seems like it.

You need to be great, like really great, and you need to love what you do cause it can be years and years of earning nothing before you break out.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

1. Are you any good?

Sums up your answer right there.

You have to be good.

Strangers have to buy your art because they are moved by it, and find value in it.

Mom, Dad, and your neighbor down the street doesn't count.

Writing is very similar to art...

Happiness is writing.
Happiness X 2 is people giving you money for your writing. (They think it will have value)
Happiness x 3 is people who have given you money for your writing and they report that it changed their lives. (They confirmed, it does have value!)

 

[healthstatus]

Look for ways to build subscribers, can you do webcomics? can you do desktop/phone backgrounds? can you do tutorials? people are making money in a fastlane way with these art skills.

 

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[MUISaiyan]

1. Are you any good? Cause you need to be great to make it. (and not 5 of your friends saying you are good)

2. Is it all about the money with you? From your post it seems like it.

You need to be great, like really great, and you need to love what you do cause it can be years and years of earning nothing before you break out.

Sums up your answer right there.

You have to be good.

Strangers have to buy your art because they are moved by it, and find value in it.

Mom, Dad, and your neighbor down the street doesn't count.

Writing is very similar to art...

Happiness is writing.
Happiness X 2 is people giving you money for your writing. (They think it will have value)
Happiness x 3 is people who have given you money for your writing and they report that it changed their lives. (They confirmed, it does have value!)

Heh yea 5 friends wont cut it! Either way I am harder on myself then any critiques when it comes to my art, its never good enough, but only the marketplace will determine that in the end. And with art its difficult to say whats great or not anyways these days since its not based on skill anymore. Britto doesn't even paint his own work (which is basically coloring in the lines), Hirst Glued diamonds to a skull, and there is a little girl who throws paint on a canvas and still sells out her showings. Not that either are bad or good, its just all art now.

As for as the money goes its not only about that for me, I already have another fastlane businesses in place that is growing. Was just wondering if anyone had any experience with licensing, royalties, and all that fun stuff since I'm new to it.

For the art, in my opinion I still love classic skill based art like the masters did, not money art. I study the masters all the time and create work because I love it, if I didn't I would throw paint on a canvas too and call it a day. I was just very much interested in making my passion into fastlane also somehow. But MJ nailed it, happiness is doing it and the rest will follow if it has value.

Look for ways to build subscribers, can you do webcomics? can you do desktop/phone backgrounds? can you do tutorials? people are making money in a fastlane way with these art skills.

Thanks man definitely I've explored these options also, and will certainly be implementing some of these for sure.

Appreciate the tips everyone will keep on rolling

 

[socaldude]

Yeah pretty much man. If people won't pay you for it then its just a hobby. EVEN IF someone says "thats fantastic" but doesn't shell out cash money for it to buy it then its a deal breaker. Because if they REALLY did like it so much then they would buy it straight up. Actions really do speak louder than words. And also don't confuse "don't give up" with "don't give up on an idea". Your idea and your dreams are two totally different things. Its okay to give up on ideas but its not okay to give up on dreams.

 

[2KidsinUT]

I'm calling everyone on their comments. When it comes to art "Good" is a matter of perspective. There are more ways to market art than anything else, including writing. In art, even crap has a buyer. Hell, I visited Port Townsend WA a few years ago and watched bums all up and down the harbor sell their stuff faster than they could produce them. People would literally walk up and pay them mad money before even a sketch was complete.

But anyways, arillera, art is like any other product... it's not what you sell, it's how and where you sell it. Unfortunately, the industry is very cliqish, as you probably know, so it makes it hard to land deals with major brands and celebrities. In the end you just got to decide exactly what you're selling and put yourself out there.

 

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[MUISaiyan]

Yeah pretty much man. If people won't pay you for it then its just a hobby. EVEN IF someone says "thats fantastic" but doesn't shell out cash money for it to buy it then its a deal breaker. Because if they REALLY did like it so much then they would buy it straight up. Actions really do speak louder than words. And also don't confuse "don't give up" with "don't give up on an idea". Your idea and your dreams are two totally different things. Its okay to give up on ideas but its not okay to give up on dreams.

I'm calling everyone on their comments. When it comes to art "Good" is a matter of perspective. There are more ways to market art than anything else, including writing. In art, even crap has a buyer. Hell, I visited Port Townsend WA a few years ago and watched bums all up and down the harbor sell their stuff faster than they could produce them. People would literally walk up and pay them mad money before even a sketch was complete.

But anyways, arillera, art is like any other product... it's not what you sell, it's how and where you sell it. Unfortunately, the industry is very cliqish, as you probably know, so it makes it hard to land deals with major brands and celebrities. In the end you just got to decide exactly what you're selling and put yourself out there.

Thanks for the comments, and yea with art its really funny since a splat of paint on a canvas could sell for more then a fully detailed beautiful rendering that will end up in at a garage sell. Honestly in all my research I have found that what really sells the work or rather what brings the value, is the artist. For example the celebrities that first bought Britto's work was because they enjoyed his personality, then everyone else jumped on the bandwagon as time passed and they saw celebrities were buying it they thought should buy it too. He created his own value by being himself. Soon his paintings went from $10,000 to hundreds of thousands.

I think this principle doesn't just apply to art either, if you apply it to a business (Jobs & Apple), music (Tupac & Rap), whatever, you can really add some fuel to what it is you do.

I enjoyed the Fastlane and recommend it to others not just because of the content which rocks, but because of MJ. There is only one Fastlane MJ and because of that anything he speaks or talks about is valuable to the tenth degree.

 

[rdahl]

Hi Antonio,

I have also tried to find some way of combining art and the fastlane recipe. I think there has to be a separation of the art and the business side, they don't get a long that well. There is 'inspiration' or general joy of working that needs to be involved in the art part. I find that deadlines and other worldly things just kills that important ingredient. There is a fine line keeping the passion intact when turning it into a business.

The 'need' for art is there, it's obvious. I think the 'entry' part of the recipe and keeping art a skill is the right way to go, you need to feel proud of yourself and your art. The 'control' part means you are maintaining the rights for your work. "Scale' in my mind could mean original and prints. You could of course sell the original work of art but you still keep the rights to your work and you are free to make prints. There is also the possibility if your working process is fast like in impressionistic or abstract style. "Time', there are many online stores that can sell prints of your work making you time independent in the selling process.

I did portraits and they did not lend themselves to the scaling part of the fastlane recipe, other kinds of art could like still life's, landscapes, abstract art ...

Have you considered stores like home depot, Ikea?

Robert