6 Tips for messaging an Artist for help as a Beginner

⭐ Be polite and friendly
I guess that is an obvious point but i still have to list this up. To make something clear. Artists who have a lot of experience, are many years in the industry or have just better skills than you, are NOT better than you. Don’t put them on a pedestal. In the end, they are all just humans, and we are all on the same level. But being polite has something to do with being a good human who respects other people, no matter what age, gender, origin, etc. So just a general tip for life. Be KIND and RESPECT, other people.

⭐ Send a 'Thank you're message back
There is nothing worse than putting your time and knowledge into a reply to help someone out, and then you don’t get any 'Thank you' message back. Artists often have a tight schedule when it comes to working. They also get hundreds of messages from people who reach out to them and mostly with the same questions over and over again. Maybe you already experienced, that many artists just don’t have time for answering those messages. (Sometimes they just don’t want to), but mostly it’s because they are too busy. Now imagine you get the chance that one artist is replying to you. Probably this artist has also crunch times, a tight schedule, and uses free time to help you out just out of kindness. It would be a minimum to just write a short “Thank You” message back to make the artist feel valued and appreciated for the time.

⭐ Ask more specific questions
Because of the lack of time, you should think about what exactly you want to ask an artist before you text them. The more questions, the more time they need to put into it. And i know from experience that answering questions can take a long time when you really want to help someone with as many details as possible. So make sure that you only ask 1 or 2 questions that you really think will bring you a lot of value and help. Because sometimes when artists see a message with hundreds of questions in it, they get overwhelmed and mostly don’t reply to it. That means, to increase your chances to get a reply, choose your questions wisely. The more specific they are, the better and faster they can help you. Keep it short!

⭐ Introduce yourself
In my experience, i think it is kinda weird when you get a message straight with questions, and you don’t know who that person is, what the person is doing, or on which level they are. First thing, you should introduce yourself out of respect. That is a must. Second, it will also help you to get better answers to your questions. When the artist you are asking doesn’t know on which level you are or in which direction you want to go, then it is harder to give specific advice.
Don’t make the introduction too long (remember, nobody has time to read that), but make sure that the artist knows a bit about you.

⭐ 1week2 rule
This rule can be modified, but the main reason for this is that you don’t bother the person you are texting with. Sometimes, artists want to reply to your questions but can’t do it immediately out of a tight schedule.
(Little tip for the ones who get those questions. If you don’t have time to reply to those people immediately, take a few seconds and text them that you will answer them when you have more time. This will help both sides to know what’s going on).
So give the artists time to reply to your message. This can take days, weeks, or months, depending on their work. But as a general rule, i would say, don’t text them more than once a week. And not more than 2 times. When you don’t get any reply after sending the second message, then it is obvious that 1. The artists don’t want to reply, or 2. Can’t do it right now. Then, take a step back and don’t text anymore. Because if you do it too often, it can be pretty annoying for the person who gets the messages. Try it in a few months or a year again. And a little side tip. NEVER send an angry or disappointed message to someone when you don’t get a reply. Never do that!! You can get blocked or land in a spam folder.

⭐ Be patient
When you followed all the tips above then there is just one thing you can do now. Be patient. I explained it already in the point before, but it doesn’t bring you further when you keep your mind constantly on that message and ask yourself when, how, or if the artist will reply. After sending the message, let it go and don’t think about it anymore. Don’t stress yourself out for things you Can't control. Shift your focus now on the things you CAN control what means, send a message to another artist, work on your stuff, learn or whatever it is you are doing right now. Let it go and wait. That’s the only thing you can do without being stressed.