I'm just starting out and taking classes where I follow the instructor. Should I wait until I create more original work before marketing?

No, don’t wait. This is where everyone goes wrong—they think they need to create this incredible body of work first, get really good at it, and then take it to market to see if it sells. That’s completely backwards. Here’s an analogy: if two people wanted to start a restaurant, one person gets a loan, rents a space, buys equipment, designs the interior, hires staff, and opens after a year—only to find out no one likes the food. The other person gets a cart, makes tacos, pushes it to an office park, and gets immediate feedback. When the tacos don’t work, she tries something else, and when she finds the chicken dish people love, then she opens the restaurant. You need feedback immediately. The feedback shapes the direction you go in so you have a product the market actually wants. Don’t worry about whether your work is ‘original’—nothing’s original, there hasn’t been an original idea since Adam and Eve. Get your work out there now and learn what resonates.

---

Asked by a beginning artist taking classes · Answered by Patrick · Art Business Webinar · 2026-06-17