Navigating a full time art career.

9/7/2023

This is a dream of many artists and unfortunately it can seem like a daunting task because honestly there are so many decisions to make. Decisions that are necessary, sometimes scary, and you don't know if you are doing it 'right.'

As I've built my career, I've learned a lot, made some mistakes, and found a rhythm that works for me and my clients are more importantly my customers are confident to purchase from me.

From a talk that I gave at the Langley location of Opus, I wanted to share the topics that I touched on.

Pricing
Prints
What to paint
How do you find your market
Pricing
Shipping
Multiple styles of artwork
Do I need a website
Confidence
Getting organized
How do I organize my time in order to meet the submission/commission deadlines.
What to measure to know if I'm even making progress
What are you capable of from a spiritual, physical, creative aspect
Steps necessary for getting your business together
How do I change the style of my art without losing my followers?
What if I’m not tech savvy
Reading list of inspiring books
Does my art matter
“It’s so scary putting yourself out there”

In the coming weeks I will be writing to answer these questions and providing pdf downloads where possible to support you in the growth of your business.

Let me know if there is a topic that you would like me to cover if you don't see it here simply by leaving a comment below.

2 Comments

Jen Mets

10/7/2023 09:14:04 am

How do you display or present your art on social media? I often see your paintings displayed in a frame, on a wall in a living room scene. I believe it’s to show the dimensions of your work and how it would look in a specific space. Is there a specific app or program available to showcase your work in this format? How do you find and use these programs?

Ciel Ellis link

10/7/2023 09:41:11 am

Hey Jen. Thanks for your question. It's pretty easy. There are several apps available for your phone that allow you to upload and image and place it in a room. I use Smartist. Art Placer if another one I've seen many people use. It costs about 100 for the year. They have a trial version so you can check it out and see if you like it.

You load your photo, tell the app what the size is in inches/cm, then choose the room that you'd like to put it in. Kitchen, living, office etc. You can add a frame and matting right in the app and change the wall colours from a selection of options in the app. You can also show the piece from an angle. Pretty slick.

It gives a better sense of scale when you show the piece in the room. It's pretty fun. Let me know if you have any other questions. I'd be happy to help.

Ciel.

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