This article was made within Project Educate Week of Artistic Nudes in order to help and educate the community (not only the ArtNude’s)...

_{It is also part of a series of articles being posted elsewhere around dA, by various deviants. I’m linking them all up in my journals (especially this one: [link] ) so that you can have them all in one place in case they don’t get your eye in the midst of the many articles in the News page!}

Here we are: you want to sell your artwork but don’t know how-to!

Common sense gives you that the first thing you’ll need to have is artwork of quality. While some people may buy poor quality artwork for a first time they won’t do it twice.
Second thing you’ll have to consider is that you must provide variety when assembling your shop – whether it is online or at a store and/or gallery out there “In Real Life”.
And then, when you are about to sell your art, the market rules leave you with a tough choice: a) Set a price a little cheaper than the rest and use marketing techniques to advertise it, build a trademark and use cheap materials in order to make profit, like the Dutch did – and quite successfully. Or b) Set the price a little more expensive and hope for someone to believe your work is so good that it really should be in their homes. Which one to choose?

A lot of great renowned artists didn’t sell when they were alive – from there comes the famous saying about being a starving artist. This isn’t said just because the artist may have come from a poor context, but because Art is considered a luxury item. It happens so from a long way back, not just now: food crisis is all over the world, affecting economics, since ever, not just since the big ’29 crash. Art as a luxury item is associated with high-classes, rich people since there were Maecenas, Church and Kings/Politicians that paid high for their portrait… even in the Victorian Era, when country-house owners would pay for a landscape painting of their propriety. You can see the status-association with art there; it is - at least to me, very obvious.

More recently this trend is changing. Almost everyone can afford a print from a starving artist. But there are artists that don’t starve! How did they pull it off? Do they just make Artwork that sells or do they have a secret? How do they fight the stigma of the starving artist and the exhaustion of the selling niches? These are some of the questions this article tried to answer by interviewing 3 different artists!


With digital cameras and cellphones around the world it gets harder for a photographer to sell - comparatively to the “old days” of the “chamber of dreams” (Reference: “Camera Indica” written by Pinney), so what do photographers of today do in order not to starve?

To help you on this matter I thought I’d ask to a couple of successful-selling artists to share their secrets…


So here I am, just being the messenger - please don’t shoot me!

Eloísa Valdes,
Artistic Nudes Gallery Director

How they Sell their Art

=Pelicanh A.K.A. Michael Helms is a very known deviant and needs no introduction, in or outside deviantART.

Well - I guess the best way to answer your questions is to give you some background about me because it might disappoint you and/or your readers to hear the very simple answer that pretty much ALL my selling of art comes by word of mouth.

I got my start shooting fashion here in Los Angeles about 28 years ago. I put together a portfolio of images from "tests" I had done with models then I basically shopped it around. I took my portfolio to all the agencies in LA and asked them to look at it. I guess I had more balls than brains because a lot of the time I wouldn't even make an appointment, (didn't know I was supposed to!)I'd just walk right in and ask. LOL As I shot more and more models, I became interested in shooting nudes. I was fortunate to know many models from the days of shooting fashion so I asked a few of them to pose for me and they very graciously accepted. Meanwhile, when the model would show her portfolio to a designer in hopes of working with him, the designer would then ask who shot some of her photos. In that way, I got jobs shooting clothing lines and other fashion jobs.
More recently (within the last 5 years or so) I have become interested in shooting alternative type models...like Fetish people. About a year and a half ago, I put up a gallery of images here on DA.

I REALLY don't want to come off as negative here because I LOVE photography and it has been a WONDERFUL business for me. But the world of art, in general is suffering because it is considered a luxury, and in difficult economic times, luxury items get crossed off the list first.

I don't sell images through DA. People CAN contact me by note and purchase prints but although I have gotten a few inquiries, I have NEVER sold a print. It could be because I choose to price my prints rather high. I'd rather sell a FEW for a lot of money than to sell a lot of prints for very little money. I don't depend on selling prints for ANY of my income. My income is ENTIRELY based on shooting

I have a web site, [link] which promotes my head shot business. But in my years in business, I have found ONLY word of mouth to be effective in advertising. I've had shows, run ads in magazines, put up posters, produced promo pieces, done mailings... pretty much, you name it and I've done it to try and generate business. And I can tell you that NOTHING compares to simple word of mouth to generate business.


~






~scottchurch A.K.A. scott church is a very successful portrait photographer and teacher – you can see that by his gallery!

The first thing you need to know about selling your work is, if people can't see what you do, they aren't going to buy it.

