Artist..... GET ATTENTION.

Artist..... GET ATTENTION.

                                                                Painting by Maki.

The last Artist post I wrote was all about attitude and that is so important. In this post I want to talk about GETTING ATTENTION.

If you are not getting peoples attention then they will not even know you exist.

You need to be heard in all the noise and that my friends is not easy in our information packed world.

A small child knows how to get attention, they will not stop until they get your attention.

Yet as adults we do not try to get peoples attention for a number a reasons.

Fear of rejection.

Fear of being criticised,

and a big reason we do nothing is this, we worry about what our friends will think of us if we get out there and push and promote ourselves?

Well the truth is that it does do matter what your friends think and if they do criticise you for marketing and promoting yourself. Move on and find some positive friends.

There are three groups of people who can hold us back, family, friends and ourselves. The first two groups you can just ignore but it is hard to ignore your own doubts and fears.

Artists wonder why they are ignored and isolated?

Well most of the time it is because no body knows you.

You are unknown and will stay unknown if you do not get attention.

So the moral of the story is you need to get attention.

How do I get attention?

The old way.

1. Art competitions.

I not not an advocate for being in art competitions though I know if you can win some competitions that is a great boost to your career, my concern is all the very talented artists who get overlooked by judges who have their own agendas, moving on.

2. Group shows.

I think group shows are good as long as all the Artists are of similar talent levels, usually you can see one or two good Artists and the rest are not very serious and really just want to have fun and are not serious about their art.

3. Finally find a Gallery and then paint alone in your studio.

Now this is the normal way that young Artists try to get attention, also one other way that some young artists employ is to go back to your school Professor and ask for their help and work with an established Artist and hope you can get some help from them.

These ways are slow and for many this is the way it is to be done, but I totally disagree.

In today’s world you have to get your own attention and you cannot do it in the old ways because the old ways work for so very few.

How would I get attention if I was a young Artist just out of college?

1. Be friendly to everyone you meet, because everyone is your potential customer.

The brooding, sulking, shy artist might work in books and movies but in the real world you need to be friendly and outgoing and meet people. If that scares you, great get out of your comfort zone and meet people.

Do you want to sell paintings to people and be famous?

I know you are not thinking about fame and fortune because you are happy to be a nobody and starve? Not right?

Then all the people that you need to buy your paintings, you are meeting every day.

Everyone you meet is a potential customer, be friendly, if people like you they will buy from you.

Meet people and be friendly.

2. I would use all the free internet platforms to promote myself.

[a] I would use Facebook... not to post funny photos of me and my friends, but I would use it as my main advertising vehicle and I would post my paintings on it 3 times a day. If you have not got enough for that then post about your work habits, your studio, talk about yourself and create stories around yourself.

You are a creative Artist so be creative with how you promote yourself.

People want to know you Artist and they want to like you and then they will buy from you if you talk about you and they like you.

[b] I would use Twitter, Instergram and do it every day.

[c]I would blog about my art, my journey as an artist, how I paint my paintings and I would do it every week and if you can twice a week.

I cannot stress how important it is to use these platforms and do it on a regular basics, every day, it is work, it is hard work, it is your job to promote yourself.

Not only are you an Artist and you must work at your craft but you must also work at promoting yourself, your art business.

Artist you will impact greatly on your career if you seriously promote yourself every day, set aside 3 to 4 hours a day to do it and if you work at painting all day then do it at night, it is your responsibility to grow your art business.

3. Find a Gallery.

This is the dream of every Artist to find a Gallery.

Many Artists believe that if they get into a Gallery that magically they will just sell and from that day on it will be all fame and fortune.

That is so far from the truth.

If you get into a good Gallery yes they will promote you, but remember you are one of many Artists within that Gallery that they are promoting. Even though you are now represented by a Gallery you will still have to promote your self, keep doing the Facebook and emails and blogging, all that work will not stop, because nobody cares about your career as much as you do.

Your first one man show at the Gallery, what do you do?

This is the time to meet and greet every person who comes into the opening of you exhibition in the Gallery.

It constantly amazes me at openings how the Artist stays back in the shadows with their friends, to shy to talk to the people who have come to their show, they do not seem to understand that these people have given up their precious time to come and see the Artists work.

Appreciating your potential buyers by not meeting them will not get you very many sales.

Artist it really is all about the sales.

Remember Artist it is your responsibility to meet every person, you should have spoken to every person who has come to your opening before the evening ends.

Yes it is hard to do.

Yes you will have to get out of your comfort zone to do it.

Yes it will be fearful and you will feel intimidated, but do it.

Always remember the people who come to your opening want to be friendly, they chose to come to your show so that is a great complement to you, now smile and meet them and become friends with them.

If the collector likes you, they will like your paintings.

If you are friendly to people you will get their attention.

As a Gallery person I want the best for all the Artists I represent, I want them all to be successful and earn a good living from there art. Like all professions some Artists will work hard and promote themselves and others will wait around for someone else to do it and that most likely that will not happen unless they are very good and the promoter is getting something out of it.

Remember Artist you are your best salesman, you know your work intimately and you need to be the one to talk about it.

You need to get attention.

Get onto the free internet platforms and get attention.

Get out and meet people who love art and convince them to love you, get their attention.

Remember all the people who will buy your paintings are out there, now you just need to meet them.