How to Make Art that People Will Buy

Do you want to be good enough sell your art? It can be overwhelming to start, and hard to know where you are on the journey, so I want to show you 3 practical things for you to do NOW if you want to sell your art.

I've been selling my art since I was a teenager, and for the last few years, I've had a full-time art business with yearly sales in the multiple 6 figures.  So, let’s just say I've learned a few things.  In this article, I share 3 tips that will help you make irresistible art!

Tip 1: IF YOU WANT TO SELL ART, MAKE A LOT OF IT

Wow, Josie, shocking!!!! The number one thing that you need to do is surprisingly simply: if you want to sell art, you need to make art (or make more art). So many artists get stuck in their head, get tangled up in business imponderables, or spend time researching about how to market on Etsy… And Just. Don’t. Make. Art.

The creative process is more alive when it’s responsive rather than cerebral.  As Marie Forleo says, Action creates clarity.  Action creates your unique artist voice.  In the beginning, most of your art won’t sell, but you’ll be on your way to creating or irresistible brilliance.  And by the way, this is the fun stuff!  If you don't love making art, you have picked the wrong profession. You gotta love it. Find your flow and bliss yourself out in your process.

Tip 2: YOU’RE GOING TO NEED TO CREATE A COLLECTION

An artist will sell a lot more when their collectors know what to expect from them. When you land on a couple of visual ideas that are very intriguing and fun for you, you need to niche down and create a collection or a series. A collection is going to be 10-20 (or 100) works that all have a similar theme.  If the art is all together in a room, a stranger should be able to tell that one person made them. Your mom will be able to describe what you do to her friend. 

This is SO IMPORTANT and so many artists lack this vital discipline. Remember, a niche is not a jail sentence, you can always change it up in the future!  But do yourself the favor of following an idea deeply and truly.  If you exhaust it and it's not fun anymore, try something else.  But you will need to have some themes developed in order to get an audience to know, like, and trust you. You start off as a stranger, and if you are coming in heavy with something different every day on social, your audience, or potential audience, will find this dislocating and difficult to connect with.  By working in a series, we are telling a story that our collectors love to see.

Tip 3: FIND YOUR PEOPLE!

Number three, the next step to sell your art is to communicate your process, publish your work and listen to your audience.  Your private art practice is allllll you but developing consistent art sales require a bit of give and take with your audience.  There are lots of ways to listen to your audience.  In real life you can have an open studio, have trusted friends over to discuss your art.  On social media, you can use it as a discussion and feedback tool.  This happens over time, and over time themes and trends will emerge in people’s responses.  LISTEN.  Adapt.  By the way, I have a free training called 5 Pillars of Art Sales, that unpacks some of these details about where and how you can share your art. 

To sum up.  Make art.  Start now. Take action on your crazy ideas.  When you have a few interesting concepts, pick one and make a series of work drilling into that concept.  I'm telling you, this WORKS. It will make you a far better artist, it will help you develop your artistic voice, it will make it much easier to sell your work and will make you far more “discoverable” on social media.  Then: communicate, get feedback, and don’t take it personally.

When you have developed your voice by creating an art habit, made a series of works and published them, and corresponded to your audience over time, I guarantee you will start to sell art.

If you want more of my tips to supercharge your art life, you should take the Quiz, Are you Ready to Sell Your Art? It’s just a quick 15 questions or so, and it will assess where you are, and give you the immediate next steps to be selling art like a BOSS.