How to get eyes on my artwork?

June 15, 2023 3:09 PM

I’m a self-employed artist and am struggling to grow my career. Looking for ways to build a more lucrative and sustainable business, despite social media’s unpredictable nature.

Some background:

My art business has existed for about 8 years, almost 2 of those full time (I have a 12 hour/week part time job outside of art, too). I’m a printmaker and have begun painting too; I’ve had an online shop for 8 years (first Etsy, now Shopify) containing original blockprints, paintings, stickers, home goods, etc.

I have a very solid following on Instagram (around 85K), but the inconsistently of the app has affected my business; my post today reached 500 people. I create reels, post often, use hashtags, all the recommended things, but it’s been tough to reach my own audience let alone new people.

I have a Patreon account where I earn around $1000 - 1200 per month (this acts as my main paycheck). I make somewhere in the 25-30K range per year from my art business (after expenses). My expenses have increased lately and I’m looking for ways to get eyes on my work. I work hard and put a lot of energy into my business, and I’d like to get to a point where I’m not living shop update to shop update.

The question:

How to get my work in front of more eyes, in order to increase my income?

Recently I’ve started creating acrylic paintings on wood panel or found wood objects (such as thrifted pieces). Because these pieces are more time intensive as well as being one of a kind originals, they are priced higher than what my audience may be used to. I’ve sold a handful over the last few months, which is amazing, ranging from $100 to $350. This is thrilling, considering that my audience is used to seeing prints or other items in the $20-50 range (I’m still doing these things too, just trying to integrate higher ticker items into the rotation). The artist Josie Lewis made a point that blew my mind— you are not your target audience. I think this helped me realize that I could price items a bit higher even if I myself couldn’t afford to buy art in that range.

Part of what is triggering this question is that a local colleague of mine is doing something similar (selling original paintings) and has been kicking ass. Think paintings that range between $500 and $1500 or more. Her social media presence grew exponentially recently and there seems to be a buzz around her work, which is so great. But the envy bug has bitten me. I know that there is space for everyone, but my reach on Instagram has been so dismal. I know my work is good, and I’m proud of it. I try not to let my low engagement stop me from creating pieces that I love.

I’m trying to brainstorm ways to get my work in front of people who have more disposable income. I participate in a variety of pop-ups and in person sales through the year, but have never attempted to enter the larger, juried shows — maybe it’s time. I’ll also say that I’m very thankful for the art income I do have, and proud of myself for working on this business for 8 years and counting.

Can you think of other ways to get exposure? Thank you for reading!

posted by sucre to Work & Money (18 answers total)

Best answer: Well as an exercise can you take a hard look at that local colleague and see what she's been doing that might have pushed her into more visibility? I'd literally start making a list: she's on TikTok; she's on another platform; here's a list of the hashtags she uses; her profile says XYZ; and she links to ABC; and her personal website features this, this, and this, with large or small photos; and she enters these specific juried shows; does she have a direct email newsletter...etc. I'd just run all the way through her presence and see what it tells you. And then do the same for two or three other artists who are successful in ways you want to emulate. See if there's overlap. See if there's a pattern you can find.

Another exercise: Imagine your dream buyer. Who are they, and where are they likely to find the work you aspire to make? Next, who is your medium-level buyer, the one who wants to buy that $100-$350 work you're making? Where do they want to find you? On social? At a juried show? At a local art fair?

I'm not an artist, but I'm a creative freelancer who really built my career via social. (For me it was Twitter...which is of course very yikes these days.) When I started, I thought about my dream client, and where they were likely to find me. I looked at other people working in my niche and saw what they were doing. In the beginning, I copied their efforts, and as time passed I iterated in various ways based on what was working and what wasn't. Nowadays I'm sure others in my niche are looking at me and copying my efforts. So it goes.
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:40 PM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I don't know if this works but it's something I would try in your shoes: dip a toe into social media advertising, to the tune of say $50 on one ad on one platform, and see if there is detectable bump in traffic. Then next month, try another platform, and keep doing this each month as a way to dial it in on a budget to find which platform best reaches people interested in you, and what kind of ad best catches attention. (It's been several years since I looked into social media advertising, so I don't know if $50 does anything meaningful these days, but I suspect it's worth finding out)

It may be that you conclude that paid ads just can't reach the kind of people into your work, but that's still valuable information.

