So does anyone have any luck selling their artwork or are you just doing it for fun? I have sold some here and there - but not as regularly as I would like. Seems I run into the famous "Wow, that is awesome! .... but I dont want to pay anything for it I want it for nothing.." type of thing quite a bit. People think our atwork takes 2 minutes to do and they should have it for nothing.. at least that seems to be what I run into a lot.

Yep.. that is normaly how it is.. I just stoped in a local gallery to ask about selling work. I don't think I will bother.. the woman explained how things work and that she has always been artist and customer friendly so she only takes 1/3 of the sale and most places take 50 -70% .. I think I will just hag on to my work before I give it away.. The few things I have sold were commisions and both were Rock related and both people were "Well to do" so money was not an issue. When you tell a "normal joe" it will be $100 for a custom painted T-shirt they look at you like you have 6 heads.. "what do you mean, I can get a shirt a Walmart for $15! I can't help it if you will spend 12 hours working on it, I will only give you $25!" .. so you are not a lone..
One has to find the correct venue or clientel to make any money.. or maybe I am going about it all wrong..
I really hate doing commisions, it becomes work, and no longer fun!

Well at least I know I am not alone!!

Jim, nope you aren't alone. I have never sold anything! Not that I have really tried though except once. The last art show I joined I did enter 3 pictures and put them all up for sale, but nothing sold. I am getting ready to enter another art show soon as well. I just sent my slides out today of the pictures I want to enter. I also put price tags up on them so we will see how it goes, but I am not holding my breath. At least I can stock pile them and give them away for present one day...LOL.

I've sold my artwork but only the type of "aw, I think I'll pay a quarter for this cute kid's stuff" when I was five and "I gotta commission her now so when she's famous I'll make lots of money" sales.

Maybe I am a push over ... but I get offers ....and its always something like .. my friend lost her dog .. could you do a poem and a drawing .. I will pay you for it .. and I always ..never fails ..say ... you know what ..knowing it will make them smile is payment enough ...I know im a push over ...I have drawn many portraits and wrote many poems for the dead ...I should say sure I take the payment ...but when they give me the details of their daughter or son or who ever has passed and I put together the whole thing ..I always end up saying the same thing .

I am not real confident in my own work ..I think alot artist can say the same thing ...so maybe I dont like the pressure that comes with being paid lol.

These are common complaints from artists who want to sell their work. The average person doesn't understand the process of creating a piece of art and the originality of it. They just want something that will match their sofa sometimes! Then there are art investors, who know the art world and artists and can recognize quality pieces and will pay for that.

To successfully market and sell your work, it takes time - and money. And if people won't pay for originals, then make prints and cards. You can sell them for a fraction of the cost of the original and usually make more money doing that than selling originals.

Galleries tend to like established artists and won't even look at you unless you have 15 - 20 pieces to show them. The fees for galleries are steep averaging around 50%, so you have to price accordingly.

Depending on what you draw, you can source the market for that particular niche. If you do amazing animal portraits, try leaving a demo portrait in vets, groomers, kennels, etc and some cards.

Don't price yourself out of the market, but don't give away your stuff either. You know how long it takes you to complete a drawing or painting. Set some realistic prices and create some professional looking brochures and business cards and circulate them.

Network, network, network. Join every art association that you can, get on the board, submit art to every show you can find, get your name out there and your work shown.

There are a whole new set of challenges that come with commissions however. You have to please customers and believe me, they can be particular,e specially in portraiture. And you will be asked to draw things that you hate to draw, for the sake of money. Sometimes you do it, sometimes not. Mostly you do.

Art is a business like any other. If you're serious about it and want to become professional, you have to invest the time and money into that business to become successful. Its one of those 'be careful what you wish for' scenarios...

There are times that I do commissions and they cause stress and I wonder why I do it when I could be drawing something that I like. But its work and it pays and beneath it all, I enjoy it tremendously.

Well good luck to you!! I hope you do well. I have to check the art scene out around my area - it doesnt seem to be very big though. There are tons of craft shops around my area, but im not sure drawings/paintings would do so well with crafts.




Now that is exactly what I do!!!! Someone will have lost a love one, or dog, whatever and because I am friends for them I wind up doing it for free even though they say "ill pay you for it." I am right there with you! I guess I am a push over also haha





Thank you for your wonderful post. You are truly right, and it was very insightful. How did you get into doing commission work? Just word of mouth?

Jeanette, as always great advice!!

Jim, try some of the suggestions she stated, if you know of any private photographers that are good friends of yours do a couple of portrait drawings and see if they will display them somewhere in their studio, or if you have pets do some drawings or paintings of various animals. I mean there are many different ways to actually get your art out there. I know at my doctors office a local painter painted the building he practices in and gifted it to him, so now he lets her leave her business cards and she even has a little gallery set up right in the waiting room of his practice. As for craft places, they usually accept artist there, but I have heard sales are few and far between.
In the summertime, a good thing would to be to look for local art fairs and try to get into them. The Artist Market 2008 book should be out now at local book stores like Borders or whatever you have by you and they usually have all sort of different jobs or imformation on art fairs and such. I joined the CPSA and found a local chapter to become a member of and I also joined a Art Club called Artifacts by me. Both are quite a drive for meetings but as for finding art shows and stuff like that they are very handy to be a member of. So far I love the challenge of joining the art competitions!!
Like your painting for instance, I don't remember what medium acrylic or oil paint you use, but I believe there is a Society group for Painters that you could look up. Try out Wetcanvas as well as Drawspace. They have forums in every medium there is and you could even find local art groups in your area that way. Just become a member, find a medium forum you are interested in, then start a thread like you do here and ask away and I am sure you will get ALOT of replies and find ALOT of information out.

Hope this all helps, I try to do it all, but there is only one of me and my time with a demanding hubby and then the demanding 4 kids I have make little for what I want to do most of the time and thats create my art!!! LOL

All great points here already.

Venus mentioning the surgery to leave cards in reminded me that I have seen restaurants and cafes that hang works for sale- we had a local cafe that hung work for sale (with price on them) for free but they could only be there for 3 months. That way the cafe had free decoration which changed every quarter and local artists had a ready made point of exposure. Our local library also show cases a local artist for a month. If you don't have anything like this in your area try approaching your library and some cafes. I mean the owners would have veto rights so that they could say no to anything too raunchy, or unsuitable for their premisis.

It can't hurt.

Jim, I got into commissions by pure hard work.

I gave away lots of work, but only to those individuals who I knew would position the drawing or painting in a prominent place where it would attract the attention of others.

I advertised in local stores, vets, businesses. I paid for ad space in local magazines and newspapers. I did demonstrations at fairs, dog shows, charity events. I donated an animal drawing to a charity to auction off. They got the funds, I got the exposure. I recently offered a large drawing for a hospital fundraiser - they'd get a percentage of the cost if it sold. I got two more commissions from people walking by and seeing it hanging.

I entered work into any art show I could find. I joined art associations and networked for opportunities.

There's no get rich quick method here. It does take years and years to build up reputation. My advice would be to sit down and make a plan. Decide what you want to achieve, where you want to sell your art and how much time you have to devote to it.

Then just do it! Opportunites abound, but you have to search for them, they won't land on your doorstep. It is very hard work, but has benefits in the long run.

Sue you are so right I almost forgot about those place. We have a resturant up the street who will hang art for a small commission. The Livonia Library by me normally has showings or shows for artist. LOL, I haven't done any of it. For the moment I am content on just entering shows and going to my artist meetings.