Hello, fellow artists!
It’s common to hear artists and crafters stating that they wish they could sell more of their creations. If a person is a born marketer, s/he knows how to sell things. But not everyone is a great marketer. However, with a good simple plan, an artist or crafter can sell more of his or her creations.
I outline several ways to sell paintings, drawings, and crafts. It’s unlikely that you will want to pursue all of them. But if just one idea resonates with you, it will be worth the reading. Implementing just one idea mentioned in this article – or implementing one idea at a time – will help you sell more of your paintings, drawings, or crafts.
One selling plan, executed as thoroughly as you can, could mean that a door opens to you that will increase your income – because the more people who see your creative work, the more chances you have to sell something to them. In a nutshell: you make something you want to sell and then you find ways to get this item (or a picture of the item) in front of as many likely buyers as possible.
[1] WHO WILL YOU SELL YOUR DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS OR CRAFTS TO?
We all hang out with artists and crafters. Unfortunately, we cannot depend on these people to be our best customers because they already know how to create good artwork.
So who buys paintings, drawings, and crafts? I have done some of this research for you and here is a list of possible buyers:
- People who have just moved into a new home.
- People who are setting up a new apartment.
- People who like to redecorate on a regular basis.
- Gallery owners who are looking for new artwork.
- Gift shop owners who want fresh merchandise in their stores.
- Restaurant owners who want new artwork on their walls or shelves and will sell them and split the profits with you.
- Business owners who have offices that need to be decorated.
- People who go to craft shows and art fairs.
- People who visit shows at their local art center.
- People (including friends) who are looking for a unique gift for a friend or family member.
- People who see your work and fall in love with it.
- People (collectors) who like your particular style and want to buy several pieces.
These people could be mostly woman but not entirely. A single man who has recently moved also needs to spruce up his new place in his own taste will buy drawings, paintings, or crafts. Or if he has an new office, he wants it to look nice.
Think about your creations and decide what group of people would most likely be attracted to your type of work? Are they young, old, modern, old-fashioned, goths, traditional, religious, what? Do they have lots of money or are they poor students? Are they horse lovers or dog lovers? Do they generally love flowers or outer space? All these factors should be clear to you when deciding where and how to post your artwork for sale. You must know who buys your type of artwork.
Take a few minutes now to create a list of possible buyers of your paintings, drawings, or crafts. This list will come in very handy when deciding where to post pictures of your creations. This list will also be useful when you write the description of your artwork. Rather than talking to fellow artists or crafters, you will know you are talking to home owners or business owners and the people described in your “List of Possible Buyers.”
If you are at a point in your creative life where you’re not sure what do make and where will sell it, use this list of possible buyers to decide who you want to appeal to? Do you want older people with traditional tastes to buy your art? Do you hang around with young people who are into getting tattoos? Can you visualize the typical buyer of your art style? Can you tailor your artwork to appeal to the people you see now in your mind’s eye?
This might be a different way of thinking about our art journey. Previously, we just focused on making good art that pleased ourselves and maybe a few teachers, friends or other people around us. But now, since we want to sell more of our creations, we should think of our art from the buyer’s point of view. What are they looking for? What type of things do they like to buy? Later we’ll look at how to get noticed by this category of people, this demographic.
When you think of your target market, do they like big or small creations? Do they like impressionism or abstract – or something else entirely? Do they want something new for their kitchen, living room, bathroom, or bedroom? What typically goes in these different rooms? Larger items for the living room and smaller ones in the bathroom?
Maybe you are the type of artist who says, “I have to make art my way. I’m an artist with a particular style and that’s all I want to do.” That’s okay. So now think about where you will find the people who like your style. Remember, other artists are not our best customers. You have to figure out where the non-artists who might buy your style of artwork hang out. Once you figure that out, you post pictures of your artwork where they are. Picture yourself (visualize) reaching out to them, offering them something that will appeal to them and match their lifestyle.
On the other hand, maybe you’re not so anchored to one style of artwork or craft and you’re willing to try something new to see if you can appeal to a different crowd.
Whatever approach you take, clarify in your mind what type of person is most likely to buy your art creations.
[2] THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS TO NICHE DOWN
As artists, we love to try our hands at everything. There’s nothing wrong with that. Creating art is fun and learning is fun.
But if we want to sell our drawings, paintings or crafts, we should narrow our scope of work. Why? Because it’s easier to find people who like that specific thing you make. It’s the difference between a specialty store and a general store. If a person loves to cook, they really love going to specialty stores that carry all types of gadgets and appliances specifically designed for cooking. This is in contrast to them going to a general store that may carry only a few cooking items – with none of them specialized or unique.
