Get Your Art Into a Gallery
Nov 6, 2009 Promotion and Exhibition
I’m going to shift gears a little bit here away from drawing lessons and towards self-promotion. Maybe you do your art purely for yourself, but at the end of the day most artists want their work to be seen. Getting a show at a gallery may seem like an impossible task, but like most things, all it requires is some research, hard work and persistence.
About Galleries
The first thing to realize is that there are different kinds of galleries. The first is a commercial gallery, which operates like a store. The gallery exists to sell art, the employees function as salespeople. Often, these galleries will “represent” artists, which means that they exhibit a number of artists work all at the same time.
The second tyep of gallery is a fine art gallery. These galleries host exhibits from single artists or groups of artists throughout the year. Exhibits generally last for a month or two, sometimes three. The goal of these galleries is education and awareness. The emphasis is not on sales, but on bringing art to the public.
Both types will take a commission from any sales, usually between 30-50%.
You need to choose the gallery that is right for you. If your work is very contemporary and edgy, or experimental in form or materials, you would fit into a fine art gallery better. If your focus is on creating aesthetically pleasing art that is sell-able, you would want to try a commercial gallery. Some artists find they are able to do both; it really depends on your work and how you approach it.
How to Make Your Approach
Some people find success just by walking in and talking to the owner. Not everyone is comfortable doing this, not to mention some galleries actively discourage it! Gallery owners simply don’t have the time to sit down and talk to every artist who walks in off the street.
Your best course of action is to see if the gallery has a website. Most galleries that have websites will have a page that outlines their submission guidelines. Some galleries ask for proposals to be mailed, some to be e-mailed and some ask for the artist’s web address. Follow each and every instruction on these guidelines. Galleries get many more proposals than they can accept, so don’t give them any reason not to consider yours!
If you can’t find any submission guidelines, send the gallery a proposal package including a cover letter, an artist statement, your CV, and examples of your work. Check out my article on exhibition proposals for more information.
What About the Art?
Galleries put a lot of importance on the written components of exhibition proposals, but they ultimately want to show good work. Your artist statement is what will open the door for you, the quality and cohesiveness of your work will keep it from slamming in your face!
Before submitting to any galleries, you want to have a solid body of work. This means having about a dozen quality pieces that show a theme. You don’t want to submit a watercolour landscape sketch and a collaged drawing with a graphite portrait and an abstract pastel piece. Every piece should work individually as well as add up to a cohesive group of art.
Make sure you have some good quality documentatin of your works. No blurriness or glares from the camera flash. Natural light is the best for documenting art. Take your pieces outside on a slightly overcast day to get good pictures, and use a tripod to prevent blurring.
This is just an introduction to getting into an art gallery. In the next few weeks I’ll talk about how to choose the right gallery, how to document artwork, and how to put together the different elements of your proposal. To get the latest articles in your inbox, sign up for my email subscription!
Tags: galleries
Design Your Own Business Card Display Stands
Nov 3, 2009 Promotion and Exhibition
Lately I’ve been mulling over the idea of finding some businesses that are willing to display my business cards. I’m looking mostly at kids’ clothing stores, since the people who shop there would be more likely to want a portrait, but I didn’t want to just drop off a stack of business cards. I also didn’t want to pay money for an expensive, generic stand that I may or may not get back.
I started browsing the net for a simple design to make my own display stand for my business cards, but was disappointed at what I found, so I decided to design my own! I wanted something simple and affordable, but also professional and attractive.
Lucky for you, I’m sharing my design!
Here is the generic plan, which you can draw or print on a piece of heavy card. The dimensions are all in inches, designed to hold a standard 2″ x 3″ business card.
It’s pretty straight forward, but all you need to do is cut on the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines. An easy way to make a nice crisp fold is to score the line using the wrong side of an exacto knife and a ruler. Fold in the tabs and hold in place with glue or double-sided tape. The tabs in the back fold out and hold the display stand upright.
The best part is that you can customize this basic design any way you want! You can cut the front or back piece into a different shape. I used a circular form. Depending on how computer savvy you are, you can also take the design into a program like CorelDraw and add a graphic to the back like I’ve done. If you don’t need a stand for business cards, but are looking for something to display post cards or greeting cards, just change the dimensions.
How to Draw a Portrait – Tutorial Part 2
Nov 1, 2009 Drawing, Tutorials
Part two of my portrait tutorial will focus on the hair and body. To see how I drew the face, check out part one of how to draw a portrait. The important thing to remember when drawing either the hair or the body is that you approach it exactly the same way you would anything else. Look for the shapes of light and dark, and create gradual shading between the two.
First of all, here is our reference, which comes from Jocelyn.
Begin blocking in the values in the hair with a 2H pencil. Build up your shadows with layers, not by pressing harder, to get a sense of the volume. Blend it out.
Next, using a B pencil, go back in and shade the shadows and midtones, creating more depth. Blend.
Now take your 2B and shade in only the very darkest areas. These include the top of the head and the areas around the face. Blend.
Now that we have shaded in the base of the hair, it’s time to add the texture. It’s important to create a sense of depth and volume in the hair as a whole before concentrating on drawing individual hairs. To draw the hairs, use a very sharp pencil and a wrist-flicking motion. Use a B pencil for the highlight areas and your 2B for the shadows. Be sure to adda few fly-away hairs.
I’ve kind of breezed through drawing the hair here, but if you want a more detailed lesson check out my tutorial on how to draw hair.
Now we can start working on the rest of the body. It’s important that you treat it the same as the face so that it looks like the same person. You don’t want either to be significantly darker, lighter or more contrasting than the other. Start with your 2H, shade in the values and blend.
Using a B pencil, shade in the darker values and blend it into the lighter. Try to achieve a smooth gradation by building up layers slowly rather than pressing harder with the pencil. Blend.
Now you can darken up the shadows with a 2B. Here I’ve darkened the shadows around the neck and shoulders as well as the straps. Blend.
At this point you’re almost done! All that you need to do now is go back in with your kneaded eraser and pull out some of those highlights. Check with your reference throughout this step and try to refine the shapes of your shadows in case they’ve shifted during blending. Don’t forget your signature!
Don’t be intimidated by drawing portraits. At the end of the day, it’s no different from drawing anything else! All you have to do is pay close attention to your reference and take your time. I also find it helps to start with the most challenging part: the face. Once you have a likeness, the rest will come together!
If you’re having trouble with a particularly tricky portrait, send me a message; I’d be happy to help!
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