This will be the second to last of my posts about my plans for transitioning to working independently. But before I move on, this week I am talking about finding places to sell artwork. This of course correlates with my post last week about finding clients, but this is more directly about getting my own work out to sell.
The first of these is of course through the interwebs. Both myself and and my wife are slowly setting up shops around various websites in order to start a process of getting our work available. We started this process back in May with the advent of our main site for our studio known as the Chaku Chaku Studio. This is our essential homebase and a continuing work in progress for forthcoming web workings, and we plan on continuing its development through expansion and narrowing the focus over the next few months.
As part of the site we have taken advantage of some of the big names for arts-related web sales and opened 3 separate store fronts on:
This follows are continuing attempts to sow many seeds and see what grows. Each site has certain strengths and weaknesses that we are hoping to work into a cohesive shared strategy. At present Etsy and Red Bubble are set up more as a way to learn about their systems than they are to really market and hustle with. The Big Cartel was set up as a simple (and we totally recommend the Big Cartel platform by the way) way to get our charity work for Japan up and available. All of these all remain works in progress that we will be expanding and improving over the next few months and years. I won’t go into any details about what they will be here, but feel free to take a look or even make a purchase or two.
Our second avenue has been participating in local arts festivals. We have done this a few times this year already as we took part in our town’s First Friday events and were able to get out and have a fair go at it several times this year. We will be formally announcing and getting out more details on our next big art festival appearance here in the coming weeks, but I am happy to tell you that we will be participating in the Doylestown Art Festival on September 17th and 18th. So write down those dates and come on out.
Participating in local arts events has been awesome. Not only have we done fairly well so far with selling work, but we have also had the opportunity to make friends and make connections in the larger community.
The next avenue is one that might be described as the most traditional, and in truth is one about which I have the greatest reservations. This would be approaching and working with galleries. I recognize the value of working with galleries and would love to have a staff of salespeople to take up the work of getting some of my work sold, but I am hesitant at this point to make it one of my primary focuses of energy. This is for two reasons, one, I currently am focusing a lot on drawings, and I see those drawings as a necessary step to a series of larger painted works. Until I have a satisfactory series of paintings completed, I am don’t want to rush into a search for a gallery to show them at. And second, considering the possibilities the web offers in comparison to the area which we currently live, I am still in a mode of researching what my best options would be in terms of professional galleries.
I am definitely keen on pursuing options at galleries, but I feel they don’t need to be my primary focus just yet.
The fourth avenue for pushing our work out is one about which my wife and I are currently most excited. We have begun planning and plotting out several new projects that will use our art and illustration as their basis, but will also be part of something larger than just our artwork. These will encompass new websites, books and products. I won’t go into too many details, but rest assured when details are available we will be marketing them like crazy.
So, web store fronts, local art festivals, working on gallery shows and forthcoming projects make up the bulk of our sales strategies over the next year. All of these ‘plans’ continue to grow and take on the shape of reality as we work.
I admit there is part of me that feels a little silly writing about things being planned, and things being worked on in secret. I recognize that as posts labeled ‘Planning Stages,’ that is what these are supposed to be, but I don’t like listing ideas in process, I will much prefer being able to point out finished projects and products we can be proud of.
That said, everything is a work-in-progress these days, and with a new daughter, new work and now a new house all filling this year, we are a bit crazed to explain how we have gotten as much done this year as we have. For us this has been a year of planting seeds, and now we move into a process of cultivation. We trust that the blooms will come to the patient and persistent.
As always, if you have any ideas or comments, feel free to chime in below.