The Real Life As The Starving Artist
The artistic life for too many is a path of failures. Life is hard. The life of an artist at times feels like one was begging to be punished.
At times our gift within a certain art medium limits our value or creates challenges to be seen . Despite all our best efforts it seems impossible to get ahead.
What Went Wrong Promoting Your Art?
Believe it or not you are not the problem. Most of you already know this. Many artists turn to find jobs in art while still promoting for themselves as they can. This I love to see for you cannot give up.
Keep perfecting your artistic style, your passion, your love for what you do. Yet at the same time artists must find new ways to reach the public.
Selling art is one of the most difficult things to do. Why? Simply put, it is not a need within peoples lives.
Food we need. Vehicles for transportation we need. Without electricity society would turn upside down.
Yet art is not even in the same universe as these things. Art exists within some alternate reality where we believe it is just as important. Art is important, yet in other ways for preservation of culture and history.
Overcoming that hurdle in combination with the economics of the world is more like climbing a mountain than jumping an obstacle. It requires more than knowing how to price your art or where to sell it.
What went wrong? Nothing. It is simply the artistic life. It is the world within which we live. So it is not your fault after all.
You are not a failure. Failure is not a person, it is an event.
How Artists Complicate Selling Art
There is absolutely nothing worse than selling art at a loss. Maybe the only thing worse than that is creating a habit of that problem.
Yet that is what artists do. In a world where an artist will join an online gallery of some kind, whether ArtPal or another similar place, you find problems.
In fact the problems you find are no different than before you joined. How to get your art noticed?
In turn an artist will begin to compete with another artist in price. They then run advertisement and attempt to use social content marketing.
The efforts continue to the point of exhaustion with little substance of real return for the efforts.
All artists take note of this quote from Jaq Chartier in an interview with the artworkarchive. Pay close attention to what you do for it matters to your work and life.
One problem is when artists sell things out of their studios for half price. I’ve heard so many stories of this from art dealers. They are working with an artist and the artist is in their studio selling stuff out the back door for half price. Then when they have a show, nothing sells. Then the artist gets mad at the gallery, “Why aren’t you selling my work? Why aren’t my prices going up?” Because you’re undermining everything your gallery is trying to do for you.
artworkarchive.com
Add to this, did you know that 48.7 percent of artists make no more than $5,000 dollars per year? Artnet News has some sobering statistics that will make any artist shudder with a chill down their spine.
Make no mistake the art world is the most difficult market to be in, but it is also an opportunity if one knows how to approach it.
Artists are great at creating art, and a lot of noise. Often they fail at creating real traction and getting anywhere. You cannot scream loud enough to overcome the masses volume.
We only add to the hysteria in the crowded room.
Stop Thinking Art – Start Thinking Art Marketing
One of the problems many will need to overcome is a lack of technological capability. If you are not capable then that is something to work on immediately whether you like it or not.
Creative art may be subjective, but the world of marketing and presenting yourself is not.
It is just our present reality. Once you accept this then you can begin to separate yourself from the rest of the pack. Proper presentation will give you deeper artistic meaning.
You cannot depend upon social media alone. Horizons must be broader than this. It is imperative to grow in areas outside of the comfort zone.
I want to show you why it is important to stop thinking about art in the traditional sense. It is more than important, in our present world it is required.
I will give numbers to show a breakdown of how this applies to your life and work as you try to break into an impossible market. Then we need to reshape how you think.
Art Market Breakdown By Numbers In Search
I will use numbers from Google that you cannot find unless you have paid a nice sum of money for marketing data.
I do not use the free market research tools you find online. My numbers are far more accurate for the time of this posting.
Google searches for the word “art” yield 334 thousand per month in the USA and 1.3 million internationally.
Note that only 117 thousand clicks are made going to a site. Obviously there are more than 117 thousand artists in the USA alone.
Keep in mind that this word art also includes within it things you would never imagine.
Of course there are musicians, tv and movie actors, the generic art label carries a lot of things with it. So we really need to get more specific.
We need to compare more traditional art to another more specific item so you can see a more accurate picture.
- Oil Painting: 26k searches USA, 94k globally with 11k clicks
- Watercolor art: 7.9k USA, 19k Internationally with 2.3k clicks
- Wood art: 6.1k USA, 15k Internationally with 2.9k clicks
- Pencil art: 3.6k USA, 25k Internationally with 1.2k clicks
- Art Painting: 2.1k USA, 14k Internationally with 606 clicks
Once you begin to isolate down more specific arts the numbers drop dramatically.
Remember these numbers are per month. This should be shocking to many artists. As you can see the competition is high.
Allow me to put this into perspective. Knowing how few searches per month take place in relationship to the masses of artists, it seems impossible.
The struggle is real for those who flood Instagram and Twitter with their artwork. They are fighting something they do not yet fully understand.
Let me bridge this with a comparison to unrelated items so that we can build a contrast. Below are common items people pick up at Walmart every day.
