................
Charlotte....
Sorry its taken so long to get back to you....Let me tell you first a bit about myself...Long before my photography in a land far far away,oh wait,wrong story lol!!!....Anyway...I have always loved the outdoors with a passion...So my interest in wildlife and nature art was just a given.about 15 years ago or more i started to study it and the masters like Robert Bateman,Bev Doolittle and the then infamous Stephen Lyman....
Before studying them i met a local artist Doug Miller and became friends with him...His work was not selling so i offered to become his sales rep...I did in home art shows for people...In the time i did this i outsold his galleries and he had to hire a student to matt prints as he could not keep up with my orders...his site
www.dougmillerart.com
I also became good friends with Local artist Jeff Tift ....His site >>>>>
www.jefftift.com On his site you will see a print "First Alert" i soooo want that print!!!
from those two i learned a lot about the art industry.They are both very kind and patient guys...I attended the PAC Rim show twice (Pacific Rim Wildlife Art show) and was able to meet legends like Robert Bateman and Bev doolittle and Stephen Lyman just before his death...This fueled the fire i had for collecting and learning about Fine Art,in this case paintings and lithos but none the less Fine Art.
I studied all the Greenwich Workshop,Wildwings,Apple Jack and Mill Pond Press and came to know and become friends with Dianne owner on Natures Image in MN which at the time was the third largest gallery in the nation...Dianne and i become good friends.I picked up things from her about the art world and schools of thought and sales....Reading every Mill Pond Press issue and the others helped me get to know prices and edition sizes....
At one point i wanted to go to work for Mill Pond Press...Dianne was good friends with owner Laurie Simms who associated with people like pro skater Scott Hamilton...I had a chance to meet with Mrs. Simms at the Pac Rim show,I had Dianne for a referance but i was incredably NERVOUS just for the fact the kind of people she associated with....At the pac Rim show that year was renouned African artist Lindsey Scott who i had met the year before...Lindsey knew Mrs. Simms was going to be there,that was her publisher and she offered to introduce me to her...How good can you get Lindsey Scott introducing me to the owner of Mill Pond Pres...That made me even MORE nervous...By the time i met her standing there in my suit i did just aweful....I stumbled on my words...AHHHHHHH...It was horrible...
But i have worked very successfully as a rep and have seen a lot of the art world and that is the basis i speak from...I tell you all of this to give you a idea of my knowledge...Also a very good friend of mine artist Jarrett Holderby >>>>>
www.jarrettholderby.com
What people want most is big...Big prints...8 by 10s will sell BUT...This is where i get picky...I dont want my images going into ready made frames.Thats what 8 by 10s are good for...My prints are 8 by 12...12 by 18...20 by 30...With some 12 by 12....12 by 24 or 12 by 36....Once in a while 16 by 20 which is a standard size....I will do my open editions in 8 by 10 or 16 by 20....
What i find is MOST newer artist severely undervalue there work and its from not knowing the print market or thinking well i'm new i have no name for myself which is flawed thinking...You have good work or you dont,if its good work sell it as such....If you sell your work cheap expect to one day see it in a corner at the Goodwill or another thrift store...
People who buy my prints are people who love the image....My 12 by 18's, limited edition sceenic prints are $137.00 and thats actually cheap but spendy to the Walmart crowd...My Fine Art limited 12 by 18's start at $260.00, i did the open editions as a more affordable print. But they in a 12 by 18 are $67.00 That price turns away the half hearted customer who would likely buy it at a cheap price, roll it up and it would end up in the corner of the garage collecting dust an then 5 yrs later end up at a local thrift store...
Keep your work on a higher standard if you want to pursue the higher end of the market.
Framing...5 by 7 prints, moreless postcard size not edition size those i'll throw in a cheap frame here an there but my other prints of size no way, quality framing only. Museum quality mount...And with pictures make SURE the frame shop knows you want the image corner tabbed.Some frame shops think oh its a picture and will permanently mount it.I have all my images corner tabbed.....Also i only use conservation reflective control glass...Some people say well reflective control glass distortes the image,thats crap...And with all the things in the room reflecting in the glass you think that does not distort it come on....Image Perfect glass is very tough you have to clean it a certain way...Den Glass is really nice,still get reflection though...I love love love reflection control glass....Both Den and image Perfect glass are pretty spendy too...
Frames vary a great deal...Store chain like Michaels uses cheap materials,cheap frames...The quality frames are tougher and hold up much better ideal specially for doing shows.My last showing i had a framed image leap off the easle...Yes it leaped lol anyway,hit hard...I had to have the thing reset as the glass seperated from the frame..The glass also got a abrasion which cleaned up, no scratch to the frame or chipped paint....Use quality, use a reputable frame shop that carries frames by Framers Inventory, Max, Larson-Juhl and Roma....I LOVE Roma frames but they are so very very spendy...A good frame makes a world of differance on a image. i have 2 Stephen Lymans framed and spent $500.00 one the frame of one of them.
Galleries are a whole topic by themselfs...Theres no shortage of bad stories with galleries.in fact in a copy of Lens Work editor Brooks Jensen did a bit about galleries and sales...I have also delt with a number of artist who have bad stories of galleries....The standard gallery commision is 50%...Some will do 30% but 50% is standard or common.
