My Top 3 Most Inspiring Commercial Artists-Entrepreneurs

One of the most important things to have when starting a new business is passion and determination. For me, passion comes from feeling inspired, and determination comes from seeing examples of other people having done the thing before so that I could believe that it's possible. Hence, now, that I'm working on building my art licensing business, I try to start every day inspired to work. To help you find some inspiration as well, I'd like to share with you three of my favorite artpreneurs, to hopefully set the fire within you as well.

Cat Coquillette

Cat is an American artist and surface designer, who began selling her artwork on art licensing sites in 2014. Her art features vibrant watercolor paintings with her signature white space borders, as well as digital illustrations done on Procreate. On the 6 Figure Creative podcast, Cat tells the story of how she first began licensing her art on Society6 in 2014. Since then, she has been a location-independent artpreneur, traveling the world for nearly the last decade.

I must be honest, Cat's career sounds like an absolute dream to me. However, regardless of how great your art is, it's not that simple to start licensing your art in 2024. Sites such as Society6, Redbubble, and Zazzle are oversaturated with artists trying to make it. Nonetheless, I am beyond inspired by Cat's productivity. In the previously linked podcast episode, Cat reveals that she makes up to 7 artworks per week, which to me is crazy (in a good way). I don't know for a fact, but I do believe that making so many pieces may have contributed to her success in art licensing. After all, to make trend-aligned artwork, you have to, figuratively speaking, throw a lot of stuff at the wall and see what sticks. By the way, on her Society6 account, Cat has posted 2.5K artworks and their variations. That means that she has made on average 5 pieces per week, for the last 10 years. That's some productivity!

Maggie Enterrios

Maggie describes herself as a commercial artist with a focus on botanical maximalism. She is from Chicago, USA, and her artwork absolutely bursts in depth, intensity, and detail. I first discovered Maggie's work a couple of years ago on The Futur's YouTube channel, and have been fascinated since. I am mostly inspired by the versatility of her work - I first discovered Mggie as an artist who created intricate botanical illustrations for brands to put on their packaging and social media, but since then, she has also released a coloring book. I love her illustration and I look at it whenever I feel like I don't know what to draw anymore. After all, her drawings mostly feature not real, but made-up plants that help to foster my own imagination.

Ten Hundred

Alright, so he's not a commercial artist per se, but he does put his paintings on merch, so I think it counts. Ten Hundred is a muralist from Michigan, USA. I would describe his art style as psychedelic in color, piercing in expression, and full of movement. I discovered his art in perhaps 2018, and have had a dream to put my own illustrations on clothing ever since. I'm mostly inspired by this wonderful artist's imagination and consistent style. He paints these child-like characters that seem to always be in the motion of doing something. And the color palette is crazy - pinks, teals, yellows. I love it. I always go to his YouTube channel when I feel in a rut creatively.

So there it is three of my most inspiring artists/entrepreneurs. I strongly suggest that you check them out if you feel in a rut, or just need some new ideas for a unique and tasteful color combination. If you're still here, thank you for reading.

Best,

Hue Grey