In case you missed it, we sent out our first ever survey a couple weeks back to find out how we can better help you all reach your artistic goals. (Well, technically we have done a couple of informal surveys on the forum before, but this is a fancy one with pie charts and stuff!)
We got more than 500 responses, and they are still coming in! Thanks everyone, we super appreciate it 😀 Without further ado, here's a summary of the results:
This question was open-ended, so this image shows just a tiny sliver of all the answers we got. But a big theme was finding the time to make art, because many of you are juggling jobs and families. Another common thread was technique, which is a struggle for pretty much every artist out there. But the one surprising thing that came up a lot was confidence - many of you find it hard to muster the confidence to keep going. Know that you are not alone in this!
More than half of you are between the ages of 20 to 39, but we have pretty much every age range represented. The cool thing about art is you can do it at any age. Welcome all!
This one is pretty self-explanatory. You guys are super committed to becoming full-time artists! That means we have our work cut out for us, to get you the tools you need to make this happen.
A whopping 57% of you want to be full-time artists! Even more when you take the individual responses into account. See that white slice? Those are all the individual responses that didn't fit our categories, and many of you listed full-time work in a particular field. You guys are definitely going for it!
Every level of artistic ability is represented here, but one thing is clear - you are all dedicating time and energy into improving your craft. Give yourselves a pat on the back! Many of you are already working in some capacity as artists, so we need to bring you even more business and career content. For those of you just starting out, we need to develop more fundamental classes.
By far most of you are here for children's books (43.5%) and comic books (20%). But, you guys are interested in pretty much every art career out there! In your individual responses, we heard everything from video game development, to greeting card design, to educational publishing. Many of you are interested in more than just one field, and that's OK! Many full-time artists (including the owners of SVS!) piece together careers from various fields.
You guys want more videos! You are busy, and need classes that fit your busy schedule. But, you also want all the other stuff too. With feedback. We are definitely working on bringing more of all of it!
This was another open-ended question, so we got all kinds of responses for this one. But it just reinforces how challenging it can be to be an artist - it's not enough to have technical skill, you also need business savvy and an entrepreneurial spirit. We are gonna help you with all that!
Lots of great ideas, too many to list! We got everything from art history, to different software such as Corel Painter or Rebelle, to textile design. We have lots of work to do!
We just wondered how you all found us. Turns out more than half of you found us through Jake Parker and Will Terry (both owners of SVS). Glad you all are here!
Well, that about wraps it up! We wish we would have asked where in the world you are all from. We know we have folks from all over the world, but it would be cool to know what countries. We'll have to add that in next time!
We do plan to do these surveys every so often to stay up on what you guys want, but don't feel you have to wait 'til the next one if you think of something. You can always reach us at support@svslearn.com, or on social media. Thanks guys!