Artist Academy

Jodi Trujillo is an artist currently living and working in Hawaii doing paint parties, murals, and illustrations. Jodi is part of our Artist Academy $100k club and gives so much to our group with her specialty advice within the paint party and illustration industry. I teach a lot, but I also have figured out firsthand how beneficial it is to learn from artists, like Jodi, who have done the thing I...

In this week’s episode I’m diving into sales strategies to make some extra money this holiday season. With winter wonderland windows being a hit this time of year to getting those extra handful of christmas print sales, now is the time to focus a bit of effort on your marketing plan. Let’s start with window painting… I imagine you listened to the previous episode with Scot Campbell (the window pai...

We are entering THE best time of the year to start up or gain window painting customers, and today I’m rewinding it back to this interview I did with the window painting master himself, Scot Campbell. I started writing out my tips for window painting to record a solo episode when I remembered, wait a second, I know a guy who can explain this better than me and we’ve already recorded a full episode...

I’ll share a list of painting hacks to make your life easier. Some of these tips are ones that I use but most are a collective of Artist Academy members sharing their knowledge and experience. Ten artist brains are better than one! Here’s a brief list of some of the hacks, but you’ll need to listen to this to get the full explanation of each: Rent a towable man lift for $300 for the day to access...

Olga is a former teacher turned muralist. She is about to complete her second full-income earning year of full-time artistry and is set to gross over $100,000. How did she get her start you may ask? By passing around flyers and landing a window painting job that started the domino effect into murals and more. Listen to hear how Olga isn’t working her life away while bringing in double her teacher’...

Ashley is a former teacher who recently quit her job to go full-time with painting. She has an art school background and a solid understanding of painting techniques, and I think her quick success is a complement to that. It's not necessary to be perfectly good at painting coming right out of the gate, but it helps a lot. I talk about business and making money and all that comes with it. But make...

Do you want us at the Artist Academy to help you create an outstanding website? Join the waitlist: www.artistacademy.co/website-builder-interest This week’s episode is all about helping you to make your website better to gain more business via Google and organic search. Photos are everything. Spending time taking and editing your photos to display your art in the best possible form will pay off. G...

Brittany is a muralist based in Pennsylvania and has been in the Academy for a little over a year. Within that year she has been able to quit and replicate her day job salary by diving into full-time mural work. I met Brittany at our Missouri Mural Meetup last year and watched the fire start within her. She went home with stars in her eyes, giving so much effort to her art business. Things were sl...

Michelle is a muralist based in New Jersey and has recently had her world turned upside down - in a good way. I know we all have these excuses as to why we are not making the moves we know we need to make with our careers, but let me tell you, Michelle’s story was not one that was easily made. But she took a leap of faith, worked hard, and now has a painting career she enjoys along with an encoura...

I am a painter with a goal to make money. I’m not as much of what I would consider a “true artist” who is in love with the craft and history of it all. For a long time, I was slightly ashamed to admit that. I thought wanting to make money made me sound greedy or less than other artists. But after a while, I just said, “heck with it” and leaned into my business-minded artistic side. I’m really good...

This week’s episode features Florida-based visual artist Cody Meacham of Radley Relics. Cody crafts nostalgic miniatures inspired by beloved theme park attractions and horror films. Each piece is meticulously designed, reflecting his passion for capturing the essence of iconic haunted experiences. Cody has worked on projects for Universal Studios and has lately nestled into his own business of col...

What creates a good offer? I believe, if you make a product that appeals to your audience enough to make them want to buy, then that is a good offer in itself. You don’t need to add any gimmicks if the product sells. However, if the products aren’t selling, then maybe adding some kind of element, like giving the buyer a reason to buy right now, is the push it needs to complete the sale. Or maybe d...

This week’s episode features Chicago-based shoe artist Dillon DeJesus . I really enjoyed chatting with Dillon about a painting subject that I knew nothing about. It became very apparent how little I knew about his industry the more he talked about it and I’m excited to share this insight with you too. This interview emphasizes the benefits of really diving deep into research and techniques within...

