Many of us out there are exceptional at painting, sketching etc. but are just taking it as a hobby. Many of us have not even thought that this can be a nice small business also that can churn regular income as well. For those who have given this a thought may not be able to figure out the right starting point. The ones who could find the right starting point may soon get overwhelmed with a number of things that they have to do to sell their first unit. If you fall under any of these categories – don’t worry, you’re not alone. I am also on the same boat like many of us.
However, post putting my time and energy in figuring out a way forward for past 3 months, I am much more confident and can see a clear path ahead to turn by artistic skills in a decent small business. I would be happy to share my research, knowledge and way I have planned things with all of you so that you gain from my efforts and I also hope to learn new things by exchanging ideas with you all.
Many of us can also do very good research (certainly better than me) and figure out what to do ourselves. But I would say why re-invent the wheel when a huge stash of research and verified information is available at one place?!! Yes, you read it right – I have actually “walked the talk” I am covering as part of my blog posts and I continue to explore….so read on…
Coming to the main point – What all should an artist know before going professional? Here are my 5 mantras. This post will just cover an overview of these but I will be writing subsequent multiple posts under each of these mantras so please subscribe to avoid missing out on anything.
1 Know technicalities of painting surfaces and mediums in and out
Let’s accept it, while you doing painting as a hobby you may be following limited number of styles, mediums and might be doing it on particular types of surfaces. You may continue to specialize in your favourite niche but you need to have knowledge and some PoCs about different styles.
Why so?
Because right now you simply don’t know what from your repertoire will SELL…
Say you are exceptionally good at water color shading on paper and received an order. What will you do? You would realize that it is difficult to maintain longevity of water color painting on paper. So would you be okay to hand over the painting as it is at the risk of having a disgruntled customer? Or would you rather take some care to get the original painting framed or replicating the same with acrylic colors on a canvas? Or another way of fulfilling the order is to get a high definition print of the artwork on a fine-art paper, frame it and sell it at a much better rate AND have a happy customer.
Net, net – You need to know what type of painting mediums, surfaces or forms can be readily purchased by end customers so that you are clear on WHAT YOU ARE SELLING.Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
I will be sharing a primer on various types of surfaces (Rolled canvas, Stretched canvas, Canvas board, fine-art paper etc.) and mediums (Acrylic colors, water color etc.) in subsequent posts including recommendations on what to use when, pros and cons of these, cost of these materials in India along with tips to manage the costs. So, stay tuned…
2. Protect and store your artwork well
I will not mince words – Selling original art is tough. It might get very demotivating also at times as you never know IF and WHEN your artwork is going to get sold. You of course don’t know WHICH of your artwork is going to get sold. Hence, Protect and store your artwork well. Because an even more frustrating experience would be to know that your artwork has gathered dust / fungus / moisture and can not be shipped to avoid having an unhappy customer. This is even more critical when you have sold your artwork online as once your artwork is sold you are required to ship it within a few days or the order gets cancelled. This wont even allow you enough time to recreate your work.
Any marketing guru would agree that visibility is an enabler of sales. In this digital age you can always have soft copies of your artwork on display. But what about displaying the original work? How will you do it?
One would argue that it is always better to work on commissioned artwork so that it is shipped as soon as the artwork is complete. My kudos if you have already reached that stage and would love to hear about your experience in comments. But I am sure that for majority of us out here, we will need to display our ready artworks to have any possibility of getting a commissioned work, don’t we?
How to make sure that our original artwork is in shipping worthy condition once we receive an order? Subscribe to avoid missing any updates.
3. Packing and Shipping your artwork is a key to expand your customer base
As I said, it is difficult to sell original artwork. Especially in India where it has still not taken-off in a big way amidst a large strata of population. Given this you certainly wouldn’t want to restrict your customer base and to tap a large customer base – you should be able to sell your artwork outside your locality, area, city, state and possibly your country as well.
To sell your artwork without geographical boundaries, you need to know how to pack your original artwork professionally and ship the same. Moreover, what would all of these cost? So that you consider cost of all of these in your pricing.
Worried?
No problem, we will have you covered in subsequent posts. Just hit subscribe.
4. The big M of Marketing your art
Have you already figured out what is it that you are going to sell – original hand painting, prints, other hand-painted artifacts, commissioned art, accessories printed with your art, art coaching or consultation services. Options are plenty but it is utmost critical to exercise as many of these to first figure out what ticks for an individual and then to make sure that a steady stream of revenue is generated from it.
Congratulations if you have already figured out what to sell. If you have, you would have also realized how important it is to do social media marketing and open channels to sell your products / services online. If you are not an expert at this then social media marketing may seem deceptively simple but once you get into it you realize that it is much more complex than what you had anticipated.
Now here is a good news and a bad news. The good news is – there is a lot of material available to learn about social media marketing. Bad news is that most of it is created by social media analytics tool providers or agencies trying to SELL their consultation services. Therefore more often than not these end up making you a purchase recommendation for their tool which are very expensive for beginners. Here on maddyeenart.com I will be sharing unbiased views on how I am doing social media marketing, what results I am getting, what is working for me the best, what apps I am using to get various tasks done for free.
If you are looking for unbiased views and tips to do social media marketing with zero or minimal budget, this is the place to be and subscribe is the button to hit.
5. Treat it like a business, not as a hobby anymore
Do you maintain records of spend you do on your hobby? Have you analyzed it? Have you tried to reduce it without compromising on the quality? Do you know how profitable would you be when you go professional? Have you done your GST registration? Are you considering to register your business as a company? Do you want to have a good estimate of how much would you have to spend on marketing to make a sale?
One may not have thought of these things but these play a key role in determining whether a business would survive or not. Trust me, if anyone is putting in efforts to build a business, one would expect decent returns. Otherwise it is very difficult to stay motivated to do a business. Yes, one may continue to pursue art as a hobby.
Being an MBA, I believe I would be able to leverage my knowledge and share my learnings with all of you. So please stay tuned.
These are my 5 mantras. As mentioned, I will be sharing multiple posts under each of these. As a parting note, I would say that enjoy this journey of turning professional. Everybody may meet varying degree of success but I am sure EVERYONE will learn a lot. I have just started, let all of us continue this enriching journey.
I welcome your comments, thoughts on the subject. Please subscribe if you like the post and are interested in knowing more about the 5 mantras.
Artist Madhuri Thaker - Canvas paintings, decorative pots, wall hangings 