Episode 40
How To Sustain A Livelihood As A Full-Time Artist in 2025 - w/ Zhanna

"Born to make art, forced to produce content." It’s the meme that haunts every creative in 2025. We all marvel at the beauty of a masterpiece, but when it comes to the business of art, most of us are clueless.
Who this is for
- You are trying to start something that still feels a little awkward and expensive.
- You would rather hear Zhanna's version while the mess is still fresh than get another polished hindsight sermon.
Key takeaways
- Sustain A Livelihood As A Full-Time Artist in 2025 - w/ Zhanna
- Is the "Starving Artist" trope a permanent reality, or is there a way to actually build a comfortable livelihood without selling your soul?
Transcript
The full conversation, right here. Auto-captions, lightly cleaned, still very much a real human conversation.
it's really impressive to me that you managed to use art as a way to sustain a lifestyle pay bills can you walk me through your journey with monetizing your gift that you have you of being an artist it's still working to make it stable what are some of the main features of the impressionist time of I went to our school it was way harder because they were teaching all the techniques academic Stu but then they realize you need so much work get better was this art school was that also in he offer to commission me to pain his building I was like okay anded conf our neighborhood group and a lot more people interested so cool it's almost as if you unlock a hidden Market that didn't even exist for most people AR always always
exist for most people AR always always continuous learning even the artists already been do for many many years do you think there is a future in which artist should worried about their jobs being taken away by AI is there a part of you that wishes that you didn't have to do all of this Social Media stuff and you could just pain and automatically make your Revenue welcome to the ready said do podcast where we learn from journeys of not experts who are just two steps ahead of us I'm Naman Pand and in this episode featured not expert is Janna Peta Janna is a Chicago based artist whose work has been featured on many prominent art galleries and conferences before we proceed any further I just want to put
proceed any further I just want to put forward this time lapse that just got made as a consequence of my recording the episode I didn't realize it at the time but check this out thanks for humoring me there now jumping back the topic for today's discussion is how to sustain a comfortable livelihood through the pursuit of art if you're like me or really most people you've definitely marveled at some of the exquisite beauty that artists and Painters can produce but at the same time given you know 21st century and such you have probably scratched your head and been like where is the money act the old meme goes Bor to make art forced to produce content we discussed Shana's experience at Art School growing up in Ukraine why she's drawn to the impressionist Style and what that even
impressionist Style and what that even means how art galleries work and how to get your work there how to build an online presence as an artist and my personal favorite section how she scared out a hidden Niche for herself which didn't even exist by painting people's houses and finally end with her thoughts on AI in keeping with our theme of learning from somebody that's just two steps ahead of us instead of an expert my goal is to Showcase Shana's incredible art and also shine a light on how aspiring artists like shanana can follow Janna's Playbook and Kickstart their Journey this is The Ready Set to podcast and to support it subscribe on YouTube and leave me up to a five star rating on Spotify or any podcast app of your choice there are also links in the description to support me more directly
description to support me more directly and now without any further Ado here's Janna Jana welcome so excited to talk to you about all your amazing art that we have I was looking at it yesterday when you Shar your page with me and to be honest it's just hard for me to even comprehend that a person with their two hands can make art which is as beautiful as that so I guess my first question is when did you first realize that this is something that you were drawn to and that this is something that you wanted to do with life uh well I've been drawn to Comm in art like from an very very early age and
art like from an very very early age and by the age of nine I started entertaining art school where we learned like different disciplines like uh still still liting composition drawing um the history sculpture uh so um from all of that um I well I studi that her likeing B all that uh was growing more and um yeah when I was and studing there there you know Beach 16 or something I I I thought that I want something like make a career to be connected to the AR got and where was this so you said when you heard n you have started your at least like formal education and all this so was this in the US and I know you're from Ukraine so was this bath home in Ukraine where was
was this bath home in Ukraine where was this happening yeah it's stting um in Ukraine oh okay do and is it normal for kids in Ukraine to have cuz what you mentioned is there were a bunch of subjects you mentioned sculptures you mentioned art history all of that sounds like a lot so is it common for kids in Ukraine at least that young to have that specific education about the you know just the Arts in general or was it or were you like an exception when agree to that well this was an Arts SP so look where our L is going after regular SCH so this is additional to good I got yeah so first before that I go I the art
