Why honouring your creative niche makes everything easier

From my experience as an artist, the standard ‘business rules’ are often in contrast with how you build a successful artistic practice. One of the unique success criteria for a creative business is finding your niche. You only need a small following to sustain an artistic practice, whether that means building a business or making enough money for more art materials to break even. This advice also goes for any type of entrepreneur or small business owner who wants to find a loyal and engaged audience. 

The likes of Instagram and bestseller lists convince us that we need hundreds of thousands of followers, and appeal to a large audience. Art is a different game. You only need 100 true fans, to spend £100 per year to create a 6 figure business. So it’s really important you appeal to your audience by making it really clear what you do, and why you do it and get personal with your audience. People yearn for this kind of connection and experience, and by creating art that appeals to them, that’s a really special gift you're giving to others. 

Art appeals to people on an emotional level, it’s a really personal experience, so it’s highly likely your particular artwork won’t appeal to everyone. But that’s a good thing, you want to create a body of work that’s so supercharged with your personality it’s like marmite, people love it or hate it. What you don’t want is a meh kind of art, something that people can either take or leave. When you put your whole personality into your art that shines through and it becomes so attractive to the right person that you and your art connect to. And so people will pay good money for this experience, and commit to following you closely on your creative journey.

And let’s be clear, your niche is not the same thing as your style. Often I hear artists ask ‘how do I find my style’? But as an artist your style will adapt over time, your tastes will change and you’ll want to explore different subjects, and methods of creating, so it’s unrealistic to stay fixed to one style. I prefer to discuss this topic in terms of finding your niche. This gives you a focus on what’s important to you whilst giving you the creative freedom to try different mediums, methods and styles. Think of your niche in terms of values. What’s important to you? What lights you up? What don’t you like? Why do you create art - that’s your niche.

So, how do you find your niche?

Firstly, I recommend doing some introspective thinking. Give yourself some quiet space and ask yourself why you create art. The first answer is likely to be superficial, such as ‘I like nature’. So ask yourself again, why do I like nature? Then dig deeper. Your answer to that might be I like green. Again, ask yourself why. It might be a calming colour to you. So why is that important? Then you start to get more personal, maybe you experience anxiety or had a difficult past and you want to create more calm in your life. You want to ask yourself why 7 times to get to the truth of why you create art. The real reason is often below our conscious thinking brain, and you might need to sit with this question for some time for it to become clear.

Once you have your why, it becomes much easier to articulate to others what your artwork means and the emotion behind the finished product.

Another activity that helps reflect on your niche is to collect inspiration from other artists and wider sources into a sketchbook for reference. As well as collecting these references it’s important you ask yourself why you love something. Is it the colour, the mark-making, or something else? What does it remind you of? How does it make you feel? As well as noticing what you like, it’s equally important to reflect on what you don’t like and why. Get really clear on who you are and what values you have as an artist. People will connect with you much more quickly and on a genuine level by bringing your whole personality into the work. There are billions of people in the world, and if you keep showing who you are and why you create you’ll find your people. 

People are complex, contradictory and endlessly fascinating. So when you start on the journey of finding your niche and digging deep to really get to know yourself, go easy on yourself too. You’re not expected to have a fixed version of yourself and know all the answers straight away. It’s more important to show the genuine aspects of your personality, without worrying about how others perceive you. I know this is much easier said than done, but it’s a good thing not to please everyone, and find your people that match your energy and mindset.

Take it steady, be kind to yourself and enjoy the process of uncovering your weird and wonderful niche. You can choose how much and how often you want to share, but I guarantee you, showing up authentically is a shortcut to finding YOUR people, who will support you and cheer you on. 

It's taken me a few decades to get here, and I wanted to inspire you to honour your personal tastes and values to connect with the people who want to celebrate your achievements and go on your journey with you. Here's an example of where my values feature on my website, in the 'about me' section:

My artistic values lead the direction of my work:

• Create breath-taking beauty inspired by nature
• Use colour and pattern that uplifts, is playful and joyful
• I combine quirky ideas, mixing representational and abstract styles
• A slower more considered (but intuitive) process of painting suits my preferred way of creating
• I'm passionate about encouraging everyone to create. I like to build confidence in less experienced artists and break down elitist ideas about entering the world of art
• I get inspired by walking in nature and different cultures to find new colour-ways and motifs
• Mental health is a subject close to my heart. As a young person, I felt left out of 'normal' society having a single dad raise me. I now embrace weird, strange and different things, and help others do the same. 

Ruth Egon leads an online art membership, The Art Hub Community! We are an inspirational, nurturing and fun art community. We gather creative souls who are curious about developing their interest in art, through live workshops, forums and inspiring content.

Together we build confidence, express joy and create art that’s authentic to us.

At Art Hub we create art in live group workshops, engage in lively and informative chat forums, share inspiration and grow skills through group challenges. We offer a welcoming, supportive and fun membership, so that we can become an authentic, confident, vibrant, purposeful and connected group of artists.

You don't need any experience to join us, all you need is an interest in art and a willingness to give it a go. Designed to be fun, and engaging and to build your creative confidence, these are the perfect sessions to get you started.

Sign up here: https://ruthegon.com/pages/art-hub-community