If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or even on Twitter, you may have seen some of the process pics of that I’ve been sharing of my artwork.
I’ve been snapping pics of my work all throughout the creation process — from wobbly, messy beginnings, all the way through to the final product. I take the pics in Instagram, which then gives the option to also share to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and even Tumblr if you have a Tumblr account — all with the click of a single “share” button (brilliant!).
When I first started sharing this way, honestly, it was a little scary. After all, this isn’t just me sharing the carefully edited highlight reel; this is me sharing the whole process, including the mess and the muck, and the parts where I’m pretty convinced that what I’m doing totally sucks.
And yes, there are plenty of those parts! In fact, this image from Behappy.me is a pretty good shorthand for my own creative process for anything and everything I create — paintings, songs, online courses, live retreats, etc:
The good thing, though, is that once you understand that parts 2, 3 and 4 are simply an integral part of the process, it becomes a lot easier to keep going and not get permanently stalled when you get to those parts. Now I’m so much better at noticing that, oh, yeah, here I am in the “I am shit” part of the process, and reminding myself that it will pass.
When you do something enough — including noticing that every time you create you go through a phase of thinking you suck — it gets easier.
This applies to sharing my process, too. What was scary at first has become second nature.
It has also brought some surprising gifts:
1) Motivation
I hadn’t realized how motivating it would be to get positive responses to my pics!
The challenge, of course, is not to allow myself to be swayed by other people’s opinions. I’m the artist, after all — my job is to create the unique expression inside me, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks about my work.
That said, getting “likes” and positive comments adds fuel to my creative fire, and this is a good thing!
2) Perspective
The most valuable gift of the feedback I’ve been getting, though, is not praise, per se. Instead, it’s something more subtle and nuanced. Especially when I post something I’m not particularly pleased with, positive feedback helps me take off my critical glasses and look at my work through other people’s lenses.
This is HUGE!
Being able to see my work through the eyes of others helps me to look at it less harshly, and to appreciate what I might have dismissed before as unworthy of appreciation.
This is different from needing praise to validate me. Instead, it’s enabling me to step outside of my limited viewpoint, and see my work not for what it isn’t, but for what it is.
3) Sales!
Another very sweet surprise is that, not long into my experiment with sharing my process pics, someone on Facebook asked if it would be possible to purchase one of my pieces-in-process.
Um, that would be yes! (And it quickly made me realize the importance of making this super-clear in my Instagram bio and in my posts as well — all work is for sale!)
This initial inquiry turned into not just a sale but also a commission, when it turned out the client wanted two sister paintings. And when she came to pick them up yesterday (see the blue/green pics at the top below), she also bought two other pieces I had in the studio, one of which wasn’t even finished yet.
Sweet!
There’s nothing like a sale to make an artist’s day. 🙂
Marketing that Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing
The upshot is that the process pic-sharing that I’ve been doing is good for me and my art in so many ways, including being good for my business!
It’s “marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing.”
Most creatives I talk to have a weird idea about what marketing is. We’re so afraid of coming across as slimy and sleezy that we’re often scared to share at all!
But of course effective marketing doesn’t mean strong-arming someone to buy something they don’t want or need! It simply means sharing what you offer with people who might actually like to buy it.
Which is exactly what I’m doing with my process pics: simply sharing my process. It’s fun! And it’s helping my audience of Right People to find me.
If you’re an artist, you might give it a try yourself!
To give you an idea of what my shares look like, below are start-to-finish pics of a recent piece. (The colors vary depending on the light I’m shooting in, but I consider this part of the inherent beauty of these process pics — they may be incredibly inaccurate in terms of color, but they really capture where I am, in terms of the artwork’s evolution, and what time of day it is and what work space I’m using when I snap the pics.)
This is just one piece I finished recently. You can see lots more process pics over at my Instagram page. Or hop over to my Facebook page, where I’ve been asking followers for title ideas for my pieces. Who knows? You might name my next piece! 🙂
And if you’ve been scared to share your work yourself, you might give it a try. It’s amazing how enriching it is when you see your work making a positive impact on other people.
Now go get creating!
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
Thank you Melissa for this lesson, as selling for an artist is like selling yourself and you’re in the best place to understand that.
You’re welcome, Mihaela. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Thanks Melissa! I have been posting some pics of works, and I understand what you mean about the lighting, etc. I keep thinking I really should get things “set-up” to photograph, but I like the idea that it really gives a feel for the messiness, time of day and process. I should also make the effort to let people know that these things are for sale as well, and I thank you for the encouragement to do just that!
Beautiful work, and words. . . Thank you! 🙂
When I want to post an image in an online shop or submit it to a show, then absolutely I’ll get out my professional lights and take really good quality pics. For documenting the process to share on social media, though, my iPhone and whatever light is around do the trick. Imperfectionism pays here, because it means I take more photos! 🙂
Thanks for your kind words. 🙂
Thank you Melissa!
(applause)
You’re welcome, Mark!