so first before that I go I the art school but I like that I my dve was like my parent told me what I told them that I want to do that new work uh that I should do something so I I I want to draw I want to paint and then so I went to art school like visual art school did you immediately start enjoying as soon as you started were you already like oh yeah this is so great this so much better adap thing or did it take you a couple years to start enjoying that well I was s like I some stuff like when I was at regular school it and on what typ sometimes it was just
it and on what typ sometimes it was just copy take some like pictures it was before I going to like a show of art school but then when I went to our school like it was you know way harder than they was the G would be because they were teaching all the techniques academic stuff but then you realize you are not good then you need so much work to get better uh but you still like it it's just harder and you learning interesting and where was this art school that you mentioned was that also in Ukraine or had moved CLE by it was so in ukra okay got it so talk to me as somebody that me personally I have no
as somebody that me personally I have no idea what goes on in art school like so you know we obviously just met but my background is from technology I write computer code all that boring stuff not anywhere as you know cool as what you do but but that's why I'm not at all you know familiar with those stuff kind of goes on there so you me do things it's first academics so like they teach you stuff like you read books about that and such and you also mentioned that they teach you techniques around specifically art stuff so what is that like so is that just a teacher that is like draw R
that just a teacher that is like draw R SC like this and students of a copyright like can you just paint a picture for you know a word picture for me just to understand what that experience was like uh the prank like class so you have like thr me to class for example I me start maybe from um like a TR Cube where they teach you like first you know you need to make symmetry like you need to make a right proportions then once you draw the actual Cube men you yeah and it's all right like it's not like falling or like it has bre proportions and everything then you uh put Shades like is on some shade Channel when do the colors
when do the colors comeing if it's D to plus right there's no colored okay when you do like still for still like color class like painting class so that there's still light where it could be car and whatever take good there it always different we keep more interesting so maybe it's like a c and app and then you first me to do like the right draw and then have I drw it down it's like many many classes you can just F uh because like you studying so like it takes mistakes you like SNS over and like takes many hours and then um and reg job Ming then you come and started actually like wait you were um okay uh most of
like wait you were um okay uh most of the time we were doing water water colors so yeah and well they also teaching like like in Powers techniques and stuff uh then then I was also like that hor right Gish as well oil looks looks no right there as well um so yeah all the n in um like um how to do what to start from and of course you have like color the the waterline might be called sh Etc like uh for inpections how they like each other so um yeah like a lot of stuff to learn just from theas and there's others so the way it works is it's all this drawing first there's no probably no art SCH in the world that would teach coloring first and then drawing is that
coloring first and then drawing is that right or or can there be an exception with that no you have to first draw learned about it interestes I didn't know that see that is news to me but that makes sense in that yeah if you don't have like youri boundaries and such Define like what are you painting like you got R in the B and okay and then from all the various type of color pics that you mentions you mention watercolors you mentioned acrylic you mention oil how different are the the techniques associated with each of these like mediums of color are they mostly the same or is there specific training that you need to get for each of these various mediums well um like umps and gash they are more more similar and what
gash they are more more similar and what other color is very different from this three but all of them though they have they different to like G you have to yeah also wey pastels too so past has very different which is the hardest St for a lot of people I've heard like they think we color is hardest I mean is not easy but it's also also depends on what technique you like the technique that I like it's hard because you have to get the reason right away but you just use it taking that takes longer it's easy my parents trying to get me into a little bit of you know painting as well as a child I went like for two months before I gave it up um one of the things I remembered that I struggled
things I remembered that I struggled with was um you know especially around watercolors so say you have you know you're painting blue with your blue color so I did like a brush stroke of blue and then because I hadn't mixed the color well enough even though I I tried to paint a stroke beside it it just looks like a completely different blue because it was more diluted like it have more water than the first time I used it and I just remember just trying to pull my head out because it was so annoying that I'm like why is this color difference arising so I'm sure for you that must be a problem that you would have solved like 10 years ago at this point so how do you solve for that do you just duded the exact right amount
