We were lucky to catch up with Sophie Wyatt recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sophie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’m proud to say that I’m an artist making a full time living off my work. This certainly did not happen right away, it took about 2 years of gaining the confidence, finding the rhythm, and learning to get to where I am now. I’ve known I wanted to make a living as an artist for a long time, received my BFA in Studio Art in May of 2022, but even after art school I still had little idea how I was going to start making money through my work. Luckily I’ve had a supportive boyfriend and family who supported me and encouraged me to keep going. A few months after graduation I found a job with a schedule that really allowed me to dedicate a few set days to paint. I started painting every Wednesday and Sunday, and soon my boss allowed me to start offering pet portraits to her friends and customers in the store. This was a big milestone in my career, as they really took off and allowed me to generate a pretty good amount of income through painting. I probably painted something like 100 pets in 2023. I worked every weekend on pet commissions and used my one other day off to work on painting the landscapes that many know me for today. I started showing my m personal work at markets in the fall of 2023 and this is where I started to gain more confidence in my career path. My work was selling at local markets so I knew I could start to lean a little less on commissions and start generating an income stream from my landscape paintings and prints. From there I took on a market each month to sell my work and continue to get my name known by those in the Austin area. In January of 2024 I knew I had a pretty good base going as an artist, I was selling my work regularly and knew it was time to gain my online following so that I could expand my work even more. I committed to growing my audience through instagram by the end of January by taking in less commissions and focused on developing my style of artand creating content as often as I could. By the April I gained my first 1,000 followers and had my first sold out market. That was a crazy and fulfilling experience for me. I kept going, spending all my free time working on my art business and improving in any way I could. In May, I had 10,000 followers on instagram and had been getting plenty of sales every market. Knowing a had a pretty loyal customer base, I then worked on creating my first online collection which sold out in less than an hour in July. I’ve been able to sustainably bring in a full time income from my art alone each month this year after doubling down growing my audience and painting as much as possible. I’m so happy to say that I’ve now quit my job in retail and am officially a full time artist! Though I’m still in the early stages of being full time, I feel very confident in my ability to continue to grow as an artist because of how hard I worked to get here. Could I have sped up this two year journey knowing what I know now? Maybe if I had been more present on social media earlier and started painting more immediately after graduation, but I honestly believe those two years gave me the time I needed to discover who I was as an artist and really gain the knowledge and perspective needed to be successful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Sophie Wyatt. I am a 23 year old artist living in Austin, Texas. I attended the University of Texas at Austin and received my BFA in Studio Art in May of 2022. I’ve loved art for as long as I can remember but fell in love with landscape art about a year ago. My work is inspired by what I could call the pretty little corners of nature. I paint the world in a way that brings me joy. Many of my landscapes are often crafted from imagination rather than a sole reference photo. I’m well known for my small scale work in vintage frames and my signature clouds above peaceful scenes. My medium of choice is oil as I feel it allows me to alter the direction of the painting in real time. My paintings combine the dreams of tomorrow with the charm of the past, bringing you on a journey of visual delight. I’m proud to be able to share what I love, embracing the beauty of the world around us and bringing little pieces of joy into your homes.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building a social media following is a very daunting task. In order to be successful in this endeavor it has required consistency, meticulous planning, and a constant finger on the pulse of what the trends are and where they are headed. I started first by posting as often and regularly as I could. Naturally, I found pages with similar aesthetics and interest so that I could tap into their audience as well as take inspiration from their most successful content. You may hear about the “algorithm” and if you haven’t familiarized yourself yet, the sooner you do the more successful you will be. It is shown that interaction, creation, and engagement are favored and will get your content in front of more potential followers. It is crucial that you don’t just sit and wait for your content to be liked but that you also like, share, and comment on content that you are interested in. This fosters a sense of support but also manifests in the form of more page views and potentially more followers. Do not get lost in the chase for followers. This is one of the many metrics that determine your success on social media. The content creation game is sort of a wild horse race. You may post 10 great pieces of content and only 1 of them blows up. That’s your winning horse. That means that for every 100 pieces of content, 10 will represent the most engagement and attention. Aside from followers, the conversion rate to your website will show a deeper interest in your offerings.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I would say that the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having the ability to make a living by doing what I love most. The vast majority of individuals do not love their job. It is a simple fact. I am one of the fortunate few who can do what I love and there is an established market for me to monetize my creations. They say if you do what you love that you will never work a day in your life, so here’s to never working again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sophiewyattstudio.com
• Instagram: @sophiewstudio

Image Credits

Allie Brewer Studios