The best way to find an audience and ultimately sell your work is to show it, and expose it to as many people as possible. When I started my career this was a lot more difficult than it is now. Back in the early nineties my goal was to do as many shows as possible, wherever i could, galleries were wonderful, but i was happy to settle for a good coffee shop or cafe, basically anywhere that had walls i was willing to hang my work and offer it for sale. it didn't always lead to great things, but it gave me an opportunity to promote.

Promotion is more important than I can stress. When you are starting out it's important to be confident with what you’re pushing. From the very beginning I promoted myself in a much larger sense than I deserved. My shows were always a big deal, always an event. Even if only 10 people showed up, it was always an "extravaganza". It’s always important to set your goals well beyond your means. Make yourself catch up, and you will always push yourself to do better.

Take the lies and make them true.

Starting now is so much easier than when I got things going. These days the avenues for promotion are so simple. Places like LiveJournal, Myspace, and of course the spectacular DeviantArt provide ready-made audiences ripe for the picking. Does this mean all you need is a profile on DA and your work will start flying? No, it still comes down to promotion and consistency. The people are there to look if you have good stuff to show them.

Obviously the best way to sell work is to do work that people want to buy. This doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your artistic vision and pander, it means that you have to do the best of what it is you're doing, and do it all the time. My work is well known now because I have made it well known. There was no "great leap forward", it was a continuing growing process.

I have worked hard for many years to build an audience for what I do by working hard everyday to do good work.

Everywhere I could possibly show my work, my work was there to show, and I update it constantly. If there is a chance for someone to see something, I make sure not to waste it. I update a dozen different portfolios almost everyday - each one, like DA, has its own audience and group of people that extend in different directions.

The biggest net catches the most fish.

There are much more talented photographers out there, there are people producing work that kicks me in the dirt. I compete with the best because I’m relentless, not because I’m more talented.

Lets call it the "Madonna" theory.

When Madonna started out there were a lot of more talented performers out there. Madonna certainly wasn't close to the top when it came to talent, but her goal was to "rule the world". Did she wait for someone to hand it to her? No. She worked her ass off and made sure that she told everyone how great she was, she saturated her market and made everyone else trying to do what she was doing look lazy and weak. She has never stopped, she is still going like it's the first day out of the box and she still has further to go.

Do you think that Madonna really believes she's the best out there? I’m going to say no way. I’m sure she realizes her limitations, but knows that it doesn't matter if you're willing to work harder than the next guy.

I love Madonna.

She rules, and she's not afraid to be the first person to tell you she rules. That’s a hero to have for your business.


~







=UniqueNudes is selling and distributing is work through Art galleries and deviantART. and has inherited the Nakayama Studios about 10 years ago, successfully living off of his work.


Here’s what he shared with us:

I promote my work everywhere. deviantART; daily blogs; my personal website; at gallery showings; book-signing tours.... everywhere and in any way possible. The more people that know about your work the more it will sell.

If was difficult at first since many people didn't know me, but as my work grew in popularity so did my sales. One begets the other and the cycle continues upward. The hardest part was getting galleries to look at my work in the first place, but persistence paid off and after a few group showings I was offered my first solo show in late 2004. Before that, though, it was a lot of coffee shops and street fairs!

Gallery shows are by far the most effective direct way to sell prints. You are putting them for sale at a place where people go to buy exactly that sort of thing.

People like to touch and look at art before they buy it, especially big expensive pieces like my framed and signed work. But the internet has made it possible for people who can't make it to my gallery shows to buy my art as well, and for much cheaper. I think it's about even between sales of the two.

Pricing

As far as pricing goes....the general rule of thumb is "charge what the market will bear".

These days, I would say the market is so saturated with photo art that it is VERY difficult to sell anything. EVERYBODY and his brother picks up and camera, shoots a photo, and is willing to sell it for nothing just so they can brag to the guys at work that they were in some magazine.
I have a very close friend who is one of the world's top nature photographers and he tells me that the stock image business has all but dried up.
I think I've sold maybe two prints in the last year... so unless someone is well known; it isn't a good way to try and supplement income, in my opinion. Having shows can increase awareness of an artist but it is rare that a show makes any money. I'm always happy if I break even on a show.



~





Setting a price is never easy, for the longest time I had my wife price things. The best thing is to suit your market, find what most people are selling for, (not pricing, but actually selling things for) and slightly undercut. Don’t be the bottom feeder or people will look at your work like it's worthless, but also never overvalue what you do and price yourself right out of a sale. When something sells, never sell another thing for less, (in that market). The value of your work should always be increasing, it should always seem like a good investment for the buyer, eventually it will be, but no one knows that starting out.