you just duded the exact right amount with water and before you take your brush you already know that it's the color or is there something else that BR into that uh well that's what got for like we trying like which car you need on there first so you make sure that it's right on your palet before you kind of move on to the preer that is obvious but it did occur to me at the time so once you graduated uh art school what did you do next what was like next for terms of your career but and then when I say career mean the you know the artister uh oh then um I had a private children is really good teachers from universities and uh then I went to architecture University oh interesting
architecture University oh interesting still in Ukraine yes got it so then what um what brought you here what were the circumstances that saw you moved to the united six well I just wanted to Trav see the world and then decided to stay okay awesome so when you work here you already had an architecture did we on yes okay so okay and again because for our listeners we just met you know like 10 minutes Alo so is do you is your artist career the rber sort of you know concern in terms of what pays your bills what put food on your on your table or is it just like more of an hobby that you do in addition to something else uh this is my primary work well and also I little photography
work well and also I little photography on the side okay but you don't do anything with architecture and of now no got it so that's really interesting to me because so immediately the first question that comes to my mind is like America is obviously you know a very capitalistic Society like everything is is written by you know like mdiy you de whatever you do must have money or must you know generate money in form so it's really impressive to me that in such a place you manage to use art as a way to you know sustain a lifestyle build so how was that was was it difficult to get started like can you walk me through your journey with essentially monetizing your gift that you have you Talent of um you know uh of
you have you Talent of um you know uh of being an artist uh well it's it's still working on to stable because um it's unstable like working for yourself being selfemployed selfemployed probably the other fields but to but you never never know how how much exactly you make so uh it's not stable at all and um I always have like more work mer like when more and then less work on his folder so in terms of commissions that select people when they have requests for you to paint something you're saying it goes down in the the winter especially up since I paint I pain Outdoors so it's most most of the world is one is war so um in I could do from photos but it takes me longer I have less
it takes me longer I have less commissions like that so it's much less and L photography photography also like isn't uh High season uh so so yes it's it's never people so um how to start just you have to be crazy crazy because well yeah like be ready to get into lot a lot of death if you need to go I would say the most smart thing be actually like people have the job I'm starting on the site and not just um and D between I did yeah try to make something out of there that's guess it um so first I was doing more photography um okay and uh then uh after Co after I came back from
then uh after Co after I came back from Army basic training the co and like there were not not much for photography no I because they was doing most so uh no of course and not much work so first I came was doing B like I've done before that like just just to do it to put it on NY like it wasn't my just was pain sometimes for materials and St but also was like I student I was teach him to do bating too CU I need help much for the shoots and then one of my PL already bought a couple of bings I guess you didn't just part then uh he also was here up just part and see see
also was here up just part and see see but my get offer just SP so he offer uh to commission n p his building like make the Bing of his building and I was my okay like didn't have much work so I and said okay and then then I I did that and we put it like on Facebook and neighborhood group and a lot more people were interested I keep doing the same for them so that's how it started so so cool yeah it it it's almost as if you unlock a hidden market and didn't even exist for most people but it makes so much sense to me that say you know your family you've been living somewhere for what you know whatever 10 15 years and yeah you would
whatever 10 15 years and yeah you would want to you know immortalize that building in the form of a painting and you know yeah it's just who's going to do that I don't think there's a lot of people that are talented enough to be able to do that so that's really cool how recent is this actually so when did this first like when did you stumble across this you know cool uh up ongoing way of making of having commissions yes for prob 2020 okay so you would do for a b in over three years got it and so and just before that K as you said you you didn't have like a very steady Source you would just on Etc track to see what's there and like you didn't have any you know like strong and
