Be The Artist: The Interactive Guide to a Lasting Art Career

The best part about his book is sharing with my husband who is an artist and writer. It’s given so much inspiration for getting geared up to create, following through with tasks and being more creative. I’m looking forward to my turn in reading and activating this work!

This book is awesome!!! First of all let me say it’s got a great artistic cover!All that aside it’s a great resource for artists and individuals looking for ways to improve their work and technique. It’s not just a book but a journal/notebook where you can write your notes and refer to the plenty of resources he (as a successful artist) has used . The layouts amazing and the quotes are inspirational! Great book and a forever resource!

Every artist should read this book. Just about everything that you need and want to know is in this book....

Awesome great info to get you thinking about the future

As an artist I'm always looking for information, not just techniques as we all have our own. When a favorite local artist wrote this book, I couldn't wait for it to come out. The book is filled with easy to digest tidbits. Detour (Thomas) wrote this book it could be used like a text book or diary of sorts. I've marked it, have Post It's and many notes. It's very well put together, he answered questions I didn't know I had and sparked new ones now on my research list. I have read other art books. Never one this concise from one artist brain to another. The cover is reminiscent of the colors in his work, the pages are great quality for all the notes. He covers the basics to legalities and community. A great reference and topics of discussion for years to come. He also does this amazing art tip Tuesday on his Instagram that's loaded with great information. He is relareable and not pretentious as some artists can be. He is brilliant with paint and now writing. Practical great information with Notes 'N' Doodles. Digest it and read it again. If your passion is art, this is your book.

Be The Artist (Fulcrum Books)Thomas “Detour” EvansReviewed by Ginny ShortIf you search Amazon for “art techniques” you get all sorts of choices, from botanical drawing techniques to how to do doodle art or paint on stones. Search for “the business of art” and you get a few choices. It often seems to me that we have a habit of separating art from business as if the two don’t go hand in hand. So often I remember hearing young people referred to as “creative” but encouraged to get a degree in something that will pay the rent. I was one of those. This likely creates a huge barrier between many a talented artist and success. Evans is trying to bridge that divide.Thomas “Detour” Evans is a Denver based artist (www.iamdetour.com) who, according to his own self-description, is an all-around creative. The book, he states, comes out of his own success and his desire to help others become successful as creatives. Nothing beats a good solid business background to get there.This book is a highly readable book. You can read it straight through or you can pick and choose your chapters. Most of the chapters are applicable to many types of creatives – writers, actors, visual artists – but a few are really devoted to visual artists (and no wonder, this is Evans’ main focus.) As a writer I found many of his suggestions completely apropos to my work. Evans’ presents a chapter with some thoughtful ideas based on his own experience, then follows with examples, quotes from successful artists, “homework” or questions for thought and some suggestions for google searches to broaden your own horizon. I found these various approaches neat and easy to follow, while stimulating the thought I think that Evans’ is trying to encourage. This, I think, is the best part of the book: he is trying to have a conversation. Allow the conversation.This book is a great introduction to the business of art.Some of the topics he covers:• Mental health for artists (really, really important!!)• Finding your voice.• How to create a CV, resume and/or artist’s statement.• Funding, pricing and marketing your work.He fills the book with good thoughts and insights like “don’t quit your day job” to start with, or encouraging you to ask and discover your art community (and how valuable that is), to thinking about your studio space to your legal rights as a artist. The various topics, while not in depth, gave a really good outline of important topics that an up and coming artist should consider, as well as tips on how to get more info or go deeper into each topic.Finally, the book provided good inspiration from the words of successful artists. These quotes are scattered around the book and each was worth savoring. This book is a really solid background in the business of art, simple yet concrete. I enjoyed the conversation.

This book is an amazing guide to beginning your career or elevating your current one. Not only has this book helped spur my creativity, it has also guided me to begin freelance work. Thomas is an amazing artist with a passion for helping others and his personality shines on each page.I really enjoy how you are able to write in this book and brainstorm. Often we forget the impact of writing our ideas down and taking them with us. This book is always in my bag and I'm always constantly referring back to it!

An amazingly thoughtful and helpful guide from an incredibly talented and savvy artist. Highly recommend for any artist or anyone thinking about becoming one.

A great read WITH resources as well as HOMEWORK for any artist trying to get into the business side of art. Detour is one of the dopest, i definitely recommend the brother‘s content to anyone.