If you already have your niche, you can skip to the next section. But for many people, finding a niche can be very difficult. If you are one of these people, this information may help you.
Another reason why niching down is helpful is when you are asked what you do. If you say, “I am and artist,” every person will have a different vision in their head of what you do. And very few, if any, will get it right. They may not know how to respond.
On the other hand, if you say, “I draw dog portraits,” or “I paint abstract landscapes,” people can picture these. If they like these specific types of paintings, you now have their undivided attention.
The same thing happens if you approach a gallery. If you ask if you might display your artwork there, the first thing you’ll be asked is, “What exactly do you paint?”
Similarly, if you have your eye on store that sells crafts, you will immediately be asked what types of crafts you make because a store owner will not want to carry the same things they are already stocking in the store. They will not want to make another of their craft suppliers angry by stepping on their toes. But if you can describe something specific and they owner can tell that your niche is not represented in her store, then you can get off on the right foot in this situation.
[3] SELLING DRAWINGS, PAINTING OR CRAFTS REQUIRE PERSEVERANCE
So all there is to it is:
[1] Create something that will sell to a particular audience.
[2] Post a good picture of it on a site that has that audience.
[3] Keep posting a link there until your item sells.
When all else is learned, it comes down to this.
Another way to look at it is this:
[1] You create something that a certain group of people might want to buy.
[2] You post images of your drawings, paintings or crafts where these people hang out.
[3] You drive traffic, free and/or paid, to your images.
This last step is key. It’s not too difficult to find a place to post your creations. Mine, for example, are on a page on my SkillfulArtists.com website. Other people have theirs on Etsy, eBay, Instagram or wherever.
The secret sauce is driving the traffic to the page where your creations are displayed.
For this reason, you need to make sure that the page that displays your creations has a address (URL) that you can easily send people to. Only the paintings, drawings or crafts you have for sale should be on that page or section of that site. In my case, my easy URL is SkillfulArtists.com/gallery. This is neat and clean and easy to put on a business card. If yours turns out to be more complicated, that could be alright, as long as it is reasonable and you can give or send to people your personal artwork page.
But if you just make a stab at driving traffic (that is, getting people to your page), that won’t work. Artists and crafters have to try several things – or use several schemes – of calling attention to their work before they are seen by enough people to make regular sales. There really is not a quick and effortless way. It takes perseverance and maybe several traffic methods to get people to your web page.
However, although there is not a effortless way, some ways may be better than others or more suited to your style. For example, you might be someone who loves Pinterest. Using Pinterest pins is a way to send free traffic to the page where they can see more of your artwork or crafts.
On the other hand, you might be a big eBay fan. You might be able to navigate eBay with your eyes closed. In this case, eBay might be the best place for you to post your creations.
But the subject of this section is perseverance. That means you might have to get your eBay shop set up and use Pinterest pins to try to get people to your eBay page. This takes time and effort. You (and I) would rather be drawing, painting or crafting. But if you want to SELL those creations, we must persevere in our efforts to get eyeballs on our stuff.
Every day we must post more pins and check or eBay listings. Eventually, we will need to branch out to another traffic source. Depending on your tolerance for social media, you might try Facebook or Instagram. Those platforms take continual posting because new posts push old posts down.
Or maybe you can create videos of your work. In that case, YouTube might be the next place you will try to grab people’s attention.
So it’s not just about perseverance; it’s also about expanding the places you will try to reach people who buy drawings, paintings or crafts. Whatever method (s) you choose, you must keep at it. It’s not enough to post one YouTube video and assume lots of people will find it and click on the link to your artwork page. Each method takes doing and redoing. It’s like showing up to work every day. Some effort must be regularly put into the selling element to see more sales made.
But care should be taken to continue to create your drawings, paintings and crafts. Doing the marketing work can get really time consuming. So create a schedule for yourself where you’re marketing part of the time and making new creations part of the time. Some people switch off on the days; on Monday they create and on Tuesday they market. (Some people call it “posting’.)
Selling implies that you have a business. When someone sets up a brick and mortar store, they intend to sell something. Artists and crafters who want to sell their products must realize that they need a business aspect to their life now.
Schedule your creative hours and marketing hours in any way that suits your lifestyle and your creative character. No matter how you set your schedule, be persistent with both elements – creating and marketing – and you will eventually get sales.