didn't have any you know like strong and ongoing source of commissions that least say that like for yeah s sometimes I was participating in all the events events um that they have like here and Z we group did my own even before that uh but like it wasn't something that I could I could make her like actually like C still because it's like being that is that easier right no yeah I mean I can't even imagine and on average what's the price to enlist yourself in one of these um exhibits and Sur they must have a price at for uh well it depends because if it's like a gy then they yes they could have a price to put up there like also also
a price to put up there like also also they going take commission fee some just the commission fee the price like actually like say somebody buys you have to give them a certain percentage of what you charge the bin right mhm okay yeah uh so like take like for example 50% like w that's give it's but pleas like coffee shops restaurants some sometimes they would let you do it for free or maybe you know like um give them a small percentage or something like that but caries or I mums or something yeah they they will also have to accept and you that on top of that they take cative cative commission even also like there sell price like flat price on top of Commissioners so oh so if you don't sell anything you like also yeah that doesn't feel very
also yeah that doesn't feel very sustainable for you know somebody that's just starting off maybe if you're an established artist you have your name out there people know you you're like celebrity I think then it can make sense to do all that maybe I don't know but it does appear that yeah if you're starting off it might not be the best idea would you agree yeah so it's the it's always even like when you place Top charge you much of commission or flp it's still lot of preparation you all the frames B team it's a it's a like and at the free places Al you open by yourself so you if you set up like food the dreams you also like do it yourself if it's great place that color so what you still have to then spend M on that so it's always um investment of money time
it's always um investment of money time like work a lot of working that and like so if you your so it's like always takes lot lot of work that's why like U like I always try to like can WR all the friends and if somebody can come upset it as like it takes so much work so much money to set all the St that's new I would also be upset I would probably you know end some friendships why not ated but um and and then so I also saw on your site you had a bunch of really well done pain picks of the Chicago skyline and such so are those also commissioned or do you just enjoy doing that and you just do it
enjoy doing that and you just do it because you like it sub you just um a lot of people like the Spain so they a b bu so they I like to gain them so you that and then you then have it out for Save in case somebody wants to do all that interesting and did you like were you personally involved with making the whole website cuz I saw it had a really neat feature where you could put things in your C you could buy you know like on the spot all of that looked like fairly advanced in terms of a technology point of view so did you have help with
point of view so did you have help with that or did you do that yourself how did you make your that that part of the hubs pretty much well I am my side uh it's just PL for B like everybody can sit up on day own what's the back Point big spot B yeah so you don't have to be like software uh you just can uh like you just choosing what uh you would like to look it like you would like pictures in there you can do it by yourself and then the the shop actually I didn't you can put in shop also set in there but like even typ shop in there it just to n to make
typ shop in there it just to n to make shop okay so okay that smells yeah integrates with like that and you don't have man do that yeah because I hadc from like way before like 2018 and you you so price a lot it's just feel kind of feels um a little bit easier because I work and then to make it I like out of work to make it hold on my size it might be BL proper and then I don't have to pay so much f but um so far it's just because already I already add it over there on it see or it's been just going still there Mak sense no I think that's smart to just have stuff come instead of doing it from scrash I'm willing to talk at
it from scrash I'm willing to talk at all about you know any measures that you've taken about sales that has that has helped you or that has improved your SES in terms of maybe you know building a presence online or maybe uh cultivating a Community around art or do you think it's mostly just random in terms of you know how many people buy your thingss actually um so for for buying it's kind of more random even even that they put so much money in Border C it's no guaranteed that somebody need a fight then forline yeah sometimes somebody buying but it's not guaranteed to but of course tomorrow since you have a l and the more chances you have with somebody B and I know our working present even before was been V fulltime job so I started my Instagram Facebook pages 2014 and since then I was
Facebook pages 2014 and since then I was working hard like growing the or even put stop like before like to I maybe I wasn't put it this much for POS there but I still was trying to put post and um I was still trying to build up more followers and um and then of course after I doing it like more like full time I was I I can't even more about that so where I always also from my Facebook business page uh I joined some Facebook groups that are pages and sometimes I post and from there people also get start following my beach so more awareness so any any Stu that could lead to that and also that we bre that friends you can
