If you’ve read anything from me before, you probably know I like to get straight to the point, and this article was written to provide ideas on New Year’s resolutions for artists. I’ve got ten good ones ready for you, and to help save you the time of rummaging through them, I’ve added a jump link to each one to save you the trouble of scrolling.
10 New Year’s Resolutions for Artists
To jump straight into it, use the jump links below to take you to the New Year resolution for artists you’re most interested in:
- Make Money Off Your Artwork
- Add Time for Creating Art Into Your Schedule
- Create Something Completely Different from Your Usual
- Take a Professional Art Course to Improve Your Skills
- Eliminate The Biggest Distraction to Your Art Goals
- Create a 5-Year Plan For Yourself as an Artist
- Dedicate a Place as Your Art Studio
- Display Your Art in a Local Gallery
- Buy Art Supplies You Haven’t Used Before
- Start an Art Blog to Display All Your Artwork
1 – Make Money Off Your Artwork
Yeah, diving right into my favorite New Year’s resolution for artists that everyone can appreciate – money! Maybe you’re already making a living from your artwork, but most likely you aren’t (sorry). Studies show that 85% of artists earn less than $25k/year from their artwork. That’s great as supplemental income, but terrible if you’re trying to live off of it.
Make a commitment this New Year to educating yourself on how to make more money from your art. Whether it be through art prints, creating your own art course to sell, or even compiling your artwork into a book.
Don’t let it take away too much attention from creating, but don’t ignore the fact that money is a necessary part of life, and if you want to have more time to create, then what better way than to make it profitable?
2 – Add Time for Creating Art Into Your Schedule
“What get’s scheduled gets done” is a quote from Michael Hyatt in his book Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want. The idea is simple yet profound, and the opposite is just as true – What doesn’t get scheduled won’t get done.
If you’re not adding time for your artwork into your schedule, then that’s why you’re not making progress. While making money sounds great, this New Year’s artist resolution is likely even more important than the first one on the list. For me, I just use Google Calendar and commit some time at least once every week to really plan out the following week.
3 – Create Something Completely Different from Your Usual
“You mean… Something… N…n.. new??” I know, I know. This New Year’s resolution is a scary one. We are creatures of habit, and that means trying new things can sound daunting. But branching out into new art mediums and even completely new fields can be exhilarating and exciting!
You may find that you enjoy pottery even more than you love painting. Or perhaps you’re afraid to add color to your artwork like I was for basically all of middle and high school, but once you start, you realize how stunning and alive your artwork can become.
But you may also find that you actually do like what you’ve been doing, and that’s ok. But you’ll never know until you try.
4 – Take a Professional Art Course to Improve Your Skills
If you’ve already spent time browsing the internet for New Year’s resolutions for artists, you’ve probably seen this one already. Why list it, then? Because taking a professional art course is a straightforward approach to get some forward momentum in your art career.
Sure, you can get decent content from Udemy or websites similar to it, but my recommendation is to go somewhere completely dedicated to art. Here are some examples of places you can take professional art courses to upgrade your skills:
You can take a course on something you’re familiar with or take on two of the resolutions on this list by taking a course in something different from what you’re used to to diversify your skills.
If you’re broke, don’t worry. You can find free resources online that will help you. If you’re looking to learn how to draw, here are some of the best free websites for learning to draw.
5 – Eliminate The Biggest Distraction to Your Art Goals
The invention of social media was both a blessing and a curse. It created the ability to communicate with thousands upon thousands of people all at once, as well as the ability for us to build a brand without the expense of traditional marketing.
However, social media has also wasted much of our time, with the average time an individual spends on social media coming in over two hours daily. That’s over 30 full days in a year. Imagine spending literally an entire month with no breaks for eating, drinking, or sleeping just watching cat videos on YouTube.
Maybe social media is your “biggest distraction” and maybe it isn’t. Either way, I guarantee something unnecessary distracted you from reaching all your goals this past year. Take a moment to determine what it is, and set a resolution to remove the distraction entirely or severely limit it for this coming year.
