Making a Living Creating Digital Fine Art Prints with Patricia Vargas

Welcome back to The Abundant Artist, the show that dispels the myth of “the starving artist” and shares how you can live an abundant life as an artist and make a living from your talent one interview at a time.

 

This week on The Abundant Artist podcast, Cory is thrilled to be joined by a return guest – Patricia Vargas! The last time Patricia was on the podcast was about 5 years ago – and suffice to say, a lot has changed since then! If you don’t already know Patricia, she is the owner of the renowned Parima Studio. Currently residing in Chino, CA, with her husband and tabby cat, Arya, Patricia is a visual artist who combines her passions of painting, designing, and technology to create large-scale, custom, abstract art using her computer as her canvas.

 

In this episode, Patricia shares what has changed for her since she was last on the podcast, how her art career has evolved, what her experience was like during the pandemic (and how she has adapted to these changes), and what she does day-to-day to balance her business practices while minimizing distractions. Patricia also offers some advice to other artists who may be interested in getting started in the digital art space and what they can do to market themselves online!

 

Key Takeaways:

[:30] Cory welcomes Patricia Vargas back to the podcast!

[:56] What Patricia has been up to for the last five years since she was last on the podcast and how her art career has evolved.

[3:00] What Patricia loves about creating digital paintings.

[3:45] How Patricia’s “nerdiness” shows up in her professional career as a digital painter.

[5:35] How Patricia is selling her digital paintings as prints online.

[7:05] Patricia explains what a general licensing deal looks like for her.

[8:09] Films that Patricia’s work has appeared in.

[8:49] How does Patricia license her work to a hotel? What does that process look like?

[10:40] How did Patricia build up relationships with art consultants?

[12:07] Patricia shares how she got started in being featured in a variety of magazines.

[13:25] Would Patricia agree that blogging in 2010 is what social media is today?

[14:09] How blogging helped Patricia get featured in magazines, in turn, helping her be noticed by art consultants.

[15:32] Does Patricia still do acrylic painting outside of her career with digital painting?

[16:25] Patricia’s favorite tools and technology for digital painting!

[17:37] The difference between the iPad Pro and the XP Pen Tablet.

[18:34] Does Patricia have any favorite Procreate toolsets?

[19:34] What Patricia likes about the XP Pen Tablet.

[20:11] What is the desktop device that Patricia connects her tablet to?

[21:30] How Patricia pivoted and adapted during the pandemic as a digital artist that sells their prints online.

[25:23] How Patricia balances her day-to-day business practices and minimizes distractions.

[27:53] Why has Patricia cut down on which social media platforms she focuses on?

[28:59] How Patricia leverages Pinterest and Tailwind to get leads.

[31:47] How Patricia tracks profitability with her ads.

[32:55] What books is Patricia reading right now?

[36:26] Patricia shares about a new exciting road opening up for her and her business.

[39:49] Cory thanks Patricia for joining the podcast once again!

 

Mentioned in This Episode:
The Abundant Artist Podcast: “Managing a Successful Print Studio with Patricia Vargas”

Patricia’s Etsy Shop: Parima Creative Studio

Patricia’s Instagram: Parima Studio

Patricia’s Website

Procreate

Apple Pencil

iPad Pro

XP Pen Tablet

Adobe Photoshop

Corel Painter

Creative Market

Epson Printers

Pinterest

Tailwind

The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett

 

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