3 Rules to Help Sell Your Creative Services when the Project is Out of Your League.

The only way we can grow as an Artist is to consistently challenge ourselves to create outside of our comfort zone, but what do you do where there is money and your reputation on the line? I started doing “chalkboard art” which evolved into murals for clients locally in 2011. Over the years I have had clients ask me to do things that I really didn’t know how to do. I’ve been asked to paint on surfaces I wasn’t confident would work and use new materials that I wasn’t comfortable with. I had to really learn the hard way most of the time because I didn’t have the experience and rarely asked for help.

Have you seen the Sea Glass mural on the side of the Hotel on Rehoboth Avenue? This was my big example of learning lessons the hard way. I didn’t consider using a projector or stencil and had to freehand the whole thing. It came out crooked and I had to repaint the logo ON BRICK IN 100 DEGREE HEAT – plus I didn’t use a lift! I jeopardized my safety and my sanity to save a few bucks which ended up making that project take so long that I was ultimately underpaid. These are just a few of the lessons I had to learn over the course of the last 10 years of doing this type of work. So, how did I land the mural job that changed my life? I was approached by a military hospital in Bethesda to do a mural in their entire Children’s Oncology Unit. The kicker was I wasn’t allowed to paint on the walls. I had never used Procreate before, I had never made a wallpaper before, and I had never turned my artwork into decals. So what did I do? I fully committed to this project without hesitation.

This mural didn’t take me 4 months to complete, it took 10 years. 10 years of lessons and mistakes as an Artist which gave me the confidence to know exactly what I could handle. When I asked to be paid $20,000 for this project, I had to fight for it which happens more times than not in this type of work. So my advice to you to secure this type of opportunity is: 

1. Make sure it’s for something you believe in. I have had a lot of soul-sucking, “paint the logo on the wall” art jobs that I hated and never felt I charged enough for. This project was something I believed in and a cause that I would want to support. To make the best Artwork you have to be emotionally connected to the project.

2. Ask for help. If you haven’t done it before, I promise someone else has. No one is inventing the “Art Wheel” anymore. If you are about to work on a new surface or use a new material, find an Artist on instagram or in our community to ask advice. 

3. Know your worth. If you are about to deliver a $20,000 mural, you better be confident that you have the skills to back that up. If you say it’s $20,000 to the client and they refuse to pay you, always walk away. If you for a second believe that someone is taking advantage of you, your artwork will not come out how you want. Take the time to work on your skills. Also, find your damn niche. Pick something and do it great, rather than do a bunch of things half ass. I promise it will pay off.

If you ever need help, you have a community here that will always support you. Remember your Artwork is not what you make today, it is YEARS of your creative journey that led you to create today.