Becoming an artist is easy. You just proclaim you are. You can not do this if you want to be a Brain Surgeon. You do not need a degree to be an artist. Heck, the best artist are children until a sibling or some bully says their art stinks. Some stop and never return until they realize what happened. That's what I like about my job. Getting people hooked on art, again. I'm sort of a art pusher, I lurk in the back of art stores looking for people to turn on to art who gave up the dream.
Kidding aside, Many have started, then stopped when they began building a family or got so busy with their job and career, they could not find the time. They come back, and I welcome them, to restart the never ending journey of creativity. It takes courage, but the rewards are never-ending.
There is a remedy to being a proficient artist if you are very busy. It's called Daily Painting, and I like to say I'm a guru. You begin and finish small pieces of artwork in a small space while the baby is sleeping, late night instead of watching Jay Leno or before Dinner. If this is you, and you can't find the time to paint, Check out, "About daily painting"on my website Daily Painting and read more about it on the Daily Painting Blog.
Another thing, you don't have to be good. This is true and we all know it.
It drives me crazy when I see a news story on a chimp or elephant throwing or spraying paint onto a canvas with the next clip of the art work hanging in a gallery with collectors willing to purchase the stupid art. And I mean stupid! Animials are not humans and cannot produce meaningful art. (end of rant)
In my generation, there was a quirky television program called "The Monkey's" simulated from the movie and song, "Hard Days Night" by the Beatles. The producers of the show had an actors call and selected non-musicans. The only attributes were they had to be quick, witted and funny. None had ever played a musical instrument. But by playing musicians, they all felt the need to become musicians, and they all did. A case of fiction becomes fact.
Pretend to be something you're not until you are. Fake-it until your successful, until everybody sees you the way you want them to. Start as a phony and become real.
The point is: Fake it and you will make it.
