Artist Academy

This week’s episode features Southern California-based wedding painter Nicolette Martin. This conversation will make you ask yourself, “Should I try wedding painting?” Between the amount of fun she’s having creating these one-of-a-kind pieces combined with the high profitability factor sprinkled on top, this seems to me to be the perfect way to make a great living as an artist. Nicolette fills us...

About once a week or more I’ll get an inquiry in my inbox that goes something like this: “Hi! I’m a new artist trying to get my start in the art world and could really use some advice. Could you please let me know how you are able to make art your full-time career? How are customers finding you? If you have any tips for me I would greatly appreciate it!” Not to be mean in any way, but I give a goo...

This week’s episode features Washington-based muralist Glynn Rosenburg. Glynn’s journey is yet another one of those artists made by the pandemic stories we love to hear when a good thing happens from an unlikely circumstance. She’s been growing her mural business since and already has a record $7,000 month under her belt! I’m switching things up a bit with this one and interviewing an artist who i...

This week’s episode features traveling muralist Carmen MacLeod. Carmen joined the Artist Academy about a year or so ago after listening to the podcast for a while, and now has found herself in Vietnam on a workaway program creating murals in exchange for free housing and food. She reminds me of myself 10 years ago. She’s doing the thing that most of us think would be fun to do but might not have t...

I just finished my last mural project of the year in preparation for maternity leave. Talk about waiting until the last minute. I’m taking time off to have a BABY… is this real life?! My idea for painting while pregnant this year did not go as planned… I thought I would hustle hard during the summer and then take the last few months off, assuming a time would come when I wouldn’t be able to physic...

This week’s episode features British Columbia-based artist and adventurer Jessa Gilbert. Jessa creates these giant, stylized nature murals and sells her canvas originals and prints through local shops. Also, she’s a wilderness guide for part of the year. Talk about integrating your work life with your nature-adventure life. Jessa is the ideal example of someone who stays true to the specific art s...

In this week’s episode, I’m celebrating finally hitting the big 100,000 follower mark on Instagram after a little over 5 years of effort creating 1,700 posts. The majority of those shared posts over the last couple of years were in the form of videos, more specifically Instagram Reels. Reels are THE main way I have grown a following recently, so today I wanted to share my top video ideas plus edit...

This week’s episode features Florida-based artist and muralist Kole Trent. Kole is living the stereotypical cool guy, hippie-style, freedom-embracing life. He hustles with his art business for half the year then spends the remaining months traveling in his van wherever the wind takes him. He’s learned to let go of what doesn’t matter, dematerialize, and embrace the life that he is called to live....

This week’s episode is all about organizing, batching, and repurposing content to make your promotion efforts easier, specifically around the upcoming holiday season. This topic is top of mind because I’m currently batch recording podcast episodes and all the things while preparing to make my own life much easier in the coming months when I take maternity leave. I’m working a bit more strategicall...

This week’s episode features Florida-based muralist Derek Donnelly. The thing that really stuck out to me through Derek’s interview was his strive to create an artistic community in the St. Pete area. Doing this art thing all by ourselves is just scratching the surface of how much fun creating for a living can be. Having just come off another Artist Academy Mural Meetup, and getting to spend the w...

This week’s episode features trash sculpture artist Stephanie Hongo of Sugar Fox. I’ve been loving all of the advice from all the various artists I’ve been interviewing lately on the podcast. Getting away from my bread and butter, murals, and branching out to chat with digital artists, gallery owners, and people like Stephanie who creates trash sculptures, has been eye-opening to all of the many d...

If you’ve ever thought about selling prints, now is the time to start getting your system set up and ready for the holiday wave of orders. Today I’m going to share my past experiences with selling, promoting, and creating prints to help you figure out if this could be a profitable option for your art business. In the beginning, I tried everything to make money with art. Nowadays I’m more focused o...

This week’s episode features Switzerland-based lettering expert Stefan Kunz. If you’re at all into letters you’ve probably stumbled upon Stefan’s work somewhere on the internet. The dude has over half a million Instagram followers, as well as being spread out across various social media. He creates for big-name brands like Coca-Cola, has built his business to the point of hiring others to help, an...

