If you want to be an artist (a writer, say, or a painter), the first step is to write or paint as often as you can—no excuses. Before showing your work to a publisher or gallery owner, make sure that they publish or show your kind of work. Before showing your work to a publisher or gallery owner, make sure that the work is as good as it can be. In other words, revise, rework, refine. The old cliché is true: who you know is just as important as what you know. So get out and meet people. When you approach people sincerely to ask advice (as opposed to thrusting your manuscript/slides on them when you’ve never met them before), most people will be willing to talk to you. Having well-made publicity materials—a postcard or a brochure with some images and information on it—makes you stand out from the pack. Being with people who are more talented than you is helpful, not hurtful. Before I went to art college, I tried to do all of the above things on my own, without help from ...
Artist Philip Hartigan talks about art, interviews other artists, and more