So like I said at the beginning of this chapter:
[1] Create something to sell.
[2] Post a good picture of it on the internet where your type of customer could find it.
[3] Keep posting a link to that page until your item sells.
[4] ARE YOU GOING USE VIDEO TO SELL YOUR DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS, OR CRAFTS?
Although this is optional, it’s worth considering (if you’re not doing it already). The reason I’m bringing this issue up now is because if you are going to use video to get people to learn about your artwork or crafts, you have to make this decision before you start creating the artwork you will want to sell.
YouTube is no longer the only place people watch videos. They are popping up in most other social media, including Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, and others.
You’ll need to set up your video camera and lighting before you start your drawing, painting, or craft session.
You can use your smartphone on a tripod or overhead mount. There are lots of videos on YouTube that describe how this can be done. You’ll need good lighting. A ring light is very reasonably priced on Amazon. You might invest in 2 ring lights so you get even lighting on both sides of your easel or table.
One nice thing about video is that it can be used in multiple ways. For example, if you have a 20-minute video, you have a “regular” video that is suitable for posting on YouTube. But you can also create a YouTube Short by speeding it up. Pinterest calls its little videos Pinterest Ideas. These, too, are shorter versions of the original. Instagram Reels can also be made from your original video. Even eBay allows videos!
Like I said, videos are not mandatory when it comes to selling your drawings, paintings, or crafts, but they are another way to reach more of your target audience.
Nor am I advocating that you create all the video styles I just mentioned — or even post on all these platforms. Trying to reach everyone can become so overwhelming that it’s discouraging and too time consuming for a person who wants to create artwork. I’m just bringing up the subject of video as something to consider.
[5] WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO HOUSE PICTURES OF THE DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS, OR CRAFTS YOU HAVE FOR SALE?
You need a place to send prospective customers to. Ideally, it will be a web page that you have control over. If you have a website that you are happy with, you can skip ahead to the next section.
I have this website, SkillfulArtists.com. Here, I have many pages but one is designated to display all my best paintings and drawings. This is where I send people who might consider buying my artwork.
On that page, I also leave pictures of my paintings that have sold. It’s good to let people know what you are capable of creating. Maybe they want to commission you to do something similar to artwork that has already sold.
I use Ionus.com (formally called 1and1.com) to house (host) my website. I have been with this company for almost two decades and have never regretted a day of it. They give excellent service and their prices are very fair.
If you’d like to have a website, take some time to think of a good name. If you are selling drawings, have that word in the website name (aka URL). If crafts are your thing, find the easiest name you can with the word crafts in it. You can use the website name finder on the front page of Ionus.com to learn if that name is still available. They may give you variations of the name if you try for one that is already taken. Finding a name with dot com at the end is the best choice, in my opinion.
When I started with IONUS, I wrote my websites with HTML. Later, I switched to WordPress. It took me a while to understand how to use WordPress but once I got the hang if it, I liked it. There are many videos and books written about how to use WordPress, so take advantage of those, if you are not familiar with it.
[6] HERE’S ANOTHER METHOD TO GET PEOPLE TO YOUR WEBSITE WHERE YOU SELL YOUR DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS OR CRAFTS
Later in this article, we’ll look at a variety of ways to get people to visit your website to buy your artwork. But what if you want people to look at your items but you don’t have any new artwork or crafts completed at the moment?
What can you use to entice them to go to your website? An article (aka blogpost) will do the job. You can write something up, such as a drawing technique or an art book review, and post it on your website. Then you can tell people about it.
Later, when you have pictures of your artwork, place them on a gallery page and link to it in your article. Or they will see one or two of your available art pieces or crafts right on the article’s page.
Also, if you become an affiliate for art or craft related products, you can post and review about a product on your website. If you are successful at convincing the reader that s/he should buy what you are displaying, they will click on your affiliate link and you will get a commission. Many artists have multiple streams of incomes. Affiliate commissions are a common one.
[7] MAKE LOCAL ART SHOWS A PART OF YOUR SELLING PLAN
List three to five places within driving distance that sell paintings, drawings and/or crafts.
Many towns have art centers. They periodically display local paintings, drawings and crafts for sale and they take a percentage of the sales. Their portion of the money helps to fund their organization.
Approach every art center you can drive to. Take samples of your artwork with you – especially ones that are ready to be sold. Also take a notebook and get accurate information about their rules for submitting artwork to their shows.
- Do they charge for submitting items to a show?
- Do you have to be a member to display your work?
- Are there ever any shows that you can submit your work for free?
- Is there a limit to the number of pieces can you put into a show?
- What is the date of their next show?
- Do your items have to be approved before entering the show?
- What types of items are not allowed? (Such as manufactured items, nudes, reproductions?)
- Do they have a flier that has their rules in writing?
- What is their website address? Are the rules and dates on their website?
- Do they have a business card you can take with you?
- Can you get on their mailing list to be notified of the upcoming shows?
- Are you required to be in attendance during the opening night of the show?
- Do you need to furnish a bio to be hung near your artwork or placed with your craft items?
- How long are the items on display?
- What type of art or crafts is most popular with their audience?
- Does every painting or drawing have to be framed?
- Do you need to furnish a table to display your crafts?
- Is there a theme to the show? Are you required to follow the theme in order to enter the show?
- Are there prizes? Are they cash prizes, ribbons or both? Who does the judging?
- What is the general price range that people put on their work? (Keep in mind that if you frame your work, you must include the cost of the frame in the price.)
- If something sells, how long before you are paid?
- What percentage does the show sponsors take?
- If something of yours sells, can you pick up your check or is it mailed to you?
- Who can you call if you have more questions?
You may think of other questions to ask. Write them all down. Don’t be afraid to ask every question. They prefer that you know all the rules than to break even one of them accidentally. And every show will have different rules. Don’t argue with them, even if a rule seems crazy. Just do your best to comply.
Once you learn the rules and that you submit your items, take time to imagine your work in the show. What type of item is most likely to sell or win a cash prize? Did your contact person give you any clues about what is most popular with their clientelle? (Don’t take their clues as gospel. Just take it as possible useful information.)
Don’t be afraid to enter a show or to submit your work to be approved for a show. I’ve been to shows that have items that are very amateurish. I’ve seen “Sold” signs on artwork that I thought was not up to par. Nevertheless, someone else loved it and bought it. You can never predict what people will want to buy. All you can do is try to figure out what sells well in that particular show and do your best to provide it. OR… just do your own thing, submit your best work and expect great results.
What’s more, it’s very awkward to ask family and friends to buy your artwork. But to tell them that your paintings or crafts are being displayed at a community showing is easy! Invite them to the show. Even sketch or print out invitations and give them to people. Let them know if there is an admission fee. Usually, there is no fee to view an art show. The organization makes its money on taking a commission from the sale of the items. Make that clear on the invitation. Give directions, days and times. You know.
I didn’t sell anything during my first two art shows. My first sale came in the third show. After several shows, I started to notice a pattern in what was selling. I now tailor at least one of my pieces to that style and I sell my work more regularly. But at the same time, I also submit items that do not fit the pattern at all. You never know what will catch on and I have to remain true to my own creatives self.
One time I won a cash prize that was larger than the price I had on the drawing.
Another time I created a piece that I was not pleased with. The main tree came out a mess, in my opinion. I tried to fix it but could not get it to look right. But I submitted it to the show anyway with a price lower than I would have put on it if it had come out right. It sold. Go figure. Someone found that goofy tree appealing enough to pay good money for it and take it home. Ya’ never know.
This brings up the issue of price. It could have sold because of the lower price. Certainly, that could have been a factor. But in the end, I got a check for my portion of the sale which allowed me to recoup the costs of producing that painting with money left over to buy more art supplies. AND I didn’t have to hang that painting with the wonky tree in my own home. That would have aggravated me. It was truly a win-win situation.
So go find art shows within a reasonable radius of your home and start submitting pieces for sale. Follow their rules, even if they seem silly, and have a good time. You will not only get in closer touch to what people like to buy but you will be pushed into creating new things, branching out to places you never thought you would go with your creative skills.
[8] APART FROM A WEBSITE, WHAT IS AN ARTIST’S BIGGEST ASSET FOR SELLING DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS, CRAFTS OR ART OR ART-REALTED PRODUCTS?
This is something that you work on bit by bit. It is your very own email list. The beauty of an email list is that it’s free and you own it. Whereas, if you are on a platform, such as Facebook, your followers could disappear overnight if something happened to your Facebook account or the Facebook platform itself.
Anytime you create something new, whether it’s a drawing, painting, craft items or even a blog post, you can email the people on your list and tell them about it. You’ll include a link to where they can learn more about it and buy it if they want to.
You can also include links to affiliate products in your email – if the affiliate company allows it. (Be sure to check on this before putting affiliate links into emails.) For example, if you do a drawing where you use gray watercolor brush markers for shading, you can show the people on your email list how well these markers did the job. If they buy through your affiliate link, you make a commission. So you have the chance of selling your creation AND making affiliate commissions with just one email blast to your list.
[9] IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT YOUR FIELD OR GENRE, CONSIDER SUBMITTING YOUR IDEAS TO MAGAZINES
Art magazines, both paper and digital, are always looking for fresh content. If you can write an article about your artistic journey, magazines might want to publish it. Even if you have one small hook, such as “How to Grow an Art Life and Children at the Same Time.” Or “Why I Switched from Pencil to Charcoal.”
It might take a few tries to come up with an idea that catches the publisher’s interest but don’t give up. Get a list of art publications and start pitching ideas to them.
Read their submission guidelines and come as close to the rules as you can. Stress the article side of things rather than your art side. But if the guidelines say they want to see your artwork, make sure you send the best images you can produce. They will want your work in excellent lighting, probably a white background and as large as you can get it, such as 3,000 pixels by 4,000 pixels. If your camera doesn’t produce pictures that large, send the best you can do.
Magazines need text and interesting articles, so that’s what the publisher is going to focus on to start. If you don’t want to take the time to write an entire article that they may not want, send them a list of article ideas you can write. Let them choose from something in your list.
Keep in mind that most magazines plan their editions 6 months in advance. If you have a great idea for a Christmas article, submit your idea in mid summer. Don’t worry that they will steal your idea. They don’t do that. They want other people to write articles and submit images. They would prefer that you do it so they can concentrate on the publishing side of things.
Of course, when your article is published, your contact information would be in your article for those people who want to go to your products/sales page and see your full body of work.
[10] START YOUR OWN MAGAZINE
If getting into someone else’s publication is not enough, start your own. This way, you can put your own drawings, paintings or crafts into each addition, along with those of other people who will write interesting articles and submit photos.
Your publication can be weekly, by-weekly, monthly or quarterly. Go on social media to tell people about your online art magazine and ask for subscribers and submissions.
Art and craft magazines come in both in physical and digital form. Digital would be the easiest to start and with the lowest startup costs.
Keep the price low at first to get subscribers. As time goes on, increase the cost for new subscribers and let the old subscribers stay that the introductory low price. Let people know that if the get in early they will stay at the “forever low price unless they cancel.” If they come back in, they will pay the new higher price. This is an incentive to give it a try immediately, since they don’t know when you will raise the price.
You don’t have to offer to pay people who submit articles, although you could give them something. It might be enough for them to get the publicity and a link to their sales page.
[11] HOW TO BUILD AN EMAIL LIST TO SELL YOUR DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS OR CRAFTS
You can start by signing up for a FREE account with either Awber or Mailchimp. I prefer Aweber because they were established to help affiliate marketers, whereas Mailchimp accommodated these people later in the email marketing game. Or you might have already found another email marketing company and want to go with the for the selling aspect of your artistic life.
I don’t recommend using Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail. They are not designed for our purpose here. They were not designed for selling products and they do not have auto-responder capabilities that come in so handy.
So choose a company like Aweber and set up a free account. Then learn about the welcome email and get that written. This is the first email that people will get automatically when they sign up to your email list.
The next step is to put the opt-in box code onto your website. Offer your viewers something for free, like an ebook on the types of artwork that look nice in homes. They will give you their email address to get your free ebook.
[12] HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO CHARGE FOR YOUR DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS OR CRAFTS
If you are selling over the internet, you’ll have to box your item and mail it to the buyer. So before you can determine what to sell an item for, you need to know how much it will cost to mail.
What I did is I boxed up three different size items I had for sale and took them to the post office and to the UPS store. I used a zip code of a town that was the furthest from my location and gave that zip code to the postmaster. That’s how I learned what it would cost to mail each size package.
The largest package had a very high shipping cost. So when I got home, I unpacked it and altered the box. I made the box as small as it could be while still leaving room for the item, paper and bubble wrap. When I returned to the post office with the item in the altered box, the price was less than half of what it was before. Then I knew I could ship any painting in these three sizes at a reasonable cost.
When I was determining what to change for a painting, I added up the cost of the canvas, paint, box, packing materials and shipping. Then I added $10 for the fee I would be charge on the platform I planned to sell it. On top of these costs I added 35% for my profit. Surprisingly, the total came right in line with what I planned to charge before I did the math. This gave me confidence that I was putting the correct price on the painting.
