Viridis
June 28th, 2008, 11:03 AM
So, I have a question. My friend, a long-time artist, has been out of the "art world," as it were, for awhile now. She's looking to get back into it and start promoting herself again, more specifically, to go digital and move things on to the internet. She's not totally tech-savvy, so I generally give her advice on that side of things, since I'm online all the time and hang out on a number of art-related sites.
I already suggested a personal website/gallery, and will be helping her set that up in the near future. But as for other places to post on or advertise, I'm a bit at a loss. She generally works in pastels or acrylics, and does landscapes and portraits-- often quite large works; some of her previous pieces were about 5-7 feet, and I haven't seen many of her pieces smaller than 18 x 24". She's most definitely a "fine artist," and used to do the gallery and art fair scene until it proved too difficult financially. My understanding is that her work has generally sold the best with older women, as she says, "people who are decorating."
She's done a little selling on eBay, doing postcard-sized originals and such, but complains that the prices are too low.
However, I'm a bit at a loss as to where I can point her on the internet to advertise her work. DeviantArt, with it's "kawaii" mentality (for lack of a better term), is not really the right atmosphere for fine or professional art, as most people here are more than aware. I don't think it's a totally useless site myself, because with that many people there's at least some exposure to be gained, but the anime/comic-leaning stuff is obviously vastly more popular.
The only other large-scale place for selling art that I'm familiar with is Etsy, and that seems much more known for its crafts than it's art sales. While they do have an art section, it's such a mixed bag that I'm not sure how well paintings would do. Etsy also focuses on the "handmade" aspect, so prints aren't really an option.
Is there anywhere else that might be a better fit? A personal website, it seems to me, can only do so much. I know this forum is full of professionals, even if it seems like a lot of people are in the comics/illustration industry, which is not quite the same. Commercial art versus fine art, and all that.
If there isn't a place online, does anyone have suggestions for drawing people in? How do you get exposure to your own personal site or gallery?
Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.
I already suggested a personal website/gallery, and will be helping her set that up in the near future. But as for other places to post on or advertise, I'm a bit at a loss. She generally works in pastels or acrylics, and does landscapes and portraits-- often quite large works; some of her previous pieces were about 5-7 feet, and I haven't seen many of her pieces smaller than 18 x 24". She's most definitely a "fine artist," and used to do the gallery and art fair scene until it proved too difficult financially. My understanding is that her work has generally sold the best with older women, as she says, "people who are decorating."
She's done a little selling on eBay, doing postcard-sized originals and such, but complains that the prices are too low.
However, I'm a bit at a loss as to where I can point her on the internet to advertise her work. DeviantArt, with it's "kawaii" mentality (for lack of a better term), is not really the right atmosphere for fine or professional art, as most people here are more than aware. I don't think it's a totally useless site myself, because with that many people there's at least some exposure to be gained, but the anime/comic-leaning stuff is obviously vastly more popular.
The only other large-scale place for selling art that I'm familiar with is Etsy, and that seems much more known for its crafts than it's art sales. While they do have an art section, it's such a mixed bag that I'm not sure how well paintings would do. Etsy also focuses on the "handmade" aspect, so prints aren't really an option.
Is there anywhere else that might be a better fit? A personal website, it seems to me, can only do so much. I know this forum is full of professionals, even if it seems like a lot of people are in the comics/illustration industry, which is not quite the same. Commercial art versus fine art, and all that.
If there isn't a place online, does anyone have suggestions for drawing people in? How do you get exposure to your own personal site or gallery?
Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.