Green Artist

Probably every artist dreams of becoming successful enough to make a living selling their artwork. Some artists achieve fantastic success within their lifetime and become famous and well paid their work, but these people are in the minority. For many artists the dream of becoming well known and really well paid never becomes a reality and these artists make do with living on a small income, or they make money from other activities that may or may not be related to art.

Many artists are really quite bad at marketing their art and this is probably because they would prefer to spend their time creating art rather than marketing it. But art rarely sells itself and even if it is well displayed in an exhibition it may need an ‘extra something’ to help it sell. It would be really quite unusual, but enviable, to be in a position where people are clamouring to buy your work and ready to pay good money for it without you having to do any marketing at all.

Some artists supplement their income by teaching workshops and/or selling artists materials, and in many ways this is preferable to supplementing your income by some means that is totally unrelated to art, because at least you remain connected and focused on the art world. 

Quite often, though, artists find that they need to work full or part-time in some other sort of job in order to make ends meet. The problem with this is that it’s quite easy to become disconnected from your work and from the creative stream that runs through you. When the majority of your days are spent in non-art related pursuits it can be hard to switch off from mundane activities and on again to your artistic inspiration.

If your aim is to be a full-time artist then it is important to keep on creating art and making time for it in your life, because if you stop painting for a time because it’s difficult to fit it in with everything else that is happening in your life, you will find that you get out of practice which makes it much more difficult to take it up again later. If you’ve already begun to develop something of an art career, and then decide to put it on hold for a while to concentrate on more immediately lucrative moneymaking ventures, you risk losing your foothold in the art world and the credibility of serious buyers, and it can be quite hard to re-establish yourself as a serious artist again after taking a total break from work. It’s far better to continue creating your art even if none of it is selling, because your creativity is like a well-oiled machine when it is being used regularly, but becomes rusty and reluctant to work if it is left in the dark and ignored for a while.

The one most important factor you need to remember for marketing your art is to make sure that it is being seen. This means not hiding it in your studio, or worse, in your loft or garage, but getting it out there in as many places as possible so that lots of people can see it, see your name, and have an opportunity to buy it. Your own artwork is your best marketing tool so it needs to be seen as often and by as many people as possible.

You need to think about ways to display your art in places that make it look good, showing it off to its best advantage, which means being a bit picky about where it is displayed. On the one hand you need as many people to see your work as possible, on the other hand you need to create the right impression, so trying to sell your art in a car boot sale or similar really won’t do you or your work justice.

At best you should choose places where art buyers tend to congregate, and places where the clientele are likely to be able to afford your top prices. These types of places like art galleries and public exhibition spaces, can be hard, or expensive, to get into though. The less hard to get into places may be a better option at first, and then you can move up to the more expensive venues as you become known a little better and are starting to make money from selling your work. Easier, or less expensive places to get into for displaying and selling art are art shows, art (and craft) fairs and local businesses.

It’s a good idea to approach places like local restaurants, cafes, gift shops, hair and beauty salons, bookshops, garden centres, hotels, guesthouses, and furniture showrooms. Although people visiting these places don’t visit them mainly in order to see or buy art, they make good places to display your art, and if it is accompanied with your contact information, they may decide to buy it later.

Displaying your art in these locations at least makes it noticeable and gradually your name will become better known.

So, although you are unlikely to make significant sales from these venues they are good places to do your marketing that cost little and help get you known. It’s a good idea to print some brochures or information sheets that include your contact details and ask the owners of the venues to put them in a prominent place near your work. With luck a good number of people visiting will pick up a brochure and make contact with you after they have read your information.

You could also consider donating a piece of your art to a local charity or lending it to be hung in offices or other venues where the art buying public will see it. Also, don’t forget to write letters introducing you and your work and send them out to any possibly interested parties or to newspapers and magazines.

Make the most you can about the differences between your work and other peoples’, between you as an artist and other artists, and between the way you produce your work and the way others produced theirs. You need to do everything you can to position yourself as more than just another artist selling your work. Once you’ve decided what it is that sets you apart from others you need to make sure that this is included in your information leaflets and that you tell people whenever you have an opportunity to speak to them. Make yourself interesting and memorable, and people will remember you and think of you first when they come to buy art, presuming they like the work you produce.

As an artist, you know what your art means to you and you can convey that to people who are interested in your work, and if you can also include your unique selling points, your potential buyer will feel a better connection with your work and begin to understand your prices as well as you art.

The prices you set your artwork are an important part of your marketing strategy, and it can be difficult to know how to set a price that means you are taken seriously as an artist and are not giving away your work too cheaply, but at the same time are not pricing yourself out of your particular market. If you can’t decide how to price your art, maybe the best way is to set a sensible hourly wage for yourself, then multiply that amount by the number of hours you take to create the piece, add the cost of all your materials and make the total your asking price for that particular piece. Try to avoid pricing yourself out of the market completely by comparing yourself to artists who are much more established than you are at the moment, you can always increase prices as you become better known.

Don’t forget to talk to, and listen to, your potential buyers because their feedback can help you develop your basic marketing plan. You can ask people why they like your art, why they bought it (if they did), and what other places they go to look at art. Find out what they like about you and your work and ask for referrals to local businesses that might lend you wall space to show your work. Finally it is worth considering joining local art organisations because you will then be able to participate in their art exhibitions and open studios as well as networking and exchanging ideas.

The most important thing is to be confident and believe in yourself as an artist because this will come across in any communication you have with people, whether you are talking to them about displaying your work in their venue or selling art to them personally.