Are you a Professional Artist... or an Amateur?

If you make art, you are an artist. 

Full stop.  We don’t need to argue about that and you can stop feeling like an imposter.  You're an artist, you make art.

However, in the category of artists, there are different types of art and different ways to focus.  Two types I want to discuss here are Pleasure Artists and Professional artists.  A pleasure artist makes whatever they want whenever they want for their own pleasure.   I know It’s sounds a little naughty but that's not how I mean it! Get your head out of the gutter.

The professional artist makes art to communicate with other people.  Pleasing themselves is no longer their only concern.  A professional artist makes art hoping that someone might want to look at it, be moved by it, and possibly buy it.

Everyone starts as a pleasure artist or an amateur.  The word amateur has a negative connotation of being less highly skilled and I don’t necessarily think that’s the case.  The casual artist can in fact be highly skilled, but the underlying reasons for the art practice are self-serving (in a good way). We do it because it's in our souls and we love it.  Some people never feel the need to level up to become a professional artist and that is just FINE.  I cheer you on!

But some folks do desire to show their art to other people. 

They want to communicate something, stir an emotion or unpack a concept that other people will want to engage with. And that transition creates different challenges and requires a thoughtful strategy and approach.

Because I am a nerd, I looked up the etymology of the words professional and amateur. An etymology is a simply a word history examining the origins and usage of a word, and I’m endlessly fascinated by it.

The word Amateur is from the French amore, which of course is to love.  So an amateur is somebody that just loves something. They're just doing it just for the fun of it, you know? We can view an amateur as pejorative, like, an amateur is someone who's not as good, but I don't think that's quite fair, especially given the origin of the term. An amateur by this definition is doing art because they love it. This is the pleasure artist that I mentioned earlier.

A Professional Artist Means Experienced…. and PAID for it

The etymology of the word "professional" is also fascinating. remember, I'm a nerd! The root of that word is the Latin "profitare". It means to profess. The original usage was to declare religious vows.

So it was proclaiming publicly your intent to be a nun or what have you. And then it over time, it also grew to include the disciplines of medicine and law and a couple of other learned occupations. Being a professional began to mean someone that someone studied  a discipline, became competent in it, and then declared that they provide certain services, For money.

Everyone Starts as An Amateur Artist

All artists start off making art for love. It's because we have a calling, because we have a passion!  And then some of those amateurs become  a professional ibecause they to want to communicate with an audience and potentially sell their work.  I don't think you necessarily have to make money or sales from your art to be a professional, but I think you do have to think about your audience and consider your artistic ventures in the context of relationship with your viewers. 

If you’re a professional artist, I have something for you! It’s something a lot of artists ask me about: how much to charge for their work. So I created a worksheet called “Pricing Your Art Made Easy” and you can get it here!