I like to think of myself as a pretty successful visual artist. I have pretty steady work in the area and am well-known around the area I live... actually, right across Canada and the USA for the stuff I do for certain organizations, so theoretically I would have some useful information to help young artists starting out. Here's 10 things that I would strongly suggest artists looking to start commissions should do.
10. Studies.
I know they can be boring. I know they aren't going to make you ANY money. But you need to do them... and a LOT of them. You need to do studies of everything you work on, from animals to people to vehicles to buildings to plant. And you need to do one as often as you have time for. The more studies you do, the faster you work, the better your works start to look, the more inclined people will be to trust you to make awesome pieces.
9. Website.
Every business nowadays needs a website. Your website needs to look good (so if you can't code, find a hosting site with templates you can use or ask for help... OR learn how to code via Google) and showcase your art well. Art looks good on red, grey, deep browns, and black. Graphite looks very sharp on white. It should be easy to navigate and include a short bio on a separate page to showcase you as a person as well. Do not have music autoplay in the background.
8. Social media.
It's taking over our lives, but it will also give your business a very strong push into the public eye. Word of mouth travels fast, and when a friend or family member hears someone is looking for an artist, they will give your name and the easiest thing to do is tell them your Facebook page name, or to hop on Facebook and show them your photos. Keeping a blog that shows some of your progess pictures and updates helps as well, and it's also a great thing to give to the customers you do get to show them regular updates as you work on their stuff.
7. Show the customers EVERYTHING.
I mean everything. It fills up your gallery! Put your sketches up in your gallery under a category. Let them know what's up! I have all the studies I do up online under a category called "sketches and studies," just to fill up space and show people some casual work. It actually makes them feel less picky about the concept sketches I show them, because they see that all of my sketches look similar. Showing that you do lots of studies gives an air of practice and professionalism that will give you a more serious feel. The more pictures you have up, the better... just don't mash everything together. Put your serious works up at the top of the page, and then the sketches further down. If there's a couple of serious pieces you aren't too happy about, put them in the middle of your serious works section so that the beginning and end of the customer's browsing is strong and positive and impressive, but the other pieces are still giving a huge number to your gallery. If something looks awful, don't put it up. Seriously. If it's really bad, keep it to yourself. But everything else is game.
6. Expand your areas of expertise/never say no.
Got some spare time? Start researching a new medium and try it out. Learn how to draw new things, explore the outer corners of art! The more you can do, the more opportunities you have. If a customer asks you to do something that you aren't quite comfortable with, say yes and then spend a while freaking out and practicing and learning how to do it. Most customers are cool with waiting a couple of weeks for their piece (actually most artists will take a month or more to get a piece done because it's their second job/they don't work at it full time/they work in little pieces) so you have lots of leeway to secretly learn how to do what they asked. Take those risks! If you never say no, you never let an opportunity go!
SIDE NOTE!!!
You have to say no in certain situations. This is extremely important. Do not work for less because a potential customer gets snarky about your price. Do not cave in because some other artist is doing it for half your price. They pay for what they get! Keep your prices professional. If you work for less, you will never get off your feet. You will always work for scraps because they will hear from others that you did it for less, and want that price too.
5. Compete with your pricing.
There's a fine line to walk when pricing your art. You want to sneak in JUST under what similar artists in your area/country are doing, but you still need to keep professional and be sure you aren't working for nothing. A good system I've come up with is to do some research into material costs and figure out an approximate cost for each type of work you do. That includes figuring out how much each sheet of paper costs! Then you should multiply your average work time by an hourly wage (be reasonable... you aren't going to make $30 an hour until you're famous...). The amount you get is your original number to work with. Then go online and Google artists in your country/region/area and pick a competitive price with them in the same area, but just sneak right under them. You're just starting out so you don't have a lot to work off of reputation-wise so what you need is the lowest-price advantage. Do not set it too low, however. Compare this competitive price to the price you've calculated: if it's less, maybe you had too high of an hourly wage, if it's more maybe you didn't set enough. With this system, you can explain to your customers where your pricing comes from when they ask. And they will ask. It also helps when someone tries to argue the price or compromise with you to explain why you set a certain price. You SHOULD be willing to be flexible with prices, and the knowledge of how flexible to be will help your price discussions.
4. When you don't have a commission, make your own pieces.
This goes along with doing studies. It grows your gallery to make your website more impressive/helps show customers more examples of what you can do which will make them more confident in your abilities. It also makes you get better. Every original you do can be priced and posted for sale, so it's not a waste of time to do them along with commissions. Be sure to do a huge variety and show customers what you are capable of with your works.
3. Affiliate.
Talk to your customers, your artist friends, your family members, anyone with a website or business and get a link up on their website. You can offer to put their links up on your website to kinda balance it out. It's not much but it's just another way to get your name out there.
2. Get as public as possible.
Strive for works that will be seen by a tonne of people. Some examples: works that will be in stores, logos, signs, window showcases, book covers, CD covers, business representation, website pictures, etc. Do pieces for someone who will brag about their artwork and throw it up on their blog. I started off doing works for farms that were published in magazines. My logos and drawings showed up to spruce up their ads and showcases in magazines, and I worked for a store doing promotional poster logos and calligraphy in my first couple years as a professional. It helps catch eyes and get your name in people's head.
1. Art shows instead of gallery showcases.
Gallery showcases are hard to get and expensive. Art shows will let you put your stuff up so long as you pay for the booth. Trade shows are also good to go to, or any other craft show or just public sale. Anything that gets you a booth among other people selling their products. I got a three-year deal in one of these. I set up in the middle of a trade show with my logo and a bunch of originals and pamphlets on a big table. Because of the horses I did, a custom horse equipment company that toured the USA and Canada took notice and signed me on for three years. They put my art in their shop as they toured to professional rodeos and put up prints in their stores all over the USA. It got my name out across North America and swamped me with commissions in an area that I love.
Hopefully these tips are helpful! Best of luck to all of you!
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