“Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.” – Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi summed it up pretty well there – passion is everything. When you struggle to stay passionate creating your art, it can affect your enthusiasm for selling your art. It’s important to know how to stay passionate as an artist, so you can continue to enjoy creating and selling your art.
So, if you feel your passion waning, what can you do to bring it back?
Firstly, end the habit of second guessing whether you should make art you love, or art you know will sell. This can go a long way to re-establishing your mojo. That’s not to say the art you love won’t sell, but some art can be considered as more “marketable.” Knowing what you want to create and why, is one of the first things you can do to restore your motivation.
When it comes to selling your masterpieces, there are several things that can affect your mojo. Struggling to find people who want to buy your art, and feeling uncomfortable promoting yourself are two of the most common culprits.
Let’s dive into five things you can do as an artist to stay motivated and continue selling your art for years to come.
Stay True to You
As artists we can fall into the trap of thinking we should produce art based on our assumptions of what people will like, or on what other artists are doing, instead of following our own passions.
Your personal style is what makes you unique, what makes you stand out from the crowd, so don’t be afraid to lean into it. No matter how niche or specific your work is there will be fans who follow you because they enjoy your personal style and because it’s different to the copy-paste style they see everywhere else.
When you stay true to your own style and make art you love, you attract the right people, who won’t disappear with the next fad or trend. They will keep coming back because your dedication to your passion is refreshing.
Find Your People
Finding your right audience is an integral part of selling your art. When people who love what you create share their appreciation of your work, a community bond forms which energises you to keep doing what you love.
To find ‘your people,’ the people who will purchase your art, begin by understanding what makes your art unique and why it appeals to those who express their appreciation. What do they love about it? Do they love your art because it evokes emotion? Because it will look nice above their sofa? Or both? Once you understand that, you can share your work using trends, words, visuals, and stories you know will appeal to them.
This accomplishes something especially important: you now begin to fish in a much more relevant pond. When selling your art this increases your chances of turning those who appreciate your art into buyers of your art.
In a social-media-focused world, finding your people and getting your creations seen is easier now than ever before. Hop on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and even YouTube and share your art.
Here are six proven ways to boost your online presence when you’re just starting out as a professional artist:
- Share your creative process with time-lapse videos or progress photos.
- Show off high-quality videos and photos of your finished work to draw attention to the details and effort you put into creating it.
- Run a giveaway to encourage engagement and gain traffic.
- Collaborate with other artists.
- Engage with your followers by liking and commenting. (All the wonderful feedback is fantastic for helping you stay passionate as an artist!)
Sure, it can be intimidating to put yourself out there, yet it’s one of the easiest and best ways to find your people and establish an audience.
Create Connection
You’ve done your research and found the right audience who you know love your art. Now, how do you take them from liking and commenting on your art to adding a piece to their cart?
Create connection by positioning your art with the right words. Use descriptive words on your website and social media to describe your art.
Express your journey behind creating the art - where you got your inspiration from, a short video of the creation process, why you used this colour paint or that type of brush stroke – even the simplest things will make a huge difference to why someone would buy your work.
Although your art may be admired, people are often inspired to purchase when they know a little more about its background; the “why” behind the creation. They love that additional glimpse into the mind behind the artist. It feels special and exclusive.
Communicating something meaningful about your artwork can itself help reignite your passion. Even more so when it results in sales!
Promote Yourself by Being Authentic
Promoting yourself, talking about what you do, and pricing your work can be stressful aspects of being a professional artist. Yet putting off promoting yourself and feeling awkward talking about what you do because you think no one will be interested, can become a source of anxiety that can affect your motivation to create and make a living from your art.
We have spoken about creating your tribe. Not everyone will respond positively to what you do. That’s okay – when you come to promote yourself – you won’t be speaking to them – you’ll be speaking to those you know your art appeals to. Remember?
The secret to selling your art without being too salesy – is to be authentically you!
Tell your personal story. People love hearing about your background as an artist. What makes you create the works you do. Who influenced you and why? Passion and enthusiasm, is inspiring and contagious especially when we realise the person is just like us, coping with all the normal distractions of life.
Here are some quick tips on promoting yourself authentically:
- Share your process. This builds interest and curiosity in your work without directly asking people to buy it.
- Let your audience see behind the scenes. Show them your studio, the paints you're using, your pet keeping watch on your progress. (Pets are great for boosting engagement!)
- Help your audience understand how your art can benefit their lives, breathe new life into their space, and so on.
- Where appropriate, share a little about you and other parts of your life. People love buying from people who are ‘just like them’, or who like the same things as they do.
- Offer free resources like tutorials, tips, or downloadable prints. This gives your followers value and highlights your expertise.
Be proactive and ask people what they love about your art and your personal style. This can really help remind you why you do what you do and enjoy sharing your passion with others.
You’ll gain insight more quickly into why your art sells and why people might come back for more, as mentioned earlier. This is important because as a professional artist, you want to sell more of your art, more consistently and make more people happy in the process.
Explore creative ways of gathering valuable feedback. The community of people who collect around your shared passion for your art, can be a wonderful source of inspiration and ideas for creating and selling your work.
Don’t be afraid to ask for their input. Some of the greatest rewards come from asking questions of your community – people love it when they feel their opinion matters.
You are an amazing artist! Use these five tips to help you stay passionate as an artist, serve as reminders whenever you’re feeling a little down or unmotivated and encourage you in selling your art.
Never forget that there are always people out there who love what you do and will buy what you’re selling – go find them! Connect with your fans and ask them what they think. Promoting yourself needn’t be awkward - just be your authentic self. Stay true to your personal style, and people will always resonate with your love for what you do!
If you’re struggling to get your art business off the ground, or you’re thinking about starting to sell your work, get in touch with our team of experts to see how we can help. Or sign up for free and start creating your products right now with PrinTribe’s print-on-demand service. All you do is create your product, we take care of the printing, framing, packaging, and shipping. It’s really as easy as that!
