Artist Spotlight with Michael DeVellis

How can a makeup artist keep their career growing in a challenging economy? The last year has been a big challenge for everyone in every industry. I think that the only real way to ensure your own career growth - or even sustaining your current level of success in an economy like the one we are faces with is to commit yourself to some basic ideas in how you work: First, introduce new techniques, products, services or types of work that you offer. Next, develop stronger relationships and grow the community of peers and clients that we build around us. Also, make the commitment to work harder than you ever have before. We need to work twice as hard to maintain the level of work that we have been maintaining, and even harder to move forward. Finally, commit to investing financially back into your career. You need to spend some of that hard-to-come-by cash on keeping the momentum going. Develop a strong promotional plan to create a broader visibility for you and your work. Improve your website, work an industry event, create stronger images to represent your work and get them out there for potential clients to see.

What is the biggest mistake a makeup artist can make? To stop learning. There is nothing that puts a hold on a career like standing still, and doing the same thing over and over again, while others around you are moving forward, and strengthening and growing their craft and their career.

Is there a project you have worked on that you are especially proud of? I think that without question that would be creating On Makeup Magazine. It provides me a personal level of creativity that I have never felt before and allows me to provide an opportunity to so many creatively brilliant artists, writers and photographers. There is very little that is more satisfying than hearing that On Makeup Magazine has inspired someone, given someone a new way of thinking about their work or that they were moved to work harder at their craft - by what we publish.

Michael DeVellis is the Executive Director of The Powder Group, and the Creative Director and Editor of On Makeup Magazine. He will be speaking at The Artist Summit Miami Oct 3-5th, and The Artist Summit Chicago Oct 10-12th. For more information and to purchase tickets for The Artist Summit please visit www.theartistsummit.com