Transitioning from an aspiring artist to a full-time concept art career wasn't a quick leap for me—it was a series of small steps, each one teaching me a valuable lesson along the way.

One lesson, in particular, stands out as a total game-changer—a turning point that reshaped my entire approach to art. This little mindset shift might seem simple, but it packs a punch, and has the power to completely change how people respond to your artwork.

Change how you paint by knowing who you are painting for

If you had asked me who I was painting for when I first started out, I honestly would have told you “I don’t know, I guess...whoever looks at it?”. It wasn't until later on that I began to truly consider my audience.

This pivotal mindset shift came to me during my time in Medical Illustration School, where each project I tackled had a specific target audience—whether it was a doctor, a medical student, or a patient. It became abundantly clear that tailoring my artwork to suit the needs and expectations of my audience made all the difference.

Becoming a professional Concept Artist isn't just about creating pretty pictures; it's about learning the art of visual communication. It’s about sparking ideas, evoking emotions and connecting with the internal world of a real-life human being. Concept Art is real-life magic. 

Successful artists understand that they're not just sending a painting out into the great unknown—they're saying something meaningful to a very specific person. Understanding who that person is and what to prioritize is key to creating art that is meaningful.

No.1—Painting For Yourself

Art is such a personal thing. Making time to paint for yourself is a really important habit for Concept Artists at every stage of their career journey. Those long stretches of solo introspection will help you build a visual library; an inner world that you’ll rely on as a creative professional.

When you're painting for yourself, you, are the target audience—and that comes with two special privileges that you should be aware of:

Paint any damn thing that you want. 

When you sit down to paint something that’s just for you, ground yourself in that focus. If you think that it's cool, then don't spend your time worrying what someone else might think of it. You're not doing this to please anyone else, and there's no invisible viewer watching you paint over your shoulder. If you notice a little internal voice telling you that it's "too weird” or “too dark" or “too cute”—don't worry about it.

Let it be ugly. 

When painting for yourself, your only concern should be to gain new skills or ideas. It’s not about laboring over a perfectly polished masterpiece.  If you fill up canvases with embarrassingly messy gesture sketches—that’s awesome! Because practicing made your line work a little stronger, or it helped you understand human anatomy better or you learned how to balance weight distribution and movement.

Use the freedom of painting for yourself like a gift, because giving yourself the permission to be weird and make ugly art is the fastest way to grow as an artist. 

No.2—Painting For Your Client

In a lot of ways, painting for your client is the opposite of painting for yourself. You'll be putting personal preferences aside, and focusing on what your client wants and what their project needs (which can be tough to get your head around at first).

That said, it's not like you have to totally obliterate your creative identity every time someone hires you. You need to remember that they hired you for your work, your style, your creativity and your unique skills. 

It’s more about trying to see the project through their eyes, and thinking about how they are going to use your artwork; who is their audience?

The beauty of this perspective is that it lends well to collaboration by aligning you and your client on the same team. Your work on the project is not a direct reflection of you, because the project is a separate entity—it's the byproduct of many creative minds.

So, really read those project briefs. Get invested in them. Get fired up, and try to see what your client sees. Tap into that spark that got them excited about the project and ask questions. In my experience most Art Directors are incredibly cool, and are really excited to talk about their project and vision. (Especially if it's an indie company, that project is often their baby and they'll answer questions all day.)

If you can switch gears in this way: your clients will love you. But this advice doesn’t just apply to working artists, this is hugely relevant for aspiring artists. The portfolio you build needs to look like client work in this way. It needs to illustrate your capacity to solve problems and reach project goals.

I believe that this is one of the main factors that determines whether an artist’s portfolio gets picked or passed over. An artist makes art for art’s sake, a professional artist makes art for a purpose—and that’s an incredibly important distinction if you want to become a professional Concept Artist.

No. 3—Painting for Social Media

The question “who am I painting for?” starts to lose all meaning when the answer becomes everyone, so this one is definitely tricky. 

When it comes to painting for social media you aren't painting for yourself or for a client. The danger with this is that you might end up trying to paint something shiny for the masses, and you run the risk of losing yourself in that pursuit. So it’s really important to anchor yourself when painting for Social Media, and to be aware of the benefits and unintended consequences.

The truth is that sometimes we are all just painting for likes. It is easy and fashionable to tear that down and call it shallow—but everyone needs validation. In fact, artists may need it more than most because creating art is more about connection than anything else.

Concept Art is a language that we use to express ourselves and to communicate with other people—and social media can facilitate that. It feels amazing to know that our work inspired someone or connected with them on a deeper level and that is nothing to be ashamed of.

I think the key with sharing your work on social media is to think of it like spreading cookie crumbs around the internet; like leaving a little trail that your community can stumble upon and find their way to you. If the purpose is to ‘send out a signal’ to others like you, then it’s less about basing your artistic confidence on social approval and more about connection.

Which is an important distinction to make, because social media algorithms are inconsistent and how many ‘likes’ a post gets is an unreliable measurement of quality. Sometimes a truly excellent piece of artwork won’t show up in people’s feeds, so if you base all of your artistic worth on social approval, you run the risk of unintentionally magnifying self doubt. This can be really dangerous, and I caution you to be really aware of it.

Building a following is definitely part of an artist's business strategy, so just stay grounded and try to be your genuine awesome artist self.

I hope that this mindset shift is genuinely helpful for you! If you want to dive a little deeper into this topic, you can check out my Portfolio Boost mini course for pro tips and industry insights. You can get it free wen you join the DPS community (which is also free)—hope to see you in there!