How To Get Started In The Trade Of Art

Being able to sell art is not an easy task. Even those people who are already art collectors are hesitant to be the first buyers from obscure or not so well known artists. Additionally, it is way more difficult to sell to people who are not really art collectors and do not know anything about you. However, once you get to make that first sale of your masterpiece, selling again would be a lot easier than before.

Is Your Art Ugly? So What!

As an artist, you should not start doubting yourself or your creativity or skill, if you are not immediately successfull in selling your artworks. An overnight success is rare. There are several reasons why people who already appreciate art do not buy pieces all that often. Such reasons may be related to their limited knowledge about art, their own self-confidence, or some sort of identity crisis of what their taste actually is, and how much it matters to them what others will say about the pieces they buy. So you should take rejection with a pinch of salt, and definitely not personal. Never. You are above that.

A lot of people in the art industry, whether they are new ones or old, usually worry of what other people would say about their purchase, or that their colleagues and friends would make fun of them. Even though a person likes a certain artwork of yours, they are probably not sure on how well done the piece is, whether it’s really worth the price, or whether you as an artist are established enough in your career to warrant such prices.

Thus, your job as an artist is to help those people that admire your art feel secure and comfortable with you both, as an artist and as a businessperson. As you do this, you help alleviate whatever other fears that they may have and have a higher probability that they’d buy your art.

If you don’t know where to start, then here are some tips on how you can make admirers of your art buy your piece and hopefully in time, turn them into patrons.

Tell Them: It’s OK, really

Before you even start off with your sales talking, you should be able to show people that purchasing your artworks is okay. You can try talking about other collectors that have bought your pieces, what kind of people they are and how long you have been transacting with them. Doing this would make your prospective buyer let go of the thought that you’re just some bozo trying to sell him a piece of junk and get hold of his cash.

However, if you haven’t had any collectors, then you should say so honestly. You should tell your prospective buyer that you are open to the possibility of selling your art to them, although you haven’t really done this before.

How Do You Sell?

You should also talk to them about your approach to selling art and under which specific circumstances people buy it. Additionally, it would be helpful if you tell stories or anecdotes of how other collectors have bought their first artworks from you. And of course talk about your most recent sale, how you were able to sell it, and for how much money.

The method of how you price your works should also be mentioned, along with, what type of work is favorite among your collectors, and how many you already have sold over all.

Exposure

Lastly, it would be really helpful if you talk about all the exposures that you’ve already had in the industry, such as museum, institution or gallery exhibits; trade fairs, awards, prizes and honors that you’ve received. Just like you have to frame your artworks, you should also put a nice frame around your achievements as a businessperson promoting your art.
Happy Painting ,

JanPaul

PS

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