What Sells (Art)
Reposted (with permission) from
haikujaguar, because I've spent lots of time lately grumbling about not being able to sell much art... Her art--and her experiences--are vastly different than mine, yet, it provides much food for thought...
I saw the "If I want to make money I'm going to have to draw porn" thing float by again, so I thought I'd offer my observations on what sells:
Detail. By this I mean get fussy about every little shingle on the roof in the background, every catch and fold in the clothing, every ring on a finger or piece of trash blowing on the street. If your picture rewards someone who looks carefully, you will get a "delight factor" that can't be achieved any other way.
Precision. Different from Detail, Precision is how well you observe and record what you're specifically attempting to draw. A genet that looks exactly like a real one, down to the length of the limbs and the size of the ears and the spot patterns, will be better received than one that looks like mine do (*grin*). Even if people don't know what a thing is supposed to look like, if you are confident in your drafting of it, that confidence will somehow get through to your viewers. If you know exactly what a Porsche 911 is supposed to look like, your viewer will notice. ruggels, for instance, completely convinces me with his uniforms even though I can't tell if they're perfect. I know he knows, because his art informs me.
So, just to keep it clear, by these definitions my drawing of an elf could be detailed but it can't be precise, because no one has seen an elf. If you have, please contact me offline so I can pick your brain!
Surprise. Art that deviates from the expected in a way that can be easily grasped is very enticing. For instance, this book cover I just bought features a dragon. Instead of feathered wings or the usual leathery vanes, the dragons have wing vanes that are patterned after maple leaves, with the serrated edges and the veins. It's beautiful and surprising. Or, for instance, if everyone is drawing art inspired by Native American tribes of the north, you could shock people by drawing something inspired by the look of Aztec or Mayan design... or even further afield, from the Nordic mythologies.
Humor. Humor of all kinds sells. Gentle humor or situational humor that needs no captioning goes really well... what we'd call whimsy. Winged cats stalking flying squirrels... that kind of thing. I'm not good at humor, but if you can pull it off you're in luck.
Family. By this I don't mean "it's so generic, it's G-rated." I mean it's actually a family picture. Kids doing things. Parents doing things with kids. Families doing things together, fun things, interesting things. There's a dearth of this kind of material, and it never goes out of style. Plenty of people like slinky pictures, but pictures of rambunctious kids make people smile and can be hung not only in the living room, but in a nursery as well.
Both Humor and Family work so well because they are Inclusive. Inclusive art doesn't require explanation to make the viewer feel as if they understand what's going on. The more inclusive a piece of art is, the broader your audience will be. This is the major failing of my own art, as far as my data gathering has gone--it's mysterious, rather than Inclusive.
But on the other hand, Exclusive art leads us to...
...Niche Appeal. This is where you get to the "there's a target market that will buy and buy and buy" place. Furry is a niche market, and within Furry there are smaller niches; same with anime. There is, for instance, a "girls buying pictures of young men together" niche. The key with niches is to choose one that you like, as well as one that has money. If the target market of your niche trends toward teenage boys, for instance, you're not going to be as well off as if your target market is, say, well-paid computer geeks.
Your niche might not yet be identified... I suspect, for instance, that there's an unmet need for minority depictions in SF/F, since I see very few of them.
Basic Skill Level. You can't get around this--you have to have a basic proficiency with your chosen medium, plus be fairly adept at drafting.
When you see successful artists, it's because they often combine several of these aspects. kenket, for example, has astounding detail, great precision and humor, plus her art appeals to several niches, plus she has the skill at her medium and with drafting covered.
These are my observations--I am of course interested in everyone else's!--but please, don't feel you need to draw something you hate to make money. There are many ways to differentiate yourself, and all of them are under your control.
haikujaguar, because I've spent lots of time lately grumbling about not being able to sell much art... Her art--and her experiences--are vastly different than mine, yet, it provides much food for thought...
I saw the "If I want to make money I'm going to have to draw porn" thing float by again, so I thought I'd offer my observations on what sells:
Detail. By this I mean get fussy about every little shingle on the roof in the background, every catch and fold in the clothing, every ring on a finger or piece of trash blowing on the street. If your picture rewards someone who looks carefully, you will get a "delight factor" that can't be achieved any other way.
Precision. Different from Detail, Precision is how well you observe and record what you're specifically attempting to draw. A genet that looks exactly like a real one, down to the length of the limbs and the size of the ears and the spot patterns, will be better received than one that looks like mine do (*grin*). Even if people don't know what a thing is supposed to look like, if you are confident in your drafting of it, that confidence will somehow get through to your viewers. If you know exactly what a Porsche 911 is supposed to look like, your viewer will notice. ruggels, for instance, completely convinces me with his uniforms even though I can't tell if they're perfect. I know he knows, because his art informs me.
So, just to keep it clear, by these definitions my drawing of an elf could be detailed but it can't be precise, because no one has seen an elf. If you have, please contact me offline so I can pick your brain!
Surprise. Art that deviates from the expected in a way that can be easily grasped is very enticing. For instance, this book cover I just bought features a dragon. Instead of feathered wings or the usual leathery vanes, the dragons have wing vanes that are patterned after maple leaves, with the serrated edges and the veins. It's beautiful and surprising. Or, for instance, if everyone is drawing art inspired by Native American tribes of the north, you could shock people by drawing something inspired by the look of Aztec or Mayan design... or even further afield, from the Nordic mythologies.
Humor. Humor of all kinds sells. Gentle humor or situational humor that needs no captioning goes really well... what we'd call whimsy. Winged cats stalking flying squirrels... that kind of thing. I'm not good at humor, but if you can pull it off you're in luck.
Family. By this I don't mean "it's so generic, it's G-rated." I mean it's actually a family picture. Kids doing things. Parents doing things with kids. Families doing things together, fun things, interesting things. There's a dearth of this kind of material, and it never goes out of style. Plenty of people like slinky pictures, but pictures of rambunctious kids make people smile and can be hung not only in the living room, but in a nursery as well.
Both Humor and Family work so well because they are Inclusive. Inclusive art doesn't require explanation to make the viewer feel as if they understand what's going on. The more inclusive a piece of art is, the broader your audience will be. This is the major failing of my own art, as far as my data gathering has gone--it's mysterious, rather than Inclusive.
But on the other hand, Exclusive art leads us to...
...Niche Appeal. This is where you get to the "there's a target market that will buy and buy and buy" place. Furry is a niche market, and within Furry there are smaller niches; same with anime. There is, for instance, a "girls buying pictures of young men together" niche. The key with niches is to choose one that you like, as well as one that has money. If the target market of your niche trends toward teenage boys, for instance, you're not going to be as well off as if your target market is, say, well-paid computer geeks.
Your niche might not yet be identified... I suspect, for instance, that there's an unmet need for minority depictions in SF/F, since I see very few of them.
Basic Skill Level. You can't get around this--you have to have a basic proficiency with your chosen medium, plus be fairly adept at drafting.
When you see successful artists, it's because they often combine several of these aspects. kenket, for example, has astounding detail, great precision and humor, plus her art appeals to several niches, plus she has the skill at her medium and with drafting covered.
These are my observations--I am of course interested in everyone else's!--but please, don't feel you need to draw something you hate to make money. There are many ways to differentiate yourself, and all of them are under your control.