Are you a starving artist? With the resources available to you today, You don't have to be.
If you don't adapt, It's hard to be accepted into art galleries.
What kind of crap is that? I thought art was about self-expression?
I learned that the tough way When I was a senior in high school. I know I've talked about my experiences before, but they were having a show at a museum two hours away. I packed up mine and my friend's art piece. And my parents did the long drive to Springfield to drop off my art at the museum. I submitted two pieces of art. She submitted one. Mine were dark creepy and full of references. They were deep.
Hers was a simple self-portrait.
She got accepted not me. I somewhat blame it on the conservative nature of Utah. Anything "dark" or creepy is quickly shut down by the Mormon Religion because they are afraid of that kind of stuff.
"You don't want to invite the evil sprit kind of deal" But overall I didn't realize I was expected to "accommodate" based on the likeness of the people nearby. Either that or the art show was based on "skill" only. In my opinion, that's garbage too. Art Isn't just about skill, Its about being able to show people your heart. It's about being unique and creative.
What did I learn initially from this experience?
- That I'm a crappy artist.
- That I had better chances than my friend I was denied.
- I will never make a living as an artist because everyone hates my artwork.
Yeah, I had a pity party for myself after the experience. It was sad and pathetic. But then I realized those things weren't real.
- People love my art; I'm just not what the judges were looking for.
- I CAN make a living as an artist; I just need to learn HOW
- Maybe my chances WEREN'T better than my friends Because she had what they were looking for.
But if I can't get into a museum or show, How do I make money from art?
Any artist that tells you, They "DONT CARE" if they make money off their art is lying
Yes, it's true, We love our craft. We'd do it for free, But we want ALL want the money. Because we can't live without it. If it were our choice, we'd make full time income+more off our art. Because who wants to work at a shitty job?
- Don't focus on too many websites at once, Social Media, Or selling platforms. Do what you can handle, And gradually increase.
HOW TO SELL YOUR ART ONLINE
Let's get to the good stuff!
When selling your art,
- Include high-quality videos, And images.
- Tell a story about what your art is, And what it represents.
- If you have a storefront, Make it professional. Even hire a professional designer if necessary.
I know these sound super basic. But I'm amazed by how much I go onto sites like eBay and see the shitty photos, And the lack of time spent on the listing.
I KNOW you have a lot on your plate, But to maximize your profits. You need good photos.
Some platforms
Shopify:
I personly don't use this, But I talk to some artists that do, It can be 14-29 a month. So that might be a bit costly if you don't have a lot to sell.
Big Cartel
Doesn't drive traffic to your shop, So you'll have to do that on your own.
Storenvy
Will help bring traffic to your shop? The layout is super nice.
If you have a website already
- Get a shopping cart plugin through Wordpress.
- Paypal has a button
- Gumroad
Consider a marketplace
- Ebay: ideal for cheap art
- Etsy: Indexed by Google.
- Art Finder and Saatchi: there are qualifications to submit your stuff on this site, Often juried.
Print ON demand
I love this method. I keep the original, You get a copy, I sometimes sell signed stuff. I also love my art being on a variety of products, Not just sitting on your wall.
- Books
- T-shirts
- Mugs
- Hats,
You name it!
The pros of using this: High-quality merchandise for your customers, It's usually easy, You just upload and you're done. So assembling and preparing the file is the bulk of your work.
Cons: Make little per sale. Also, the customers pay quite a bit.
My Personal favorites
Redbubble
This is similar to Cafepress, You upload your artwork, and they can print it on phone cases, shirts, and other products. The products are expensive, and your payout amount is small. But if you can at least get a couple of sales per item, it seems worth it.
Createspace
I'm not your typical artist. I like to sell my art in coloring books, And I hope to expand to children's books at some point.
Some others I haven't experimented with all that much: Zazzle, Society6, ImageKind, Cafepress, Spreadshirt.
Social Networking For Artists
This is important to get your name out there.
Steemit
I will ALWAYS RECOMMEND Steemit, for obvious reasons. But I feel like us artists are still waiting for the art section to become more popular. I started on Steemit two months ago. And Back then when I published a piece of art, I would get NOTHING. So there is a massive improvement. People are starting to appreciate art on Steemit.
Deviant Art
It takes a while to build a following, But once you do, You are golden.
To me, The website seems messy, and confusing. Maybe I"m just not used to it.
I like how it's an image-based platform, But you can also share writing.
This seems popular these days, People will "Pin" all kinds of stuff, So get your art on there, your art videos, Anything you can. Your eBay, Amazon listings. You get the idea.
I feel like I've had a decent amount of success on here. Although I hate that, you can't access it through the computer. So It's difficult to post links and stuff, I feel like Instagram is almost cut off from the other areas of the social media world.
