The Art of Survival 10 Top Tips to survive as an artist
1. BE REALISTIC I meet people who introduce themselves as artists and who have no body of work to show you. One guy I remember said he was a semi-professional oil painter. When I asked to see his portfolio he literally took 10 minutes going through his iphone’s photo gallery to find his paintings – and didn’t manage to show me one. Before you go around spouting that you paint for a living make sure you have a collection of work that you are really proud of. If you don’t, make the commitment to sit down for the next month and produce the best work you have ever done. Then make sure you have the
collection in a place you can find them on your ipad, computer or better still, have a physical file that someone can flick through. A brochure would be even better. Go online and upload some of your images to an art site that will showcase your portfolio – that way you can share the URL with prospects as an instant look-book, or as photos on your phone. 2. CREATE A PRICE LIST If you have never actually sold your artwork at least prepare some marketing material that will help you when that sale comes. As simple as it might sound, you really need a price list prepared detailing pictures of your art, titles, dimensions and prices. Have several copies printed off so you keep a copy in your hands while a potential buyer has another copy. It helps them beating you down too much on price. Your selling position is a whole lot stronger when you have your prices in writing.
3. REVIEW YOUR MARKETING Give yourself the challenge of reviewing all your current marketing techniques and learn a few new ones – put them to the test. If you haven’t uploaded a Powerpoint presentation to www.slideshare.net this week, or written a blog, do both. If you haven’t already downloaded a free social media marketing template from the web, do that now and implement a structured marketing campaign that suits your lifestyle. 4. REPURPOSE YOUR KNOWLEDGE If you have written an interesting blog have you thought about making a quick video of yourself talking about this on camera and putting it on Youtube? You could do a sound recording and give it away as a free MP3 download on the freebies section of your website. Don’t forget to capture people’s emails before you give it away. Leaving your message on lots of different social media sites is what I call “breadcrumbing” –
you have to leave little trails where people can find their way back to you – so mention your website or blog address on all your videos, blog posts, and presentations. 5. GET BLOGGING Give yourself 1 hour now to write two short blogs: One could be on the 5 biggest mistakes you have made since starting your art business. Detail what they were, what you would have done differently and what you have learned. The second blog could be on the recent “Wins” you have experienced, why you think you were successful in those particular circumstances, and any lessons learned. 6. DEVELOP A THICK SKIN (OR BETTER STILL – IGNORE CRABS).
When you put a number of crabs together in a basket, you will find they will always try and drag any crab that tries to climb up the basket down. They cannot tolerate one of their species getting ahead. People can discourage you verbally, label you incorrectly and just generally discourage you. Learn not to care, or take this personally but use it to become even more determined to
prove them wrong. Take care who you show your work to if you can’t handle put-downs. Also don’t be beaten down by all the gorgeous work online – use it as inspiration rather than to overwhelm you, or increase feelings of inadequacy. 7. BE CONFIDENT It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur artist, emerging or seasoned artist (labels – who needs em?). When you are producing your best work you don’t need to justify yourself to anyone. Keep honing your skills, and always be learning. Think about the type of work you create and what you want your buyers to feel when they buy it. Write down the words you associate with your art – or ask others. People love being asked for their opinions. Knowing the lingo to use when talking about your art will help you in potential sales situations. 8. BE ACCOUNTABLE TO SOMEONE If you are someone who finds it difficult to motivate yourself most of the time, it might be worth getting a mentor who will set you deadlines, homework and goals.
10 ENTER COMPETITIONS
They bring excellent exposure, challenge your thought processes, and give you a competitive goal - even if you aren’t always successful. The work you produce can be fine-tuned and used later. I call this reimagination.
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DO SOMETHING
DIFFERENT
If you lack inspiration change tack. If you feel your work has stagnated a bit, or you need some new ideas, plan to make some new contacts in the art industry. This might include networking with new curators or gallery directors who show your style of art, joining a photographers club whose members photograph fine art. Don’t always approach your artist role as an 8am-5pm job. Once work becomes an obligation you can’t do your best work. Only when you feel excited about something, or want to create work that will impress a potential buyer, will you make something you are proud of. Avoid burnout. Take a break sometimes, take your camera out while walking, browse interesting books, and work different hours - try working weekends instead of week days, early mornings or late evenings rather than peak daytime periods.