How to Make a Living As a Fantasy Sword & Sorcery Artist
It's tough to make a living as an artist, regardless of how talented you are. Specializing in a single genre like swords and sorcery is even tougher, since you're limiting the field in terms of potential customers. Swords and sorcery is a popular genre, however, and working within it always carries the potential for steady employment. If you want to make a living at it, it pays to prepare from the start.
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Instructions
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Hone your abilities to reflect the needs of swords and sorcery art. The human form is particularly important: muscles, limbs and facial expressions. Most figures in swords and sorcery art look like bodybuilders or supermodels and are scantily clad, meaning you'll need to get their forms right. In addition, work on primitive clothing such as loincloths, animal skins and sectional armor. Fantastic creatures such as dragons and giant snakes are part of swords and sorcery as well. The works of Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo are good examples of this style of artwork (see Resources).
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Develop a portfolio of your work: the best examples of your drawings or paintings you can show to others on a moments notice. Vary the content as much as possible, while still staying within the swords and sorcery genre. If you work in multiple mediums, such as pen-and-ink or water colors, make sure you include samples of each one.
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Determine a business plan for marketing and displaying your art. Decide on realistic goals, set a budget aside for expenses (such as gallery or exposition fees). Make sure you have a steady stream of cash to facilitate it. In many cases, that means taking a day job, in which case you should balance the funds you need with the time you require to make your art.
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Print out business cards featuring a color sample of your artwork as well as contact information where you can be reached. Always carry some with you and hand them out to anyone who may be remotely interested.
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Set up a website designed to show off your work and sell prints. Make sure the site has as many high-res samples of your work as you can squeeze into it, along with prominent contact information and easy ways to make purchases. If you're willing to work on commission, make sure your website says that loud and clear. A lot of money from swords and sorcery are comes from individual commissions.
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Get the word out by networking on places like Facebook and MySpace. Look for other artists advertising their works as well as publishing companies and agents who may be interested in hiring you. Sites like art.net are good places to network as well as are classified ad sites like Craigslist.
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Sign up on eBay. You can auction off your work there, and with a worldwide audience to see you, the chances of the right person finding your work improve quite a bit. Make sure your auctions include good-quality jpegs of the piece in question. Place your name and website address on the jpegs (that way, if someone downloads them, they become a form of free advertising).
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See about renting a booth or participating in an artist's gallery at a science fiction and fantasy convention. Convention-goers are precisely the audience you want for swords and sorcery art and may hire you for commissions as well as purchasing prints and originals.
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Look for small-press publishing companies, paperback fiction companies, game companies and similar companies that may be in need of a house artist. They save money by having a go-to source for cover paintings and interior drawings, and you gain the benefit of a steady paycheck. Even if they don't hire you full-time, they may be interested in using you for independent contractor work.
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Tips & Warnings
Making a living as a swords and sorcery artist takes patience to achieve. Learn to make use of the time by promoting yourself, expanding your network of contacts...and practicing your gifts as a painter. When you look back on that time, you want to be able to say you grew as an artist as much as a professional. Work on other styles of artwork besides swords and sorcery, and use them to augment your income when possible. Your versatility can help pay the rent when the fantasy pieces aren't moving the way you would like.
