You don’t have to be a starving artist. It doesn’t have to define you.
A successful artist is one that can balance their creativity and commerce.
Stick around till the end for a little bonus tip.
Don’t forget to like subscribe and watch the other videos I have the the artist starting their art career.
Stick around till the end for a little bonus tip.
TIP 1 - If you’re watching this that means you don’t know that much. So the tip is : Learn as much as you can. Being an artist you have to learn Business. It sucks, its not creative and you probably suck at it. I know I definitely did when I started. But you have to start somewhere. The biggest mistake I made was that I didn’t actively go out and try to learn. Take a business class, ask questions, read books. You have to take the business side seriously if you want to move forward with your art career. Hate to break the news to you, but the chances of someone coming along and doing the business for you and letting you just create are slim to none. Most artist have to spend a lot of their time on the business end of it. But do you know how they manage that? The get so good and quick at their art and formalize it that they can spend time on the business. Read Books, Study artists and what they do. Do art festivals, get your art into galleries and shops and start selling. All this will help you get going. The Business side of your art career
INvest in yourself
You don’t know so learn understand that art business can be difficult but so is painting so just start. You will get better
2
Start keeping track. Money. Data. Sales. Anolog or digital. How much comes in. How much goes out. My weakness was always ballparking and wanting it to work so bad I would make the numbers work. Don’t do this. It won’t help your business. Your time in the beginning is your least expensive thing because you want to do this more than anything else. Take the time to do it.
3
Don’t stay under the table. Pay your taxes. Start your dba then lock then a corporation.
Can’t grow unless you’re playing by the rules
4
Learn how to make sales. Sales tactics. The better you get at sales the more you will make. The more you make the easier business is to run and operate
5
Figure out when you’re good at making business stuff work. Ie first thing in the morning or late at night. When is your brain in business mode and when is it in creative mode and don’t mix. Designate the time for each.
Discipline is a big part of art, but also business. Take the time to read a book. Take notes. Try and learn. It’s ok to mess up when you’re getting started. Don’t worry. We all do. But don’t get discouraged
Recommend reading
Art money success
How to win friends and influence people
Bonus tip - Get off instagram and spend that 10 min you save reading about business and sales. The time ads up and after a few months you will see a lot of improvement on your mindset and confidence.
Is the idea of selling your art terrifying? Are you avoiding doing an art show or art market because you’re scared to stand in front of your art and try and sell it? Well you’re not alone, I’ve been there too. It took me years to just get to my first art market, and you know what? I wish I started sooner.
Selling art is uncomfortable for most, if not all artists, but at a certain point you need to get over that fear so you can make a living doing what you love. No one is going to sell it for you, at least not yet.
These are my 5 tips for selling your artwork. I learned this through some brutal trial and error, but I can assure you that if you apply what I am teaching you will grow your confidence and art sales. Maybe not over night, but you will get better I promise.
So here we go, My 5 tips for selling your art for the beginner artist
Have a Great Product
The best and easiest way to make art sales if have quality art product. Have your art finished and ready to hang, have great art. Make everything about your art pro. Make it look like you care about every detail of every part of your art, which you should.
Not only is your art the product, but so are you. Get a haircut, take a shower, wear some nicer cloths. This will help the collector believe in not just the art but you as well. No one wants to buy a piece of art from a scraggly stinky dirty artist. Get your shit together. Get your art together. Be a finished product and sell a finished art product.
Be Present
Listen to what the buyer is saying, you can learn a lot about what they might be interested in if you listen. Be positive. Everything that comes out of your mouth needs to be positive. No one wants bad energy on their art that they will be putting in their home. All positive vibes. People might try and drag you down, but stand firm. Be the light. Be confident, at least fake confidence till you get real confidence. Make eye contact, shake hands. Be engaged. People rant just buying art they are buying you. Be something worth investing in. Ask questions, how they are what they have going on in their lives, all this info will help you understand what they might be looking for.
People will ask you the same questions over and over again. Start getting these answers dialed in and practiced so you don’t have to think about them or talk for too long. There is other stuff more important to think about when having to sell your own artwork, so minimize the amount of thinking on your feet you have to do and dial in the answers to the questions you know you will have to answer.
Be able to Close the Sale
Make the transition from talking about the art to payment. Its easy to get into that area where the collector is thinking about buying or just needs to be nudged a little. Use any of the phrases below to transition to getting payment for your artwork.
Transitional phrases
“Can I ring you up”
“Ok get lets get this all wrapped up for you”
“Would you like to pick out a gift with purchase?”
“Will I be shipping this piece will you be taking it with you?”
“Would you like me to make a dedication for you on the back?”
These are all phrases that will help you move from talking about the art to the point of sale.
