Helpful Tips from Artists about Creating Art, Promoting Art and Inspiration

For the artist spotlight, I have been asking artists if they would share some advice or tips for other artists. There are some tips which keep getting mentioned time after time: keep creating art no matter what and promote your art as much as you have time for. I think its so important for us to hear this from artists of different backgrounds and experiences. This advice applies to us no matter where we are in the world – and its something we need to hear often.

Below are 10 featured artists, all of whom share some valuable tips for other artists.

Ev McTaggart

Canada

Style: Abstract art

Medium: Mixed media, acrylic

Advice and Tips: “If you are happy with what you are doing as an artist, don't worry about whether everyone likes it. There will be plenty of people who think as you do; you just have to hone in on those people.
Practice, practice, practice. If you are not classically trained, train yourself. Learn everything you can about your craft.
Try to find a mentor, someone who will coax, threaten, encourage and brag about you.
Promote. Too many artists seem to feel that selling should take a back seat to creating. Well, honey, if you don't sell, you don't eat. I'm a former marketing person and I can tell you, if you don't promote yourself, who will? It's not something I think about when I'm creating. The muse comes first, but as soon as that painting is finished, bam! It gets promoted.”
Varsha Vijayan

India

Style: Illustration

Mediums: Digital and Traditional

Tips: “Be inspired all the time. Inspiration triggers creativity.”
Sandra Ragan

USA

Style: Realism, Impressionism

Mediums: Acrylic, Oil, Pastel, Watercolor, Colored pencil, fabric paint, graphite

Tips: “Follow your heart, never stop, no matter what, do what you love! Life is too short, be who you are. Never stop learning.”
Daniil Belov

Moscow

Style: Realism, impressionism

Medium: Oil

Advice and Tips: “I am convinced that the desire and work can compensate the lack of talent. One should try and one will gain the result. And if there is a talent, all the more, one should make use of it.

Also it seems important for me to not to judge anyone by my own taste and not to think that if I do not like something that it is bad. Probably I just do not understand this or do not know about this. It is better to try to understand it.”
Anna JH

England

Style: Painterly Abstraction

Medium: household/ acrylic/ oil paint, plaster, pva glue, sand, paper, glass
Sue McElligott

USA

Style: abstract expressionism

Medium: Acrylic/Mixed Media

Advice: “I consider myself an emerging artist myself so I guess I would just tell someone coming out to’ just do it.’ Don’t let fear get in your way. It’s scary because your art, whatever it is you do, is like a diary of yourself, so you are very protective of it. I had to decide to let go and share my work to family and friends, and then finally, to the world via social media as we know it. It was hard. I was a wreck at first. But now I love to show my work. I had to get over the ‘what if they don’t like it?’ phase, because not everyone is going to like everything and that’s OK.”
Randi Grace Nilsberg

Norway

Style: Various

Medium: Photography and digital art

Tips: “You can become whatever you want if you want it enough. Make sure you have a specific goal and stay focused on reaching it! Don’t let life or people tell you that you can’t!”
Bjorn Davidson

USA

Style: modern, outsider

Medium: acrylic and collage

Tips: “Embrace the process, have faith that maybe art IS right for you. Above all do work, make work, share work, bury the critics underneath even more work.”
Eileen Felix

USA

Style: Bright, Impressionism, romanticism, abstract

Medium: Acrylic, newspaper, plywood

Tips: “Keep creating. The best thing you can do is believe in the energy you feel and express yourself.”
Bobbi Bryce-Miller

USA

Style: Abstract, Contemporary

Medium: Painting, Ink drawing, Photography, Fused Glass

Tips: “Though I am an emerging artist the one bit of advice I have is to not be afraid to put your work out there. I am just now making that leap, and wish I would have long ago.”