Celebrating Two Years as a Pet Portrait Artist
Another productive year
Last month, I celebrated two years as a full-time pet portrait artist. It’s gone so quickly but in that time I’ve completed a grand total of 130 pet portraits. That’s about five per month! Some, like my popular 4x4 inch mini portraits, take a couple of days to complete while other larger ones can take over two weeks from start to finish.
I had so many commissions that some of my goals for the second year got a bit delayed. While I enjoyed doing more pastel portraits, and even started doing some online teaching (see my set up above), I postponed some of my personal projects and development until year three. I have, though, got a short holiday coming up in the summer, before embarking on what is always a very busy term leading up to Christmas. In fact, I’m already booked up till November so if you were thinking of commissioning me for a Christmas present, then now is the time to get in touch!
Blogging my business
It wasn’t exactly a highlight, but last year I filled in my first tax return! I keep a detailed record of money in and out so it was a reasonably straightforward process to enter the figures online. On a more exciting note, I continued to blog my journey as a pet portrait artist. If you haven’t done so already, you might want to take a look at some of my new posts; I’ve linked to three of them above.
Never stop learning
It was really helpful this year to hear from other successful pet business owners. Here, though, are three important lessons that I have learnt along the way:
To be confident in the value of my artwork. This can be a challenge for artists, so thank you so much to everyone who has left such encouraging reviews.
To look after myself. It’s no use working all night if it gives me eye strain! Check out these top tips for artists, including the 20 20 20 rule. It’s also good to leave a little space here and there for the unexpected, like the occasional bout of illness or a technically complicated commission.
To plan in more time for personal development, and stick to it! It’s important to keep growing as an artist, improving and learning new skills and techniques.
An exciting year ahead
My three year business plan was:
To establish the business in year one, getting everything set up and running. You can read about my first year as a full-time artist here.
To grow the business in year two, increasing my online presence and reach, and hopefully making a profit! My Instagram account grew about 70% to 34K followers, plus Google now show me on the first page for search terms like “pet portrait artists” driving much more traffic to my website, all of which has helped me attract more business and end the second year in the black!
To continue to mature as an artist, working on various projects and sharing my experience and skills with others. There is lots I plan to do but one thing I’m really excited about (if a little nervous) is that I’ve been invited into a school next year to share my work and inspire some budding young artists.
I’m really pleased with how the first two years have gone, and how I’ve been able to achieve my overall goals. Having already started doing some teaching, I hope this year to produce some resources to help others. I also want to take time for some personal projects and development, and maybe even move into my new workspace! Above all, I’m really looking forward to another year of drawing lots of lovely pets. Thank you for following along with my journey and for your interest and support as I go into my third year!