Artist Academy

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...

This week’s episode features Georgia-based artist Ryan Benefield . Ryan specializes in clean-cut murals and logos for the beer industry. He started his business during the covid shutdown and went full-time not long after. He’s since built himself a very profitable art business through the process of utilizing the relationships he built at his previous place of employment. Ryan’s self-awareness all...

Happy May Mural Month! I had to end this month with a chapter from my book, Mural Money, all about how to start and grow a mural business from the ground up. Extremely fitting to this month’s mural theme, right? This is a snippet of chapter 7 that explains how I leveraged the power of a small city to create a name for myself. I used to think that I needed to travel outside of smalltown Springfield...

Transitioning from being an employee to working for yourself is a crazy mental shift that nobody seems to talk about. Today’s episode is all about highlighting some of those shifting thoughts to hopefully help you take on a leadership role faster, or at least know you’re not crazy when that shift seems tough! www. ArtistAcademy.co

This week’s episode features Michigan-based muralist Kevin Burdick . I was so excited to chat with an artist who predominantly uses spray paint since I know very little about it but want to. I was surprised to hear that Kevin uses acrylic spray alongside a roller with latex. He rolls THEN sprays using a mix of airbrush and cans. Why did I never think of combining these techniques before?! I ordere...

Happy Mural Month! Today’s episode is all about everyone’s favorite topic: art money. “How do I price my art project?” is typically the question I get asked the most, so let’s chat about it. Here’s a few tips and general overview of the things I go over in this episode: My 3 main methods of pricing: Square Foot- 100 sqft x $25 per sqft = $2,500 Time- How much time will it take me to complete this...

Happy Mural Month! This week’s episode features California-based muralist and business mind Derrik Diza. Not long ago, I came across one of Derrik’s posts in a Facebook group talking about how he’s getting new business and advising other artists on how they can too. Another business-minded artist looking to share industry “secrets” in order to help others make more money with a paintbrush? Hello!...

There’s nothing like having an art (best)friend that just *gets* you. But for those who don’t have an art-minded gang of supporters hanging around, the first question you might be asking is, “Where do I find *my* people?” 🥁 Well, first I suggest searching online. Creepin’ on someone’s Instagram can give a decent indication as to whether we would like to meet them in person or not. THEN Google the...

This week’s episode will give you a flash of nostalgia as we chat with Tim Jacobus, the illustrator for the famous Goosebumps series by author R.L. Stine! Tim shares all about his experiences in the illustration business back in the 90s and compares them to today’s digital methods. He is an open book when it comes to answering all questions about his creative process. From sketching out the iconic...

To take a deposit or not to take a deposit? That is the question in this week's episode. I’ll also be talking about the pros and cons of asking for money upfront, how much to ask for, and how to collect it. I’ll share all of the different ways I’ve taken a deposit for a canvas or mural project in the past 10 years of running an art business, so you can decide which method is right for your busines...

This week’s episode features Florida-based artist Samm Wehman. Samm has been a part of the Academy since the early days (a few years ago) and this is actually her second interview. You can find her first on episode #45. I told you she’d been around for a hot minute! We decided to do a second interview (something I rarely do) because her art business has expanded so much, along with her mindset aro...

This year’s theme is all about figuring out ways to work less while making more. A few of the ways I’m doing that are… 🥁 Pricing myself higher. 🤑 That sounds like a no-brainer, right? Make more = charge more. I feel like I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time, but those low-budget projects seem to sneak on my calendar. Not anymore! Using higher quality paint and investing in tools to speed...

This week’s episode features Missouri based artist and sculptor Susan Sommer . This was a big interview for me because I’ve been hoping to connect with Susan for years now! She’s a big time artist in my area. Like, not just big on Instagram like me, but big in real life with charging $50,000+ for her original paintings. She has several popular murals in my city of Springfield and her well establis...

The first mural I ever painted was for free and took me an entire summer to complete. Obviously, procrastination played a part in that, alongside using the wrong brushes, cheap paint, and having no actual idea how to apply paint (large scale). I learned a lot with that first one. Fast forward to today... This week I’m painting a large mural for the local college where I earned my painting degree....