How to Sell Art: The Abundant Artist Podcast

In this episode we cover:

3:13- Jesse's particular brand of hustle and the rules he created for himself early in his career that enabled him to make contacts and get gigs

6:24- What Jesse's art business looks like and when he accepts licensing deals

8:29- Living with mistakes in life, your business and in your work and discovering that often, they're not mistakes at all

13:07- How Jesse managed to get his work into over 100 galleries and the work required to maintain that level of activity

16:50- The advantages of hiring a studio assistant

18:20- How Jesse uses an inventory system to keep track of his work

19:49- Managing the struggle to shift back and forth between running the business and making art

23:50- Navigating relationships with galleries that don't want you to sell your work elsewhere or do your own marketing

31:31- How Jesse arrived at his pricing

38:00- Outsider art, what it means and how Jesse's art fits into the scene

42:27- Jesse's favorite Oregon beaches for getting away

44:14- How the lack of an academic background can be an advantage in dealing with galleries and growing your art business

In this episode we cover:

2:39: How Jennifer began the 100 Angels series

5:15: What it means to be in a black body and why it's important to create art that speaks to that unique experience

11:43: How to make a space for yourself as a woman/person of color/etc in an industry still dominated by white males

13:45: Jennifer shares some thoughts on ways that those who benefit from the status quo can make space for others and create a seat at the table for them, so to speak

21:45: What it means to see black women represented in art

25:45: Jennifer shares some artists representing people of color in interesting ways

30:05: The inspiration for Jennifer's new work-in-progress "Cold-blooded", the value of African American Vernacular English, and what it means to not feel safe to use your language openly

37:45: A brief discussion of Colin Kaepernick and the effects of his protest

42:58: Not a Very Good Day at All is Jennifer's new children's book; she shares the origins of that story and the heart behind the main character

In this episode, we cover:

1:55- The way travel informs and changes your visual vocabulary

8:15- The value of keeping a journal, particularly while traveling

9:45- The materials Robyn uses when journaling and making her own journals

14:45- Robyn's journey to making art full time and how she has found ways to support herself

22:10- Visual artists often find themselves pigeonholed into one form of art, but with a common thematic thread you can diversify and create whatever kind of art you wish

23:30- The old gallery system intentionally controls artists in order to control their product. Recognizing this and realizing that you don't have to be confined by it can be very freeing for visual artists

25:25- Strategies for managing, creating, and selling art across different mediums

27:45- How Robyn got into the surface design industry and how it can be a very lucrative sales channel for artists

29:50- Robyn's work early in her career on the Middle Passage, how she came to create that work and its place in her career

33:55- Navigating the norms of the art industry and how modern technology allows more marginalized artists to take greater control of their own work and broadcast it the way they want to

36:00- You don't need formal training as an artist! View your art as a business and don't get mired in the lack of a BFA

36:56- How the Arizona Artisans Guild came into being and how it's helping artists and artisans share their work

In this episode we cover:

2:30- The concept of "idea debt", a term coined by Amulet author Kazu Kibuishi, and why it's probably holding you back.

8:40- The comics that appealed to Jessica before it even occurred to her that she could be a comic book artist herself, and how she got started in the industry.

12:20- The lessons that indie self-publishing artists can take away from Jessica's experiences self-publishing in the pre-Internet age, particularly the power of connecting with a group of like-minded people who can promote your work and vice-versa.

15:07- The more interest you have in your network (or your "tribe"), the more you grow as a person and can find new ways to make connections and grow your business.

19:35- Jessica shares her trajectory from independent self-publishing comic book artist to chair of illustration at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and mainstream publishing. While the line seems straight enough to be drawn with a ruler, in truth it's a much more meandering path that led her there. The key to ending up where you want to be is to stick with it.

27:40- Jessica has spent time living in both Mexico and France, and discusses the impact that traveling abroad can have on your work, and how it can broaden your ideas about language, culture, and story.

36:29- The ways that cultures translate amongst diverse groups of people, and is it disgusting to dip your french fries in your milkshake?

