I need to get something off my chest about our society

[whatartist]

So as the title says I need to get something off my chest about the society we are living in . Excuse my English if its not perfect but I will do my best so you understand what I am trying to say.

I am a 22 years old artist living in a poor country with no real opportunities in the Art field. So I have to work my ass off at a 9 to 5 job for 300$ / month salary just to be able to sustain myself ( paying rent, bills and food nothing more ). I graduated an Art School in my country and I have been doing Art ever since I was 7 years old because it makes me happy even tho somehow I always knew that I will never be able to make a living from it ( locally speaking )

When I first heard of the NFT opportunity for artists I started to dream again that maybe this is my chance to change my life in better but soon after I found out that this is not the case and I was left again in disappointment.
Remember I said that I graduated an Art School so this means I have the knowledge and skills to create correct Art from a technical point of view and by this I mean knowledge about colours, perspective, object placement etc. So thats what I did , I created a few hand-made pieces of real art and then digitalized them and turned them into NFTS

EXAMPLES https://i.imgur.com/VdzEjmA.jpg
                https://i.imgur.com/R8fVFy8.jpg

Ive made 10+ more such pieces but I left only 2 here as an example so you can understand I am trying to say that it was a long time consuming process and a high amount of effort that I put into this. The end result is a cumulate of years of hard work in sharping my skills, studying etc. I did my best in my spare time to do some networking sharing my art on social media engaging in communities on reddit etc.

And of course nothing happen ! I soon found out that people are spending millions on this sh it ( pardon my french ) https://i.imgur.com/rZ7sRsq.jpg instead of spending on real art.

Mediocre and under mediocre self proclaimed "Artists" with big marketing budgets ( from mommy and daddy ) keep making money because they have money to invest again and again meanwhile people like me are literally starving. So how is that fair ? Ive put my soul into this art thing over the years and for what ?

How can someone like me with no budget get recognition in the NFT world when the market is oversaturated with people who turned this into a business and are pumping money constantly to be on the TOP ? And the sad part about it the so called "art" they are doing means nothing to them apart the financial gain. And many of them are already rich but they keep doing it and reducing the chances of talented people to make a living of it.

Im looking forward to hear what do you guys think about this subject and If you can put yourself in my shoes what would you do ? Any advice and thought is appreciated 

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[suchmoon]

Not sure what you expected... NFTs are not about art, just like shitcoins are not about coins or money, and DeFi is not about finance or decentralization. It's just a new method to separate the gullible from their money.

Granted I know nothing about how art really works but perhaps you can build up your portfolio and eventually land a job doing chintzy ads to pay the bills, while doing art that you like on the side. Remote work opportunities these days are better than ever so living in a poor country shouldn't hold you back if you're really good at it.

[BernyJB]

Alright.
First, I'm in a situation not so different from yours, but not art related. Welcome to the club. The one difference we have is I'm 56, so, sorry to say, you've got a long way to go.

Initially, a number of years ago, a saying was said to me: "Every time you point your (index, of course) finger at somebody, there are three more fingers (middle, ring and pinkie) pointing back at you".
That saying gave me a lot to think about.
If you learnt art, you should know that many painters now recognized the world over used to paint with egg whites mixed with dirt and oxides they collected in the field, to get their colors. Same happened with sculptors, etc. You should also know many renowned artists died in complete indigence, but that didn't stop them from creating their art. They did it because they felt it, not because they had to pay the rent.
So, if you live in a bad place (so do I), move.
If you have a dead end job, get a better one.

In any case, STOP COMPLAINING. Trust me: it won't get you anywhere. You have a problem, find a solution.

[whatartist]

thanks

[Gyfts]

https://cryptonews.com/news/half-billion-dollar-fake-nft-sale-becomes-real-pr-stunt.htm

If you read the story above, it's clear that the sale of the NFT above was fake. But, you can imagine the smaller sales which are generated which might not be legitimate that the public never learns about. So the market is inflated as is, combined with whatever fake sales are in the mix for PR/fraud.

As with anything art related, the value is subjective. But at least with tangible art, there's an amount of craftmanship that goes behind each piece, oppose to an NFT generated using MS paint. To each his own, though.