Oh...Edition sizes...Some think 250 is the rule you dont want to be any higher or its NOT a true limited edition print....Thats crap....You look at your big gun publishers like Mill Pond Pres and others...The industry has changed and editions are much larger now. My Stephen Lyman Fire Dance is edition size 8,500 and the release price was $245.00 i believe....That print i got from Natures Image Gallery, it was a sold out print and going up in value, Dianne got me a copy at release price....Anyway....I have a image thats insanely popular. I have not sold a lot of it. But the edition size is 1,700 its just a tremendous piece and will sell out i have no doubt in this.
I was not going to sell 4 by 6 or 5 by 7 images....BUT...Some times people want just something small for the bathroom or a small wall....Selling 5 by 7's was huge for me. Those i matt for a 8 by 10 frame and people buy those. While theres no value to them it gives them a nice smaller image to look at and some times they will come back for a full size image....The 4 by 6 pictures i give away at times if someones in love and raving about a picture i give them a 4 by 6 and hope that inspires them to save for the print....4 by 6's i sell for $5.50 and 5 by 7's i sell for $11.00 Its been a great success.
Also....One thing i do is trade prints for goods or services....Something to keep in mind...Dont feel your too good for a Farmers Market...Other crafters are great people and will help you in a number of ways...And again you can trade...I just had a glass blower ask me about trading...Blown glass is amazing and beautiful....I have traded at a Farmers Market for food and other things...Farmers Markets you can do very well or you can bomb and have no sales but i am always talking to people and have a really good time and am sure to be taking candid pictures and get some cool images that way.....
Learn the various craft shows....Some are very good and you will make good money at them but you want to be sure to have something for everyone in terms of price.Thats where the open editions are nice and the 5 by 7's....you dont want to flex on the price of your higher end stuff.But like my 12 by 18 open edition images that i sell for $67.00 for the right person thats just loving the print i might give them a one time offer at $37.00....Its a open edition,doing thats not going to undermine the edition at all...No way I'd do that to a Limited edition print less your family.
Dont undervalue your work at all....People see cheap they think its cheap PERIOD...My limited edition prints go from $137.00 up to $3,200.00 ..Check out the pricing of Peter Lik's work...Thats where you want to be,if he can sell images at that price so can you IF you have good work....
Have solid bigger goals....I have 2..Getting my work in the Smithsonian and getting Jordan in front of the people at Sports Illustrated....People laugh at me...Anyone whos not successful especially will play the doubt card on you cause they cant get there they think you cant either. A gallery owner i use to deal with would always talk about how hard and how impossible it is blah blah blah...The most negative guy i have ever met....Why even bother getting out there its so hard...Good god man what worth achiving isnt hard???????His wife wanted to buy a restaurant and right away with the doom and gloom he started in on her....If your going to do this, an do it long term you need to be relentless....You need to be prepared for a hard road and you need to love what your doing....If you do it strictly for money you wont last long at all....You have to love the art and love people....
Right now on a very small scale people are buying my images and i've not really tried yet getting myself out there....The comments i get to my work is over whelming....I was at a print shop getting a print printed and a person who saw it waited in the parking lot for me, she bought it from me right there...If you have good work you will have this kind of success as well BUT it takes work....I learned the hard way. Self taught on everything and the help from some along the way.
Get Itoya portfolios...Acid free they are awesome....Google it...I buy mine locally at a Blue Print printing shop...At that same blue print shop i get very sturdy tubes FREE. Ideal for shipping prints!!!...Find a printer close to you that does a lot of large printing, paper type printing.Chances are you can get tubes free from them rather then having to buy them....Theres a lot of cost in everything you need to set this up right from display to framing, tables so on and so forth it amounts to a small fortune, then you have a exspensive frame get damaged at a showing and you want to cry!!!!!!.....Its all a part of it and all things you need to drive through and keep going.
I hope this benefits you some...Ask me what you want i will answer it the best i can here or if you want to message me your number we can chat about it....
Oh....On my prints i prefer not to have a boarder...Thats just me...I also sign them on the back and number them on the back...This i was told is NOT the way its done...Well i hate my signature and i'm not going to mar my print with it and i'm not going to have someone else telling me how i can do or not do MY images....Everyone whos bought my prints understands...I have a small simple water mark on the front and sign on the back no exceptions....I suck at signing my name...
All over the above is just me and i'm sure theres 150 people out there who will fully disagree with me....I have spent better then 15 years studying the print market, as i said worked as a sales rep and have a collection of my own.I have met with and talked with a number of very successful artist,bigger names like Rod Fredrick (hes insane lol) Lary Zabel, amazing, super nice guy and many others...A lot of them go through rough starts...Carl Peter Vanbrestenkemp if i spelled that right which i dont think i did....He was living in his van for some time....Hes amazing, his work second to none....Meeting him was a wonderful time and i think i even got my picture with him.
Critical...I was reading a interview i think with Fine Art photographer George Tice and he said you have to love your work...he said he kept a drawer of images he would just go and look at them and savor them more less....Being a artist is more then talent you have to have that passion and never surrender....And dont under sell....sales at first are very very slow...It takes time to build things up.
