Over the years, I have had several people approach me asking for tips on how to transform their art into a small, sustainable business. After helping a local artist grow from two to over 200 retailers and starting my own art business, I would like to share some of the tips I learned along the way. My hope is that it will help grow your confidence in your art and share your gift. There is more than enough room for artists in the world and your local community could benefit from your point of view. Furthermore, the more effort you put into your craft, the better you’ll get. So even if you think you aren’t that “good” now, if you were able to magically see your art five years from now, there’s a good chance it would be unrecognizable to you, in a good way.
Professional Photography
In my opinion, the most important thing you need to do is get your artwork professionally photographed. My suggestion is to find a local printer that specializes in digital design to photograph your artwork and deliver you a high resolution image. Once you sell the original, the piece is gone and even if you aren’t popular now, you might regret not having the ability to create high quality prints and gicléss down the line. The original can only sell for so much, whereas a reproduction has limitless potential. You will want an image that can be blown up to as large as 40 x 60” and the file size should be around 100MB. In my experience, we paid about $25 an image for professional photography (there may be additional set up fees).
INVEST IN A FINE ART PRINTER
Once you have your high-res images, you may want to invest in a photo printer that can print up to 13”. You can certainly order prints from a local print shop or one of the many websites that specializes in prints to order but I’ve found the best quality and profit margins result from doing it yourself. I have had really good experiences with Epson printers. The printer you will want can range from $600-1000 and the number of ink cartridges is key. I have used Epson Artisan and SureColor printers (10 ink cartridges) with great results. Keep in mind, technology has its downfalls and you may need to pay to repair your printer a few times down the road. If it breaks or does something unexpected, try not to panic and understand it’s all part of the business. I have taken our printers to a local printer technician on numerous occasions. We now have two small fine art printers and a large commercial printer that can print up to 44” on paper and canvas. It’s really nice having multiple back-ups if you have any issues with one!
Epson Surecolor P600 (discontinued), Epson SureColor P700, Epson SureColor P900, Epson SureColor P9000
LEARN THE STANDARD SIZES
Before you start buying paper, backing board, and bags to professionally present your prints, it is important to learn the standard art sizes. The sizes we sell the most frequently are 5x7”, 8x10”, 11x14”, 12x18”, 16x20”, 18x24”, 24x30”, 24x36”, 30x40”, 36x48”, and 40x60”. Offering standard sizes makes it dummy-proof for your customers because the proportions are similar and frames are easy to find. When you are first starting, you will probably need to outsource prints 16x20” and up but you can start stocking up on supplies for all the small prints up to 12x18” or 13x19”. I purchase paper from Amazon, Red River Paper, B&H. I have tried out a lot of textures and thicknesses but many companies will sell sample packs so you can see and touch the paper before you invest in it. Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper is one of my favorites.
create a web presence
Regardless of whether or not you are more old-school and want to sell locally, an online presence will help you keep and maintain clients. If you aren’t tech savvy, I would recommend you have at least an Etsy shop and find someone who can help you set it up. If you love tech, you should think about utilizing Instagram, Etsy, your own website, and YouTube to help promote your work. Once you get started on the set up process, you will want to design some promotional materials like logos, business cards, and stickers to make things a little more professional.
Adobe Creative Cloud $20.99/mo per software (I use Photoshop and InDesign most frequently but if you don’t need to edit your original photo, InDesign will suffice).
Recently, I switched to Swift Publisher in an effort to reduce expenses. It is a one-time fee of $19.99 and so far, it does what I need it to do!
Vistaprint - This is where I order business cards, greeting cards, and sticker labels. I ONLY order during a sale (they often have 40-50% off) but you can also set up a Pro account that is already discounted and has free shipping.
PRINT TO ORDER
If you find a local shop that wants to carry your work, start relatively small and see what works. You might find that one print sells more than others and you can learn to prepare accordingly. We like to keep a stock of supplies, but nothing too excessive as most of these companies ship very quickly. I use B&H and Clearbags constantly for ink, velvet fine art paper, backing board, crystal clear bags, and mats. I have found that having lots of options works well for web sales. Meaning you will have possibly ten or more different sizes and mediums available for purchase (canvas and paper prints). Then, you can print or ship to order.
SAY YES TO OPPORTUNITY
One of the most valuable lessons I learned from the commercial artist I work for (Kim Hovell) is to say yes to every opportunity, especially at the beginning. I don’t think there was one opportunity that came her way that she declined, even if it was daunting. She did pet portraits, portraits, live wedding paintings, paint classes, donated countless prints and originals to a degree that would probably make most people really uncomfortable. From my perspective, it seemed like she didn’t overthink it and had enough confidence to believe she could figure it out when the time comes. Most people don’t have that level of confidence and that set her apart from other local artists. Now, she is one of the most successful artists in the area and nearly everyone has either seen or heard of her work.
FIND YOUR NICHE
If all else fails and you still aren’t selling your work, it might be because you haven’t found your niche yet. It is more difficult to stand out online versus your local community, so my suggestion is to find something that your area resonates with, and paint that. I live in a coastal town in which its inhabitants have enormous reverence for the Chesapeake Bay. So for our community, coastal art, crabs, herons, oysters, maryland flags, etc are the hot ticket items. If you can find and paint something that your community loves, local shops are more likely to carry your work.
Hopefully some of this information helps! I am available via email heyfarah [at] gmail [dot] com if you have any more specific questions and am also available for private consultation to help get you set up.