Art Tips, Tricks, and More...15
You
never know when you might hear an art tip about something that is just
the suggestion that will solve an issue for you or help you and your
work in some way. This is an ongoing series of tips and I
would LOVE to have your suggestions as well!Art Tips, Advice, Suggestions for the NON Computer Savvy
For this art tip session, let's look at some of the basic skills and uses that an artist must have some knowledge of when it comes to the dastardly internet and any machine that's connect to it.
Although many artists do fine without the computer, perhaps those of a certain age, or because of some job positions a person held, these folks may not have been born with a laptop handed to them. Nonetheless, there are skills, knowledge and truly "must haves" that will help in your artistic goals if you take the time to learn them. Occasionally you even realize how you ever functioned without them.
1. Email. How we stay connected to anyone on the planet that might like your art. I'd dare to say, if nothing else, an artist must have an email account. Yet, I hear it all the time, the complaint of so many emails. But then again, if your art group is sending you emails about important things, reminders or questions -that could also be time sensitive- most would want to know BEFORE the due date, wouldn't you? a. Microsoft Outlook Email - Organize your email to separate personal, art group, art info, etc. into folders and view when you have time, if at all. Up to you. b. Manage Inquiries about your art c. Send Newsletters to your email list
d. Network with other artists, art groups
e. Submitting for a Call to Art or other art shows, exhibits.
f. Email Etiquette: AVOID Reply ALL emails, unless it is of the utmost importance to EVERYONE getting the email. A simple response in an email of "Thanks" or "Congratulations" is not imperative to the entire 'Reply All' email list. Direct conversations in emails to those who it directly relates to.
g. Email Spam - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are art scammers out there. The the email sounds weird, don't take ANY steps until you are absolutely certain to whom you are dealing with and make sure payments clear BEFORE your artwork is sent or before any work is put into the inquiry. 2. Social Media. Manage the Social Media site(s) you are on - especially as you promote who you are, what you do, where you are doing what you do, how you do it, when you are doing it, AND where they can BUY it. a. Keywords
- if your post is about you and your art, be sure and get the keywords
"YOUR NAME" and "ART" in the post at a minimum. The internet is about
finding things and you use certain words to find those things. So if
someone was looking for you or something related to what you do, USE the
right words. b. Hashtags - are like keywords except that you put # in front of the phrase and run the words together. #art #acrylicpainting #oilpainting #princewilliamartsociety
c. Emoticons - no smiley faces for the artist! Use these: 🖼🖌🎨📷 or if you are showing a beach painting you did, add any of the beachy themed emoticons. People click on those too.
d. Join Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, X (Twitter), YouTube - start with one or two and learn your way around. Just remember, if you are using it as your art business entity, treat it as such.
e. Different platforms have similar features like Following, Commenting, Liking and Sharing - which DOES mean caring. If you've heard of internet "influencers" these guys are the ones with TONS of 1. Followers, 2. Commentors, 3. Likes, and... 4. Shared content. Hence the importance of helping out your art group, favorite artist friends, etc with taking part in being social. The more of each of these 4 you have, the more it is seen - that's a basic rule here. Click Baby, click.
g. 5:3:2 Engagement Rule/Brand Building: for every 10 posts on your social media...
- Curation: 5 content posts from OTHER sources relevant to your audience.
- Creation: 3 content posts from what YOU created relevant to your audience.
- Humanization: 2 out of the is the fun content that humanizes our brand. (If you paint cats, NOW is the time for the funny cat videos).
3. Blog. Manage Your Blog that you share your latest creations on, your art events, thoughts, images, progress, etc. Some of this stuff would not necessarily be ON your website, but it should be linked to your website.
a. Blogger - Artistry Spin uses this platform, free from Google's Blogger
b. WordPress
c. How to Start a Blog in 2023 (Not affiliated with this, for info purposes only) 4. Artist Website. Build, manage and/or update your own website. If you are serious about your art, your own website is pretty much necessary. There are some free and low cost options, but as in all things, you get what you pay for.
a. The internet revolves around fresh content. Stale websites must be updated so get something on your calendar to do periodically.
5. Calendar. Manage your event calendar and to do lists. Even better, sync your devices so you stay up to the minute. From your PC or laptop, to your tablet and smart (butt) phone - sync up the important stuff. There is only one you and I'm sure you want to know when you volunteer or have an event to be at and surely they aren't scheduled at the same time.
a. Schedule commissions and/or projects
b. Art shows, events, appearances
6. Design Your Own Marketing Materials, Advertisements, Press Releases
a. Many artists plan out their next artwork design.
7. Software and Apps. Use art helpful software like PhotoShop, digital art programs
a. Photo editing and resizing photographs - some knowledge in photo editing basic skills are quite necessary. Think about those Call for Art requirements.
8. Finances. Manage all of your art business Finances
a. Point of Sale for your personal sales at your art shows: reports, inventory
b. Invoicing your Clients
c. Make deposits, banking management.
d. Pay your light bill so you can see to paint.
9. Your Art Inventory. Manage your Artist Inventory for everything you have created. Excel is great for this, but there are online apps for it too.
a. Keep track of what you submitted where and when.
b. Track any awards, recognition and reviews of note.
c. Know what's sold, when it was created, where your art is now.
e. Save your best inventory images and SAVE TIME! Save your artwork as LASTNAME_FirstInitial- Title of Your Artwork and Save those in a "JURY" file that is ready to go out when you submit your art to art shows. When the art show/gallery is getting the emails in from multiple artists, the image labeled properly positively identifies which file is which, which of your artworks submitted is titled which.
10. Research what I can't get to in person
a. Add to Favorites, Bookmarks11. Learning new skills a. Yeah, the YouTube rabbit hole. You just wanted a refresher on that one skill and 5 hours later... Managing your computer time to be productive is important too.
12. Shopping for art supplies
a. Oh no, I'm out of XYZ! Amazon will deliver it tomorrow!!
13. Security. Learn to take regular backups of your computer critical info especially the art info you need to have. In case of total computer failure, you have to have your reference photos, your painting images, art business info stored in more than one location. Play smart.
a. Or use external storage.
15. Calls for Art - when you receive a call for art and that call asks for certain things, follow those instructions to the letter, including image formatting. The person receiving the submissions may be asking for pieces of information so that he or she can copy and paste the data received so that formatting is the same for everyone, in the same order.
a. Every Call for Art is different, making the submission process directions VERY IMPORTANT!
16. Reading this Blog, Commenting, Following and Sharing Artistry Spin - put what you just learned to good use!
If you are not doing at least some of these computer skills on your own, artists will be paying someone to do it for them. It is not overwhelming. Just take things a step at a time and DO rely on our trusty friends, Google, Bing, or your favorite browser to look up what you do not know.
Again, I know not all artists were born with a smartphone attached to their ears. If you have suggestions to add to this list to help out the art group and your community of art friends, please share them.
Art Tips is a series of blog posts with around 12 tips per post. See the rest of the Art Tips Series on this page for more tidbits of advice: https://artistryspin.blogspot.com/p/art.html
Send me YOUR art tips too or drop them in the comments below. AND let me know if you find an art tip here that you LOVE!
Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, Donna's Etsy and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The
Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in
PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern
Virginia. Visit
us at any of our local art shows and our monthly meetings - held on the
4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center 12298 Cotton
Mill Drive, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm.
Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership
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