Today's episode is a sneak peek into how we are starting our 4th quarter planning inside of the Artist Academy Advanced Membership. My intention for releasing this members-only content out onto this public podcast is to: Help you set goals and create a plan to work backwards to actually achieve those goals. Tease you with what we are doing inside the Academy for our 4th Quarter Success Plan in hop...

This week’s episode features Montana-based wildlife artist James Corwin. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “It might be kinda cool to own a gallery one day,” then James is your guy to follow. Not only does he own a gallery and sell $20,000 originals, but he’s also located in one of the most beautiful wilderness locations in the states: Hamilton, Montana. Nestled next to the mountains, James sell...

This week’s episode of the Artist Academy Podcast is a look at Dionne Woods’ interview with me all about NFTs. Dionne has her own membership (she actually inspired me to create the Artist Academy) and podcast, and sometimes she asks me to come on as a guest speaker to share some knowledge about social media, creating viral videos, or in today’s case NFTs. Today’s episode was recorded inside her me...

I love talking to people who live outside the box and today’s guest definitely fits that description. This week’s episode features watercolorist Andrea England. Andrea lives with her husband on an evermoving sailboat, adventuring coast to coast. She combines her love of the water with her art business by creating original watercolor pieces and prints. She also diversifies her income by offering pa...

I’ll let you in on a little secret… Something that puts my mind at ease whenever I’m deciding what to post, what paint, and what direction to go in next. Nobody gives a shit about what you do or don’t do. Nobody cares if you paint something completely off the wall that has absolutely nothing to do with your current genre. All that does is show you’re versatile. Nobody cares if you take a break fro...

This week’s episode features THE social media famous international muralist Kiptoe. I knew this guy had a lot of Instagram followers (265k), even more YouTube fans (707k), and a lot of experience under his belt. But what I did not know about Kiptoe is, first, his hustle game is crazy strong, and second, how he got it all started traveling around the world independently in his 20s building his bran...

Raise your hand if you’ve found yourself stuck on the commission ferris wheel. Constantly creating for customers (because ya know, money $$$) while not finding the time to use your art skills to create for yo-self. I created the Series Six Challenge to help jolt myself back into creativity mode during the late summer weeks. This serves 2 purposes: 1- To light that creative spark again. 2- To prep...

This week’s episode features Louisiana based muralist Kassie Voisin. Due to my current infatuation with all things babies caused by my current pregnancy, I asked Kassie to come back on the podcast to chat about her recent adventures into motherhood. Kassie was one of the first guests I had on this podcast and since then I’ve gotten to watch her continue to grow her art business while becoming a bo...

What would you say if I could promise you that I could magically teleport you into a room full of eligible buyers? People who have the funds to afford your high-ticket items, are looking to buy, and just need to be introduced to your work. Would you be up for it? Although the process, in reality, isn’t as magical as you might be imagining, it is possible. Every time I paint at a charity banquet I’...

This week’s episode features France-based colored pencil artist Sema Martin. In light of my current pregnancy, I asked Sema, a former podcast guest, to chat with me about her recent adventures in motherhood. Selfishly I’m interested in her experiences especially because it’s so recent. She has a 6-month-old, meaning she’s currently in the thick of the baby stages, and I want advice! I’ll likely in...

Are you looking to be hired onto a project to gain experience OR are you at a point where having a helping hand could benefit your art business? In this episode, I shared a few stories of my hiring adventures with bringing on complete newbies all the way up to more experienced artists, and everything in between. How do you find help? What do you pay them? How do you ensure that the project goes sm...

his week’s episode features 46-year-old TikTok star, artist, and mother, Andrea Nelson. If you think TikTok is just for kids or the algorithm is long past favorable to art, think again! Andrea will give you tips on how to create better videos and “sell” online without actually selling. You’ll love this guest and how open she is about business! In just a couple of short years, she’s built an art ca...