Making a Living as an Artist

By Barbra Sundquist

To earn one's living as an artist requires both the making of art and the marketing of art. It may seem like an impossibly complicated task to figure out how to sell your art, but remember the saying "The way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time."

There's no doubt that getting your work into the world and keeping it out there can be challenging. However, once you have gained the habit of devoting two mornings or one day each week to "marketing" it becomes much easier to sell your art.

The foundation of any artist's marketing should be research. Dedicating those hours to constructive research can be fascinating, rewarding and makes marketing a non-threatening activity. Give yourself permission to actually devote yourself to taking time for those things that you may have known were important but have put off.

Those important art marketing activities include reading art magazines, visiting people in their studios, organizing your inventory, writing a new artist statement, compiling your submission list, making follow-up phone calls or researching the advantages/disadvantages of making giclees of your artwork. Remember: your marketing research time is not "wasted time". On the contrary, marketing research time is key to building your art career.

Getting back to "warm markets", where does one look for these elusive creatures? Again, research is the answer. Someone may see the right place for you and pass on the name, but research allows you to make the most of that contact or lead. Before following up, some investigation into the opportunity will help you know what you may be walking into, and to make the most of it.

The best sales people in any field are often those who take the research time to learn about their prospects. That extra care can make the difference between a browser and a buyer. Your advance research will help you sell your art and possibly establish a long-term relationship with the art collector.

About the Author:

It may seem daunting to figure out how sell your art, but if you do your research you'll soon have a plan to sell your art.