Where do artists tend to present their artworks for online viewers? The answer to this question depends on who you ask. With the myriad of options available, artists have used a variety of means to promote artworks online. These include an official online portfolio (artist website), Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Google+, blogging, newsletters, Ebay, and many free artist profile services (ie. Behance, Fine Art America, Deviantart, etc.).
In our artist spotlight questionnaire, I have been asking the question “Where do you promote your art online?” If you are the researching type, I would recommend going back through these spotlights. Find artists who match your own style, mediums, etc. Make a list of places where they showcase artworks, and note commonalities. Using this method, you have the possiblity of determining the best sites to present your artworks.
Below are 10 artists who have been previously featured at Artpromotivate.
Sharon Marston
New England, USA
Style: Varied
Mediums: digital and acrylic
Online Art Promotion:
“I use Facebook and Twitter daily. I always post my new art as soon as it is ready. I currently have 234 images of digital and traditional work on my Fine Art America site.
If there is a day that I haven’t made something new, I post something from the past, maybe pair it with a quote or sentiment for the day. I like to try and keep it interesting for the viewer. I don’t want it to seem like I am pushing my art onto people with a message that seems to scream out to “buy my art”. Although that is the optimal outcome, I want the message I send out to be “Enjoy my art”, no pressure, if you think it will make you happy, click the link and see what your buying options are.”
Johanette Van Deventer
West Coast South Africa
Style: Realism
Mediums: Oil Paintings
Online Art Promotion:
”I am part of a few art groups on Facebook which is a platform to interact with people that likes my art and or common interest”
Sophie Penstone
Cornwall, UK
Style: loose, impressionistic, illustrative
Mediums: Acrylic ink and watercolour
Online Art Promotion:
”This is new to me so I have recently opened an Etsy shop and am a member of artgallery.co.uk and Portfolio plus (Artists and Illustrators magazine). I also have a website and am just realizing the potential that Facebook has for exposure, especially pages such as Arts, Artists and Artwork and Seeking Artists.”
Kenneth Frizzell
Tennessee, USA
Style: Realism, impressionistic
Mediums: Watercolor, acrylic
Online Art Promotion:
”I sell my paintings on Ebay and I promote my work on Facebook and I have just started a website about my work. It is called Lost Creek Art”
Teresa Cash
USA
Style: Mixed Media - Inspirational
Mediums: Mainly acrylics
Online Art Promotion:
”I recently published my first website and I want to sell my art. I will continue to create inspirational art because I have messages I want to share and “Simple Truth/Simple Reminders”.”
Lloyd Knowles
Utah, USA
Style: metaphorical and geometric expressionism.
Mediums: acrylic on panel, etc.
Online Art Promotion:
”Still searching on marketing. I feel on-line is the way of the future. Galleries are closing, and those who are not mark up work until it’s either unsalable or the artist takes a hit.
My website and Facebook mostly, to a lesser extent my blog. I have work on a few other sites – I would like to know who actually sells on their sites.”
Shane Watt
Montreal, Canada
Style: Semi fictional cartography
Mediums: Ink, Acrylic, watercolor, spray paint and markers
Art Promotion:
”I've just recently finished a book and am looking at creating another large scale mural. I'd like to create more personalized commissions as well, I really enjoy collaborating with people on the story of their lives through geography...”
Kerry Fenton-Johns
New Zealand
Style: realistic
Mediums: acrylic
Online Art Promotion: “Facebook and my website”
Susana Mata Garcia
Barcelona, Spain
Style: Figurative
Mediums: Oil paint
Art Promotion:
“Through a gallery or sometimes people contact me, also I am subscribed at Saatchi online. At the moment I have sold a pair of pieces at the Saatchi.”
Aniqa Fatima
Pakistan
Style: Abstract art
Mediums: oil painting
Online Art Promotion: “I promote my painting though Blogging, Website and Twitter.”
Sharon Marston
Johanette Van Deventer
Sophie Penstone
Kenneth Frizzell
Teresa Cash
Lloyd Knowles
Shane Watt
Kerry Fenton-Johns
Susana Mata Garcia
Aniqa Fatima
While Ebay is an option for artists, it is a poor option as it de-values the artist's work. Ebay is viewed as a bargain, flee-market site. I would not recommend Ebay to promote one's artwork. Etsy is meant for creative people, however, a professional artist's work can get lost among the vast majority of "hobby" artists. Facebook is a fairly good means of promoting one's brand (themselves), however, achieving a significant following can be difficult.
ReplyDeleteEstablishing a PROFESSIONAL LOOKING website is the single most important thing an artist can do to promote themselves and create a fan-base. Having a website indicates that the artist is serious about their art business. For help building a website and optimizing it, please visit http://www.websitehelpforartists.com. Artists will find a significant increase in their online visibility and reach by having a properly optmized website with a clean layout and photography.
When I first began selling online I did alot of ebay sales for prints & ACEOs but held back on most originals since you are right, they do devalue~! I also have and Etsy shop, where I have had nearly 100 sales over the passed few years, but there too its all about traffic~ Thats when I began researching too and opened my own website initially for my own work and to store info I found along the way as to which sites were free to list it, which ones brought me sales and which ones didnt as well as which ones pirated my work~! The site latger apologized [because they were caught] and sent me a small amount to show they paid something but it just shows how hard it is to trust any of the Print on Demand[POD] sites. You really have to monitor them and continually search the net to see if your work appears anywhere else unauthorized.Just yesterday one of my artists found her work on a site which was unauthorized and traced it to another POD where it had been pirated. Many artists mistakenly upload large KB pics which are easily pirated as they can be reprinted. Its best to use low KB pics when posting online as the pics appear the same to the naked eye but when a pirate goes to copy they see the pic is under 150KB and know they cant reprint to sell it as the quality will be botched.
ReplyDeleteThere are decent enough PODs however with over 100Million estimated artists online, its hard to catch the public eye in ways to generate sales. On my site, I eventually allowed other artists to join and show their work and do group promotions and also list places to promote and ads to make that are free or low cost. I even learned to make banner lists and have some banner sites now to use as ad platforms for artists without having to pay those pay-per-click charges that banner ad companies try to rope people into. [those can actually cost an artist alot each month especially when many pay-per-clicks start at $.35 each regardless to whether the viewer ever buys anything. Constantly updating and reworking my website to make it look better and reach more people has been key to getting over 1000 unique visitors per week lately as my traffic increases with due diligence as to where to list and promote at that anyone can do once they know how. I keep lists of sites that bring some sales and no longer bother with the sites that dont bring any. We all spend more than enough time online trying to do what we do as I find myself doing more promo work for other artists than for myself anymore.Still there is strength in small solid groups and with over 350 artists on my site, I am just as happy to see one of them make a sale even if I dont.I like to offer choices to viewers which has brought in more traffic as well.Your blog is well thought out and well written :) As to PODs well I made my own this year and also give artists free stores but my POD is at manufacturers level so artists can actually make bigger profits as base prices are lower.The one I found does work for alot of drop shippers on ebay, so we are collectively transforming our little wholesale stores into retail like the other PODs without paying all the extra middlemen. Its a bit more complicated getting started but we help each other with them and then use my main site to do our promotions from.Artists have opportunities to promote just within their own profile pages if they know what to include to get viewers interest. We also discuss those things as well as how to edit ot get work indexed in google and more. If you want another blog site to cross promote your articles at you are welcome to join my site and make your own blog there as well. I have it advertised to many other sites so once posted there, it will be linked to alot of other art related sites, so you can spread the word of what you want to share with more artists linking them back here to you :) Ave at ArtRave com
I find the comments very inspirational.
ReplyDelete