Your Art, Your Rules!

The art world has always been burdened by unwritten rules. Ask any artist who’s tried to make a profession out of art sales. Some of these rules are spoken out loud, and others are whispered quietly through gallery halls, collector chats, or Discord channels. Even in digital spaces, where art is supposed to free to be express itself, new expectations have taken form.

Well, here’s a reminder we all need: Your art doesn’t owe anyone anything**.**

Art doesn’t need to follow a formula for success. It doesn’t need to fit a schedule. It doesn’t need to be marketable. It just needs to be yours, because no one can create like you. Let that truth speak for itself through what you create and share. Insert your persona within every pixel.

Let’s discuss how we can usher in an era of art that doesn’t follow rules. Art that only aims to please the artist that created it. If we collectively support the unconventional, we are feeding those who truly express themselves, enabling the formation of new guidelines that future artists can follow. A path forward that encourages freedom of self-expression.

The Myth of the Right Way #

The pressure to do it “right” has been a burden placed on artists since the beginning of society, at least for those who wish to eat. We’ve come a long way from Jesters having their heads chopped off for failing to make the Kings laugh, but metaphorically speaking, it can still feel like a beheading when you release a work of art that you poured your heart into only to have it overlooked and under-appreciated. Validation may not be the reason to create art, but value and recognition certainly support the ability to do so.

Price it low, but not too low. Keep a consistent aesthetic, but stay original. Post often, but don’t be annoying. Share the process, but keep some mystery. Sell out quickly, or it’s a dead project. Offer incentives and reach out to thank collectors or you are ungrateful. However some collectors don’t want to be bothered. FULL STOP.

These are the kinds of unwritten rules that sneak in and take up space in our minds. Before we know it, we’re creating with eyes on the canvas but mind in the weeds. Simultaneously scaring away and confusing any potential new-comers by adopting arbitrary, inconsistent and unwritten rules.

These rules can make you second-guess the raw, messy parts of your process. They can convince you to wait until things are perfect, both in the art and the market. They can even make you want to give up entirely sometimes. But perfection is a myth. Creativity doesn’t come from perfection. It comes from messing up, trying again, and discovering something you didn’t plan.

Stumbling Is Sacred #

Art happens through trial and error. Whether you’re sketching, painting, coding, animating, mixing, dancing, or singing, mistakes are an inevitable part of the journey. The mistakes are not something to be hidden or to try and avoid. Mistakes are evidence that you’re pushing boundaries.

With digital art, we have more tools than ever. We can digitize oil paintings and animate them, or manipulate them with generative code. We can turn scans of notebooks into virtual experiences. We can explore sound, motion, texture, and color in infinite combinations. The value of these tools comes to life when we give ourselves permission to play with them. They won’t create for us, they must be prompted. There will always be somebody trying to tell us what is and isn’t art, but while they spend their energy speculating about rules, you can actively write your own.

Everyone has permission to stumble. Permission to explore the things that might not work. That’s called being human. We don’t need to ask the art worlds loudest and most opinionated for that permission.

The Weight of Doing It All #

Being an artist today, digital or traditional, often means wearing every hat at once. You’re the creator, the curator, the promoter, the customer support, the strategist, and often even the accountant. You’re not “just an artist”, as we often hear artists humbly proclaim. Your persona is a business and your art is seen as a product. At least within capitalism.

Being an independent artist can be empowering, but it can also be a heavy load for these reasons among many others, especially when success starts to look like doing more heavy lifting, instead of diving deeper into your creativity and artistic development. When you feel the burden of this weight, it’s important to remember that you are already doing something brave. Building your own path in real time in spite of all the obstacles.

Feeding the Algorithm Instead of Your Soul #

Visibility is a real concern as a professional artist with bills to pay. Everyone wants their work to be seen and have the chance to find potential collectors. We chase the algorithm by bending our process to fit its demands. It’s a trap that turns artists into content machines. The more we cater to it, the more power it takes. The most elite villain of the art world is social media algorithms, which seems to mostly boost profitable click-bait and drama. Ironically, the few things I think we can all agree are not very artsy.

The feeds might not favor art, but your value doesn’t come from likes, retweets, or engagement stats. It comes from how honestly you create and share. Integrity and consistency can succeed and become an example for future artists to use as healthier guidelines toward success. The algorithms will adjust the more users share art they connect with.

Some of your best work might happen outside the spotlight. That doesn’t make it less meaningful. It might just make it more real and impactful for the people who discover it.

Those Who Thrive, Do It Their Way #

If you look at the artists who are making a living right now, the ones really doing it, not just going viral, you’ll often find one thing in common. They didn’t follow a template. They paved their own path.

Their art has a unique fingerprint. It carries their vision, their oddities, their process. They took risks. They made things that didn’t always sell. They built small, loyal audiences over time. Most importantly, they kept going until anyone could look at their work and say, “I know that artist”.

The artists who thrive aren’t always the most polished or prolific, but they’re the ones who stick with their own rhythm and let their work evolve naturally. They didn’t wait for permission to start, and they didn’t let anything convince them to stop.

A Career Takes Time #

No one should feel like they’re failing simply because their art isn’t paying the bills yet. Or better yet, no one should feel like failing is bad. Making a living from creativity alone is hard. It always has been. It takes time. It takes practice. It takes a lot of failures.

Art isn’t a lottery ticket or a hobby people get addicted to, for those who are called to create it should be honored as a worthy profession. Like any profession, it grows through learning, adjusting, and showing up again and again. Creating something so rich in meaning that it offers value to the creator and those around them. That takes time.

There’s no shame in having a day job, in taking commissions, or in pacing yourself. You need to be healthy to create your best work, and sacrifice is a part of life. If you want to experience a sustainable art career, give yourself the space to grow. Live a “real life” that can add more context for you to reflect on when creating. Focus on building a body of work that feels real to you, utilizing your skills, your voice, and your unique surroundings. The money part can come, but it comes slower than the internet makes it seem. The fast gainers are not sustainable examples of success anyway.

This Is the Shift #

This moment in digital art feels heavily focused on new tools, new markets, and new ways to get rich fast. It may feel like it’s about new rules, and the importance of the choices we make. But we are not here to replicate the old systems. We’re here to reimagine what art can be when artists lead the way, and we are seriously only a few miles into a marathon.

So, make art that doesn’t fit a format. Break the rules and pioneer your own path as an artist. Do what feels risky within your artistic process. Combine tools that were never meant to go together. Share something weird, flawed, and honest. Then keep going no matter what the “experts” try to tell you is real art or the right way to sell it.

Let your art reflect you, not an industry.

Let it be wild. Let it be wrong. Let it be real.

Your art. Your rules. Your creation.