I don’t believe in making art for a market. I believe in making art from your *soul* and then finding the right audience for it.
But sometimes we are lucky enough to make the art we want, then tweak it just a bit so we can broaden our audience. My guest for this episode of the Art Biz Podcast has found a way to do just that.
Ashley Lucas (aka Lady Lucas) is an artist whose work features smartly dressed animals and other sweet anthropomorphic characters. She has illustrated numerous children’s books, coloring books, and other unapologetically cute projects.
By placing her characters in the local townscape Ashley has increased the appeal of her work to a specific audience that continues to grow. I talked with Ashley about how she came up with the idea to tap into people’s love of a specific location and how she leverages it for her prints, products, and commissioned work.
We also discuss how she connected with a community even before moving there, how she juggles her life as an artist with that as a mother of a two-year-old, and which social media platform offers the greatest return for her work (it’s not Instagram).
Even if you don’t “do” cute or illustrations or location-specific art, you’ll want to listen to ideas for connecting to new communities.
