My best marketing tool!

Karin Wells · 11-11-2001, 11:36 AM

My best marketing tool is my web site on "Stroke of Genius..."

This "personal art show" is open 24 hour a day, 7 days a week and the audience is worldwide. Who could ask for more?

I have gotten plenty of portrait commissions from my online portfolio and it is my only form of advertising.

Renee Brown · 11-11-2001, 04:09 PM

Karin,

Yes, I can certainly see why.

The Stroke of Genius website is the best art website I have ever seen. Easy to navigate and beautifully designed.

Each artist has a "gallery" that is classy looking. I also appreciate the extremely high caliber of the work shown on Strokes.

I have investigated all the portrait societies as to an artist's advantages in belonging and I have come to the decision based on the responses that Stroke of Genius is the number one goal for me.

That is why I am here to ask questions and have my work critiqued, so that some day I hopefully will be accepted into this wonderful site.

Your work is beautiful!
Renee Brown

Cynthia Daniel · 01-12-2002, 09:50 PM

Thank you for your compliments!

Tarique Beg · 02-13-2002, 02:35 AM

Hi Karin

In the 70's in India, I used to get portrait orders through my cousin's fancy beauty salon. She had many wealthy Indian ladies as clients, and I usually ended up painting them and their kids, and occasionally their husbands. My cousin did not charge me any commission because I painted her picture and her family which she displayed at the salon. So, I really didn't have to do any marketing and still have no idea how one goes about it, especially since I've been away from portraits for the last 20 years.

Now, I'm set up with all my equipment, studio, and paints etc. and wondering how one gets models for photographic sessions so that I can build up a portfolio of work. I've been showing people drawings from photographs, and they mostly just want to give me their favourite photograph instead of taking the trouble to go through a photographic session. How did you first build up a body of work to show at your site?

Tarique

Karin Wells · 02-13-2002, 09:55 AM

Hmmmmm.....building up a portfolio?

I began by painting my family and friends (at least they cooperated).

I also contacted art schools, etc. (any place that has a life class and uses models) and asked for a list of models. If you hire a model...be sure to get a signed model release so that you can use their image.

As to the client supplying a pix...unless the lighting is absolutely correct, you really should insist that you be the one to take the photo. Besides, the resulting painting isn't really "yours" unless you create the whole thing from scratch - not to mention the copyright violation of using someone else's work for profit.

The only exception I can think of in using someone else's photo is when the person has passed away and you have no choice in the matter.

Tarique Beg · 02-16-2002, 06:23 AM

Thanks for the suggestions Karin.

By the way, a little digression here. What you said about taking one's own photographs as essentially being part of the whole creative process made me wonder whether any portrait painters are also working as artistic portrait photographers. I don't mean the typical studio photographs, but onsite, single source lighting, portraits -- say like the Yousuf Karsh type photographs.

My feeling is that artistic, onsite, portrait photography can be an art in itself as well as a great tool in the creation process of portrait paintings. In fact, honing both skills could complement each other very well -- being a painter, could help you take better photographs, that would serve as better references for paintings.

Of course, I feel that painting goes much further than photography because it could take several photographs, plus some live sittings, to create a painting and you can also break out of the confines of photography with painting. So it's a much deeper study of a personality. However, I'm just not sure whether also being a professional, artistic portrait photographer in any way detracts from marketing oneself as a portrait painter.

Will clients perceive you as less of a portrait painter if you also present yourself as a portrait photographer? All the sites I've looked at so far show the artist as strictly a painter (who may use photographs), or strictly as a portrait photographer. I wonder why this is so, because these are really two separate skills, that should complement rather than take away from one another.

Maybe Cynthia also has some input here.

Karin Wells · 02-16-2002, 09:07 AM

I have a friend, Michael Moore, who is both a pro photographer and a portrait painter. His website is: http://www.michaelmooreportraits.com/

If you contact him to chat, say "hi" from me....

Cynthia Daniel · 02-16-2002, 09:16 AM

Tarique,

I know of one artist who was masterful and successful as a portrait photographer and has also become a success as a portrait painter. Though this artist makes no secret of her portrait photographer background, like the sites you've seen, her site doesn't try to market the two together. I assume she's still doing both or at least, did for a while.

You do pose an interesting question, one that makes me wonder at what point and how I learned that you wouldn't try to market these two together. Perhaps it's just something that happened through osmosis over the years.

The first thought that comes to mind is that the associations people have in their minds with each area of expertise are totally different.

Painted portraiture has a tradition of thousands of years and I think in the minds of the public, it has a mysterious and esoteric quality to it. Afterall, most people could not paint a portrait that looked even decent if their life depended on it. If you told them to go out to an art supply store and buy all the materials for painting a portrait and they'd have some idea what to buy, but wouldn't have any idea what to do with the materials afterwards. And, take those same people and put them through the most intensive painting classes and a great deal of them still would never be able to paint a decent portrait.

With portrait photography, this is a "modern" invention with a tradition of less than 100 years and most people own a camera...thus, I would say that some of the mystery is lacking as compared to painted portraiture. Most people can take a photograph of another person even if it doesn't reach the level of being art and there is no special knowledge needed to go out and buy a camera and a roll of film. Even though this person would still be far away from creating a master portrait photograph, the greater public knowledge of the tools of the trade is another factor which takes away from the mystery and awe.

So, in my opinion, the public to which you would be marketing would often be entirely different types of people. I can even imagine that a wealthy socialite would love to brag about her portrait done by some big-name portrait painter, but I have a hard time imagining her bragging about a portrait photograph she'd just had done. Perhaps my experience in this is limited, but that's how I see it.

A theory...I think if a portrait painter is very successful, they wouldn't have time to also be a portrait photographer. So, there might be some suggestion that the artist isn't fully successful if they have time to do both.

I realize that some very successful portrait photographers get paid as much as portrait painters. But, I think this is very rare and, in general, the public perceives a painted portrait as more valuable than a photograph.

There might also be the danger of devaluing both by seeming to imply "you don't want to buy this, ok, I have something else I can sell you".

All that said, I wouldn't rule out that someone could come along who could do and market both together successfully.

Tarique Beg · 02-16-2002, 06:33 PM

Cynthia,

Thanks for the insightful response. Now, as I think about it, yes, it does seem that the value of almost anything depends upon how it is perceived by the public at large. It's probably prudent to take into account these perceptions of people and organizations when marketting anything, and it's best not to mess with established perceptions if your profession depends on it.

Tarique

Michele Rushworth · 04-22-2002, 04:57 PM

I wonder if I could ask contributors to this forum to weigh in on what has been their most successful marketing approach or tool.

I recently got a website showing my work on Stroke of Genius and I love what Cynthia has created for me. (Thanks again, Cynthia!) It's a great tool for showing interested people my work and commission process -- I just have to refer them to the website address. I don't know yet if I'll be getting calls for commissions just based on my site, though, and I know that I'll need to continue the rest of my marketing efforts, too.

What has everyone else found to be the most effective method for getting commissions?

Auctions? Advertising? Word of mouth? Other ideas?