How prolific should I be as an artist, and how does output affect success?

Being prolific is absolutely essential. Picasso said ‘the work must go out into the world’ and he created over 42,000 works in his lifetime. When you’re highly productive, several things happen: you get better faster through practice, you’re more likely to create breakthrough pieces (even a broken clock is right twice a day), you don’t get too precious about any single work, and you have inventory to support multiple sales channels. Many artists never reach their potential simply because they don’t create enough. Aim to be working on multiple pieces simultaneously – it keeps things fresh and maximizes your productive time.

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Asked by synthesized from teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2024-11-08