4 Things That Every Artist Needs for the New Year

There are 4 basic things that every artist needs in order to set the stage for their success in the new year. We’ll post each of these 4 things in a “miniseries” over the next few days.

 

Here’s the first of the 4:

 

One of the most overlooked yet most critical needs that every artist or designer must have if they plan to make any type of progress in the New Year is to have WRITTEN goals.

 

For the artist, having written goals does not have to be a hard thing to accomplish. You probably already have those goals in mind already or have talked about them forever! Now’s the time to take action by committing them to paper, which is the first step toward the goal being more than something you only talk about.

 

I recommend identifying and WRITING DOWN at least 3 key objectives that you as an artist or designer really want to accomplish this year. To help narrow the goals down, they must follow the “S.M.A.R.T.” model:

 

S- Specific: The goal must not be vague like “to create more art” but specific like “create a minimum of one new art piece each month (or each quarter, etc)”.

 

M- Measurable: The goal must be something that you can track and measure. This allows you to better determine how close or far away you are from your target.

 

A-  Achievable: It must be something that you can actually reach. “Being the number one artist in the city” may not be achievable (nor is it measurable). “Competing in 2 city-wide art shows per year” is more achievable.

 

R- It must be realistic: Selling $1,000 per month in artwork after only selling $60 per month may not be a realistic goal.

 

T- The goal must be time-specific: Writing it down on a calendar is a great way to stay on top of achieving it as weeks go by.

 

Keep watching for the 2^nd in this miniseries coming soon.

 

The Gospel As Told by Graffiti Artists

I’ve always been fascinated with how God uses different artists and the unique talents that we each have to serve individual purpose, but how that purpose rolls up to His collective plan.

A painter of murals may not reach the audience that a comic book artist may reach. Neither may either of them effectively reach the audience that a fine art painter may reach. The bible teaches us:
“He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work…” Ephesians 4:16

Here is an example of how God uses graffiti artists to communicate the Gospel message. This group of artists is from Passageway.org and is affiliated with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association:

 

30 Year Old Sketch From My Teen Years

During my recent visit to my hometown for Thanksgiving, I found one of my OOOOOOld  sketchbooks from around 1980 0r ’81. I was about 15 or 16 years old.

I’ve posted one of the sketches from it below. You can detect from the characters a little influence from the scifi entertainment of the era: A little “Ookla The Mock” from Sarurday morning cartoon’s Thundarr the Barbarian, with a hint of Chewbacca from 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back:

Art From My Teen Years

Concept art from my teen years almost 30 yrs ago

 

Poll: Has God Ever “Spoken” to You About Your Talent?

Many of us believe that God still speaks to His people. Although, not as much in an audible voice, but many Christian visual artists and designers  do believe that God can and does guide and directs His artists.

Share Your Feedback In the Poll Below:

 

2 Things You’ve Said You Want

Hey folks-

I always try to make sure that the content we post here on “Art Lessons From God!” is relevant and something that you find of value.

In an effort to maintain this focus, I just want to check and see if your voice has been heard. From my last spot check with many of you, you said you want to discuss and know more about:

1. How to hear from God.

2. How to discover what God wants you to do with your talent.

Please let me know if the above is true and/or what else you’d like to gain from this online community.

Post your feedback!