The first step to becoming an artist isnt faking your own death or choosing which private island to buy. First you need your own recognisable style and a niche to kick things off! \r<br>\r<br>We all know that art is a crowded space - everyone wants to be an artist and make a living out of it. It can be hard to find your own space and style, but I reckon its the most important first step. You need to have something that you can show people that is genuinely yours - something that is a little different to everything else out there, that is a little piece of your soul.\r<br>\r<br>I recently had an email from Kassy, an up-coming artist from the Sunshine Coast, who asked if I could help her on her journey to becoming an artist. She told me that she was desperate to achieve her dream of being an artist and had tried a whole bunch of ideas… and when they didnt work out shed switch and try something else in the hopes that it would be successful. Shed become disillusioned and art wasnt much fun for her anymore since she was always thinking about who would buy it or what would be popular. Shed imagined from watching my videos that Id always known what I was doing and that Id planned my whole career. The truth was her story was eerily similar to mine. \r<br>\r<br>Id wanted to be an artist my whole life and teenage me wanted to be an equine artist and paint horses, when I realised that wasnt going to be a goer, I studied graphic design when I finished school. Five years later I was working as a designer in London and I had the idea of customising vintage clothing with hand painted patches and making my own jewellery… that never got off the ground so I went back to design.\r<br>\r<br>A couple of years after that I decided I was going to make ink drawings of cows and chickens with funny sayings and Id send them to greeting card companies… I sent them away to greeting card companies and they turned me down… I continued on with Graphic design.\r<br>\r<br>Life can be funny sometimes though, after I had given up, I took up surfing for something to do and to offset some of the frustration I was feeling in my day job. About 6 months into it I bought myself a y new surfboard and decided to paint it, because, I was after all, someone who dabbled in art now and again. I researched the process, painted that board and put it on YouTube so that other people could paint their own boards… and that was the moment that Fieldey the artist was born! \r<br>\r<br>Ill go a bit deeper into how it all worked out in other s, but suffice to say I never in a million years thought Id be a surfboard artist, but that was a magic element that I needed to craft my own style: the surfboards created a set of guidelines and limits for me to work within: long and skinny, I borrowed a genre that I liked: old school tattoo, that because I was new to acrylic painting would be easy for me to do (big bold outlines) and then I injected that magic ‘X element: my own weird self and punny sense of humour. \r<br>\r<br>My advice to Kassy, was to dial it all right back to the beginning… to ignore thoughts about what was popular, or would sell, and go back to the kind of artmaking that bought her joy. \r<br>\r<br>As an artist anything could be your inspiration - you have to open yourself right up to the world and sometimes what you are looking for will come at you from leftfield, so its your job to have your blinkers off so youre open to it. \r<br>\r<br>Big thank you to Kassy for being the inspiration for this video - good luck in your art journey!\r<br>\r<br>Artist Insider Vlogs are atargeted towards aspiring and emerging artists and creatives. Ill be discussing my story of how I became an artist and giving you tips and ideas that may help you on your artists journey. \r<br>\r<br>My name is Fieldey, Im a surf, skate and street artist from Australia. I started this channel 5 years ago when I was an unhappy corporate designer yearning to become an artist. Since posting my very first video Ive been on a crazy journey from teaching myself to paint surfboards and skateboards, to painting large-scale street art murals! \r<br>\r<br>Turning my passion into a full-time career has been a massive learning curve and I want to pass on the skills and knowledge Ive learned, as well as inspire others whore just starting out on their creative journeys.\r<br>\r<br>I post on Saturday every fortnight, sometimes more, and you can expect to see easy to follow, Mad Skillz Masterclass tutorials, Artist Insider vlogs and inspirational projects that Ive been working on.\r<br>\r<br>Grab your brushes, hit that subscribe button and join me on an artistic adventure! \r<br>\r<br>For business enquires or to enquire about a commission please visit: \r<br>\r<br>Lets be friends!\r<br>Instagram: @fieldey\r<br>Facebook: \r<br>Wordpress:
