So You Created Cool Artwork – Now Are You a Professional?

Have you ever created a painting your friends and family really like? Or, how about a killer photograph of a spectacular sunrise that everyone seems to say “awesome, how did you do that?” Maybe, someone likes your painting enough to offer to buy it from you. Or perhaps, they would like a copy of your killer shot printed on

Fox in Snow – Artist: Brenda Chavez

canvas. These requests to purchase your art could certainly help justify the time and effort you put into creating the art.
Moreover, this is an important validation of the art quality. Someone really likes your art enough to pay cash for it – wow! Up until now, you have been painting and photographing because you enjoy it. But now, you have an opportunity to elevate the level of your hobby to an entry level profession – after all, someone is paying for the art. So what is the next step?

First, if you are a painter, you need to decide if you will sell your one-of-a-kind original art or, make a giclee or a print from the original. Making a giclee, opens the door to selling multiple copies and you have the choice of hanging on to your original masterpiece. One marketing strategy is to make a limited edition of copies, either on canvas or prints. This is done by documenting the edition size and creating a certificate of authenticity to accompany each copy sold. For example, your edition may be 50 giclees on canvas, numbered, 1/50, 2/50 … etc. A clever way to position the edition is to let a prospect know that with an edition of only 50 giclees, on the average, only one person per state can own the painting. As the edition sells, the original becomes more valuable. It is likely that the artist can generate more income from selling giclees. For example, let’s assume you are willing to sell your original for $1000 and that you are willing to sell a giclee for $150. The casual prospect may be able to afford $150 but not $1000. If you sell 8 giclees at $150 you will have earned $1200. If you were to sell the entire edition, you would have generated $7500. Moreover, if 50 customers bought your giclees, then you will certainly have raised the value of the original to say for example $3000. This is one example of how the limited edition marketing can be used to your advantage. Similary, photographs can be sold as limited editions. There are several photographers in Las Vegas who have made millions using this technique, for example: Peter Lik, Rodney Lough Jr and Jeff Mitchum.

Vegas Desert Sunrise – Artist: Ernesto Chavez

To be sure your artwork is rendered faithfully with the quality you expect, we recommend you work with a printer who can color balance your artwork correctly, print the artwork and prepare it to meet your needs now and in the future. It is best to work with a printer who uses archival, long-lasting products and has other capabilities such as canvas stretching, print matting and framing. Ideally, you want the best presentation of your artwork available for your customer. Galleria de Chavez provides many of these services in Las Vegas.