Also, ask your colleague what they're doing to reach people
posted by Cusp at 3:45 PM on June 15, 2023

Best answer: I know reddit is a mess right now, so this might be poorly timed, but posting stuff on r/Art & /r/ArtStore can maybe increase your reach. Plug your Instagram & Etsy in the posts (check the rules for self-promo in whatever sub-reddit you're posting in).
posted by pyro979 at 4:43 PM on June 15, 2023

Best answer: And add a link to your site from your metafilter profile :)
posted by pyro979 at 4:44 PM on June 15, 2023 [9 favorites]

Best answer: Have you tried to join larger art fairs? Two of my friends (I also make art and have a little friend group of people who are just starting out trying to sell work) applied to and got into the most recent west coast craft fair and even though they didn't sell a huuuuge amount during the fair, one of them made connections with some local businesses to sell her work in their shop. You might also try to connect/cold call local shops and see if they are interested in carrying your work.

Also please link your instagram/website to your meta filter profile! It was the first place I went to after reading your question because I love connecting with other artists and was pretty sad that you didn't have a link there.
posted by ruhroh at 6:55 PM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Don't discount physical locations - look for coffee shops and the like which hang or display art from local artists, and make sure you have your contact information with each piece or at the counter. An artistic business card would help.
posted by TimHare at 8:45 PM on June 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: You can make a virtual gallery on several metaverse platforms like Spatial, VRChat, Banter, Frames, etc. Join with some other artists and hold a virtual art fair, where you can leverage each other's followers.
posted by Sophont at 10:46 PM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: As an artist, your 85k IG followers is astonishing to me. I sell my work in galleries (top tier) and I have no where near the followers you do. However I let them do the social for me, for the most part. I’m satisfied w my income. Have you thought about approaching a gallery?
posted by artdrectr at 11:00 PM on June 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Do you keep track of what you sell and to whom? If not, set up some sort of customer database to get that happening - it is going to be easier to sell a second work to someone who knows and likes your art than to persuade a new buyer. Especially if you have an item that "needs a home".

Consider whether any of your previous customers would be happy to make a present to someone else of your artwork - is it worthwhile developing a miniature/keepsake version of your art that would appeal?

Don't be afraid to put a high price on an artwork. You can always discount to a "loyal/good customer".
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 12:41 AM on June 16, 2023

Best answer: Along the lines of Barbara Spitzer's advise, cultivate your existing customer base. Just yesterday I bought a $150 woodcut print from an artist after getting her email newsletter showing the steps in the process of creating it. I got on her email list after finding her and buying a $350 piece at the central Pennsylvania festival of the arts.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:33 AM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You may not be a jeweler, but maybe this sparks an idea for you.

A small local vintage jewelry shop near me has grown their audience and their sales through hosting periodic "jewelry box happy hour" IG live broadcasts. He sells a LOT of jewelry this way. I think it's how he grew his non-local audience. It's in the 7pm hour. He and his assistant put out teaser posts in the days leading up to the event. There are discounts offered only during the event, but not everything is discounted--only the stuff he wants to move out quickly. During the happy hour, he recognizes and shouts out customers by user name as they join, and he rolls through a selected set of pieces, describing each one and wearing it. As he's going through the pieces, people can ask Qs via the chat, and his assistant queues them up for him to answer. People who want to buy a piece type "mine" in the chat in a first-come, first-served way of claiming a piece. Then you DM or email him to pay online.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:23 AM on June 16, 2023

Best answer: With the slow death of shopping malls, I am seeing a lot of local artist collectives with permanent physical locations that sell their members' items. Maybe that's an avenue you can take. It would also put you more in regular touch with the community of local artists who can help give you more info on what is working for them.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:27 AM on June 16, 2023

Response by poster: You all are the absolute best. Thanks for all the suggestions — they are sparking ideas. I just added my IG and website to my profile :)

artdrectr, I feel the same way about the large following. I think I got into the IG world at the right time, when things were exploding organically. Not so much anymore.

