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ElegantFaith — How to Write an Artist's Bio
Published: 2012-07-23 02:02:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 17587; Favourites: 130; Downloads: 122
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Description
There’s a story behind this:I recently stumbled upon an online magazine for poets. The poets were required to post their bios, and I was dumbfounded at what they wrote.
The things that some people thought were acceptable shocked me. This caused me to browse DA for an article on how to write an artist bio. Surprisingly, I found nothing. 
I searched the forum, journals, tutorials, and I was shocked that I could not find one. single. thing. about writing artist bios. There is nothing on deviantart about writing bios. So, this tutorial came into existence.
I’m a professional musician and part time writer in San Francisco. I've worked with artist managers, social media firms, and agents. 
I've picked up tips from all of them on how to present yourself. I feel it’s a very important tool and I’m amazed in the lack of information regarding artist bios. I want to share this with as many people as I can because, apparently, this information is hard to come by. Oh, and when you’ve read through this guide, post your bio in the comments! I want to read it!
magikstock 's image was used: fav.me/d39q85q
Want to see my music website ? I'm known for classical guitar, but also play rock, blues and jazz. I share the website with my partner, NAMMY award (Native American Music Award) nominee Kevin Village Stone, who plays Native American Flute.
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Comments: 52
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"Hosensty is valued"? I assume that is supposed to be "Honesty"? Excellent advice though, I'm working on my DeviantArt bio now!
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Amazing how some advice can make really a big difference in bios. I'm trying all of this right away this week! Thank you!
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Awesome! I'm glad I could help. Post your bio here when you are done.
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I have a question and i hope it doesnt sound too stupid lol.
I'm in highschool and i want to share my art, so deviant art seemed like the perfect place to go. Although i understand the concept of a bio, Is it really necessary if all i want to do is share? to be able to sell my art would be great but it's not really what I'm focused on right now. should i still make a bio or should i wait until i feel ready to seek business opportunities?
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Figured it out. How does this sound?
Rabbit297 also known as Dead-Rabbit is a traditional and digital artist working on a comic called "Ainavale" he literally never sleeps so he's always available for questions and commissions! Don't be shy. Dead-Rabbit charges $10 for commissions of OCs any kind. He doesn't discriminate. Contact Dead-Rabbit through Rabbitcommissionline@gmail.com.
Idk how bad this.
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How about this?
TinyMythicals is an artist who mainly deals with sketches and drawings, and polymer clay is her favorite material to use. In her 7th grade year, TinyMythicals received a third place in print making in a school district wide contest for various art styles. TinyMythicals has an express interest in all sorts of beasts and creatures which are featured in her art. Dragons, mythology, and fiction animals are of her favorites. TinyMythicals starts off her art pieces with a creative itch. She draws or sculpts until she is satisfied with the end piece, and doesn't quit until the piece is done. Each of her drawings take between 45 minutes to 1 hour and a half. Her sculptures take anywhere between 1 hour and 30 minutes to 5 hours in total. Don't worry about how long each piece takes though! TinyMythicals finds doing these and expressing creativity relaxing and enjoyable.
I counted 148 words.
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Phew. Just discovered this website today and wanted to set up my profile. Then it asked for a bio, and I didn't know what bio is, so I searched, and I found this. It didn't only clearly tell me what a bio is, but it also gave me many tips for typing bios. And there were also many things here that I identified with so much, such as the positivity, I just freakin hate when people post their problems in public, and make me worry for no reason. >_< Thanks a lot for that.
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Thank you very much! I am a new Deviantart Artist, and this helped me very much. Here's my new bio:
Osterkaktus is an artist mainly focusing on literature in the fantasy or sci-fi genre. He thinks the normal world is far too boring and to be truly creative, you must create your own universe. Osterkaktus' hobby springs off the many books he reads especially from his favorite author Christie Golden. His style of writing is often a mix of the many styles of authors he reads. Osterkaktus aspires to spread his creativity to everyone who is interested in watching, in the fields of literature, programming and videos.
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Ah, this was what I looking for. I appreciate the effort this took and glad you shared it.
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I'm not a professional artist by any means, but still want to sound as professional as is possible with my lack of credentials. Could you give me any suggestions on how to improve my current bio? (I know you said age was cliche, and I agree, but is this one of those exceptions? Let me know what you think.)
" At age 7, Cali Moody received her first 1st-place award for her art, beating out many of her much older elementary schoolmates. Since then, she has submitted her work into many different contests and has received various awards for her efforts. Now, Cali is a high school student who is taking her first art class next semester as a start to her formal education in art. She has yet to experiment far beyond the world of pencil and paper as her artistic mediums, but is always willing to expand her abilities and is open for suggestions."
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I finally got around to having a proper go at this: I'm trying to come up with a bio for the back of a book, and all the points here seem well worth bearing in mind. You say these are only your views, but it seems like such common sense advice that there isn't really anything to argue with. I'll go ahead and post my dA bio here, largely because I'll definitely be updating it now!
Damon L. Wakes is a writer hoping to become an author. He began writing many years ago, while bored out of his skull at school, but gradually developed more of a knack for it through college and university, where he had some moderate successes. He enjoys a wide variety of art, craft and literature and would be most interested in seeing some of yours.
"Moderate successes:" 
Damon L. Wakes writes just about anything that springs to mind. Though he does produce novels, he has had greater success with his short stories, a handful of which have made it into print. As well as promoting his own books, he hopes to share the work of others who are under-read, under-appreciated, or just plain awesome.