6 – Create a 5-Year Plan For Yourself as an Artist
New Year’s resolutions are kind of like goals that you set out for yourself over the next 365-day period, such as the ones I’ve listed so far. But planning only one year can only take you so far.
Have you ever been in a job interview and been asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” That’s because planning for the future is critical to long-term success, and they want to know if you’re doing it.
I have a 10-year plan that I then break down into 5, 3, and 1-year goals. The 10 and 5 are relatively vague, but when you get into the 1-year goal you need to start breaking it down into actionable steps that will ultimately bring you closer to reaching your goals.
Here’s an example of a lofty goal:
- 10-Year Art Goal
- Be making a full-time income off of just my artwork (ex: $80k/year)
- 5-Year Art Goal
- Have an annual income from art at $45k or more
- 1-Year Art Goals
- Have X number of art print sales
- Have X amount of followers on Instagram
- Take a class on Business Management to improve financial success as an artist
- Achieve a brand partnership for YouTube channel
- Etc…
Goals should be specific and measurable so that you know if it’s been achieved. Instead of “become a better artist” make it “take 3 professional illustration classes to improve skills.”
7 – Dedicate a Place as Your Art Studio
If this sounds too expensive to be a New Year’s resolution for an artist, let me elaborate. Set a place in your home as a dedicated art studio. It could be a whole room if you have a spare one, or it could be that old wobbly stool and a foldable TV tray that you set up in the corner because you can’t afford to buy a desk.
It doesn’t matter how big or small it is. All that matters is that it’s your art studio. This will help strengthen the mindset that you’re serious about being an artist and encourage you to spend the necessary time to grow into what you want to be.
8 – Display Your Art in a Local Gallery
Speaking of getting serious as an artist, what better way to really “get serious” than to have your artwork on display in a local gallery?
I recommend visiting wherever it is you’d like to put it on display, and if you think it’d be a good fit then talk to someone at the gallery to determine what steps you need to take to get your artwork in there.
Getting your artwork into a gallery can be an exciting new milestone as an artist, but it’ll take work! Only add this as one of your artistic New Year’s resolutions if you’re willing to put in the effort to get it done!
9 – Buy Art Supplies You Haven’t Used Before
Going from a tough(ish) artist resolution to an easy one. Consider buying and trying some new art supplies that you’ve never used before. I’ve added some of my favorites in a list below, but also some unique supplies that I haven’t used yet but plan to in the future!
- Sakura Pigma Micron Pens
- 48-Piece MyArtscape Oil Paint Set
- Graphgear 1000 Mechanical Pencil
- 72-Piece Copic Markers
- One by Wacom (Medium Drawing Tablet)
There’s a lot more I could list here, but you get the idea. If you usually paint, try just working with micron pens. If you typically use just pens, try out some Copic Markers. Never tried digital painting? Buy a relatively inexpensive drawing tablet such as the one I listed above. Start something new.
10 – Start an Art Blog to Display All Your Artwork
This blog was originally created as a way to display all my artwork to the world on a platform I could say was truly mine. Social media is great, but there are many limitations on what you can do with accounts like Facebook, Twitter, or even DeviantArt.
Starting a blog is easy nowadays, but it can be as straightforward or as complex as you think you can handle. My recommendation is to go with WordPress if you’re a beginner, and the only thing you’ll need to pay for is the domain and hosting (both pretty inexpensive). Create your space on the internet and make it yours.
The Best New Year’s Resolution for Artists
These are all great, but which one is the best? Well, the answer to that is easy. The best art-specific resolution is the one that brings you the most joy. That’s it.
Starting a blog can be beneficial, but if it doesn’t bring you joy, then don’t do it. Buying new supplies can be exciting, but if it’s going to strain your finances and ultimately lead to stress down the road, don’t do it.
What brings you joy might not even be in this article. Maybe you still haven’t quite discovered what that is yet. Whatever the case – my wish for you in the coming New Year is that you’ll find joy in creating and that happiness finds you, no matter what your resolutions are.
Happy New Year, friend!