Jay's Tips: Becoming Successful

Have you ever had 2 people want to buy the same piece?  Have you ever had someone ask you if you had something smaller that came closer to their budget? And just how did you deal with these situations?... did you offer to paint another piece just like the first one? ...did you offer up another
piece at a discount , closer to their budget

These are sure signs that you should be a good candidate to self publish. With the advent of hi quality, archival inkjet printing technology, artists can now afford to self publish. To self publish you dont need to spend a lot of money out of pocket, and there is an excellent profit margin to be made. I am talking about Giclée printing where you can order as few as 1 print at a time, literally making prints to order. Without going into the actual technology in making these archival inkjet prints, let us say that you can have very high quality duplicates made, at bargain prices.

Giclée comes from a French word meaning "to spray" and replaced the earlier phrase "Iris prints" when many different manufacturors started making machines capable of these beautiful prints. Iris is the brand name of just one of the earlier makers of inkjet printers. The term now  refers to the
museum  quality and permanance of the ink and substrate (paper or canvas) rather than the resolution of the printer.

For the artists interested in making giclée prints of their originals, they should always be ready to provide the original art for the best match. This is sometimes not possible if the piece has been sold or is in a gallery. In the absence of the original a 4x5 or 8x10 color transparency is desirable,
rarely is a digital photo or 35mm slide of acceptable quality to reproduce the amount of detail in a large painting.

The artists should always be given several opportunities to view color proofs of their images, to assure the best match. Be critical at this stage and suggest as many improvements as you can. Do not expect an identical duplicate, because giclée printing is still made of very small dots in Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow and Black, and not individually colored pigments as in paint. But very close matches can be produced.

One the artist approves the final color balance, that is locked into the computer file and  identical prints can be made by a phone call.

Expect the price of print to vary with the amount you order and the size, but at my shop, an 18x24 print on rag paper can cost $40 each (when ordered in 4's) or $50 each in singles. We find that artists who can demand $500 or more for an original this size can get $150 - $200 each for their limited edition giclées. Thats about a 3x - 4x mark up.

"Its not about the technology - Its about the people"

Artists as a group are about the least interested in integrating new technology into what they do. Computers, software, cell phones, digital cameras are all fine and good, but do they really help you paint better? Yes there is a whole school of artists that create art about and with Technology, but they are far from the majority.

The web has surely helped distribute your works all over the world, but yours along with all those other artists...more exposure equals more competition as well as less impact. The web also strips your work down to its basic image and puts all work at the same scale. The web makes it easy for others to appropriate your concepts and imagery. How is this a benefit?

Digital cameras & Photoshop can take your work and let you rework (re-purpose) it for other uses; cards, calendars and the like. Let you build studies for future pieces out of snippets and scans.

New technology has helped each of us in our own way to be more aware, to be able to record and call up things we can use (for art or otherwise). Some artists use digital photography, others can use data bases, and still others use texting and weblogs.

But what about the human factor? Sure most Buyers are drawn to your imagery and style, but they are also drawn to you the artist. The want (need) to establish some intimacy between you two, I have said before "Buy a piece of art, buy a piece of the artist"!  

A new piece goes home with the Buyer and get hung in its place of honor. When that Buyer speaks to friends about the new piece, how important it is to tell that the Artist said "This" or "That" about the piece.  Insulating yourself from the Buyers is never a good idea, whether its using technology or not.

Your Gallery is run by knowledgable People who should be constantly monitoring the market. These People work with you to let you know what is going to appeal to the Buyers. You need to talk to them to guide you along your path to success. 

If you sell your own work, you know how much business you get from talking with People, wherever you are showing.

Technology may be useful to artists, but it shouldnt be your primary focus. And it shouldn't keep you from getting out there and  making a personal connection.

Thats the way I see it.