- Shoes: 443k USA, 1 million Internationally with 213k clicks
- Pants: 80k USA, 249k Internationally with 20k clicks
- Home Decor: 63k USA, 169k Internationally with 50k clicks
- Lipstick: 33k USA, 162k Internationally with 9.5k clicks
Lipstick is the lowest of the alternate non art numbers, and it still outperforms almost all of the art categories.
I am not attempting to discourage anyone. Yet what I am attempting to do is to frame a realistic picture. If you can understand the reality which surrounds you as an artist, the better you can prepare.
These issues can be overcome. Yet you must realize that using something like social media as “your platform” just is not enough.
The Need For New Art Platforms
Art education itself is shifting out of industry need from traditional paths. This can be seen within institutions such as SCAD in preparing students.
Traditional methods of marketing art are viable, yet waning. Know that art galleries are in decline. Art guilds are also in decline. There are multiple factors which weigh on this.
Take not of this study conducted by the Creative Independent.
The median income for Professional Artists was between 20k to 30k per year. Only 19% of artists make over 50k per year.
Only 12% of artists counted art gallery sales as being among their top ways of creating income.
Of the artists within the study, 29% stated that art galleries had virtually no benefit towards their financial well being.
61% used freelance work to survive. 42% of the artists held alternate jobs.
If this model existed for other major industries within our economy we would be worse than a 3rd world country. The nation would implode.
It is easy to see why artists turn to online platforms. Yet they are not trained marketers, they are artists.
The present platforms within the online world also bring complications. Those like Etsy make trend chasing a habitual issue. Etsy and other like them have their own fundamental breakdown in mechanics.
Indeed there are successful strategies for selling art on Etsy. Yet the time and money invested is far better spent on your platform with your personal brand.
The art market itself from a business perspective does not have enough demand for the makers and artists of the world. Thinking outside of the box is a requirement.
Following the pack and following the advice of herd mentality will yield herd results. Based on those numbers, an artist cannot survive with them.
What Is Your Value Within The Art World?
Some say that art is dead. I know this is not true. The problem is our thinking within our art market.
Are we doing what we do just to sell a product? If this is merely your focus then I already know that conclusion.
Certainly makers focus more on product creation. Forget the difference between artist and maker for a moment and consider the question.
What is value in art? Why did you begin as an artist? What is the importance of art?
The artistic life is not about just making art. It is about creating and defining our art. We create art from inspiration of many different forms.
Yet when it comes to marketing or branding it is as if all our inspiration goes out the window. We become drones pounding the pavement and keyboards all in the same way on the same worn paths.
How To Get Your Art Noticed
For a moment let’s imagine Etsy and others didn’t exist. Where would you be? In order to redefine yourself you must begin to think outside of the box which the giants want to put us in.
We are not makers of crafts and need to stop thinking as such making those mistakes.
An artists development is essential. There is no single path, nor magical yellow brick road to follow. Each path must be tailored to your strengths, skills, and continued education.
If I removed what I am good at it would be a challenge. By nature I am an introvert. I can write or type all day long.
Content creation is never an issue or coming up with things to say with letters or script. I can program as well, and analyze data day and night.
I love that stuff. So it would be easy for me to say to follow this path. Yet you may not be able to do these things.
What are your strengths? Is it networking? Maybe you are great socially and can host events locally or build a team of local artists.
Perhaps you are great at teaching. Get involved with teaching the underprivileged and make a difference in others lives.
It may be that you are also an introvert. Introverts can have beautiful and complex minds. Create a unique approach in the online world no one else sees possible.
This requires an active participation in life towards your goals by improving who you are, your methods, and helping others. No one gets anywhere alone.
Continue to educate yourself where you are weak, get out of the box, and get to work for your own life. The social media keys are like a hamster wheel. It spins but goes no where.
An Artist Must Be Consistent To Their Market
You cannot be selling art on Etsy for 50 dollars, to then ask in a private store 250 dollars. There must be consistency in the model.
This allows you to have consistency in the brand and name behind it. Aspects of past bad habits will need to end.
This may require you to leave the ArtPal’s of the world. Ask yourself, how you wish for your brand and name to be seen? Does this location represent that name?
Additionally this also requires you to refine your work. You must perfect your art. To be that brand you must become more unique than others out there.
This is a personal evolution through time that translates into your art and business model. Here is where the makers really are separated out from the real artists.
If these things are not in sync then traction will never be gained. The artistic life is hard but we often never imagine just how hard it will be.
This article is a mere glimpse of one aspect that can be expanded into volumes of books. There are lessons to be learned which no one can have the foresight to write about.
Having said this, get a mentor. You need a mentor that understands this present market, its potentials, and its pitfalls. Ultimately you make the decisions, yet their insight can be incredibly valuable.
You Are Worth Success In Art
You are worth this personal investment. Finding what makes you work and using it is important.
Getting off the path others tell you to be on is just as imperative. No one told you how to be good at your artwork. You create by inspiration that comes to you in many forms naturally.
Find those natural means to reaching others that you are good at. Lay that foundation then begin to expand into the areas you fear or are not as good at.
Life is a marathon, it does not have to be ran in one day. The point is to start running the right way and build.