With over 15 years under my belt as a working artist I feel like I have gotten to a point where I can confidently reflect upon my career and look at things I wish I had done from the start. Art school really didn’t prepare me for the business side of being an artist and I have a pretty big list of things ‘I wish I had known’ as a result.
In the hope of making things just a little bit easier for any budding artists out there; here are my top three things that I wish I had started to do right from the start of my career. I believe that if you get these things sorted early on you are setting yourself up for a much smoother ride on this crazy art business journey.
1) Build a mailing list from day 1.
The deeper I get into this art world the more I realise the importance of having my own email list. Many artists focus all of their attention on building up a big social media following and using that for marketing. While it is nice to have a big following on social media when it comes down to it we don’t own our social media followers and our accounts (or their hosting programs) can disappear with little to no warning. Which is a scary thought.
I have found my email list is a much more dependable, and effective way to contact and market to my followers. Despite what some may say, email is not dead and I really wish I had paid more attention to this aspect of my business sooner. If I had my time again I would put much greater focus on building up an email list and nurturing that list from the very beginning. I can only imagine how valuable an asset my email list would be today if I had.
A few tips for building a mailing list:
Make it super easy for people to sign up for your mailing list. Put a signup form front and center on your website and then scatter other forms throughout your site so there is no chance for people to miss the option to join your list wherever they land on your website. Also, collect emails at exhibitions and events. Always have a signup sheet available and remember to tell people about it.
Give people a good reason to sign up for your list. Don’t just put a ‘join my list’ button on your webpage and expect people to click it. They probably won’t. You need to give them a good reason to hand over their precious email address. You could do this via a lead magnet, some kind of promotion/competition, or the promise of exclusive behind-the-scenes peaks of your work. Whatever you offer, it needs to be something more than what people can simply get from your website or social media.
2) Keep detailed records of my artwork inventory.
When you start out as an artist, chances are you won’t have too many artworks under your belt and you can keep track of them pretty easily. But as you keep working (and making) you can end up with a huge list of pieces pretty quickly. I have made hundreds of embroidered artworks over the years and unfortunately I don’t have all the details of all of those pieces today.
When I first started making embroidered art I would record my artwork inventory in a number of ways. I would often list the artwork details on exhibition stock sheets (these were often filed away never to be seen again). I tried keeping spreadsheets but I rarely maintained them and they didn’t work well for me. Sadly some details (like final framed sizes and prices) were just never recorded at all and I have lost images and details of some of my earliest and most pivotal works.
As someone who prides themselves on being a very organised artist this is rather embarrassing for me to now admit - but it’s the truth.
Over the last few years, in an effort to get on top of this inventory nightmare that I had created for myself, I have set about documenting and archiving all of my artworks properly. I now use the online Artwork Archive* software to do this and I find that system works really well. Now, whenever I make a new work I add an entry to this archiving system and all of my information (and images) are in one place. I am also slowly working on archiving my past artworks as best I can, which has proven to be a very frustrating process because of my disorganized record-keeping for so many years.
When it comes to record-keeping it really doesn’t matter how you keep your records, as long as you actually keep them in a consistent way that makes sense to you. At a minimum, you want to keep a record of the artworks you make and their relevant details (title, date of completion, size, materials used, price) alongside good photographs of that work. It’s also great if you can keep records of the sale of that work (and the associated collector), exhibition histories and any other points of note (awards, mentions in magazine articles etc.)
I wish that I had kept good detailed records from the start, it would have made my current archiving job so much smoother.
3) Learn to take quality photographs of my work
Quality photographs of artwork are essential. If you ever want to exhibit your work, share it online or have images of your work published anywhere you need good photographs. Period.
The early photographs of my embroidered work were pretty terrible. I struggled to get the colours right or capture the fine details in the stitches. I was working with natural light and was never able to replicate a consistent look and feel in my images as a result, especially since I was also trying to capture subtle shadows.
I gradually developed a setup and system for photographing my artworks that works for me and the features of my unique work. I use simple studio lighting and consistent camera settings + a little bit of post editing in Photoshop so that my artwork images always looks consistent. Once I established this way of working photographing my work became easy.
Learning to take good photo’s of your art starts with some good photographic theory coupled with a lot of trial and error. There are loads of great (and often free) photography tutorials available online these days if you take the time to do your research. With a good solid bit of theory under your belt you can then start shooting and refining a unique approach to photographing your work.
I believe that developing a good consistent practice when it comes to photographing your work will help you in the long run. There are a lot of really bad photo’s of my work out there, many of which are still shared widely on the internet. I wish I had gotten this aspect of my practice right from the beginning because I cringe a little bit every time I see one of those early shots online.
In conclusion, please learn from my mistakes and get these aspects of your art practice sorted out early. It will help make the job of being an artist so much easier.
Yours artistically,
Meredith xx
* If you are interested in trying out the artwork inventory software I use (Artwork Archive) for yourself I have little discount code where you get 20% off your first year. Click here to learn more.
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