[whatartist]

https://cryptonews.com/news/half-billion-dollar-fake-nft-sale-becomes-real-pr-stunt.htm

If you read the story above, it's clear that the sale of the NFT above was fake. But, you can imagine the smaller sales which are generated which might not be legitimate that the public never learns about. So the market is inflated as is, combined with whatever fake sales are in the mix for PR/fraud.

As with anything art related, the value is subjective. But at least with tangible art, there's an amount of craftmanship that goes behind each piece, oppose to an NFT generated using MS paint. To each his own, though.

thats why i thought putting a major effort into creating some unique traditional art pieces and digitalize them will make me stand out from the crowd  as you said most people using ms paint or whatever software with a simple learning curve . The years spent in school and the years of practice with a real pen on paper or a brush I think it can not be compared to someone learning adobe photoshop. But it seems it makes no difference unless you have an enitre Marketing team behind your back. Realistically I managed to achieve a thousand followers on instagram in 2 months and 300 on rarible but couldnt convert into any sales and probably never will . I can not compete with this marketing teams to gain visibility.

[whatartist]

Alright.
First, I'm in a situation not so different from yours, but not art related. Welcome to the club. The one difference we have is I'm 56, so, sorry to say, you've got a long way to go.

Initially, a number of years ago, a saying was said to me: "Every time you point your (index, of course) finger at somebody, there are three more fingers (middle, ring and pinkie) pointing back at you".
That saying gave me a lot to think about.
If you learnt art, you should know that many painters now recognized the world over used to paint with egg whites mixed with dirt and oxides they collected in the field, to get their colors. Same happened with sculptors, etc. You should also know many renowned artists died in complete indigence, but that didn't stop them from creating their art. They did it because they felt it, not because they had to pay the rent.
So, if you live in a bad place (so do I), move.
If you have a dead end job, get a better one.

In any case, STOP COMPLAINING. Trust me: it won't get you anywhere. You have a problem, find a solution.

I know that many artists died in complete indigence but this was long time ago. In a society where Art was not as present in peoples lives as it is in todays era. Thats the difference. The problem is that in this modern times as today self proclaimed Artists (with big budgets) make it into the world of art and are getting recognition even tho they have nothing to do with art some of them never used a brush or a pen in their lives apart from ms paint or adobe photoshop

[ammodotcom]

A true artist has to create art. Though you may never become rich – least of all by designing NFTs, which are nothing to do with art – you may spend your life attempting to hold a mirror up to the universe. Focus on your art, not what comes of it. Nothing may come of it, but no artist has ever received more comforting advice.

[yhiaali3]

Your story is really impressive, but you should never despair. You are a young man in the prime of life and you will surely get a lot of opportunities in the future, but you have to be patient and continue and never despair, as for the salary, you have to be smiling because I am in a poorer country than yours and I get a salary $40 a month only for a full time job!!! But thank God I got a great opportunity here by working in Crypto I get many times my salary and pay for all my needs by working online.
For art and NFT, that's always the case in this day and age, no one appreciates precious things and original art. They look for nonsense and trivial things but you have to go your own way and do the things you love and don't pay attention to others and you must get your chance in the end.

[Cnut237]

Im looking forward to hear what do you guys think about this subject and If you can put yourself in my shoes what would you do ? Any advice and thought is appreciated  

First, I would say don't get dispirited. If you look at NFTs selling for vast amounts of money, then look at your work and think: mine is better... then yes, yours might genuinely be better. The reason is that when "art" sells for a lot of money - true for NFTs as well - people aren't buying it for the quality of the art, they are instead buying an asset that they think will either hold its value or, better yet, increase in value, so that it can be sold at profit later on. Art that sells is often unrelated to art that is good. So don't let this get you down.

I am a 22 years old artist living in a poor country with no real opportunities in the Art field. So I have to work my ass off at a 9 to 5 job for 300$ / month salary just to be able to sustain myself

I am very fortunate to live in a wealthy country. I know a few people who make a living here from selling art, and they do it by taking commissions online, and then posting out to buyers all around the world. But I think you can use living in a poor country to your advantage.

I did my best in my spare time to do some networking sharing my art on social media engaging in communities on reddit etc.

