Artist Interview Series: Kyle Parker
June 05, 2018
Let's hear it for artists! To help kick off June Pride we asked Kyle Parker to share his thoughts on building confidence, marketing his work and staying authentic to himself as an artist. Happy reading and please join us here every week for an interview with a Creative Action Network artist!
Q: What marketing approaches have worked best for you and why?
A: When it comes to marketing, I’ve always thought that being authentic to yourself will attract others to your work. I think having a clear concept of what you want to do helps with that.
Q: Does marketing yourself and your work make you feel uncomfortable?
A: When I was younger, trying to market myself or talk about my art always made me slightly uncomfortable. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve tended to become more confident in who I am and what I want to create.
Q: How do you get past that discomfort (if you do)?
A: I think that it’s a natural progression to become more confident in marketing yourself as you become more confident in who you are as a person.
Q: How do you make money from your art (full-time job, freelance work, selling things online, in what balance, etc)?
A: I work two “real” jobs to afford rent and bills. I’m able to sell art on my Etsy or through word of mouth. Recently I’ve gotten work by connecting to people through networking on Instagram, and becoming more involved in the artistic bubble in Chicago.
Q: How important is making money from your art?
A: My goal is never to make money from art, although it’s always just a plus if I do. It’s more important to me to have some sort of impact, whether big or small, when creating art.
Q: How often do you share your work and on what channels?
A: I try and share an illustration once a week on Instagram. Sometimes it’s in a post or within an Instagram story. It sounds like a commercial, but Instagram has been such a blessing when it comes to connecting to other artists and networking.
Q: Do you share in process/finished work vs more salesy promotional content?
A: I try and have a mixture of works in progress and finished work. Usually, I share art that is ready for sale. I never limit what I post to just finished work, though. It’s just usually what I think is going to be complementary to other work I’ve posted.
Learn more about Creative Action Network artist Kyle Parker and check out all of his CAN work.
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Q: How do you get past that discomfort (if you do)?
