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How to Sell Your Art Online, Get Brand Partnerships, and Make Money

 2 years ago
source link: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-sell-your-art-online-brand-partnerships-make-money-2022-6
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This teacher quit her job to become an artist and earned $85,000 last year from paintings, murals, and brand partnerships

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Stefanie Bales holds up her painting while standing in front of a white wall

Stefanie Bales is an artist in San Diego. Angela Garzon

  • Stefanie Bales is an artist bsed in San Diego.
  • Last year, she earned $85,000 from selling her art, painting murals, and booking brand partnerships.
  • She explained how she diversified her revenue and established a strong brand.

The colorful murals by the local painter Stefanie Bales can be seen throughout San Diego, whether you're grabbing ice cream in Belmont Park, taking a CrossFit class at Bear Republic, or trying a vegan pastry at Phatties Bake Shop.

Her vibrant, tropical, and impressionist-inspired pieces are the type of photo ops that fashion and travel influencers flock to. Last year, Bales earned $35,350 in revenue from her murals alone. 

But Bales, 38, never expected to earn a living from her art. For a decade, she worked full time as an art professor at Platt College San Diego. "I didn't want to put that pressure on myself to 'make it' with my art," she told Insider. "It was just my passion and what I needed to do. No artist goes into the field because they're like, 'This is going to be lucrative.'" 

In June 2018, she quit teaching to prioritize her art as a business. Within weeks, she landed a small studio and gallery space, and she began commissioning murals. More teachers like her are considering leaving the profession: 55% of educators plan to quit earlier than expected, a National Education Association survey found. 

In 2021, after three months on maternity leave, Bales booked more than $85,000 in sales, which Insider verified with documentation. So far this year, Bales has booked $46,800 in sales, and she expects to hit $93,000 once she completes a commissioned mural this summer. 

"Everything in the art business is a slow crawl," she said. "Have patience and ride the waves as they come in, trying not to jump on ones that aren't right."

Bales broke down how she earns a living through her art and her tips for running a viable business as an artist. 

Create multiple streams of revenue

Bales painted a mural on the exterior of Sweet Shoppe ice cream parlor in Belmont Park, San Diego. Angela Garzon

Bales sells her art in multiple mediums, providing a range of formats for people to experience her work. Her canvas paintings start at $2,050, while prints sell for $45 to $65. Last year, she generated $28,500 in sales from her paintings. 

Murals are her biggest source of revenue, especially since the pandemic. Local businesses pay her between $500 and $58,000 for her original designs. "People were buying much less fine art, and all of the businesses were interested in reinvigorating their spaces," she said. 

Though they aren't always paid, Bales booked brand partnerships such as painting handbags for the leather-goods store Glad & Young Studio, hosting classes for the online crafting studio The Crafter's Box, and designing custom towels for the home-goods brand Geometry House. 

"Every one of those collaborations were formed because I personally knew or was referred to the owner, or they found me on social media," she said. "Social media has been my only form of marketing."

Establish a recognizable brand

Inside Bales' gallery and store space. Angela Garzon

Bales said an artist's brand should have a strong, recognizable identity. "It's important to have a brand and not just sell your work, in order to make it work full time," she said. 

One of her first steps in developing her brand was to define a color palette based on common themes in her work. Her paintings depict realistic landscapes of beaches and deserts — which she calls "dreamscapes" — and her style is inspired by the impressionist period defined by artists such as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Her focus on nature and light is reflected in the muted colors, and she primarily uses soft peach and sky blue on her website and social media.

"All of my work has these very whimsical, surreal qualities," she said. "I really wanted to bring that into my brand."

Bales also brought her aesthetic into her gallery space: One wall is painted an ombré sunset and fluffy clouds, and rainbow discs hang from the ceiling. She said, "It's just supposed to feel like you're walking into one of my paintings."


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