also that we bre that friends you can get more of our just like that even maybe maybe using or think C because for other yeah generally like I couldn't see FS but for I guess maybe more people will come so H it could be good yeah that that makes sense do you enjoy that is there part of you that wishes that you didn't have to do all of this Social Media stuff and you could just paint and automatically you know you would make your Revenue income and you won't have to worry about this entire thing yes I wish I could have all um do creative stuff people everything else but yes is uh I need to uh do by myself yeah but you were talking about it it it sounded like you know it's like such a child it's
such a child it's like like you know doing your dishes like you need to do it of course there's no way around it but there's just a part of you that wishes that I just wish I didn't have to do this so I think it is unfortunate but I think it's just the war with you know like I saw just me recently it said um you know born to make art forced to make content and and and it resonated with me I was like that's true for so many people I know that's not true for you because you're still actually waiting on U so you're an exception in that which I think is cool but like if you pick any like you know
but like if you pick any like you know like I'm not a YouTuber but if you pick a YouTuber at the end of the day they're not you cannot make just art and expect to you live a life or take have your bills taken care of you take to do all of this crap which is like build a following attract people do sales whatever B engage with the communities that another big one like yeah I just really wish we did have do left but obviously here we are um I also saw on your page at n that um you're mostly a fan of the impressionist style of painting So for the UN initiated for a person that knows nothing about that uh what can you tell
nothing about that uh what can you tell us just brief Bas small walk through of what are some of the main features of the impressionist style of art uh so impression is style it comes from our friend impression paintings like M and it comes from they they start they Wars will start EA on doors which they didn't to do that yes and uh and thisway impression isn't it was to capture it was like to capture like the feeling the atmosphere and just um not just exactly like every detail but more like the feeling in atmosphere uh like your impressions from the word at works the sty called which is which what you just said it captures the every detail and it's it's like very you know non emotional for lack of a metal word but it's more like detail
metal word but it's more like detail oriented what is that style of art called uh well there be uh because kind of real ISM it could be a different uh sub style so like imp me it also kind of real is but more like in the pressure is way like uh but there could be um some sty realis like hyper anything which realism yeah I and it would ex what do you do impression ISM what did you why did you choose that to be your you know like your main focus primary primary focus well it's it's my inspiration the impression is because it like grows your emotions it show it um beauty of colors that uh like photograph would not show
that uh like photograph would not show because like hyperism it's um the same as photog yeah that so uh I used to do photography so I F my camera for that you know for hyper realism about in ping I like for it to be more like where magic like it's alive and it's coming on to do at me you look at it gives you some some feelings uh like sometimes my glans they were tell me oh I look at this at my wall and I have this warm feeling and St that gives you this feel so that's so cool and so when you're starting off a painting like can you walk me through the thought process so like how do you like what you just describe I get that I
like what you just describe I get that I follow that what I'm not able to follow is now how do you do that like how do you paint in a way that it feels warm and alive and with full of emotion cuz you know it's colors colors are dead things how can dead things have emotions well I think because iure not my come that some are like but being nature um I still try but be nature it's more it's easier because you just focus up color because you need to like just see full full color full radiant color that only the I could see that camera does not see and uh it's easier this nature because he have to focus so hard details but it's still possible that would architecture just for it's not happens the way I like IM impression
not happens the way I like IM impression is would be but sometimes it is still has press that to yeah so like say is said you know I have you I request you to please pay my b you arrive on the day off except you're just like I really feel like not capturing each day day here I feel like making this an impression is Ping so you know what you just described emotions uh colors full BL so does that ever happen with you and do you have to be like h no I have to be and or do you just you know give in so how will you deal with that well like I could still um like what I feel but um because