I would say that this is a good first step. But if it's a one-off post, you are unlikely to get much traction. First you should get yourself a website, or if you can't do that then maybe a Facebook business page or something similar, a location where people can come to view your work, understand what your prices are, how shipping works, what is for sale, whether they can commission personal pieces and the steps they would take to do that. Make it easy for people. Then when you do networking or promote on social media, you have a base to build from, and slowly you can try to build followers, and with each post you have a wider audience, and are more likely to get noticed, and make some sales.

And this is where it can be an advantage living in a poor country. Someone in the US may buy a piece for what is to them a small price, say $300, but to you, one single sale replaces your current monthly income... whereas an artist doing the same thing in the US would need to make many more sales to be able to afford to live from art.

Anyway, just an idea, but maybe worth pursuing to see if it works. I think this approach gives you more chance of success.

[mu_enrico]

"Life is not fair." (just for an icebreaker )
Seriously man, there are many artists who have great paintings, but not appreciated, cannot become famous, etc. Meanwhile, when I look at the expensive paintings, I scratch my head and ask what's good about it?

Aside from NFT is a highly manipulated space, I think there's room for improvement from your side. Since you already mention "big marketing budgets," I think it has some truth in it. Maybe you need more marketing, and reach out to NFT collector if it's about NFT. Looking at your art, I can still enjoy it, so it's a good sign. Wiseman said "Ugly is absolute, but beautiful is relative." You only need to reach out to the rich people who have the same taste as me.

You need to market your product, which means to find people who:
- can afford your product
- need your product
- pitchable/open to offer

[Smartvirus]

Living in a poor nation and earning $300 a month, that could could a deal breaker for someone living in a poor society. Trust me  I've I've people earn far less and still, find a way to some comfort in there starts of origin. You should be about that too, find a way to your comfort not to ignore putting in efforts for better and better opportunities even in what you have now.

Never forget that, the society at large is never fair to anyone, there are big players in every field and the album, doll, knee, hat, vote, tone, harsh, doctor, sausage, soul, motion, discover, blur, math, deposit, guide, right, appear, cup, distance, sort, similar, tribe, absent, wear,idea is always about winning. They never give attention to those on the sidelines or those trampled upon on the way. Little wonder what made a scammer become a scammer and what they think about those that are scammed (mind you, scamming is a degenerative thing and makes you less a human, don't think about it). But that's it, you ought to stop complaining and be in constant search for more means of benefiting, asking questions where you see better.

[franky1]

EXAMPLES
A
B

first. i can see you have skill, in places. but i would not say these are final masterpieces.
A. nice detail at the jaw, but then at the forehead, it just looks like scribbles
B. nice detail at the head/chest. but the stomach/arms it just looks like scribbles

when people buy art they need to feel it. they need to look at it and instantly love it. if people are finding issues and thinking hmm could be better, they will not want to show it on their wall or want to own it.

maybe just blend and layer the scribbles to become more smooth tones of shadow and depth. finish the art and really let it show off your skills.

then its just a numbers game. you need to link people to your NFT listing. the more people that see it the more chances of one wanting to buy it.

think of a theme of a community of art enjoying people. and make art that fits their niche, and then advertise to them.
EG there are millions of millenials that like japanese comics, so make something that resembles that and then advertise it to that community.

such as your skull, advertise that to the EMO/goth community.

what you will find is your not going to sell your art for $$billions. because none of the NFT for $$multimillion are legit transactions. they are instead the art seller making his own bid with his own funds for his own price. as a way of getting some news attention about high priced things being sold. and to snowball some later bids to be valued higher by setting an expectation of high costs..(its a false economics game of setting the market value high)

so if you are going to list an NFT dont be a fool to put a extortionate min price in, and hope someone will make you rich. actually put in a fair price for fair value of something similar to what you produce that has already sold in the real world.

EG if it took you a month. charge min bids on values of a few months income. then as you get famous and release more art the loyal fans will 'bid up' the value due to demand.

van Gogh, the famous artists art might now be worth $$millions. but the artist at the time of selling HIS art he did not get a lifetimes worth of money per piece or combined, he was selling his art for coffee prices or weekly wage prices at best.
but even then some of his art whilst he was alive was not wanted, desired.

art never makes the artist rich from one piece of artwork.. it makes the 15th generation owner(investor) of the sold art rich eventually.