I decided to sell my paintings from my website and include the shipping cost in the price. So I give a price followed by “Free shipping and insurance in the continental United States”. When I send a painting priority mail through the USPS, this automatically includes $100 insurance as well as a tracking number. Since I know all my costs before I sell the item, I’m confident that I can offer free shipping without losing my profit.
Having the tracking number is important, so that someone can’t claim they didn’t get the item. The tracking number will tell both parties when the item was delivered.
You can use the same procedure for a drawing or a craft. Box it up and find out what it will cost to ship it to a town far away from where you live. If you are in the United States, pick a town in Maine or Washington state, whichever is farthest. Then add up all the costs to make and ship the item. Add 30% to 35 % for your profit and you have the selling price.
This process take the emotion and doubt of it. It’s a logical method and you can feel confident that the price is fair. Of course, if you want a higher percentage of profit, you are free to ask for that.
Or you can search the internet to see what other people are charging for similar products. That is another good way to take the guesswork out of it.
NOTE: If you are going to post a painting, drawing or craft on a platform besides your website, be sure to include any fees or commissions that company will charge you. Will they charge 15% or 40% of the selling price. There is a wide range so be sure you are clear about the amount and include their commission in your price.
[13] MAKE A LIST OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLACES WHERE YOU CAN POST IMAGES OF YOUR LATEST CREATIONS
There is a Facebook group called “Living Artists Trying to Sell Their Paintings and Drawings” hosted by Amy Prendergast Parker. Her rules are easy… Give good comments on other member’s posts and then post your own artwork.
Every once in a while, include a link to where you post your artwork for sale. Mine is a web page on my website. Yours might be an Etsy or eBay page. Just be sure that your sales page has a reasonable link that is easy to display along with your paintings.
You don’t have to spend more than 5 minutes on a social media page. That means you give likes and comments to a few people and then post – for free – a picture of your paintings, drawings or crafts with a brief description. You could do this least 10 or 12 times around the internet in just 1 hour.
This goes much faster if you have a check list of places to post. If you use a spreadsheet, you can just copy and paste those places and get to them really fast.
Find places where people BUY artwork. LinkedIn is full of companies and small businesses. These places have to decorate their offices. If your artwork would be appropriate for offices, post on LinkedIn and you’ll run into a whole different section of people you won’t find on the art-related social pages.
Another factor to consider is that LinkedIn occasionally sends out emails. I follow some of the artists on LinkedIn and from time to time I get an email saying that one of them posted something I might like to look at. This service needs to be considered. If you don’t have your own email list (or even if you do) it’s a bonus when a platform sends out an email (to who knows how many people) on your behalf.
Speaking of emails, you can give stuff away when you post on social media. Maybe it’ll be a short ebook about how to frame a drawing. Whatever it is, you’ll be asking for their email address so you can send these things to their inbox. This will grow your email list and when you have a new drawing, painting or craft for sale, you can email them about it, offering it for sale first to your personal email list.
CONCLUSION:
Several ways of reaching possible buyers has been presented. If you felt drawn to one method in particular, I recommend you start there. Get that method up and running, then zero in on a second method. By following this pattern, you will methodically increase the number of people who see your work and increase the chances of more sales.
This page is just inside the front cover:
Here are some of the drawings you’ll find in this book. I use this book as a reference book because the drawings are beautifully detailed.
Here is another glimpse of the drawings you’ll find in this Bloom Adult Coloring Book. This is the Wild Rose page:
LET’S LOOK CLOSELY AT THE LEAVES
WE ARE NOT LOCKED INTO DRAWING EXACTLY WHAT WE SEE
HERE IS ANOTHER ART TIP:
I encourage you to work on your forget me not drawing until it’s something you like well enough to frame and hang on your wall. You can buy inexpensive frames to fit your paper, even at thrift stores.
ADDING COLOR:
Add the sky and birds. The slanted lines of the sky should be spaced out and never darker than the swan, which is the main element in the drawing. Make the skylines wispy. Leave some sky untouched. Put an odd number of birds in the sky, 1, 3, 5, or whatever.
Add water and the swan’s shadow in the water. Add a bit of swirly water in front of the swan. Make the shadow in the water the darkest nearest the swan, where very little sunlight can reach. Make the shadow lighter as it is further away from the swan because the sunlight can lighten the shadow out away from the swan.
Now add your final shadows and see what your drawing looks like in a frame.
Sign your name and hang your drawing on the wall.
YOU ARE INVITED TO POST YOUR SWAN IN PENCIL DRAWING ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE HERE: