At myartbiz, we help independent artists build profitable businesses that are super-charged by passive income and fueled by curiosity and joy.
bc I want high quality content and what to spend less time getting sucked into social media distractions, lol. 😂
Folks, this video is a little glimpse into how I often talk through ideas. Sometimes it's quite difficult for me to do the whole "beginning, middle, end" thing so thanks for always hangin' with me. It's vulnerable sharing rambling videos like this but it's just another reminder that the picture you see of people's lives on here is almost ALWAYS curated.
Everrrrrry time I share about my ADHD, I get a lot of you chiming in with either similar experiences or curiosity in general. I'd really like to start sharing more of my story here. I think it would be helpful for YOU to see that yes, you can be ADHD and also successful, thriving, loved, etc (I know a lot of you have kiddos with adhd so this is helpful to see).
I actually think it would be really helpful for ME too. Accountability is hard for me. Consistency is even harder. That said, I think by recognizing (v publicly) the way my life is impacted by my ADHD brain, it will help me gain new insight into ways I can healthily manage it that might be different than what I've done before.
I'm super interested in working with an ADHD coach so if you know of anyone, plz drop their handle below!
Love you, my friends. ✊
Has anything like this happened to you before? Drop a comment below so we can cry/laugh together 🤪 😭
TAKEAWAYS FROM GOING TIKTOK VIRAL (IN A BAD WAY):
👉 Change your messaging based on your audience's awareness of your brand
👉 Be aware of differences in platforms
👉 Consider how content has varying impacts on different niches
👉 Have a game plan for when things go BAD (I panicked, lol)
👉 If you are genuinely trying to do good in the world, have faith in yourself even when s**t hits the fan
🙇🏼♀️ PS: Are you curious how things have been going since I decided to start showing up consistently as an "influencer"? If you've been seeing me pop up in your feed lately, it's bc I've been doing some algorithm hacking. lol double tap this post if you want to hear all the goodies I've learned thus far. My takeaways may surprise you...
08/07/2020
It’s Friday and you know what that means… Feature time!
Today I’m featuring the work of - I’ve been a fan of Melarie’s work (and her in general as a human) for a few years now and cannot say enough good things about her. Melarie is an incredibly talented artist and a force for good in this world. I had the pleasure of having Melarie in my Freelance 101 course as well and it’s been so cool to see her flourish.
Here’s a bit about Melarie…
Melarie Odelusi is a wife mom and freelance artist working in Dallas, Texas. She specializes in illustration and modern lettering, celebrating empowerment and storytelling. Her creative output ranges from sketching, painting and digital art.
She offers art with modern edge, feminine hues and intentional lines that captures women in solidarity and unity. The inspiration of her work stems from her belief in being surrounded by extraordinary people and beautiful things that ignites confidence and authenticity.
What do you think? Leave a lovely comment for below and go give her a follow!
07/31/2020
Happy Friday! Today I’m featuring the work of - I became familiar with Louise’s work back when she enrolled in my Freelance 101 course and I’ve been following everything she does ever since. Louise is such an inspiration with her vibrant colors, stylized figures, and intention use of texture. If you’re not familiar with her work yet, go ahead and check out her profile at 🙌
Here’s a bit about Louise…
Louise Burrows specializes in portrait, fashion and lifestyle illustration with varied experience in concept/costume illustration for film. Most recently, Louise worked as costume illustrator for for costume designer Anna B Sheppard on Netflix Production ‘Eurovision’ The Story of Fire Saga. 🔥 (you can see some of her original work from this over on her feed!)
Louise prefers to hand draw using digital and traditional techniques, often including elements of collage and always with a strong emphasis on composition.
I chose to feature this image of her’s because it’s one of my absolute favorites. Louise even sells this as a print in her online shop 😍
https://www.etsy.com/listing/672670731/gucci?ref=shop_home_active_5
What do you think? Leave a lovely comment for Louise below and go give her a follow!
07/23/2020
Putting my 💵 where my 👄 is 🤭
After I posted about artists being more transparent about their pricing with beginners (and just everyone in our industry), I figured why not post some little guided tips here and there to make it easier for YOU FOLKS to get what I’m talking about and learn along the way.
I personally never do hourly pricing. It just doesn’t work for me on so many levels. If it works for you, awesome, cool, you do you!
I prefer project based pricing and I’m pretty freaking good at it bc I’ve been doing it for 10 years now with solid guidance from the best - my art rep who has been in this industry FOR WAY LONGER THAN ME. Plus, we’ve worked with and negotiated projects with some of the best brands on the planet - Nike, Target, Disney, Google…
Sharing a sample inquiring and pricing here.
If you find this helpful, you can give back and show me you want to see more content like this by leaving a comment below, liking, and sharing the image with others who would benefit!
Xo,
M
@ Grand Rapids, Michigan
07/21/2020
If I’ve learned anything of value over the past 10+ years of being a self employed artist, it’s this…
STOP:
Comparing yourself to others. There will always be a slew of people who are “better” than you at your craft.
DO THIS INSTEAD:
Focus on building your own self confidence. Be committed to loving yourself and investing in yourself. I’m sharing a few tips above on how to do this.
TELL ME: Which tip is resonates most with you RIGHT NOW?
07/16/2020
How many of you have taken a client call at 11p after laying down to bed? 🤭⠀
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UNHEALTHY ARTIST MODE LOOKS LIKE:⠀
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• Choosing to not set boundaries with clients (ahem, 11p phone calls)⠀
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• Creating work motivated completely by external validation⠀
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• Speaking poorly to yourself when your work doesn't seem as "good" as another artist⠀
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• Keeping yourself in constant hustle mode⠀
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• Agreeing to projects that you are ethically against⠀
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Any of these hit you hard right now? You're not alone. Whenever you catch yourself falling into these bad habits, take a deep breath, be compassionate to yourself and move forward with good intentions.⠀
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What's one of these points that you struggle with and how are you working on it?⠀
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You're doing great!⠀
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xo,⠀
m⠀
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07/16/2020
One of THE most common questions that I get: how do I develop my personal style as an artist?⠀
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I feel like I could go into a long rant about how Instagram culture has perpetuated a paradigm of unrealistic expectations for creative growth, but I'll save that for another time and give you some of the best advice I ever got in re: to the question of finding your creative voice and/or personal style as an artist...⠀
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STOP DOING THIS:⠀
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If you are starting out, stop thinking about developing your creative voice. You are literally focusing on the wrong thing. You're asking the wrong question. Your personal style will come with time, I promise.⠀
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DO THIS INSTEAD:⠀
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Focus on learning the foundations of your craft. So, if you're an aspiring illustrator, learn perspective. Composition. How to draw the figure. Color theory. Light and shadow.⠀
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Once you have learned your foundations, start to build upon them with experimentation and new techniques. When you are to this point, participate in critique of your work and the work of your peers. Critique is important at any point during your career but especially at this point. Critique helps us better understand what is working and what's not working. Furthermore, engaging in critique at this point in our journey encourages us to disconnect our ego from our work and ultimately prepares us for working with clients in the future (or just growing from crit in general). Engaging in critique helps us learn the language of art and how to talk about art.⠀
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Your "style" will naturally come at some point after these stages in your career. After years of experimentation and building upon your foundations, you'll naturally gravitate to a message, a technique, or an aesthetic. You'll start to be able to make clear choices that visually amplify the message you want to create with your work.⠀
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TL;DR⠀
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Stop obsessing over "standing out" online and obsess over getting really good at the basics instead.⠀
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xo,⠀
m⠀
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07/15/2020
Ever feel totally at a loss for what to talk about on here? Lately I've been feeling that way...⠀
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The past few months have been... different? I've been much quieter on here. I've been taking my time to really listen to others and learn more about myself. My strengths. My weaknesses. My blindspots.⠀
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I've been intentionally remaining quiet, but during this time I've also kinda fell into this place of "well, what do I even talk about now?".⠀
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and I were chatting today and I felt the little fire of excitement come back as we starting discussing what I love most about my job - helping other creatives build confidence in themselves, their work, and their unique place within this industry.⠀
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With that said, I've been preparing some posts for the next few weeks here focused primarily on confidence building. I figured, what better place to start than with the bane of our existence as artists (🤪): revisions and criticism.⠀
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HOW on earth do we get to a place where we can accept criticism openly and grow from it? How do we not let criticism dampen our creative flame? Well, since I've been doing this for quite some time now and get revisions and/or criticism on the DAILY, I've found some incredible tools that have aided in my ability to grow with feedback.⠀
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I've formatted some of these tips as questions and mindful observation prompts that we may ask ourselves when faced with criticism.⠀
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I hope that these slides can be a blessing to you today as you work toward your artistic goals and ultimately confidence in who you are and what you provide to the creative community.⠀
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Please do let me know your thoughts below in the comments!⠀
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xo,⠀
m
@ Grand Rapids, Michigan
06/10/2020
Hey friends!
The past few months have been incredibly heavy… devastating.
I’ve been pretty silent on here with the exception of posting to my stories because I’ve been taking time out to really listen and educate myself more.
If you are feeling like you need to do ALL THE THINGS BC YOU’RE OUTRAGED. Just take a moment to slow down and think of where you can make the most impact and how you can use the gifts and privileges you already have to support
I’m awful at having conversations with faceless people on facebook. There are people who are good at that - I see the work you’re doing, keep doing it! I’ve found that the demographic is v different on facebook and it’s important for us to connect w/ family and friends there.
That being said, I have my business and my platform. I’ll be using it the best I can right now to help make an impact but in order for me to do so, I really need to slow down first to listen, learn, and examine how I have been a part of the problem. Some of the ways I’ve contributed to the problem of a racist culture are really glaring - the lack of diversity in my content for starters. Other ways I have been a contributor are more sutble, the way I talk about the accumulation of money and wealth.
While I take time to map out a plan of action, I’m taking steps behind the scenes as well.
Here’s where we have put our money:
and I have personally donated to and .kitchen (a local Black-owned business that was damaged in the Riots that BTW we are really excited to go to when possible). We will be donating to one more organization this month that focuses on at-risk Black LGBTQ+ youth but we’re still deciding on which one.
In full transparency, we have yet to donate via our businesses bc TBH both our businesses have been deeply impacted by COVID-19. is still closed. Once we are to a place where we can make a donation happen, we will share that process here.
THANK YOU for your patience on this post. My silence does not mean that I don’t care. I deeply care and I’m pi**ed AF.
04/22/2020
Okay, who else is currently going crazy right now? 🥴
Today is currently my 29th day in quarantine. I’m so incredibly blessed to have my family here with me (although at times I feel like GOOD GOD I just need one minute to myself… 3 yr olds, amirite?). While I often feel like I’m borderline going nuts, I feel like I really want to share a few things that I am so incredibly grateful for right now. These things are in no particular order of importance, just sharing…
1ST:
I am so beyond grateful for my own current health and the health of my family.
2ND:
I’m so thankful for my job and the ability for me to earn an income during times like this. All my work is on the internet and that puts me in a pretty fortunate position to say the least. As a side note that is also relevant… I’m really grateful for differentiated income streams.
3RD:
I’m grateful that I have the privilege to stay home.
4TH:
I’m thankful that I had the past few years of emotional turbulence and self growth to bring me new insight and appreciation during this time.
5TH:
You guys, my child is about to run into the room and demand my attention again in about one minute so I’m going to wrap this up - I’m grateful for food on my table, clothes on my back, a home that I OWN, running water and electricity, zoom calls, sculpey clay, the internet, cheesy dark vampire and witch shows, a Mother Earth that continues to give even when we’re awful, a partner that deeply cares for me, a child that is healthy and wants to snuggle and bother me bc she loves me…. F**K. I have it pretty good, even in the midst of one of the craziest times of our lives. I def missed many things to add to this list that I’m grateful for but we’ll save that for another time.
Should my next post be about all the things that are currently grinding my gears? Ha, jk. We all can imagine.
Share what you’re currently grateful for below as you hunker down through this pandemic. 👇👇👇❤️❤️❤️
