It's Essential to Create a Niche FOR Your Art
I'm about to say something controversial: If you want to make a business out of your art, you're going to need to specialize. Full stop. If you want to make regular, consistent sales, you will need to think in terms of a series of art, collections, and a body of work that demonstrates your skill, unique voice, and professionalism.
A lot of artists react, let's just say, very strongly to this piece of advice, and I want to discuss it here!
What is an art niche?
First things first. Let's talk about what a niche or specialty IS. It's pretty simple: you know you have developed a niche when your mom or best friend, sight unseen, could identify your work in a room full of different artists. It could be a consistent topic, a style, a medium, a color palette or all of the above. It has to do with an area of investigation, of research, of focus, in some cases, obsession. We need to do one thing so we can be known for something. We cannot appeal to all the people all the time.
Artist seem to object to this advice because they want to be free! For a casual maker and a hobbyist, this is incredible and making whatever you want whenever you want sounds like life well lived. But if you want to become a professional, you've got to buckle down.
An Art Specialty isn't Jail
It's important to say right up from that a niche isn't jail. Listen, I have changed my style 3 dozen times. But I have changed it over the course of my entire multi-decade art career, and when I pick something to focus on, I dig in deep. I create multiple versions, hundreds even, of the same concept. Pursuing a particular idea across multiple iterations usually offers technical suggestions, new ideas, small pivots and fresh imagery.
Niche to Get better at your art
In fact, one of the primary reasons to specialize your art practice is that it is the best way to get better, it's the best way to get more skilled and more unique. Technical development takes time. Concert pianists play the same song a bajillion times so it comes out naturally on stage. Give yourself the gift of getting really good at something.
Niche to be more consistent with your art practice
Another reason to niche down is because it will help your studio practice be more consistent. If I start out my art time wondering what I'm going to make, I will be wasting valuable time researching, pulling out the materials, and making false starts because I don't know what I'm doing. If I know that my art time is invested towards making say, a watercolor painting of spring flowers, I don't have to make additional decisions. It will be harder to find that enjoyable flow state that is the biggest motivator to keep coming back!
Niche to create an art brand
You want to niche to create a brand. A brand is far FAR more than logo, friend. It's a mystique, an oeuvre, it's a mood. It's the overall impression that people have when they think of you art and presence. And people are busy and not interested in doing a lot of investigative research to know what you have to offer. They want to know right so that they can classify you in their minds. You want "Artist I like that makes >>> insert very specific description here."
Once people understand what you do, and they know they can expect to see more of it, the question is not, "what is that person doing?" but "Which one do I want to buy." It's just psychology!
There you have it, some of my arguments about why you should specialize your art practice! Let me know your thoughts--do you specialize? What's your category? Was it hard to narrow down? Do you refuse to narrow down your practice? Tell me all about it in the comments.
By the way: If you need help getting paid for your art, pricing is one of the important strategic choices you need to develop. It's hard, which is why I have created a handy worksheet that will help you to create irresistible and profitable pricing for your collectors. Download here:
