The income of a professional visual artist can be a roller-coaster ride of financial highs and lows, and knowing this, many artists naturally turn to teaching art in order to bring in some bread and butter income.

I myself have taken this path in the past, and along with my Wife we ran the largest private art tuition program in our local shire for about 5 years.

Today we still run a version of our original live tuition program, but now it lives online in a ‘Virtual Classroom’ instead, which suits our lifestyle very well…

(Unashamed plug alert! We now have Art Teacher job opportunities on DrawPj.com)

…however, if you are just starting out and are thinking of teaching art in a live setting then here are some tips for success:

1. Become an art tutor because you genuinely want to share your love of art

Your students deserve an art teacher who really wants to share what they know. Artists who are in tutoring just for the money generally don’t last very long, or grow to resent their new ‘day job’. If this is you then don’t do it to them and don’t do it to yourself.

2. Be organised, professional and business-like

If you are going to be doing this for the long haul then you need to set your art tuition business up as a ‘real business’, just like all the other real businesses in the world. Your clients will respect you for it and place more value on what you do.

3. Create a structured course

Just running short stand-alone workshops is fine and dandy but that will mean that you have to find new students every time you run a new course. This can be expensive in terms of time and money when it comes to advertising and marketing your art tuition services.

If you create a structured course it’s much easier to retain the same students for a long time. Make sure you build in progression and recognition of achievement. This will require you to develop plenty of different art skills which you can teach over a long period. It’s hard work, but it will make you a better and more versatile artist in the long run. Remember you don’t have to create your entire course before you start teaching. You can just start with a general outline and create it  ‘just in time’ if you are brave enough

4. Create great course materials which students can take home

This adds value to what you are offering and sets you head and shoulders above the rest of the private art tutors in town who are just teaching in an ad-hoc fashion.

5. Charge well for your classes

You will get more respect from your students if your classes are refreshingly expensive. Your professionalism will allow you to command a good price for your time. Don’t worry about the competition or community groups that charge next to nothing. You are not in that market. You are providing an excellent and very professional art tuition program and people will expect it to pay for it. Don’t undersell what you are offering by going too cheap.

6. Advertise in ‘Good Places’

We found over time that students who made enquiries via classified ads were harder to teach and generally did not stay with us as long as those who came via ads placed in the main part of a newspaper (usually the ‘lifestyle’ section). They also tended to be looking for ‘what they can get’ rather than ‘what they can learn’. The two audiences seem to have a different mindset. In our experience its worth advertising in places where people are looking for quality of service rather than value for money.

7. Charge up front

Many art tutors seem timid about asking students to pay up front, instead opting to allow them to pay on a week by week basis.  Don’t be afraid to charge upfront on a ‘per term’ basis, and request a deposit to secure course places. This also makes things much easier administratively.

8. Keep overheads as low as possible

Renting a hall or commercial space is very expensive, and so are art materials. Do your sums. If they don’t add up, don’t do it. Adding more students to your workload will not get you around this. It will only make you very tired, stressed and overworked

9. Share what you know freely

Many students came to us because their previous tutor seemed to be holding back their ‘trade secrets’, afraid that a students might steal a bit of their original art style. Don’t be afraid that a student will be become a better artist than you using your tricks of the trade. In our experience the students that really pick up the baton and run with it only reflect well on the master artist that taught them (that’s you).

10. Don’t forget why you are doing this

You are teaching art to support your art practice. Remember to leave time in your weekly schedule for your own art.

11. Another Unashamed Plug – Come and tutor art with us!

As you might have gathered, when it comes to art tuition we’ve been there done it, and bought the t-shirt (quite literally – we did have special t-shirts made… but thats another story!). Anyway, if you are considering taking up art tuition as a business, then have a look at whats on offer on our other site DrawPJ.com.

We have limited opportunities for passionate (about art) and caring (about people) individuals to present our comprehensive art course, both in the real world and online. With our course you can set up your own art tuition business with ongoing support from our genuinely warm and welcoming community of artists and tutors.