This week’s episode features Denver muralist Gary Gomez . Gary has been in the decorative painting business for 20 years and his #1 tip for attracting new customers is to focus on your Google Maps page. If you think about it, when we are looking for something new in our area, what do we do to find it? Ask Jeeves. Just kidding. 🤪 Only the early internet adopters will remember that. No, we ask Goog...

I’m using AI to help generate pitch scripts, reference photos, different variations of mock-ups for murals, and to edit/caption videos. First off, let’s address the controversial topic amongst artists lately wondering if using AI is a form of cheating. To that question, I also ask: Is using a projector cheating? Is hiring someone to help paint half of the mural for me cheating? Is using a royalty-...

Today I’ll be explaining how I use a virtual assistant to make my life easier and how you can go about it too. Upfront, I really want to emphasize that this is more of a seasoned artist tool, unless you’re planning to do a lot of outreach. I didn’t hire a VA until I decided to add another stream of revenue into my business (coaching). I already had a bread-and-butter system working and generating...

This week’s episode features Las Vegas tattoo artist DJ Tambe. DJ currently has thousands of people on his waiting list and charges premium rates for his tattoo services. Today we chat about the benefits of putting yourself in the public eye in order to grow your art business and the hesitations that come with it. We all want to lock ourselves in our studio and create all day but it’s what we show...

They say that every millionaire has 7 different streams of revenue. To me, that both sounds smart and exhausting. Today, let's chat about the different ways we can bring money in by specializing in different areas within the art niche. There are SO MANY possibilities when it comes to making money as an artist. Check out a list of some of the options below: But as you're considering each option, as...

This week’s episode features Patrycja Hannagan (PJ) of Mural Nomad. She’s a Polish muralist traveling around Australia with the goal of creating 100 murals in 100 weeks. She’s living the travel/adventure life that some of us have at one point considered, but maybe never thought was possible. PJ gives us a front-seat view on what it’s like being a working muralist living out of a van. To some, it m...

In this week's episode of the Artist Academy Podcast, we dive headfirst into two powerhouse strategies that can light a fire under your career. Oftentimes, business owners lean towards being a promoter or a creator to get sales. Which strategy is best for your personality? Strategy #1: Are you a natural audience builder? Do you want your sales strategy to encompass the magic of audience engagement...

I think artists both drastically underutilize while also overly complicate the idea of creating a brand in order to sell art. Let’s start with the overly complicated idea. Your brand is YOU. It’s not just a font, page header, or logo. It’s your style, personality, and what you can bring to the table in terms of creating. Self-awareness = brand display. I’ll explain more in this episode, but that’s...

This week’s episode features Texas muralist Whitney Hayden . If you listened to Crystal Frye’s episode, just 2 recordings back, you’ll hear a mention of the name “Whitney” a few times. We were referencing Whitney Hayden, who you’ll be listening to today, and you’ll also hear Crystal chime in a bit too. That’s because even though they live states apart, these two organized an in-person paint sessio...

Take a moment to reframe your mind around the idea of sharing your art on social media… Imagine you’re another fitness influencer creating videos for Instagram, trying to make it interesting and different from all the others in an overly saturated market. How interesting is someone lifting weights, really? Imagine you’re an insurance agent creating content. How would you make that subject interest...

This week’s episode features North Carolina muralist Crystal Jane Frye of the EZ Easel . Crystal gets the majority of her mural gigs from Facebook and today she’s opening up about her social media strategy that’s actually more of a simple habit than a strategy. I think artists overthink the idea of social media so much that it puts them into a frozen state of confusion or fear. We don’t post becau...

You know we love to talk about art money here on the podcast! This episode is all about the numbers behind a well-functioning business. I’ll be sharing some cost comparisons with the intention of convincing you to charge more for your art. Businesses know the cost of doing business which is why I find it easier to approach a commercial job with a high bid as opposed to something residential. But e...