Thoughts on 27 Thoughts
On Blogging for The Artist

I thoroughly enjoyed the list “27 Thoughts On Blogging For The Artist” on Problogger, a guest post by Robert Bruce of Knife Gun Pen. (Thanks to Diane at Please Sir for highlighting this on her blog)

Here are a couple of points from the list I want to discuss further:

1. There’s never been a better time to be a working artist. Ever.
2. There’s never been a worse time to be a working artist (if you’re not truly dedicated to your craft).

I can’t agree more with these two points. The speed and ease of reaching to a large, international audience is a double edged sword. If you’re in the creative industry — be it music, art, design, photography, craft, film — there’s no finer time to share your talent with the world.

The opposite, however, is true too. It used to be only the best works get sent for publishing, but with the advent of pushbutton publishing, it is easy to put out a premature piece for reasons such as public pressure, ego or simply because you can.

27. Blogging is easy. Art is not.

I don’t quite agree with this though. Blogging is easy but blogging well — the ability to capture an audience with your personality, writing and presentation — takes effort. In fact, there are many times I feel that it’s easier for me to draw something than to write a blog post worthy of sharing to the world.

14. If you have a fall back plan, you will, inevitably, fall back onto it.

I love this point. Removing your safety net gets you into a sink or swim mentality. Instead of thinking, “If this fails, I can always go back to teaching,” or “At least I still have my law degree,” you think “This has to work because I’m never going back to that company again,” or “I can’t picture myself ever going back to the corporate world, so I better work pretty damn hard to be successful in this venture.”

There’s one plan I do have and recommend though, and that is a health insurance plan.

Blogging as a shop-front or business channel
If you’re blogging as a primary method of promoting or selling your work, the first thing you have to accept is that most businesses, especially small businesses, can and do fail within the first few years of operation. This is not unique to blogging.

Unless you’re blogging as part of a bigger team, your business is most likely the smallest of setups with just one Jack of all trades of an artist/boss/agent/tea lady — i.e. you. It can be very tiring and lonely, especially at the start, but like any real world business, a successful online business takes a lot of passion, hard work, dedication, networking, perseverance and patience.

Too much creativity is gorgeous!™
I love that art is more accesible today than it is say, 10 years ago. I can buy a painting directly from an artist on Etsy, listen to tracks from unsigned artistes on Myspace or watch a budding film-maker’s 5 minute epic on Youtube — it’s just so easy!

I also love reading artists’ blogs. Because I get a backstage pass on their thoughts, difficulties, processes and stories behind their works, it makes me appreciate their craft more. So here’s to more artists’ blogs!

• Thoughts on Blogging — Comments, Validation and Why We Need the Audience
• My Blogging History — How I started blogging
• The Importance of Making New Year’s Resolutions