What are you waiting for? Hop on over and find out about Art Teaching Jobs with DrawPj.com.

Life is so busy. There are so many distractions. So many things to keep your eye off the ball. It’s almost a full time job being an administrator of your own life.

Everybody has their hand out wanting money. Bills keep coming in. Friends demand be Facebooked, MSN’ed, Twittered.

Then there’s the quality time that you must spend with your nearest and dearest. Not to mention if you also have a  job to help keep the bread and butter on the table. HDTV’s and Iphones all tempt you to fritter away time, and if you’ve got kids (like me) you could go seriously bananas with all the possible myriads of distractions.

At the back of your mind though is the nagging thought that you must do something towards your life purpose, your grand dream, your big goal, the thing that you dream of doing above all other things. If you’re not careful you’ll  start to beat yourself up over not doing the things you need to do to work on that too.

What can we do? What should we do?

For me the answer comes packaged in two short phrases:

“Pyjama Time” (or Pajama time if you prefer the US spelling)

and

“Just show up at the table”

These phrases were coined by my Wife, Cindy Wider, when she wrote her book “Paint In Your Pyjamas”

Often, when it comes to our big dreams and aspirations we think that we need to set aside big blocks of time to achieve them. We promise ourselves that one day we will reserve some uninterrupted time to work on them. The trouble is those big blocks of time never come. Life stays busy.

Pyjama Time refers to the small blocks of time that we have in our day to day lives that, if left unattended, can be just frittered away on other unimportant things. In a super busy life the trick is to be ready to recognise and grab these bits of time, and use them to progress on whatever goal we have in mind. These blocks of time might actually be when you are in your pyjamas (for instance, first thing in the morning before the rest of the family is awake) or during the day when you have a spare 5 minutes here or there, minutes that otherwise might be wasted by zoning out in front of the TV or picking up a trashy magazine.

To use your pyjama time effectively you need to set yourself up so that no matter where you are or what you are doing, if you spot some pyjama time, you are ready to use it effectively towards your big goal. The idea is that over an extended period of time all these little pyjama time moments add up until eventually you reach your goal.

The phrase ‘just show up at the table’ encourages me to do something towards my goal even when I have no idea how to achieve it or I am completely uninspired to do anything. For instance this morning I had no idea what I was going to write about, but that did not deter me from just showing up at the table (ie sitting down at my desk) knowing that the very act of doing so would make something happen, even if I did not know what that something was.

So if you’ve been promising yourself that you really should get on with creating some new artworks for that exhibition you’ve dreamed of, then why not try using your pyjama time and just show up at the table! Eventually all those little pyjama time moments will add up and you’ll find yourself at your own glittering art exhibition opening night. Surely that’s worth turning off the telly for (or whatever it is that you spend small spare moments doing right now).

That reminds me of an old Johnny Cash song that my parents used to play. “I took it one piece at a time, and it didn’t cost me a dime..”, referring of course to an entire Cadillac car that (in the song) was built by stealing one little piece at a time over a number of years.

Go on, steal some pyjama time for yourself, and just show up at the table. Off you go now. You’re wasting valuable pyjama time by reading this article any further!

Okay,  enough already! Everybody has now heard that we’re in recession and the media seem to bang on about it at every possible opportunity.

Worse still for artists and other creative types is that our decorative wares are now definitely right at the bottom of the shopping list for those middle to high income earners who like to purchase what we make.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that our beloved Galleries are having a hard time too right now (all except for those that are dealing in real ‘investment art’ by very famous and possibly dead artists).

Here’s a few ideas that you might like to think about…

Prepare for the UPSWING

The tidal surge of art buying is cyclical. When people feel cashed up they like to splurge. When their shares aren’t doing quite so well they panic a bit and become tightwads. At the moment many artists will be experiencing a new excuse for clients not buying their art…”Oh I absolutely LURRVE it, BUUUUTTT, with the recession and everything I just cant afford it”.  So what’s an artist to do? Well you could prepare for the upswing in the market at some point in the future, so when all of a sudden mr $$cash$$ comes out to play again, you are ready with your fine wares to capitalise on your clients perceived new bank account happiness.