Thank you all!

Oh and this morning after waking up I checked my phone, and a $300 painting had just sold. So that’s cool!!!!
posted by sucre at 7:29 AM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Are you willing to court a specific market by taking commissions and working in a certain style/media/subject space?

There's all kinds of things where people will happily commission a work, built around an interest. Think about painting someone's D&D character, or their pet, or their house. Lots of people will spend a few hundred bucks on something like that. The nice thing here is you can then post examples to groups for that thing, rather than groups for art.

I understand this may not be the most appealing artistically/aesthetically, but it's a potential way to sell more art and reach more people.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:45 AM on June 16, 2023

Best answer: I wonder if $300 - $500 is too low? I have a friend who is a professional artist, that is, she has no other source of income, and she found much more success when she was starting out by raising her prices. I don't think she ever sold prints, but her smaller paintings sold better when she raised the prices overall significantly. Somehow, a bit counter-intuitively, people sought out her work more when it was at a higher price point. Now she prices her paintings, like most artists I know, by the square inch. Sounds like pricing a commodity, but actually, that's how art is priced by professionals.

You might offer a discount if people buy more than one print or painting, and my friend gives a "friends and family" discount to soften the blow for her friends. She also does portraits (she doesn't have a gallery, but has a representative, who finds clients and organizes commissions. She gets a cut). She's now busy painting doctors, lawyers, academics, etc. Her non-portraits are sold through a gallery and she has a robust social media presence (sorry I am not up on the specifics) but also joined several artist groups like the Portrait Society to make professional contacts, some of whom have become friends. She's gone to yearly meetings and has submitted pieces for competitions. All this was quite a lot of work and there were some fees and other costs, but her business really took off. She was in your situation - frustrated with others' higher sales and wider reputation, and resisted diving into social media as a time sink, which it is, but all these efforts paid off.
posted by citygirl at 6:10 PM on June 16, 2023

Best answer: I know of this annual conference for artist business development but there are other versions out there I think.
posted by sepviva at 7:35 PM on June 16, 2023

Best answer: > There's all kinds of things where people will happily commission a work, built around an interest. Think about painting someone's D&D character, or their pet, or their house.

You may want to be a tiny bit careful. Note: r/ArtistLounge

> I almost got a commission but I backed out. Did I make the right decision? Last night, someone on instagram messaged me. They said they loved my work and wanted to commission me to draw 2 pet portraits for a decent amount of money.

> This was strange because my artwork is mostly on nature photography and acrylic paintings. And I never posted any detailed sketches on my Instagram. But I don’t mind drawing something if a person requested it though.

> And this was the first commission I ever got asked, but I knew I had to have an inquiry form on my website first to get details in writing. So I made the form and messaged it back to them.

> But they insisted on keeping it strictly to Instagram. And I’m guessing it’s because of me requiring an email, and the written document. And they’d rather not do that. But I needed that form filled out.

A:This is DEFINETLY a SCAM!! I get asked to do "pet portraits" and drawings constantly on Instagram even tho I am an abstract acrylic painter. Their aim is to overpay you and demand a refund or ask you to pay with Their payment method and pay a fee which would give them access to your credit card or bank info. BLOCK and report them for FRAUD!!

B: I had the same exact thing happen. When you encounter these scam accounts, set strict boundaries. Tell them you will accept payment up front and you will send them an invoice..they usually back out and leave you alone.

posted by sebastienbailard at 9:57 PM on June 16, 2023

Best answer: I had not heard of that as a scam venue, thanks. I learned of that market when I painted my mom's dog and she told me I could sell paintings like that for a few hundred bucks to her online dog friends, who regularly posted lesser portraits they had payed more for (King Charles cavalier spaniels fwiw). Anyway, there's a big difference between offering commissioned work to a group vs being solicited.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:05 AM on June 19, 2023