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Selling your art will help you take positive steps towards making a living as an artist. Check out these tips on how to sell your art in a number of ways:
You must make yourself known as an artist in order to sell your art. This requires a great deal of marketing. Submit pictures of your artwork to local newspapers and arts publications that feature new artists. Build a website that features your work. Post clippings of any press your artwork has received in the past. Add a blog to keep new content on your website and to show the person/motivations behind your art.
Find an artist gallery where you can display your art for sale. Artist galleries allow you to buy a wall space to sell your art, but you must submit a portfolio in order to be accepted. You can also try to get your artwork into a commercial gallery, which is more challenging. Submit your portfolio to all the commercial galleries in the area and see what you come up with. It might require you to build a relationship by showing up to gallery openings and special events. Send the gallery a link to your website if you have any recent press.
Many artists have found success in selling their artwork online. EBay is a good forum to use and allows you to sell in auction format or “buy it now”. You can also sell artwork on your website through a PayPal account or Google Checkout. If your website becomes popular enough, consider selling pay-per-click advertisements through Google AdWords. Also, websites like imagekind.com and yessy.com allow you to make your own profile and sell your artwork on their site.
Go to your local Chamber Of Commerce to find out if there are any art fairs or street festivals in your area. If you are looking for larger national festivals, find an arts festival magazine in a bookstore or online to search for the ones you want to submit to (sunshineartists.com is a good source). Larger arts festivals are more difficult to get into so make sure your portfolio is at its best and up-to-date.
Try to display your artwork for free in coffee shops, restaurants, salons, or boutique clothing stores. Offer a reasonable commission from any sale that is made from the particular business. This is a great way to make your artwork known in your community and it’s also a clever way to sell.
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