38:39- The primary reason that achieving creative focus is difficult is because it's self-generated work. Jessica discusses in her new book, Growing Gills, how this can lead to procrastination and unhappiness. A large part of the solution to this problem is conscious decision-making.

46:51- Our culture doesn't know how to support a larger number of individuals attempting to complete self-generated creative work. There is no formal training for this skill, and so creatives must be the ones to connect and hold one another accountable.

51:17- Clarification on what conscious decision making looks like in real-life scenario.

In this episode we cover:

6:35- John's fascinating trajectory that some might consider backwards- he transitioned from digital work to traditional mixed-media and resin.

7:16- The artwork you create at any given time is a culmination of all your previous work, and this adds tremendous value to your art.

8:56- There is a lot of truth to the idea of "picking a focus", but this means that moving forward and trying new things requires courage. Don't be afraid to push and grow as an artist.

11:50- There is value in honing an aesthetic and remaining consistent in that aesthetic, even as you explore a variety of subject matter.

16:35- John talks about the charitable projects he's been involved with, why he donates so much of his work and the (several) reasons that it matters.

28:05- John talks selling channels- digital and traditional, and why he is in favor of both.

34:46- How to choose a photographer to take high-quality photos of your art, and why it's so important to have good images of your work.

42:10- Some of the things that make John's website unique, like a Live Chat window, and why they work for him.

45:55- How John creates composite mockups of his art in different spaces for prospective customers.

In this episode, we talk with Kickstarter's Head of Curation, Willa Koerner. A former curator at MoMA and other museums, Willa has a deep understanding of curation, internet culture, and the very leading edge of art.

For more show notes, go to theabundantartist.com/podcast18

In this episode, we cover:

2:00 - Camilla D’errico explains how she got started attending comic cons, and how her presence at the conventions has changed over 18 years. Her first solo show sold out!

7:30 - Camilla addresses the fact that its scary to put your work out for people to see, and how she deals with it.

11:00 - How Camilla has been so incredibly prolific with her work, and why she chose to license her work in various ways.

18:00 - What Camilla’s team looks like - her employees, as well as the freelancers that she works with. She also directly addresses how long it took her to start hiring out for the tasks she didn’t want to do.

25:00 - How she deals with haters, and a hilariously rude example of one.

29:00 - Camilla has a show running in Los Angeles at the Corey Helford gallery.

Leonardo Pereznieto has over 1,000,000 subscribers on Youtube. In this podcast, we break down how he did it and what it’s done for his business.

http://www.artistleonardo.com/

:32 - Leonardo explains how he grew his audience base to over 1,000,000 subscribers. https://www.youtube.com/user/FineArtEBooks/

2:30 - Leonardo is a member of the Youtube Partner program. He explains how the ads work and how he makes money from them.

7:00 - the tutorials have exploded interest in his work. From those tutorials, he got a publishing deal with a major publisher, including a great advance.

Galleries and magazines have presented his work. Newspapers write about him. And it all happens because of his Youtube channel.

13:00 - Leonardo talks about the kind of videos he makes and what processes and equipment he uses for his videos.

22:00 - How he built a mailing list of 6,000 people off of his Youtube videos.

In this episode, I talk to Maria Brophy. She’s one part of an art business couple that sells and licenses art all over the world.

1:30 Maria talks about her corporate background and how she and Drew started doing business together, and how working together happens.

11:00 - Maria talks about the mindset necessary to be a successful artist. Having policies, getting paid up front, and using contracts are necessities. Shoot for having a profit.

17:45 - Maria’s magic words for getting payment up front: “This is how I work.”

20:30 - I ask Maria how they balance selling original work with selling licenses. Some really interesting bits about how Drew separates his creative work and business work.

In this episode, we cover:

3:00 ­ Cory & Kelly talk about the difference between talking about technique and talking about

the emotional quality of art.

7:19 ­ How Kelly came up with the flyer idea and executed on it.

12:30 ­ How Kelly found interior designers. Check out Houzz.com and the website for the

Association of Interior Designers

19:45 ­ Kelly talks about her time as President of Portland Open Studios tour. She details what

she did as well as how other artists can benefit from an organization like this locally.

Kelly Neidig’s website is KellyNeidig.com.