Use The Right Verbiage
Along with staying positive and using positive verbiage, there are some word to use while selling art and some words to not use when selling art
Cheap vs affordable.
Limited edition vs only made a few
Original artwork vs unique/handmade/1 of a kind
Reproduction vs copy/print
Collector vs buyer/client/person
collectors list vs email list
Return collector discount vs deal/discount
The way you use words can help create value to your artwork or create less value to your artwork. Make sure to use words that elevate your art brand, not diminish your art brand
You have to push a little.
This will look great in your home”
“Such a good way to remember your stay”
“Doesn’t it make you happy“
“Art makes a house feel like a home“
“Your daughter will love it“
Phrases like these can help move the collector into the buying category.
Don't Let Them Walk Away Empty Handed
If someone seemed close to buying something or very interested but is walking away you can alway do a couple things to possibly gain a future sale. You can hand them a 5x7 info card that has a image of your art on 1 side, and bio/ information/ contact on backside. These are great because they are cheap to make, look good in your booth and they are something that someone will actually take because its basically a free 5x7 print of your art.
You don’t have to offer a discount, but you can offer the collector a gift with purchase if you are really trying to close the sale. This can be a matted print, or something affordable in your booth. This can often push someone into buying. We do this in our gallery when a collector buys an original, they get to have a gift with purchase limited edition aluminum giclee, or a gallery credit of that equal amount.
At the very least, if someone seemed generally interested in your art, talked to you for a while, but didn’t purchase anything, it’s fair to ask them to sign up for your collectors list. This will be just an email list in a guest book at your booth where they can write their name and email. You can reassure them you don’t send out many emails. This is a good way to start building your email list and at least getting contact info for a collector that has shown interest in your artwork. Remember you will make 100k a year for every 1,000 legitimate emails you have on your list.
Motivational Art Speech
Selling artwork can be difficult for artist. We as creators pour so much of our should and energy into our work that it can be hard to put on the salesman hat and make sales. I understand that these 5 tips wont change your sales overnight, but learning the art of sales takes time. Hopefully these tips on selling art can steer you in the right direction and motivate you to keep learning and trying. This is a baby step and congratulate yourself for taking it.
No one will sell your art better than you. Its up to you to become so good at selling art that you can teach the art dealer at the art gallery how and what to say. You might feel like it is tacky to sell your art or not artsy, but those thoughts are just because you are in secure about your artwork, and thats ok. All of us artist go though tons of insecurity about our art form. It is part of the creative journey we chose to go on. Practice your art. Become undeniable, and soon the sales part will get easier. Now get out there, make some rad art, learn some more and always stay inspired.
Ever been stuck on the side of the Highway with a flat tire on the way to the biggest art market of the year trying to cash in on those Christmas shoppers? Sweating in the Hawaii sun trying to make it there in time so you can make enough money to put gas in your car and pay your rent? I have. I have made plenty of mistakes, It would take hours to list them all.
I was 17 when I first made money of my artwork. It was 12 years later when I finally became a professional artist. 5 Years after that I was actually making real money. Thats a pretty long time line. Mistakes, lots of them, in all areas of my life. These are the top 5 mistakes I made as a professional artist that hopefully you can learn from, I sure did.
1. THINKING I WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH
For a long time I didn't believe in my own skills. I loved to make art and wasn't that bad but I always looked to other artists and thought how much better they were. I spent too much time in a self deprecating mental loop that didn't produce the confidence to go out and show my work regardless if it was good or bad. What I learned from this mistake that I can share with you is that you will always be working on your craft. Your art will never be perfect to you, but it may be perfect for someone else. Don't let your insecurity hold you back from getting out there and showing your work.
2. SUCCESS WOULD COME TO ME
I made the mistake of believing that I would be "Discovered" That someone would come along and make it so all I had to do was create. This kept me from making more art and it kept me from getting out and showing my work at art fairs and festivals. I strongly believe that it is up to the artist to determine their success. Graffiti artist didn't get discovered they put their work out in the streets for decades before getting any notability. Get yourself out there. Ask a coffee shop if you can have a turn showing your art on the walls. Sign up for a craft fair, art market or art festival. Organize a group art show somewhere. Make it Happen. Only you have the power to launch your art career.
3. BELIEVING MY TIME/ART HAD LITTLE MONETARY VALUE
When I started making the resin art and people were actually asking to buy it, i would sell the art for so little. I had so much insecurity built up around myself as an artist that I was just happy to have someone like it. I would often give it away or sell it for way less than my time and materials were worth. Selling your art at low costs or giving it away only make your art have less value. the collector will value the artwork less if the artist doesn't even value it. Your time and creativity has value. Don't underestimate yourself. One book that really helped me with this mistake of mine was the book Art, Money, Success.
