Can You Make a Living as a Visual Artist?

In order to make a living as a visual artist, you need to ask yourself some questions. You need to define what a "living" means to you. How much is that? How much income do you need per month? If you enjoy painting and have established a clientele over the years, then an auction venue such as ebay or artbyus might be just the thing. My wife sells paintings on ebay and does pretty well with her smaller paintings. It's fun and fulfilling plus she gets to keep all of her money, because she has no agent. Also the whole problem of pricing is easy because it's based on how well her paintings are selling at auction. Since her small paintings are selling for over $100.00 and up to $300.00, she just starts her work at between $30 and $40 each. Generally this low price creates a bidding war for her work.

She did her research, and then established herself in a niche market. She sells all of her work which is gratifying and also gets some money out of it. All images are saved for future prints. Her small s/n prints have sold for as much as $60.00 each. Since we produce those prints ourselves on a Giclee' printer, there is very little overhead except for the cost, the time and materials. She therefore makes a fair return on each print she produces. In addition we have a Cafe press shop. The shop has produced a lot of extra income for her as well. Christmas time is the peak season. So, in the short term an artist (such as my wife), who just enjoys doing her paintings and loves her subject matter can easily self manage a career to produce an income online. How much of an income depends upon the group of collectors that are attracted to the chosen subject matter.

However this approach doesn't work for everyone and so we come to the world of the brick and mortar gallery. I managed galleries for 20 years and can make a few recommendations that will help you get in the door. By organizing a well done presentation folder to show to the galleries, you'll be making it easy for an interested owner or an agent to help you to establish your work in the gallery system. Don't talk too much, let your work do the talking. Heres a few more things to consider.

Most successful, popular artists eventually develop a relationship with an agent who, among other functions, negotiates prices for the artists work in the gallery marketplace. The prices asked by art galleries are meant to maintain a certain level of value for the artists work. A client can be intrigued with a piece of art work, however sometimes they want a better price and then there is often a protracted period of negotiation for its purchase. Sometimes the actual price paid for artwork is considerably less than the artist was asking. On the other hand the gallery appraisal will always show the listed or established value. Insurance appraisals usually read higher because the loss might come at any time in the future and also insurance companies tend to low-ball the value of collectibles. All of the time involved in the pricing, and promoting an artists work will cost money and that money must come out of the sale of the artwork. It is in the galleries best interest therefore, to sell your art for a decent price. However with discounting, and promotional costs, sometimes that doesn't leave all that much for the artist. Is this a bad deal? No, not in the beginning because the trade off is that the well promoted artist will be able to command higher prices in the future. Promotion like this has to be done carefully to maintain integrity, so please be willing to move slowly.

In many cases it's a poor business practice for artists to represent their own work. Artists communicate best through art. The spoken word is not always their forte'. Art salespeople on the other hand are often great talkers and great believers in art for the home and think that an artist should be able to earn a reasonable amount for their creative efforts. Often too, the gallery will pay a commission for successful sale. If an Art Consultant likes your work and if he or she is clever, then they can build up your market in a matter of months, not years. Many professional galleries have a list of repeat buyers. Some of these people are only interested in one artist, whereas others have an avid interest in the work of any new "up and coming" artists. It is not unusual for a popular gallery to have many thousands of buyers. Remember too, that each art consultant, if smart, keeps in close contact with his collectors. Gradually over the years this relationship matures and the client will sometimes buy most of the work that the consultant is recommending, and that means they might even buy some of your work!

Every artist wants to make a good living as an artist, but it's important to realize that the vast majority of the people are not going to be able to afford to purchase a $150,000 original painting. On the other hand if the client can be sold on your prints, or your small works, than that's an area where many more people can collect.

When an artist agrees to work with a gallery, they need to ask the gallery owner, what are you going to do to further my career? Are you going to help me produce prints? Are you going to maintain price integrity? Are you able to make a market for my work? Is the gallery prestigious enough to influence those markets? Is the gallery able to speak with the museum community? Does the gallery have contacts within the academic community?

If you have the thing that people want, and if those people are the "right" people, than you'll be able to write your own ticket someday. Who are the "right "people? These would be those who are influential in the art museum world, such as the trustee of a prestigious museum, or the manager of a corporate collection, or the editor of an influential art magazine etc... Another type of buyer who might help your career would be someone who would be classified as a celebrity. Sales and contact with any of these people will probably help your career.

I have found that the artist can affect all of this positively or negatively depending on how they present themselves to the public at exhibitions. Please... be careful what you say to the public!

There is a lot more information to consider. I think though, we have successfully answered the question... you definitely can make a living as an artist if you are willing to work at it. And if your work isn't selling, then it's time to ask yourself about your creative motivation. If you have really strong feelings about your subject matter, then that should come through in your work. If it's not coming through to the viewer, then you will need to think some more about what you're doing visually. It doesn't hurt to consider what the critics say about your work. It might even cause you to look at your work in a new way and therefore help you to achieve a real breakthrough.