How to sell your art (pt4)

Interview with a man in the business

I spoke with Andy Harper, from WHoArtNow, producers of bespoke modern art for some tips and advice:-

What would you advise someone to do if they were looking to promote and sell their art?

Well first thing to do is get a website to showcase your art, a CV of what you can do. I get 20 emails a week from artists and designers who are looking to do business and it amazes me some of them don't have a web page of sorts. If there's a website, I'll always have a look, you never know what you might be missing out on!

Does it matter if its not a website but a portfolio site?

No it doesn't have to be your own website. I'm an active member on DeviantART and FlickR so even if we don't do business, you might find me becoming your friend so I can keep track of your art. I might be a businessman, but my love is still for the art.

Can anyone sell their artwork?

In theory yes, I do think you need to get some feedback off people before you start approaching companies. Plus, look at your work from the point of view of business, is it commercial enough? I see a lot of very good art, but only about 5% of it would be commercially viable enough for our site. Be positive about your work, but accept criticism well. The companies you'd be looking at contacting are busy places, and sometimes emails can slip through the cracks, so follow up with them by phone. Don't over do it though, leave it a week first.

Any other tips?

Yeah, agencies can be brilliant. I worked for Saatchi and Saatchi in London a few years ago and remember seeing these massive files of people's art. They'd be sent in on the hope of getting work, and if they liked your style, they'd keep a record of you. When they got new contracts they'd flick through the files to see if anyone fitted certain criteria and then they'd give them a call.

Conclusion

Art is everywhere these days. Art which once would have been refereed to as non-commercial is now becoming over commercial. Working in the art industry is great, finding new and unheard of artists gives me such a buzz. I love the strange and bizarre art, something which will blow my mind is always good. The thing is, without all the people out there creating this art, marketing this art, I would never find any of it.

Treat your art and your talent as your product. In this world of the Internet, everything is a business, so treat it like one. Never take rejection personally. Have faith, and some confidence. Be patient. The more you put into your art and marketing your art, the more you will get out of it. Most importantly though, love you art, and have fun with your art.

Frazier Boyd: New Exhibitions & new Range

As a bit of a pre-launch to my new range with WHoArtNow (it is coming soon, just fine tuning everything) I thought I'd tell you about some of my work, being exhibited in the public domain.

I've got a some exhibitions cracking off at the in London next weekend, 4th, 5th and 6th December. The Venue is the Shoreditch Town Hall, the exhibition is by the East End Arts crew, and called One Ton Show. The work will be based around the theme of 'London Lyrics'.

I've Also got a Solo Exhibition up at Alley in Nottingham. It's a quality, intimate venue, & I've got some framed prints, in the gold Stately frames, and a selection of BOYD originals too, all produced on canvas. The concept behind the artwork is to try and replicate and re-create what I've been doing on the streets lately and putting it on canvas, so it's all about working into loads of multiple layers of texture, and scratching back into them to create a rough, worn and weathered style..

If you fancy popped down, Alley is a great little Vegan Cafe Bar in Nottingham. Check it out, as the Exhibition is drawing to a close now, been up since October.. So if you want to check it, get down to Cannon Court, LongRow West, Nottingham/// 01159551013 for more info.



Peace out, and I'll be in touch soon, with a new range of exclusive framed prints and canvas art.

How To Sell Your Art (pt1)

Introduction

For many years the only way to successfully sell your artwork was in art galleries, however with the rise in the Internet there are now numerous ways to sell your art. Deciding which of these techniques should be the first thing you do. You can of course do both, however your more likely to see faster sales on-line as many art galleries book their shows a year in advance and its hard to get an show if your unknown. There are many different ways to sell your artwork on-line. There are many sites set up for you to sell your artwork, you could set your own site up or you could sell your canvas on one of the auction sites.

Before you start this process, ask yourself the type of person you want to buy your artwork. Are you after an art connoisseur (usually a lot of money for a 1 off piece of art) or are you more interested in selling to the average person (less money, but you might sell a lot of the same image and make more money) ? If you want to sell the one off art to the connoisseur, look to a real world art gallery for that. If your more interested in selling as many copies of your art to the average person, look to get on-line.

You need to realise however, that selling on-line is not as easy as putting your art up and leaving it that and it will take some time to get your first sale. If you don't mind working hard at it, the rewards will be worth it.

A vital piece of information that you should live by is watermark your work. This will limit the chances of someone stealing your artwork, publishing it on another site and claiming the credit for themselves. Worse still, some will steal your art to make money off it themselves. DeviantART allows you add a Creative Commons License which adds a DeviantART watermark with your DeviantART URL. This is a simple yet effective way to watermark, yet why not make your own? image.

Art Galleries

Go to your nearest city or town and you'll see the amount of art galleries there are about. Art Galleries are the holy grail to an artist. Being able to watch people admire your work and give you instant feedback is amazing. Sadly only a small number of artists these days manage to exhibit in an Art Gallery.

So how do you go about getting exhibited in a gallery? Start with some research, find local galleries that work with your style and topic. It doesn't matter how amazing your art is, if your trying to sell stencil canvas art to a gallery that specialises in sculptures, your going to get a no straight away.

Its a good idea to go into the gallery before contacting them.Have a general chat with a member of staff about some of the art, get a feel for the gallery and staff. You need to be able to trust the gallery, and get on with them. If you get an appointment, be well prepared and dress smart. Always take a sample of your

work. If you produce large Canvas Prints, make some digital re-productions, as long as they are good quality and high resolution copies kept neat and tidy in a portfolio. Aim for a minimum of A2.

If you get an exhibition and some or all of your artwork sells, the gallery will take their commission. This varies from gallery to gallery, but I've organised and visited galleries and exhibitions in galleries taking as little as 20% going all the way up to 60%. this might seem like a lot, but small inner city galleries have huge overheads and can often only fit small numbers of images on the walls. Remember, there a business, not a charity so they are trying to make money.

The rest of this little 'How To' will follow, in three more parts so watch this space or feel free to subscribe - you can now even have email subscribtion to our News.