4. NOT TAKING THE BUSINESS SIDE SERIOUSLY
It took me a while to take the business side seriously. I got really caught up in being a starving artist, then an artist who was making enough money to survive. Once i Started to take the business side seriously was when I actually started to thrive. I Lived in a van outside my surfboard factory/ art studio. Now I own my art Studio, house and have a gallery. All this is because I started to take the business side seriously. Well my Wife takes business serious and she taught me how to take it seriously.
5. FOLLOWING SOMEONE ELSES PATH
I Tried to follow another artists path. Though this help me break out of the starving artist mold, I tried to follow her exact footsteps. Unfortunately that path was perfect for her and her style of art, and it didn’t work so well for me and my style. Learn how someone became successful. Study what they did, but don't be afraid to blaze your own path. I chased someone else rather than focusing on leading my own way. Don't make this mistake.
BONUS KNOWLEDGE
Seek help. Seek mentorship. Seek business info. Ask. Get out there. It’s on you. It’s no one else’s problem but your own. Stay inspired. Grind at it every day. Success comes to those who work the hardest and most passionate about it. Use your time wisely. I went to a Tony Robins seminar and thought it was going to be a waste of 400$ more money than I ever spent on self growth. I was embarrassed to go, but you know what? That weekend transformed my brain and I have seen nothing but growth since then. Its even one of the reasons Im writing this today, to help share the knowledge I have learned so you too can benefit from my mistakes.
MOTIVATIONAL ART SPEECH
Get out there. Make mistakes. Ive made plenty and I am here today to tell you its all going to be ok. When you make a mistake it will be frustrating and it can even get depressing. You can get stuck in ruts. You can become a hermit, afraid to put yourself out there. This has happened to me. But here I am at the other end of the tunnel. It's bright on this side. You can make it, you can do it. That dark tunnel you have to travel through sometimes build character. It make you authentic. It builds confidence, well after it shatters it. It will be ok I promise. Learn to be comfortable with your mistakes. Own your mistakes. Something bad happened, or you didn’t do something right? Good, learn from this, take notes. How can you do it better next time. Teach ones who haven’t experience that failure on what not to to and what to look out for.
Go Make some art. Get our there and show your work. Make a mistake and share it with me. I probably made the sea mistake in a more embarrassing way.
I've hung so many art shows over the 22 years since my first art show and have stressed out way more than I should have. I have made plenty of mistakes from artwork falling off the wall, missing sales, to missing pieces. Hopefully this article can help you relive some stress that you are probably experiencing having to hang your first few art shows. Wether its in a group gallery show, a coffee shop or a gallery, these 5 tips should really help you do it right without making the mistakes I have made. Luckily We are artists, not doctors, so the mistakes we make really only bruise our delicate artsy egos.
5 Tips For Hanging Your Artwork On Display
TIP #1
YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR ARTWORK READY TO HANG
You want to have your art work ready to hang, not the night before. You want to have this done as far in advance as possible because you're going to have other stuff to do. Something else always come up. Finish your art, be done with creativity, so you can focus on the rest of the installation and selling your most recent body of artwork.
Know all the tools you will need, What type of surface you will be nailing or screwing into. Have everything you need and more. Even if I used a power drill I always bring a hand drill just incase a battery and back up battery die. If the wall is concrete you will need a concrete drill bit, and probably 2 because they seem to break a lot.
Try a test hang at home with your art. What is the distance from the hanging wire to the top of the frame. Have this data ahead of time so you don't have to figure it out on the spot. The less time you have to spend hanging the more time you will have to chat with other artist, fans of your work, the people who may be talking or selling your art. Have everything sorted out ahead of time before you go into hang your artwork. You don't want to be the one artist at the art show that can't figure out how to hang their art. Practice, think about what you need. Have a small bag with the tools you will need.
If you're in a coffee shop where there might be other people around watching, you will want to be as prepared as possible, which will make this stressful experience less stressful.
I'm always stressed and I'm going in to hang stuff. So I try to be super prepared no matter no matter where it is, that way when you're doing it, you don't have to worry about anything else. How high from the floor to my hanger so my artwork will be at a certain hight. How far left and right does the piece need to be 6" from the wall or other art. Figure this stuff out.
You just go in, execute the task and then you can leave. Being prepared is having your pieces ready, finished, done and looking good. You're better off putting four pieces on the wall that look really good, then putting eight pieces on the wall and having four of them or half of them not be that great.
Your art work needs to be signed, Ready to hang, Title and signature on the back. Nothing else needs to be done. The Art work has to be able to be taken off the wall and into the collectors hands.