feel but um because doesn't capture as many ta and they don't tell me that he get more of that I see and do you have them do feedbacks like do you show them how it's coming and then like the person sees that okay this is great or they can be like okay this is great but can you also do something else I usually show them when I finished they some they say to add some more and a lot of time they are not they just that is how it looks like um Yes actually this buildings that they called Greener a lot of flowers it helps that make it more Bri but also it could be like yeah in
Bri but also it could be like yeah in could be just life how he captured the light just the just not always because it takes me much longer like in you should be capturing line just very pass mhm and visibility it's harder because while I'm staying there all like changes lot of time anding well how I try to do that I said sometimes um a lot of times I can't uh like at the time that was more like good to capture the light again to finish light uh because because we like L of time to make the base and I like um just just general colors and to actually make this capture the light when to be there then I come again and see like when the light is R uh but yeah
when the light is R uh but yeah sometimes they there still won't be like the perfect way so it's just um like I try to cture like um and yeah I could cure some of here maybe sometimes there spouts or something and of course with the flers it's always nice that's so interesting to me what you mentioning about life because I would have thought I from the outside has no idea what I'm talking about but say you know I'm like right now I'm looking at this building here behind you it's like whatever decent life conditions so I do whatever I can do three hours next year I come back now it's CL I would have thought that a person would be able to in their minds fill in the plants and just continue to paint just imagine how it was the day
paint just imagine how it was the day before and continue to paint but s like that's not how that works like you need to have the same lighting as you did when you started for to have that like not like that homogeneous good polished look is that right I can continue like that for like the most part of work just to feel like um the most of it like base colors and the most of it and and and like n I I remember the sh from right and stuff like that I still Contin like change the opposite way but uh to actually capture like an impression is like actually feel that I would need to come back and see it again makes sense that makes sense
it again makes sense that makes sense because if you wouldn't do that I think you yourself will realize that this is not what I was trying to be like this thing in front I made this but this is not what I wanted and you would probably not feel you know that satisfaction just on towards the last segment here um what are some of your goals that they working towards do artists have goals do you have a like I want to make I don't know 100 paintings this year or I want to learn something new just I don't know not don't want to your answer but do you believe in goals do you have any goals where comes too L there's uh like some shortterm goals like you said like like like this year done
year done um not working space and gallery they have like a gallery when you enter and then they have also a lot of permanent work H but they you come first they once work and I had the the ZB at cor here 2020 and where they couldn't do even compy and they also you I didn't me to do exhibit them this year so IED major um like it's um you I had whole wall and also there were another artist with another wall so you get like lot of b b there this St were 16 because they had two really big be and um last time it was like 22 or something because they were small and all of them were smaller um so you don't have a dis thing then to talk to
have a dis thing then to talk to somebody Sly say like past ask uh who's your favorite past world and who is your you know role model and they probably say life whoever St LeBron James whatever so in the world of artists who are some of the most like famous present day like that are alive and um hopefully active artists that you know that you can speak that maybe most artists would have that as a role model or if not most artist who is your Ro model in terms of like presently alive and active artists or is that or something that you think about I just so many AR oh there that I I I didn't know they can each for like a different somebody like style of
being some because that's speak very the in because you cannot imagine like small B it's also not easy to do but the people on like that I cannot fit into my car if just like how how in some creers do that and somebody I I might like for the when you look at a painting say I you out of my imaginary B bring out a painting and put it in front of you can you immediately tell in 10 seconds of looking at it whether it's like a master artist that being did it versus somebody you know just like me name me yes well um even when that um something something that you would not know uh for example
that you would not know uh for example if it's has some techniques in there or not but like um yeah it's usually you can see if somebody work into that like there or or not a lot even from the seemless like just for you in terms of your ability do you think you are at the highest excuse me that you have the highest level of expertise that you can be at as an artist or do you still think there's improvements that you can make when it comes to your own uh abilities with art well in arst always continuous learning even the artists were like already been do it for many many years and you always can um disc discover something more for yourself and uh practicing well and going down maybe to