Stock Images
If you are a photographer, This section might help you the most, But it also helps the artist, Because people need clip art, art and coloring pages for their business.
- Istock Photo
- Shutterstock
- Etsy (digital downloads) Great for coloring pages
What to share?
You can share photos of your artwork, Photos of you doing the art, And pictures of the progress of your art.
- Time lapse videos.
- Tutorials
- Short stories with your art
- Make a book with art and quotes
- Coloring books,
- The art of the Month club.
- website
Email list
What? Email list? I'm just an artist!
GET AN EMAIL LIST!
Sign up with
Aweber
Mailchimp
I highly recommend starting with Mail chimp, Because it's free if you stay below 2,000 subscribers.
Building your email list gives you the opportunity to keep in touch with your customers, You can't let them know what is going on with your new art business. You can promote to them, Ask for reviews on your product, Sent them an email when you have a sale, Having an email list helps a lot.
Hopefully, this article will help you get your foot in the door when it comes to selling your art.
We live in a beautiful period where it's possible to make a living from your art! Now take advantage of it. ###
All Photos are Original Art pieces by KaylinArt (Lin Watchorn) All Rights Reserved!
Great post kaylinart ,im no longer starving , im on steemit now :)
Thank you ! i'm also happy for you :)
excellent advice @kaylinart. I draw since my childhood, as a freelance started working recently, my first for sale works were are labels for craft beer. somehow I did not think about selling my works, but sometimes people who see my art works ask me whether it is possible to buy a print, then I sell, or like I did a few t-shirt issues with my prints. The main thing was that I aways draw my pictures for pleasure. Thanks for the interesting post. You inspire me by this post Im thinking about an online store!
That is awesome! You should try the online store. The great things about prints, Is you can go with a large company, Upload your art. and leave it. It takes no maintenance and you get the paycheck. You just have to invest the initial time to get it uploaded and then you are done.
cool, it's a great idea, thanks alot :)
No problem :)
Some great advice and great artworks to illustrate your point too. The final partial face image is my favourite.
I think that if you are already wealthy or are doing it purely as a hobby but it doesn't matter but if you aim to make a living off it you have to care.
Me too I don't even bother with it anymore but then I'm not a professional artist. DA reminds me of reddit in some ways.
I've noticed these a lot. I think they are popular because they are very quick to view and they can be very inspiring. Most people don't have much time these days but seeing a great work take shape in a few minutes can ignite the flame of their creativity.
Only came across these recently on here but they seem pretty cool and an easy effortless way for people to get back in the creative spirit which is why I suspect they are so popular. If you haven't picked up a paintbrush or pencil in a while it can be intimidating to go back to full blown creations. This is a low friction way of getting back into the groove.
Thanks for sharing your tip:)
No problem! Thank you for such a high quality comment! I agree with everything hehe! I don't mess with DA much either. But thats because I get most of my following and money from publishing books.
Very nice pictures.
Thank you :)
Hahah I watched this yesterday! LOVE IT
Excellent post, I hope that you keep growing as an artist and in the steemit community. I will try to start painting again and post here. More artist need to know about this place.
Hi @kaylinart, I used to make a living as a portrait artist. (You can take a look at my blog if you want to see some of my artwork) So I can relate, I know how hard it is to pay the bills selling your artwork. It's been many years now since I have been drawing (because of a car accident) but I finally am getting started again.
I think your post is great for helping other artists and I really like your art work too. Keep it up :) I'll start following you so I get so see more as you post it..
Followed.
I"m glad you haven't given up yet!I hope you are able to pay the bills better with your art :) I"m glad we take advantage of the online resources out there.
Nice piece lots of good advice. Like you got a colouring book out on createspace and a few things on rpg now. Its a hard road, really like the last pic in your post. Done with a Bic. Impressive. I came to steemit hoping for another ave to make money of art. Again feeling like a tough road lol.
Thank you! I really like drawing in pen, It's hard but so worth it when you see the results. I'm sure later on down the road Steemit will be one of the better ways to make money off art. We just need to give it time.
Fantastic resource post...and always great art!
Thank you :) It's the art I've done over the years.
Do you ever get worried about people stealing your images? Many artists watermark their electronic images.
Yes I get worried, But I think the watermark ruins it. Although my stuff Is copyrighted so if people do steal my stuff, They can and will face charges.
Thank you, Great post lots of resources. Upvoted and followed. I also bookmarked this.
💋 @halo 💋
Thank you so much <3
Great post! These are really usefull advices.
BTW All the links are broken in the post. for example Redbubble link points to: https://steemit.com/art/@kaylinart/www.redbubble.com