Put your best foot forward. You want to show your best work, you're going to have a lot more interest in your work when all the pieces look really good and coherent versus having twice as many pieces. When you're getting your body of work together for your first show, it's okay to have a little space between your pieces. They don't need to be stacked and full, just have your best work showing.
TIP #2
GO EARLY OR GO IN THE OFF HOURS
If you're going to an art show for your first art show, be there as soon as you're allowed to hang.
You have no idea what the wall's going to be like, how it's going to go. So give yourself as much time as possible while you're there. Don't show up 20 minutes before they're shutting down. How you approach hanging your art is how others will you your professionalism as an artist. If you don’t know what you’re doing hanging in a group show you might get lucky and have someone help but don’t count on it. every artist there is nervous and stressed trying to hang their art. Go as early as you can. You will probably forget something on your list. You want to have as much time as possible and if you get it done in 15 minutes, that's great. You don't have to stress out about it anymore.
So go early.
If you're doing a coffee shop or a restaurant or something like that, go in the off hours. It's so important to do this. It's going to take forever, you might have to move tables, someone who is on the clock will want to talk about their art or their grandma's art. I understand it may be inconvenient to you to have to work around the schedule of someone else, but it is a privilege to show your art in most establishments. Don't get in the way, don't make a mess. Don’t be a nuisance to paying customers.
So go in off hours if you can or go super early.
TIP #3
HAVE YOUR NAME AND INFORMATION CLEARLY VISIBLE
Have your name on your artwork. That's you'd be surprised how many times I've seen artwork where you just can't see the name or you can't read it. If your name on your artwork is on there but hard to read, the art collector is going to have a hard time seeing your signature and correlate to a website or what to search for when they go back home. My signature is in all caps block letters. Easy to read and google. At first I had a fancy signature but no one could read it so I had to change it. No big deal, easy change to make sure people know who made the artwork.
Make a little aluminum plaque, you can get them printed. Big enough font to read from a short distance with your contact information, website, instagram etc.. It doesn't need to be much.
You can always do this in a printed up on 8 x 10 piece of paper and put that in a frame. But aluminum prints work really well and they're really cheap, so have your name visible so people can find you and access you and your contact information.
TIP #4
SELLING AND PRICING YOUR ARTWORK
If you want to sell your pieces in a coffee shop, it's really important to have the price of your artwork visible. So you either need to have like a little sticker on the side that will say $150 or whatever. Don't do a Red sticker, generally red means sold. Maybe do your stickers in white so they blend in the wall.
Another way you can price your artwork is one piece of paper or plaque like a menu.
If the place doesn't want you to have stickers on the wall with prices on it, which is totally understandable, you can do a menu where this could go on your plaque or a piece of paper printed up. It can have little images of all the artwork, titles and prices.
This way you don't have to have a bunch of stuff up on the wall, stickers and stuff, but people can still see what the prices are and be able to purchase your artwork that way.
TIP #5
KNOW HOW THE SALES TRANSACTION WILL GO THROUGH
How is the sale going to go down of your artwork. If it's just a show where it's a group show, no one selling anything, then you don't really need to worry about it. Maybe you just stand there and try and sell it yourself. Every show is different, so make sure you will know how the sale will go down.
If you're doing your artwork in a coffee shop, a store or a little restaurant, you want to be able to speak to someone like the cashier that is going to be taking the money. Have an envelope for them with your name and number and a list of the artwork on display with prices so they can cross it off the list. Oftentimes people want to buy it right then and there. So you need to make it a seamless process.
If you have a relationship with the people that work there, the owners, employees, whatever it is, that is a good thing. You can have the art collector pay for the artwork at the register and then you go and collect your money later. This is why you want to hang your art efficiently so you have more time to discuss the sales transaction with the people who will be present making the sales. Everyone needs to be on the same page of how the sales transaction is going to go down that way there is no confusion.
Makes it easy for the person who goes in, sees it and thinks, I love that. I want to buy that. They ask the person in the counter, Hey, how do I buy this artwork? And they go, Oh, you can pay for it right here and take it off the wall.
In Conclusion
Be as professional as you can be. Plan ahead. Something will always not wrong so hope for the best, plan for the worst. I got my start in a coffee shops and group art shows. They are a great way to get practice and confidence showing your artwork to the world. Unfortunately, these shows and shops to hang artwork usually have beginner artist showing their work, and in the beginning it's easy to make mistakes. Making mistakes at these venues may result in them not asking you back. You don't want this to happen. You want to be invited back to the group art show, or to stay on the wall in the coffee shop permanently. This will only happen by being as professional as you can. And always, clean up after your art install. Leave the area cleaner than when you got there.
