Around here we talk a lot about business and my hope is that it helps you feel more empowered and confident as you grow your own art business. In my brain, there are only two parts of art business building: making and marketing.

You make the art then you market the art.

That’s true whether your goal is to illustrate children’s books, license your art for products, launch an art print shop, sell print-on-demand products, become an online art teacher, paint commissioned portraits, or whatever other thing or things make up your art business.

And before you market the art, what do you need to do?

Yep, you gotta make the art!

Here’s the thing: when you’re turning a hobby like making art into a business, it’s so simple to let your business dictate your art practice. It can be harder to give yourself space to make just-for-fun art and just-for-you art. You’re suddenly making Art with a Purpose every day.

And that’s amazing! You’re growing a successful business from this thing you love so much. Go you!

But don’t lose that spark, that desire to make art just because, ok? You’ll feel happier because of it. You’ll make new discoveries because of it. And your art business will flourish even more because of it. Because of taking time to make art just for you.

I know it might sound counterintuitive, but I promise it’s true, artist. Take it from me, a once VERY burned-out artist who only made time for Art Work and never for art play.

For me art play means daily time spent in my sketchbook and I highly recommend a daily sketchbook practice for any artist, whether you’re just starting out or you’re an established pro.

I think of my sketchbook practice as the seeds of my entire art practice.

Did you know that an oak tree can produce up to 10,000 acorns in one year? With lifespans well over 100 years, that means a single oak tree can produce millions of acorns!

From all the acorns, do you know how many become saplings that will grow into oak trees?

One for every 10,000.

Yep. That’s it. One acorn out of every 10,000 will become a mighty oak tree, spreading its branches wide and tall as it grows.

But those 9,999 leftover acorns aren’t wasted. The rest of those acorns do something else: they feed the forest.

Acorns feed deer, squirrels, blue jays, raccoons, opossums, chipmunks, rabbits, turkeys, and even crows. Acorns decompose and feed nutrients back into the soil, helping other plants sprout and grow too.

Not every acorn becomes an oak tree, but every acorn helps the forest grow.

Your art is the forest. Your sketchbook is an oak tree. And those acorns are your drawings.

They are the seeds of your art practice.

When you show up for your daily sketchbook practice, most of what you draw (especially at first) will be crap. It won’t represent what you had in mind (in the worst way). It will uncover some foundational drawing skill meh moments. The colors will be off or the proportions will be wonky (not in an intentional way). Really, there are endless ways a sketchbook page can go sideways.

But sometimes you’re going to create something that feels like magic. That’s a sapling. That’s an acorn bursting forth with vibrant life into your art forest.

Something else that feels like magic but totally isn’t happens too.

Those ‘didn’t work out so well’ drawings begin to feed your art forest. You won’t even notice it while it’s happening (which is why it feels like magic), but every confident drawing that bursts forth was fed by all the acorns of discarded drawings that came before it.

One day, you’ll flip back through your sketchbooks and you’ll see those seeds. You’ll see how everything is connected and how those acorns helped your forest grow.

Go forth and make some acorns, artist.