[whatartist]

EXAMPLES
https://i.imgur.com/VdzEjmA.jpg A
https://i.imgur.com/R8fVFy8.jpg B

first. i can see you have skill, in places. but i would not say these are final masterpieces.
A. nice detail at the jaw, but then at the forehead, it just looks like scribbles
B. nice detail at the head/chest. but the stomach/arms it just looks like scribbles

when people buy art they need to feel it. they need to look at it and instantly love it. if people are finding issues and thinking hmm could be better, they will not want to show it on their wall or want to own it.

maybe just blend and layer the scribbles to become more smooth tones of shadow and depth. finish the art and really let it show off your skills.

then its just a numbers game. you need to link people to your NFT listing. the more people that see it the more chances of one wanting to buy it.

think of a theme of a community of art enjoying people. and make art that fits their niche, and then advertise to them.
EG there are millions of millenials that like japanese comics, so make something that resembles that and then advertise it to that community.

such as your skull, advertise that to the EMO/goth community.

what you will find is your not going to sell your art for $$billions. because none of the NFT for $$multimillion are legit transactions. they are instead the art seller making his own bid with his own funds for his own price. as a way of getting some news attention about high priced things being sold. and to snowball some later bids to be valued higher by setting an expectation of high costs..(its a false economics game of setting the market value high)

so if you are going to list an NFT dont be a fool to put a extortionate min price in, and hope someone will make you rich. actually put in a fair price for fair value of something similar to what you produce that has already sold in the real world.

EG if it took you a month. charge min bids on values of a few months income. then as you get famous and release more art the loyal fans will 'bid up' the value due to demand.

van Gogh, the famous artists art might now be worth $$millions. but the artist at the time of selling HIS art he did not get a lifetimes worth of money per piece or combined, he was selling his art for coffee prices or weekly wage prices at best.
but even then some of his art whilst he was alive was not wanted, desired.

art never makes the artist rich from one piece of artwork.. it makes the 15th generation owner(investor) of the sold art rich eventually.

Thank you for your feedback . I listed 10 different / unique  such pieces of artwork for around 50-70$ / piece since for the country I am living in if I manage to convert 2 sales its almost half my salary and I am happy with such an additional income per month . But it seems no one is interested. I dont know , maybe the pandemic situation as well is a factor here since everyone life was afected no matter what country they from .
And regarding my skills I know that I am not the best by any means I was just making a comparison between someone like me with some knowledge and years of practice invested into this and someone doing some random pixel non-sense figure in paint

[franky1]

im not saying you dont have skills. im saying a few details seemed a bit rushed. where by it looks like other parts of same images you took time/detail in.
if people can't feel like what they are buying is a finalised product, they would steer away from buying it, even investors wont see it as an asset if it looks unfinished. so im not saying you dont have skill sim saying you havnt finished showing your skills.

as for getting a sale, just listing something on a site is never enough to grab enough random peoples eyes to have a large audiences attention. there are not millions of people looking at NFT sites. you need to spread awareness further outside the site. and it does not need to cost lots of money, or time. just smart decision

what you should do is think about who your audience is. and what currency the bidding is in.

because its ethereum currency(NFT usually are). you first audience are ethereum users. then the second audience is those that like art. then the third is ethereum users that like art and have a desire for skulls and female statues(in your 2 of 10 examples)

so your first port of call is to find all the ethereum forums, blogs, websites that ethereum community hang out in. and present your art listings there. drum up some conversation and find the art collector community within it.

sometimes even try to find out what kind of things some ethereum users prefer to see on their walls/invest in as art assets.

EG usually in some societies a skull with a coin is a message that 'the coin is what gets the dead into heaven'. so is your art sending the right message to what the community feel.
EG is a coin and skull the theme message of crypto. or is something like a coin presented as "the moon"

learn what things actually inspire people. and make art that fits the need and desire of art collectors

EG in tourist towns where there are like 10,000 tourists admiring a certain building each hour/day. if you paint a building, you instantly get the eye of loads of people when you show it for sale in the streets the tourists are.
where as, if you paint paris's eiffel tower. but try selling it in the tourist streets of NY, where tourists are more interested in the trade centre, you wont get the same audience. especially if you are asking for euros(french currency) in a place that only uses dollar.

so look at your 10 pieces of art. think about which niche communities it leans towards. and advertise your links to those communities that use the currency you seek in a smaller niche community that are into your type of art.

because its better then just listing it on a auction site, thinking the auction site alone is your audience.

