It’s done…..now what?
- Clean the edges of all drips—I’m a firm believer in properly finishing my pieces and for me that means that the edges are nice and clean of any drips and drops. I know that some artists love that organic feel of showing the process, but generally buyers like clean and finished edges.
- Wire the piece for hanging.
- Sign it—I always sign my work in an upward motion on the back.
- Properly wrap your images and place in storage for safe keeping
- Title the work and add the title to Lightroom key wording.
- Get it reproduction ready—for me this means bringing the work to a friends studio and having the images photographed using large diffused light boxes. I then have the image color corrected to match the original work. My goal is to have large file reproduction images that will be sold as prints.
- Create digital file folder of photographed work and back-up images used to create the piece—for instance I may have an original file and then several renditions of the file as I manipulated the original file and print the image on tissue. I keep all these files in one place.
- Create different files of the reproduced file for reproduction purposes.
- Original File (ie. Name_Title_Size_Orig.tif)
- 720px at 72 dpi version of file
- 400 px at 72 dpi version of file for web purposes (named for web site SEO)
- Any detail versions of the file needed
- Create file for social media that includes name, title, and copyright information at bottom.
- Gather details to file a copyright claim at http://copyright.gov.
- Put on FB, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or other social media platform. Post with description that includes price for original so people know it’s for sale (i.e., Wild Abandon | 30 x 30 PhotoEncaustic | $3,000 | ©2013 Clare O’Neill).
- Blog about the work. Be sure the complete description above is include with the image, again so that viewers know it’s for sale.
- Upload the image to website making sure that the name and credit line is visible whenever the image is enlarged.
- Upload the image to online sales venues (i.e., Art Finder, Saatchi Art, etc.)
I know this may all seem like a lot of work. But believe me, it’s an important part of completing the work and sending it out into the world.
I would love to know in the comments below what are some of the other things you do once you’ve completed your works.
Be well….be creative,
Thank you Clare. I used to just get pieces ready to hang. Now there is the whole online world – a blessing and a curse. Your checklist is really useful.
Yes Carol, with the advent of the online world you’re only partially done when you finish the work.
Clare, Very helpful info!
Glad it was helpful Joanne:)
Thanks Clare. Could you offer some details on the lighting setup for creating prints from your original work?
Thanx!
Hi Dave,
I don’t set up the lighting myself but will do a blog post of this soon as I have to take some work to get it photographed. I’ll give all the details then. Thanks for asking.
Thanks Clare, that is such a useful checklist.
I get a bit lost with the technological side of things (get bored by it more like!) but know it’s a necessity these days and must be done. Now I’ve just got to produce something to photograph and market. Speaking of photographing my work, I do find it incredibly hard to reproduce the true blues and turqoises in my pieces once I’ve got rid of the shine bouncing off the wax.
Really appreciate your generosity in sharing all this information.
Hi Cinny, it is indeed hard to photograph encaustic pieces. I’ll do a blog post on it soon.
Loving all this information. I am also easily bored with the technical side of things, looking forward to learning to embrace it. Can’t wait for the next blog!
Thanks Lesa Ann……looking forward to having you in class…..and photographing horses together:)
Great information invaluable thank you so much Clare. Now I get to understand the bigger picture. Of course I am not ready but eventually. I hope to use this informational resource.
This will be the challenging part for me. And also deciding what pieces are worth the work of getting them out there.
Great post Claire. k