Real Artists Don't Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age

We love to praise the “Big Break,” that wonderful moment when the stars align and serendipity visits you, making you an instant success. We wait for such moments, even long for them. But here’s the truth: the Big

We cannot create great art without continuing to create ourselves.

A network is more than a team of cheerleaders; it’s a diverse group of individuals who offer a set of skills and resources that help each member succeed. After all, not every art student becomes an artist. Some become curators, community organizers, and patrons; others become collectors, dealers, and auction house owners. And nearly all become entr

The first step in letting go of the Starving Artist mentality is to let go of who we think we are or must be, even if we have no idea what new identity awaits us. What’s out there, however scary it may be, is almost certainly better than staying where we are now.

Michelangelo’s insistence that the priest call him by his last name was a power play. He was not just another hired hand; he was an artist, a title he spent his life redefining. So the clergyman’s condescending request made the artist set the record straight. Michelangelo was more than a manual laborer, and the priest’s refusal to acknowledge this

“Creativity is more likely in places where new ideas require less effort to be perceived.”

This is the Rule of the Scene, which says that places and people shape the success of our work far more than we realize. Location is not irrelevant. Place matters.

When we sincerely offer our gifts to the world, not through hype but by practicing in public, the world often repays us by first taking notice and then responding with loyalty. We get better, earning an audience that will allow us to continue creating for years to come.

Under the right circumstances, being distractible can be a strength. “If you think about the most creative people,” therapist Chuck Chapman told me, “they’re the ones who innovate. They come up with the ideas, and I think the fact that your brain is going so fast all the time and seeing so many possibilities—that’s what creates innovation.”