Art marketing is a key part of being an artist, as without promoting your work, no one will know that it exists, therefore you will not get any income or support with your artistic practices.
Building an online art portfolio is very recommended upon the art community, as most things nowadays are promoted through online media. It is also a great way to directly show people your best works, whether it be for an art competition, networking with a new contact or even business related. Your art portfolio often serves as a first impression, so you want to make sure it is professionally laid out, with your best pieces of work on the cover page. Online portfolios can easily be created with free website builders such as Wix or Weebly. By entering art competitions, you are also promoting your work.
If you are lucky enough to win, you will earn some attention, but do not be disheartened if you do not win, as competition holders will often show off some runner-ups on display too on their website, social media or even magazines/newspapers. Social media is another brilliant way to boost your artworks attention, although you are best having an organised uploading routine, as if you go on a hiatus you may risk loosing followers. By adding hashtags to your posts you increase the chance of having your work viewed, as members of the public will often search hashtags if they are looking for a particular subject. There is also a vast range of social networking sites that can be used, between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.. |
You could also incorporate blogging into your portfolio, as an interesting behind-the-scenes documentation of your workflow, and of course an online store, where members of the public may choose to purchase some of your works if they do so please.
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If you manage to gain a following on social media you can even use a peer-to-peer promotional technique, by holding contests.
A common contest I have seen small artists do on Instagram includes a replication of a drawing the initial artist created, but in your own style, this is a common technique as it does not only help to promote the initial artist, but it also helps their peers art skills improve by studying a piece of work, and developing on it in their own style.
Artists may also offer free products as prizes, if you were to like, share and comment on their posts.
A common contest I have seen small artists do on Instagram includes a replication of a drawing the initial artist created, but in your own style, this is a common technique as it does not only help to promote the initial artist, but it also helps their peers art skills improve by studying a piece of work, and developing on it in their own style.
Artists may also offer free products as prizes, if you were to like, share and comment on their posts.
By organising your own art shows, you are definitely promoting your work, as you could get your art displayed within a museum, or an arts centre. You could even switch it up and create a public show, wether it be in the street or in a shopping centre. You could also create posters advertising the show and place them around town.
If you attend art exhibitions, fairs, or organisations you are most likely to network with some other fellow artists and members of he public, this could be very beneficial to advertising your work as you could hand out your own business cards, so they know where to find or contact you about any of your works. By getting involved in your community you are certainly putting yourself out there, as you could create work for charity auctions or participate in community art projects such as murals. These could be held in public places such as building walls, subway stations, town centres, roundabouts etc.. Although make sure you have permission from the land owner first. |
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Creating collaborative pieces is also a great way to get noticed, as you will have peers from both sides of the artists followings coming together to support the piece.