practicing well and going down maybe to some workshops and maybe there's lot of stuff you already know but still you could discover some sense I like that response actually it it makes a lot of sense last question before Ed to go I'm sure you must have SE stuff about you know how AI now is generating art and you can have an AI like you know generate this Bing in the style of money and it will do that so do you think there is a future in which artists can be or artists should feel worried about their jobs being taken away by AI or do you think that's not something that can happen I think any can take or or technical
technical D then creative because all of the um event art B always B for already art yeah and people don't create any new ones and a I don't have anything to be B on and there's obviously also that element of you know when somebody gives you a commission to bait their building they want that human connection or that human touch to it like they would just otherwise go out and take a picture they don't need to involve another human to do that but they still do because of that you know that value or that connection that I think can only come from from other humans so yeah I think we just live in really interesting times and yeah it's just going to be exciting to see how this whole stuff evolves because recently there's been lawsuits that you know so far it just maybe you
that you know so far it just maybe you already know this but say you uploaded something on Etc and because it's on the internet now an AI can be trade on that M although you never give it permission to do that you know and this is happening which is very unfortunate to me but yeah it's just a constantly changing nobody really knows what's going on so it does sound like you're not that concerned you you feel fairly confided your abilities and talent to well so far yeah it's it's not a digital art and this texture and like the Motions that arst put into it but um yeah I they can sometimes create something that is like digital art still says well thank you so much for taking the time to you know sit with me
taking the time to you know sit with me here today it's I just watched the entire you know sunset at Le and should close up that conversation so if somebody speeds this up it'll just be a time lapse of sitting and talking and laughing in the background of it was a great sun he said I'm so glad I sat Le but maybe behind me you also saw a little bit of the sunset sunet be this side oh I can't see because it's part but uh it's I see the K cry yeah but yeah again thank you so so much for taking the time today it has been such a pleasure to ask me questions that honestly I've always had I I don't have any AR strs you can probably imagine from the questions I asked you but yeah a lot of the stuff I asked you I've
a lot of the stuff I asked you I've always wondered like how you know how we would like brush so that so did appreciate your patient side with some of those questions that probably annoying but yeah thank you so much for taking the time sure no problem I was happy to be here that brings us to the end of episode 40 of the ready said do podcast I do want to share that we hit 1K on YouTube this past week and I would like to thank every single guest listener or any person that has in any way been involved not just with the making of this but also has consumed even a single second of the content that ready said do produce uses I want to give a shout out to deep suchak without
give a shout out to deep suchak without whom none of this would be possible if you would like to continue supporting me the best way to do that is by subscribing on YouTube and leaving me up to a f star rating on Spotify or your favorite podcast app feel free to also check out other links in the description such as buying me a coffee I'm still on $0 there which feels just wrong so one of these days I'm sure that will change catch you all in the next one new episodes every Wednesday
Transcript-backed moments
A few lines worth stealing before you hand over the full hour.
it's really impressive to me that you managed to use art as a way to sustain a managed to use art as a way to sustain a lifestyle pay bills can you walk me through your journey with monetizing
through your journey with monetizing your gift that you have you of being an your gift that you have you of being an artist it's still working to make it stable what are some of the main
stable what are some of the main features of the impressionist time of I went to our school it was way harder because they were teaching all the techniques academic Stu but then they
techniques academic Stu but then they realize you need so much work get better was this art school was that also in he was this art school was that also in he offer to commission me to pain his
offer to commission me to pain his building I was like okay anded conf our neighborhood group and a lot more people interested so cool it's almost as if you unlock a hidden Market that didn't even
Show notes
"Born to make art, forced to produce content." It’s the meme that haunts every creative in 2025. We all marvel at the beauty of a masterpiece, but when it comes to the business of art, most of us are clueless. Is the "Starving Artist" trope a permanent reality, or is there a way to actually build a comfortable livelihood without selling your soul? In this episode, we sit down with Zhanna Biletska , a Chicago-based artist who cracked the code.
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