How To Sustain A Livelihood As A Full-Time Artist in 2025 - w/ Zhanna
In this episode, featured not-expert is Zhanna Biletska. Zhanna is a Chicago-based artist whose work has been featured on many prominent galleries and art conferences. The topic for today’s discussion is how to sustain a comfortable livelihood thru the pursuit of art. If you’re like me, you’ve definitely marveled at some of the exquisite beauty artists and painters can produce, but at the same time have probably scratched your head about “where is the money?”
As the old meme goes, “Born to make art, forced to produce content” - we discuss Zhanna’s experience at art school, why she’s drawn to the impressionist style and what that even means, how art galleries work, building an online presence, and how she’s carved out a hidden niche for herself with painting people’s houses and her thoughts on AI art.
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Timestamps: (00:00) Intro + Background (02:53) Early life - Growing up in Ukraine (06:39) What EXACTLY is taught in art schools? (It's not just art…) (10:31) Painting with different types of colors - acrylics, oil, water + which is hardest? (14:25) Moving to the US + how to monetize art & photography talent? (17:48) Creating a hidden niche that didn't exist before (19:58) Art exhibits + how to land a spot in them + commission fees :( (22:53) Painting chicago skylines for sale on art site (25:20) Strategies to convert sales + build a following online (28:23) Born to make art, forced to produce content (29:38) what's so special about the impressionist style of art (32:38) Using colors to portray emotions, life and moods (34:57) Challenges while painting a building in impressionist style over several days (38:11) Artist goals - do they make sense? (39:45) Zhanna's Artist inspirations (current famous artists trivia) (41:08) What makes a painting a masterful work of art? (41:53) Where does improvement come from for an artist's work? (42:49) Will AI end artists' careers forever? (45:15) Outro + gratitude
