The Fine Art of Promoting Your Work

by Elaine McCardel

If you are an artist deciding to pursue portraiture as part of your career, you may have questions about how to get started in the field. You may have already painted many of your family members, friends and colleagues and may have even sold some work. But how do you get more exposure for your portrait work? You can be the most wonderful portrait artist working away in your studio, but if you don't get your work out there and seen, nobody will know about you. And what methods work most effectively for gaining exposure?

Focusing your efforts in your own community is the place to start and establish a base. Approach businesses where you can see opportunities to hang your work. Upscale children's shops or framing shops very often will hang your work in return for a "finder's fee" if you receive any commissions. Tim Chambers, a nationally known portrait artist from Virginia, even approached a ballet studio when he was starting out. He offered to paint the owner's grandchildren if they would hang the painting in the dance studio for two or three years.

Running ads in local publications will gain you name recognition and may lead to some work, but many artists have found that having their local paper run a story featuring them and their portraiture is the most effective method of all. Many community papers jump at the opportunity to feature local artists and their work. Some artists have found that a newspaper article by far generates the most business and interest in their work.

One of the best investments you can make early in your career is to do some free portrait work. Offer to paint a pastor of a local church for free if he will hang the portrait in a prominent spot. Offer to paint a community leader for no charge if he will display the painting or have an unveiling ceremony for you. Contact a local decorator who may be able to help promote your work by having a portrait hanging in his place of business. Seek out highly visible people in your community and approach them about doing a painting. The key is to simply get paintings on display as many ways as you can, giving you the most exposure and word of mouth recognition. Begin entering local and regional art competitions. Even if you don't start winning awards right away you will get exposure for your work in your area.

When Dallas artist Kay Polk started out, she began doing small classical contédrawings of children and donating them to her local church fundraiser and other art fundraisers in her area. This enabled her to get her work seen and her name known around town. Her work became popular and word spread. Then a friend of hers in the Junior League suggested Kay run an ad in their local magazine. That turned out to be a bonanza. After just three years, she had a one-year waiting list. She now works mainly in oil and pastel, is represented by three national portrait brokers and has a waiting list of over two years with over 80 portraits under contract.

Legendary portrait artist Joe Bowler recommends being represented by a good portrait broker or gallery. Many artists think they pay too high a commission for representation, very often 40 percent, but professional agents earn their commission. Joe recommends that an artist have 10 photographs of excellent paintings before approaching a broker. Good photos are major sales tools for them. Conni Szerszen says her first commissions came from galleries. She believes there are fewer portrait artists than other type of artists and galleries are eager to find someone who can produce portraits that they can sell. As the brokers find they can sell you, your price can go up.
Laurie Snow Hein used outdoor art festivals to get exposure for her work. Many of these shows are juried and have a fairly high standard for quality. They are a lot of work, but an artist can gain much exposure from these shows. Using this and other methods, Laurie is now booked a year or more in advance.

Having your clients hold an unveiling party for you can be very effective in promoting your work. Michael del Priore does them quarterly and finds that they always generate new commissions. He says that clients are already so excited about the portrait and so eager to show the work to their friends and family that they are very enthusiastic about the idea of an unveiling party. He suggests that they have hors d'oeuvres and invite 25 to 30 of their friends. Award-winning artist Joy Thomas used unveiling parties also when she was getting started. She would make deals with clients: if they would have an unveiling party for their portrait and if she received two commissions from this, she would give them half their money back.

Many artists have run ads in major upscale magazines like Veranda and Southern Accents. But be prepared for a variety of results. Some artists find the effectiveness of these ads very disappointing. Others actually receive quite a bit of work from this exposure and view the ads as an investment. The portraits that are produced from these ads can generate second and third generation portraits for an artist. Laurie Snow Hein decided to run ads in Veranda to get more national exposure. She ran a quarter-page ad which produced very little interest and no results. Her second ad was the same. The third ad was a jackpot. She received commissions that paid for all the cost of her ads and more. She also got a lot of name recognition. Joyce Birkenstock got most of her work's exposure in Veranda and received a lot of portrait work from the ads. Joy Thomas has run ads in Veranda that resulted in some very high profile commissions. Running more than just a one-time ad seems to be essential.

Roberta Carter Clark, who has written two books on portraiture, has used many methods over the years to obtain commissions. She has exhibited her portraits at resorts, painted in a hotel lobby in Palm Springs, painted on a cruise ship, donated her portraits to charity auctions and done charcoal portraits at her church fair for many years. Almost all of her commissions now come from word of mouth. She insists that every portrait an artist does will result in two more portraits. Having a portrait hanging in someone's home is an advertisement in itself.

June Blackstock, an Atlanta artist, has gotten commissions from the Internet, gallery representation and direct mail advertising. But most of her work comes from client recommendations, simply word of mouth. She maintains that if you can make a client happy they will tell all their family and friends. Her first commission came as a result of an artist friend of hers seeing her work displayed in a store front window and then asked June to paint her daughter.

Peggy Baumgartner stresses that a portrait painter needs to be alert and aware of opportunities. While standing in line at her husband's class reunion she happened to mention to a couple that she was a portrait artist. They were interested in having her paint their child in Raleigh, North Carolina. That one portrait alone has now led to other portraits in the Raleigh area. When someone mentions to Peggy that they are interested in having portrait painted, she follows up with them. Being able handle the follow-up sales to potential clients is essential to keeping a steady workload. And always carry your business cards with you and hand them out at every opportunity.

Susan Kuban, another Atlanta artist, has found contributing work to charity auctions is effective. She has done this for the past four years and it has always brought her more business.
If you are interested in doing corporate or professional work, you can contact local judicial and bar associations or companies that perhaps need boardroom portraits. These types of portraits usually have an unveiling ceremony automatically and can generate more business. Connie Szerszen suggests trying to get connected with an establishment that has recurring needs for a portrait. She did a series for a hospital in Milwaukee and they continually call her for the portrait of their next donor. The hospital would like the new portrait to match the style of the former ones so they are apt to use the same portrait artist for a very long time. She competed once against other artists for a commission, and the client even asked the gallery her age. They wanted to be sure the artist they hired would be around for a while to continue the work!

Remember that the best form of advertising is quality work. You must have the skill and ability necessary to execute quality work and be professional. Joe Bowler considers portraiture to be the most difficult of the visual arts. He knows of many artists who want to know how to promote themselves before they are ready. He strongly stresses that first one must have the ability to draw well, compose the painting, handle the medium of choice, photograph and pose subjects, work from photos if necessary, combine elements from different photographs at times, communicate with clients and complete a job on time. An enthusiastic client is the best public relations you can get. And remember that talent alone is not enough. You must have the drive to succeed and to persevere through rejection. Sometimes the difference between those who make it and those who don't is the commitment.

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