Monday, February 10, 2025

Four Steps To Selling Your Art - Part 1

 

(Brought to you by our friends at ArtBizCoach.com)

In all the years I’ve been helping artists build their careers, I can say with a good deal of confidence that there are four major steps to kick-start a rewarding art career. Today we’ll look at the first step.

Step #1: Devote yourself completely to a studio practice

You can’t make a few nice pieces and sit in the easy chair. You have to work, work, work. While I don’t believe that an artist needs an art degree to succeed, I do know that art school gives artists a leg up on creating the habit of being in the studio. If no one instilled this in you, it’s something you need to figure out.

Like anyone else who is self-employed, no one is going to tell you when to get up, when to go into the studio, when to take a break, when to stop for the day, or when to take a vacation. These are things you must learn to do for yourself.

The great thing about being self-employed is that you are free to organize your schedule so that it works for you. The downside is that some people aren’t very good at setting goals and boundaries. If this is you, don’t use it as an excuse. Consider it a challenge to change your ways.

2 GUIDELINES FOR YOUR STUDIO TIME

1) Make It Regular: Whether it’s the same time every day, the same number of hours each week, or on the same days of the week. Not a morning person? Then for Pete’s sake, don’t say you’re going to get up early and go to the studio. Schedule your studio time when you are most creative and productive.

I’d love to say that all you need is passion and excitement about your art, but you also must have a healthy dose of discipline to channel that enthusiasm. Don’t believe me? Read Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. Colvin shows how two people with equal parts talent take very different paths when one of them commits to a deliberate practice. And if you want to see discipline instilled in a lifelong artist, check out The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp.

2) Keep It Sacred: Don’t let anyone or anything interfere with your studio time. I’ve read about a few artists lately who wouldn’t allow phones in their studios for fear that they could become a distraction. It’s also important to be able to turn down requests and invitations that would take you away from your studio time.

Copyright © Alyson B. Stanfield

Reposted By:

Adam Brown

Osio-Brown Editions Website

Monday, February 3, 2025

Why Limited Edition Prints? Why Now?

 In my day-to-day interactions with artists, I consistently hear about how difficult the art market is right now. Original work is more difficult to sell than ever before. As artists, we, too, are experiencing the downside of our current economic climate. The media bombards us every day with negativity about our struggling economy, out of control inflation, the stock market, government tariffs, and on and on and on…

 

So what are we to do about it? How are we to survive?

Well, certainly the answer cannot be to scale back or quit. According to Art Business News,

"The art market has survived the recession of the '70s, Black Monday in October, 1987, Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the early '90s, the market bubble burst in 2000, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, natural disasters in Thailand and now these challenging economic times, as well."

Even though times are tough, we must continue to create new work. We must continue to push forward. Some of the most successful companies of our time chose to market themselves even more aggressively when times got tough. Companies like Kellogg, Proctor & Gamble and Coca-Cola increased their marketing and production during the Great Depression and it paid off...big time!!! We cannot afford to drop out of public sight right now and cause our existing and future clients to feel abandoned. Instead, we must keep our art and names out in front of our clients, despite the lack of money they have to spend.

This is where I feel limited edition prints make more sense now than ever before. Let's face it, original artwork is simply more difficult to sell right now. Limited edition prints offer you an excellent, lower priced option for your clients. With the current technologies available, giclee prints offer richer, truer and more brilliant colors than ever before possible. With pigmented inks and archival substrates, giclee prints have the longevity to outlast any of their predecessors. Museums like The Art Institute of Chicago, the Guggenheim in New York City and the Louvre in Paris have all accepted the quality and longevity of giclee prints.

For more information about giclee printing, its costs and benefits please contact our studio by email at info@osiobrown.com or by phone at (630) 461-4525.


 

Adam Brown

Osio-Brown Editions Website

 

Monday, January 27, 2025

A Great Giclee Print Begins With A Great Digital Image

Thanks to advanced printer technology and the search for new business opportunities, many print and art related businesses are now claiming to produce giclee prints. Photographers, framing companies, prepress shops and graphics printers are dipping into the giclee print market with, unfortunately, mixed results. The art of reproducing original fine art work is a highly skilled technique and should only be trusted to those who truly understand the science of color. It’s a multi-step process and any weakness in the chain will affect the quality of the end result.

A great giclee print begins with a great digital image. When artists are looking for a fine art printmaker, they should never underestimate the importance of the camera system and the techniques of digital image capture. This is where many giclee wannabes go wrong. The beauty in fine art is in the details—those delicate nuances, the swirls of mixed colors—that give paintings a depth of texture. You simply cannot recreate that through photography without a scanning back camera system.

The Phase One and Betterlight scanning back camera systems we utilize at Osio-Brown Editions have over 384+ megapixels and a unique trilinear array sensor. This gives them a distinct advantage over single shot digital cameras. The problem with the planer array sensor used in single shot cameras is that it lacks the resolution and color fidelity necessary for the highest quality giclee print.

The downside of the scanning back system is the cost. At around $25,000, many studios simply are not willing to invest in the best equipment possible. Cheaper alternatives are out there, but when it comes to the finished quality of your fine art giclee prints there is simply no better choice. Remember, A Great Giclee Print Begins With A Great Digital Image.”

 

 

Adam Brown

Osio-Brown Editions Website

 


Tuesday, January 21, 2025

What Sets Osio-Brown Editions Apart from Other Fine Art Printmakers

Color Accuracy & Consistency

At Osio-Brown Editions, we pride ourselves on our meticulous detail to color accuracy. Each and every digital capture that we create is adjusted and fine-tuned to produce a color matched proof print that accurately represents your original artwork.

We take multiple steps to maintain color consistency throughout print editions and we maintain our printers longer than most printmakers in the industry. This commitment to color consistency ensures that you can order prints as you need them, rather than printing entire editions at once.


In-House Work

All of our high-end digital art captures, giclee printing and final finishing services are done in-house. You can rest assured knowing that your artwork will be safely stored in our printing studio and never shipped out.


Work Directly with Our Color Specialists & Master Print Technicians

At Osio-Brown Editions, we don’t have a separate front desk staff. When you visit our printing studio, you will be working directly with our color specialists and master print technicians who will be working on your order. They can provide insight into how your artwork will move through our workflow and give you a tour of our printing studio as they explain our process and the equipment we use.


Industry Pioneers

Osio-Brown Editions was founded with a simple goal in mind: to make the best possible giclee prints. Over our 20-year history, we have remained at the forefront of new technology, using advancements in hardware and software to create the highest-quality giclee prints. Our commitment to quality leads all of our decisions as a printing studio.


Work With Us

Whether you are an artist, photographer, museum, gallery, or hobbyist, we are here to partner with you to fulfill all of your printmaking needs. Please reach out to us to get started. You can call us directly at 630.461.4525 or email us at info@osiobrown.com.