When my first book came out it took forever to sell all of them, I worked my ass off getting them all gone. Those same books that I couldn't give away now sell for 3 times the cover price on the auction sites. That’s a good investment. When my last book came out I outsold my first in 2 weeks. Is the work better now? Maybe a little, the difference is the market for my work is so much wider, and people understand that it's a good thing to own what I produce now, more than they did before.

Another good point is to limit sales. Everything I do is a "limited edition" when there isn't hundreds of something out there the value of what is out there increases and makes people want it more.


~




Truth time! I let others decide my prices. On deviantART, that means the default price. I personally feel it's a bit high right now because the economy in the US is sliding, but dA is a worldwide site and I think they have pretty good grip on "average" prices.
At galleries/showings I always let the curator or director price my images. They know what the current market will support and that varies from place to place. (A secret: a print of mine that sells for $300.00 in Los Angeles sells in Las Vegas for $500.00 because people in Las Vegas come to spend money. And it varies even wider in other countries.)

When I started out I sold my prints for dirt cheap so LOTS of people would buy them and hang them in their homes getting me more exposure. As I relied more and more on my art for my income (eventually quitting my "day job" and going in to art full time) I raised my prices to reflect the amount of work I put in to them and eventually (though it was a long process) I now make MORE selling less images at higher prices.

Model’s Compensation

As for the models...I ALWAYS have the models sign a release form. I don't HAVE to give them anything by contract BUT I really like to help out these wonderful women whenever I can.

SO - if I DO sell a print, I try to make sure they get a percentage of the money. I also give them a CD of images that they can use for promotional purposes. They can't SELL the images but they can use them long as they give me photo credit.

I HAVE been looking at doing a book lately also....but here again; books make little or no money. They are good for promotional purposes and POSSIBLY generating a job request...but more likely will just be very nice dust collectors. It's NICE to say you are published but again, it has little impact on day to day making a living. I've been published in a gazillion magazines, books, and billboards etc etc....but it has ALWAYS been shooting that paid the mortgage and fed me.

I REALLY don't want to come off as negative here because I LOVE photography and it has been a WONDERFUL business for me. But the world of art, in general is suffering because it is considered a luxury, and in difficult economic times, luxury items get crossed off the list first.
If someone wants to be a photographer and make art and sell it....my first piece of advice would be to keep overhead VERY VERY low. It is the day to day expenses of life that make it tough for all artists out there.

Good luck to us all, eh?

~




My models get pictures; actually they get a CD with print ready images. If they want to sell them they can feel free to sell them. Do I worry about them competing with me? Nope, it's never been an issue.

My work is nothing without my models, they are my biggest asset, the images are so much more about them than me, and I treat them as such.


In closing let me just reinforce one thing. Making a career out of your "art" is not an easy thing to do. It requires a lot of confidence in yourself and an incredible amount of work. The successful "artists" are not always the most talented, but they are almost always the most tenacious.

Do your work; do your best, and show it to as many people as possible.



~





That's a touchy subject that widely varies from artist to artist. Here at Nakayama Studios we (the collective of 4 photographers, currently) offer 50% of print profit sales for life. If I make a million dollars on a single print, the model and I split it at $500,000.00 each. If we sell one print at $20 bucks, we each take a tanner home. Seems only fair. I never charge to shoot models and I always give them a CD of finished images and a print or two if they actually have a physical print book. I usually buy lunch, too.

Wrapping up

Despite the differences between these 3 wonderful photographers there seems to be a common agreement of the state of things when related to selling your own artwork. When I approached Lia aka `SeaFairy with a simplified version of these questions she summed up the state of art commerce into one paragraph that, whether we like it or not, is a very hard place to try and make profits to live from…

said:

“I think...selling that’s artistry. It’s hard to give tips.
In the end only things sell that people want to see. Which are clichés. So to sell you have to reproduce clichés. (… Then the next thing is of course to create a platform where you advertise for the prints you have.

But in the end it is luck as well.”



I’d like to thank these wonderful artists and everyone who has been helping this week to be the success it has been, and also to you, who have been tuned with us!

I Love You!

~

The Buzz…

Project Educate Week is ending with a blast! Be sure not to miss random giveaways with ^arachnid15 and ^Helewidis!

For more articles from this week and others go to !!!

If you are enjoying the interviews so far then stick with ^Helewidis (hehe, me!) – she is going to continue this sort of events… so, the week is over, but not the Fun!!!

A bee told me that if you want to know more about selling you should keep your eyes peeled in the news sections for the next times… Especially coming from $chix0r!







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