We’re now a little over four months into my Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge, and I’d like to start talking about aspects of the craft assuming that you are continuing to make art either for personal or professional reasons. Today’s post ties into JOY, which is this month’s theme, and talks about some psychological aspects of making art and getting paid for our efforts.

Why tackle this? Well, there are deep, deep psychological associations between art and commercialism. Besides the myth that you must be mentally ill, impoverished, or suffering to make art, there are also ideas attached to making money. An author who has a best-selling novel is a “sell-out”, for example, because their book is too commercial. That often leads to a comment about what should and shouldn’t make money based on its quality or the nature of the artist, too. Good books that don’t sell are then a tragedy — especially if the author is a nice person! Good books that do sell if the author is an asshole is often believed to be forgivable to an extent Sound familiar? This isn’t new. It’s tied to our beliefs about money and who “deserves” it.

Many, many people who are smarter than I am have often discussed the psychology of being wealthy and poor. If someone is wealthy clearly they deserve that blessing and, if they made art to become successful, then they “did it all themselves”, fueling the myth that anyone can make it without help. And, there are deeply-rooted beliefs in the idea that a wealthy person must clearly be better in some way, shape, or form than someone who’s poor. If you are poor, then you can simply work harder or make better decisions to no longer suffer — which is so asinine and not at all the reality of being broke.

Making Art Is Work

I’m sure you have your own ideas about art and commercialism; I don’t think I’ve met an artist who hasn’t. The aspect of this topic I want to focus on, however, is the idea that making art isn’t work–because it’s so much fun! On a simplistic level, the notion that work cannot be enjoyable for it to be work is tied to a line of thinking that goes something like this: since capitalism is bad, the pursuit of money is evil. Ergo, if I enjoy myself in my work and expect to get paid, then I might become evil, too.

The idea that money has a good or bad alignment is extremely toxic to artists, because it is neither. It is a tool that many of us need to survive and thrive. The system of capitalism is also neither good nor bad, too. Simply, people use a tool (money) within a framework (capitalism) to further their goals. These goals can be very self-centered, and we have seen what happens with respect to corruption and the like, but a desire to be paid for the work you do shouldn’t be an outrageous concept. Nor, should it generate responses that you’re “greedy” for wanting to be compensated.

Okay, this leads to the question of whether or not making art is work. Is it? Here’s (one of) many definitions about work courtesy of Merriam-Webster:

Work is an “activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something”.

Based on this, and multiple takes on the definition of work, making art is definitely considered work. What these definitions don’t include, is the financial component and emotional aspects. You do not have to be paid for your efforts to be considered work; your state of mind and your feelings do not change its definition, either. Whether you’re happy or not, work is simply work.

Commercialism Adds Complexity

Hopefully by now you’ve realized that making art is work. With me so far? Here’s the not-so-fun part. The financial component is infinitely harder, because once you attach a monetary value to something you create you’re dealing with perceived value, cost of materials, distribution, etc. It is extremely complex to figure out not only what to make, but how often to produce, when to sell it, what places are good to do business with, etc. This level of complexity, dear reader, is why I believe many artists undervalue their work and often give a lot away. It takes time to learn business, and often it’s so intimidating that many artists don’t. Instead, they treat their art as a hobby until it “takes off” and they’re forced to think more deeply about it.

There are a million roads in between “I’m New” and “I’m a Best-Selling Artist”. Visibility, popularity, reception, and number of copies sold aren’t predictable and business planning is the exact opposite of that. There are some factors you can control, like production, and that’s what I focus on. I also think this idea of being embarrassed to ask for money has something to do with the joy we feel when making art. If it doesn’t feel like work, for example, then we feel guilty asking for money or other forms of payment. We might even feel small, because we aren’t a Very Famous ArtistTM, and talk ourselves down claiming our art isn’t worth anything because art produced by a VFA will be better.

Value Yourself

Valuing yourself and your art can be difficult to do, especially since the weight of “other people’s opinions” can drag you down, but it is an important first step in a longer process. I find that the first step to being taken seriously as an artist, is to take yourself seriously. Your time, creativity, and talent are valuable, and I feel being new only affects you so much. What is new, anyway? You may be new to selling your work, or certain forms of it, but you’ve probably been making art for a while.

I am hugely sympathetic if you’re feeling down or know you’re too hard on yourself. After you agree that yes, your art is work and yes, you would like some form of payment you can then learn more about the business aspects to make better, informed decisions. That process is hugely transformative, and I personally feel you shouldn’t have to wait to sell your first piece of art to ask questions. And yes, in case you’re wondering? You’re totally worth it! After all, if you undermine and undervalue your work — then why should someone pay for all that great work you’re doing?

Mood: Recovery. (I have a chest cold.)
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Managed
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Living room to kitchen. Make tea. Rinse and repeat a thousand times.
In My Ears: Lucy soundtrack
Game Last Played: Final Fantasy X-2
Book Last Read: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: ONCE: Upon a Time
Latest Artistic Project: Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge and Rules
Latest Releases: In Volo’s Wake for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Unknown Armies Books 1-3, and Kobold Guide to Gamemastering.
Current State of Projects: Read my latest project update. New project update coming in May.