STUDY ART MARKETING &
art career tips

WHY?

Being an artist is the same as being an entrepreneur.  Like any business in the world, promoting your product/services should be consistent part of your business plan.  The best thing of all is that you don’t need to spend thousands of rands on marketing courses.  Most of the information is freely available on the internet or fairly reasonably priced in great art books.

Some Education Links and books you should read:

•  Youtube Art Marketing Tips Link
•  Real Artists don’t Starve – Jeff Goins
•  The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
•  Art, Success, Money – Maria Brophy

START TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK

AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE

Don’t wait till you deem yourself “worthy” to feature in art galleries to start showcasing your work to the world.  If I had known what I know now I would have created and promoted my Facebook Art Page at a much earlier stage.

The earlier you start, the quicker you can learn what art marketing strategies works and what doesn’t.  Secondly, it takes time to build up your target audience and fan base.

General Tip:

Don’t worry too much about getting gallery representation. It is more important to learn how to sell your art directly to the public and build up your own fan base.

PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE IS A MUST

Learning how to take great pictures of your artworks and even behind the scenes will greatly benefit your art career.  If possible, doing a short course in graphic design / web design (wordpress or squarespace) will also be a major benefit.

Being able to take or create your own reference photos to work from, can be a major boost in the quality of your work.  It can also be a nice sideline business to help until your art career has fully fledged.

Extra Tip:

Always take photos of every artwork you create. You will most probably delete some as your art style/direction progress.  However, it always good to have photos of artworks even those already sold.

FIND YOUR NICHE OR VOICE

It is great when you are a beginner artist to play around with different mediums, subjects, styles etc.  So that you can figure out what pings and what does not.

But if you are serious about your art career you do need to narrow down your niche/voice to make marketing and branding easier.  This is tricky, so I wrote a whole article, to hopefully help you find your way easier.

let go of the snobbery

A negative aspect of the art world is that there is usually a lot of snobbery involved.  It is easy to pick up this attitude as you go, especially when you study art.  But personally, I believe it hurts more than benefits.  I have had the privilige of talking to many well-known artists and one of the common trades that I see amongst most is that they are really nice and humble people. 

They are great listeners and make effort to get to know you.  I don’t mean talking long just asking what you do and even giving tidbits of advice. This not only makes them memorable and endearing but I believe it benefits their art career in the long run.  It is easier to share back ideas, advice or even knowledge about opportunities with nice poeple.  You don’t need to be a people pleaser, but being approachable will make it easier to expand your network.

always give first

It is great to get advice from other successful artists, but before you do please build up some form of relationship first.  Successful artists = busy artists.  We don’t have time to answer all random questions especially from complete strangers.

When you offer some kind of value in return for advice, whether it is by at least complimenting their work, telling them of an opportunity or even helping them with a problem.  There is a much bigger chance that they might return this favour and even maybe become a friend, collaborator or future network opportunity. 

the going will be touch

Pursueing an art career is among the most difficult but most rewarding paths on the planet.  Having skills and talent is great, but what makes it difficult is the entrepreneurial and narrative side of professional art.

Finding that perfect balance between creating high-quality technical art, but also something that speaks to the public or your target audtience is tough.  Sometimes you will hit the spot and other times it will fail miserably.  Like any athlete will tell you, all you need to do is stand up and try again.

General Tip:

Never compare your career to anyone else’s – always compare it to your former self. If you see any growth, whether it is in your craft or expanding your network, you are on the right track.  Also take inconsideration that not everybody will reach celebration station like Lionel Smit or Jono Dry, but if you can make a full-time living from art you are already successful.

DON’T SELL YOURSELF CHEAP

When I just started out I made the mistake of doing pencil commission for so cheap (R50 each) that I had no time to do my own artistic endeavours.  This led to so much frustration, that I almost completely stopped doing art.  Now my pricing structure has changed dramatically and I endeavour to re-evaluate this every 6 months.

Like Jeff Goins wrote in “Real Artist don’t Starve” – you need to make money to make art.  Since changing my pricing structure it made it possible for me to test out better quality papers and other art materials.  I am now able to save up money to setup my studio, spending a percentage back into marketing and art courses to improve my craft

Extra Tip: If you want to do commissions always ask for a deposit. Minimum 50% or even more.

you need to connect first

Don’t create art just for the purpose of selling, even if you are a commercial artist.  I know that sounds counter-intuitive.  However, hear me out. 

If you can’t connect with your art – the public won’t be able to do it either. 

Besides if you keep consciously creating art you don’t like for the purpose to sell.  It will end up killing you softly in the long run and it will show in the end results.  I’ve always ended up selling the pieces that I felt the biggest joy in the creation process much quicker than other artworks that I am not 100% happy with.  Usually it is the kids, I am the saddest to let go.

push your limits

I am big advocate that artists (whether beginner or professional) should always work on their craft.  Taking classes or workshops with artists that specializes in fields that interests you, will be a big booster to improve you art.

You can teach yourself via youtube videos and even art books, but sometimes that extra eye or just being in a class with other artists can really benefit you. On your own, you can only push yourself to a certain extent and the growth is usually substantially slower.  I am lucky enough to have had the privilege to do workshops under many amazing artists and some of their advice has really given me new perspective and improved my work.

Also note, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with stealing with your eye.  Whether it is looking at the way Sargeant painted eyes or stealing Van Gogh’s colour palette.  So long as you don’t copy one artists work and make it out as your own it is not copyright infringement.

professionalism is key

This goes hand in hand with learning art marketing.  Just like in any business (irrespective of size) professionalism is really important.  This includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Pitching up on time for appointment / exhibition opening
• Having a professional invoice / quote accounting system
• Keeping records of artworks
• Not underselling your art during art exhibitions
• Bring hang-ready artworks to an exhibition
• Behaving and not getting drunk during public art events
• Keeping a great work ethic, you need to do the hours
• Overall trying to be organized and not too scatter-brained