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Here goes nothing:
~LochNessieMonster is an artist whose style is influenced heavily by American mainstream comics and Japanese manga. ~LochNessieMonster 's work has been shown at the county art show, the county 4H fair, and she has helped design several posters for student government at her school. ~LochNessieMonster 's work is growing as she explores new mediums.
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Awesome! Great bio. 
I think you forgot to mention what medium you partake in. Just by reading your bio, I'm not able to tell if you're a photographer, graphic designer, or something else. 
Hooray for writing a professional bio! 
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OK, I'll change that.
I feel so special
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I'll have to work on the bio part haha. I'm not good at self promotion.
I think it's really awesome of you to take the time to compile this information for others.
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Self promotion is HARD; it took me years to learn (and I still don't know it all!) I think lots of artists have difficulty writing a bio, so you're not alone. Artists are just not wired to be businessmen. That's why I think it's important that we share what we've learned and pass information like this around so we can all be successful together.
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Definitely! And I can relate to that. The whole business side of things overwhelms me SO much!
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This is really brilliant. Well done indeed
I'll source this on said site, too- I have a Links & Tips collumn I'm putting together.
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There are a lot of beginner artists who don't have formal "accomplishments" under their belt. We all start with zero accomplishments (I did). When I was in the same situation I wrote about why I was unique, and talked about what set me apart from other artists instead of my accomplishments. Perhaps you could do the same.
I would appreciate you sharing this information.
Where is your photography website? I'd love to see it.
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I'm using Wix as a host, so it isn't yet available- when it is I'll be sure to link you
Does Conn Williams Photography or Sepia Shutters sound good to you? Do you have any preferences? Do either of them work?
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Yes, please link me when it's public. I enjoy seeing other people's websites.
Sepia Shutters has a nice ring to it. They both sound great. Conn Williams Photography sounds like an individual photographer while Sepia Shutters sounds like a business. Like I said, I like them both. Whichever you choose, it'll be great.
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[link]
Here's my website, finally launched xD
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Thank you very much for this! Currently, I am not in the need of a bio, but one day, when it does become necessary, I'll make sure to remember all I've learned here!
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It's great to hear that.
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The Cindy Lou Who example is also a great example of vagueness...I read it as "Cindy Lou Who loves beading the most out of people who love beading" When you meant it to state that "Cindy Lou Who loves beading more than she loves most people" xD
WOW girl! This is an A to the MAZING how-to! This would make a great book someday
I love how you made your examples with fictional (or popular but deceased...) characters/people. And the way they were written were exceptional!!!! So much humor, and yet you get the point across SO well! I'd say don't change a thing, this is fantastic and I can't possibly say enough good things about it!
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Oops, let me change that Cindy Lou Who example right now. It's a really good example of how something sounds great in your head, but gets lost in the execution. It was a cool idea to use a comparison, but it came off poorly.
Ha ha, I'm glad you enjoyed reading this! I started writing this by using generic names as examples, but then I thought I'd have some fun with it, so I started to throw in well known characters. xD
Feel free to spread this tutorial around. I think a lot of artists need to understand how to write bios. I'm going to be pimping it.
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Ahahaha, yes, yes it is! And you're great at expressing and disseminating ;D
Glad I could help! ^_^
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Okay, basic impression with a fuller comment to come once I've read the whole thing...I like this a LOT better than the other example you posted in your journal. I love the colors, they make it easier to focus despite the quantity of words. Not saying the quantity is bad, what I've read so far seems to be quality as well, and that's the most important thing. So far, so good!
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It was fun reading; you have a way with illustrations! I am glad I could pick some tips here
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lol, well I'm glad you got something out of this. A lot of artists tend to include irreverent information and it's important to remember why you're writing a bio.
If you're just a hobbyist writer, you may honestly never need to write a bio and that's okay. I consider myself a hobbyist writer and a few months ago I had to write one, so you never really know.
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I wanna go in proper publishing and all. Thus this may actually help me out (thus the fav).
Oh and I shouldn't be asking you for this but... can you look into my latest work (rather short) I want some SERIOUS critique over it since I am quite doubtful whether people get it... or if they get it whether they like it or not
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Publishing is cool (and a verrrryyyy useful skill). To be honest, I really don't know much about formal publishing. What I know comes from the advertising/publicity side of the coin. In my music career, I've submitted press releases to newspapers and simple things of that sort. I'm more knowledgeable of publicity than publishing.
I do hope this can help you in the future with your publishing or anything else. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I'm always looking to help people.
Sure I can look at your piece. You're talking about The Lilies She Lent, right?
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yay I am always looking for people to help... and people to help... me xD
and the publishers i am planning to get published from are Scheil and Denver.
Yup that is the work
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Mutual help is mutually awesome.
I will check out your writing right now.
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Okay! I hope you are not bored by this ^^ and yup it is awesome
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it's so funny mentioned music bios! my first thought in my head when i saw this was musical cast bios!!
well done!
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Thanks. This is my first time making a tutorial. For some reason when I uploaded it to DA, the resolution went down. I'd like to get this to look really nice and then I'm gonna pimp it around DA because I think more people should write good bios.
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I'll help you by pimping it in my next journal and hopefully get it submitted to some resource groups I admin. It's one of the most helpful tutorials I've seen on deviantART so far and thanks to you, I'm working on my own bio right now! Thank you so much for taking the time to write and produce this for us bio-backwards artists.
You are a scholar and a saint.
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