..
take me for instance. if i wanted to sell my bitcoin face to face. i wouldnt just put a pinned card to a noticeboard for a random coffee shop saying im selling coin. instead id look for the coffee shops that do bitcoin meetups.

[whatartist]

im not saying you dont have skills. im saying a few details seemed a bit rushed. where by it looks like other parts of same images you took time/detail in.
if people can't feel like what they are buying is a finalised product, they would steer away from buying it, even investors wont see it as an asset if it looks unfinished. so im not saying you dont have skill sim saying you havnt finished showing your skills.

as for getting a sale, just listing something on a site is never enough to grab enough random peoples eyes to have a large audiences attention. there are not millions of people looking at NFT sites. you need to spread awareness further outside the site. and it does not need to cost lots of money, or time. just smart decision

what you should do is think about who your audience is. and what currency the bidding is in.

because its ethereum currency(NFT usually are). you first audience are ethereum users. then the second audience is those that like art. then the third is ethereum users that like art and have a desire for skulls and female statues(in your 2 of 10 examples)

so your first port of call is to find all the ethereum forums, blogs, websites that ethereum community hang out in. and present your art listings there. drum up some conversation and find the art collector community within it.

sometimes even try to find out what kind of things some ethereum users prefer to see on their walls/invest in as art assets.

EG usually in some societies a skull with a coin is a message that 'the coin is what gets the dead into heaven'. so is your art sending the right message to what the community feel.
EG is a coin and skull the theme message of crypto. or is something like a coin presented as "the moon"

learn what things actually inspire people. and make art that fits the need and desire of art collectors

EG in tourist towns where there are like 10,000 tourists admiring a certain building each hour/day. if you paint a building, you instantly get the eye of loads of people when you show it for sale in the streets the tourists are.
where as, if you paint paris's eiffel tower. but try selling it in the tourist streets of NY, where tourists are more interested in the trade centre, you wont get the same audience. especially if you are asking for euros(french currency) in a place that only uses dollar.

so look at your 10 pieces of art. think about which niche communities it leans towards. and advertise your links to those communities that use the currency you seek in a smaller niche community that are into your type of art.

because its better then just listing it on a auction site, thinking the auction site alone is your audience.

..
take me for instance. if i wanted to sell my bitcoin face to face. i wouldnt just put a pinned card to a noticeboard for a random coffee shop saying im selling coin. instead id look for the coffee shops that do bitcoin meetups.

I understand thank you so much for taking the time. I will apply your advice with the forums to better target my audience. Also I started building a twitter community because it seems in the NFT / crypto space there are more active people there. Thanks again.

[Rruchi man]

 somehow I always knew that I will never be able to make a living from it ( locally speaking )

First off, this mentality is bad, from the beginning, you have already reduced your chances of success with this awful thinking. No talent is useless, you just have to keep at it (consistency), have an open positive mind and have faith in what you do.

How can someone like me with no budget get recognition in the NFT world when the market is oversaturated with people who turned this into a business and are pumping money constantly to be on the TOP ?

The NFT environment is one that is still new and gaining popularity. Since you already know about it, you are at an advantage and should just give yourself time, you will definitely make sales someday. Also as a reassuring thought, you never know who is going through your work already and is just watching to see the one that will speak to them.
My advice for you is to keep working with a positive mindset, the future is bright.

[whatartist]

 somehow I always knew that I will never be able to make a living from it ( locally speaking )

First off, this mentality is bad, from the beginning, you have already reduced your chances of success with this awful thinking. No talent is useless, you just have to keep at it (consistency), have an open positive mind and have faith in what you do.

How can someone like me with no budget get recognition in the NFT world when the market is oversaturated with people who turned this into a business and are pumping money constantly to be on the TOP ?

The NFT environment is one that is still new and gaining popularity. Since you already know about it, you are at an advantage and should just give yourself time, you will definitely make sales someday. Also as a reassuring thought, you never know who is going through your work already and is just watching to see the one that will speak to them.
My advice for you is to keep working with a positive mindset, the future is bright.

Thank you. I will not lose fate and I will keep working and dreaming maybe who knows ... one day