Believe it or not the people who are going to have lots of money in two, three, four or five years time (and potentially the buyers for your art) are busy going round buying up assets like houses, businesses and shares right now while they are dirt cheap (as opposed to buying your stunningly beautiful but nevertheless non-essential art). When the market rebounds these ‘new rich’ will need trinkets and fripperies to display how fabulously wealthy they are. This is where you come in.

So, use this ‘quiet time’ to stock up on your artwork. Spend your time making lots of paintings, say… two or three exhibitions worth(!!). Book actual ‘selling’ exhibitions for these works well into the future. Of course you may have to find another way to make a crust in the meantime while things are quiet (uggh!), but as you create all these fabulous new works you can continue to build your profile in readiness for the new glorious day of cash-loaded clients by…

Exhibiting in Public Galleries

It’s great to have an exhibition without the pressure to sell anything, just for the sheer pleasure of executing an idea, a theme or a concept without all that nasty money related stuff. Many places in the world have galleries that are funded by the local, state or federal governments, and to have an exhibition in one is considered quite a feather in the cap of any artist who enters their hallowed halls. It gives the outward impression that serious art people (sans the money bias) do  take you seriously. So why not get started by putting together an exhibition proposal for your local public gallery?

Better still, apply for funding from  government agencies who are specifically there to develop our cultural landscape.

Even better, if you’ve got a strong concept it might be worth touring the exhibition through many public galleries. This will give your artworks plenty of exposure ready for future clients to buy when these artworks finally make it to the commercial (ie selling) galleries. Just think how good this will look on your artists statement! and while you are at it…

Enter Competitions

Another Curriculum Vitae expanding strategy which you can be getting on with while the art market is flat on its back like a fly-sprayed cockroach is to enter competitions. There’s the extra bonus too that if you win one you might be able to top up the coffers with a little prize money too. Again, these artworks can be out there in the world, spreading the good news of how brilliant you are ready for when things pick up. Everyone loves a winner, so why not invest a bit of time in becoming one?

…but at the same time, just to keep the ravenous wild howling canines from the door maybe you should also consider…

Doing something else for $$MONEY$$ (at least part-time)

If you are the kind of artist who comes under the category of “financially independent baby-boomer millionaire retiree who can do whatever you please” then please stop painting right now. Instead please immediately start buying up cheap properties and shares. You need to do your duty to the artworld by having an excess cash to burn on the artworks of other less financially independent artists when the recession turns into rampant optimism Support the Artworld that you purport to love

For all others…yes, I know, it makes you feel sick right down to pit of your stomach to consider doing other things for $$cash$$money$$.  I empathise, I really do, but you do need to put food on the table and stump up the monthly payments for that IPhone Maxi Cap plan that seemed such a good idea last year.

Okay, it’s time to take stock. Do you have some other readily marketable skills that you can sell right now?  I’m an artist through and through but I’m not ashamed to tell you that at this moment I create more commissioned websites than commissioned artworks, but does it make me feel any less of an artist?  Not one bit. It’s as simple as taking off one hat and putting on another.

del *.ego

Real artists remain artists even when they are working in a different job to survive. Don’t be afraid to do new money generating things to fund your further artistic adventures until such time as the good times finally begin to roll again.

Oh, and while you’re at it….

GO AND DO SOMETHING ‘COMPLETELY’ DIFFERENT

Seriously. If you can afford it, go out there and live a little. See some stuff, experience something. Break out of your normal day to day. Fill up your inspiration and ideas account. Get recharged and ready for the new wave of  affluence. Yes I know that time might seem a long way off, but good times will return and you need to be good and ready, pumping out absolutely brilliant stuff when that time comes. That brilliant stuff comes from INSPIRATION. Go and get some.