(takes a bow)
You’re so right, Melissa. I share some of my finished work, but I rarely show work-in-progress, and as artists we underestimate how interested people are in seeing an artist work. For us, we’re right in the middle of the mess, but they see a glimpse into another world. Okay, I’m off to take some pics of my works in progress (including my untidy, colourful desk!).
Yes, exactly — people LOVE to see the process, the messy middle! While we’re working to get OUT of it, everyone else is dying to see inside! 🙂
I look forward to seeing pics of your work, including your untidy, colourful desk! 🙂
I’m posting process pics on Instagram, but not so much on Twitter and Facebook because I don’t want to spam people so much… So far I haven’t yet had a single sale from sharing progress pictures, but you never know, it might happen!
But I often get so many comments from people that they LOVE seeing the process because creating art seems somewhat “magical” to people who aren’t artists, and when you present them just the finished piece they have no idea how much work went into creating it. But when they see the artistic process as something so fluid and often messy, it partly demystifies the creation, but also shows that you don’t just poop paintings in a couple of minutes, they take quite a bit of work to complete 😀
The thing about any kind of marketing/sharing is that you never know what will result from it. Which is why marketing that is A) fun, B) easy, and C) free is GREAT! 🙂
And getting those comments from people who love to see the process is part of what feeds me and helps me keep going when I get frustrated. And yes, it shows how long the creative process actually takes — very important!!
(Boy do I wish I could poop paintings in a couple of minutes! 😉 )
I’ve tended to post process pictures primarily to Facebook and my ShineBIG account. It should be noted that if you have an artist page on Facebook, your reach is going to be much lower from here on in. Posting to my Facebook profile seems to have had the greatest impact. I sold a piece earlier this year because of posting process pics to my profile page. I’ve long avoided posting process pics to my personal account to keep the spam factor down as well. Seems like Instagram, for those who use it, would be an ideal place to post pics. I’ve been slow on that end of things and haven’t been using Instagram at all.
Comments on process photos can be great for sure. I like taking folks that are following the process on a journey because often times composition/color/theme can really change drastically. It’s usually a fine lesson in non-attachment.
I’ve gone the additional mile and I add audio notes to my process pics whenever possible.
I get a lot more response to my FB profile posts, too, Babatola. And my recent sale was to a FB “friend,” not through my FB business page. Facebook continually changes how it operates — one very big reason to have your own website, and not rely on Facebook (or *any* outpost)!
I agree that comments can be a very good lesson in non-attachment. That’s always such a challenge: to take feedback, use it to help strategize, but not let it run the show.
I love that you’ve added audio notes! Thanks for the reminder — I saw another artist’s site who did that, and thought it was brilliant. Any way to connect people to our process and us is a good thing. 🙂
Here’s the link to the recent Time magazine article on Facebook page throttling: http://time.com/34025/the-free-marketing-gravy-train-is-over-on-facebook/ Given that news, wonder what it means long term for basically small business and hobby pages.
Here’s are a couple examples of that audio narration btw: http://babatola.com/process.php?page=solarflaresurfer and http://shnbg.at/lt66w
I’m a big believer in the idea that the more artists talk about their work and process in real ways (meaning outside the often flowery artist statement), the less mystifying it will be for the average person … well theoretically that is. Some of my commentary can be nearly unintelligible at some points.
It will be interesting to see how Facebook’s changes affect small business and hobby pages. As far as I’m concerned, it’s more fuel to the “you gotta have your OWN website” fire. 🙂
Cool narration! What an awesome idea to narrate the whole process.
Brilliant advice Melissa. I’ve been doing something similar on Facebook and Twitter with awesome results. Seeing how things are made is a lot of fun for people who have no idea what the creative process is all about!
Yes, absolutely! I LOVE seeing other people’s creative processes. I think most people find it fascinating. 🙂
Hi Melissa, I am in the middle of Cory Huff’s content marketing course (which is great BTW), and I know that I need to do the recording-posting-work-in-progress thing, but just last night I was in the “why-does-an-artist-have-to-do-all-this-crap-to-make-sales” mood. Soooo….you’ve just reinforced why it’s so important, and the proof is in the sale! Thanks for the reminder. You and Cory and other coaching types are absolutely right no matter what my negative gremlins try to feed me. Thanks
That’s so great you’re doing Cory’s content marketing course! He’s the MAN!
(FYI, you’re not alone: I get into that same “why-does-an-artist-have-to-do-all-this-crap-to-make-sales” mood, too sometimes. 🙂 The key, as always with gremlins, is not to let them drive the bus. Gremlins can be very persistent, but they’re not very good bus drivers. ;))
You are so right, Melissa! And thanks for pointing out that the process has become fun for you. I am looking forward to reaching that point. Congrats on the sale….there’s no greater motivator to get back to the studio and create more art!
This is so encouraging, Melissa. I finally signed up for Instagram – and it’s fun! Facebook used to be such a good channel to me, but no more. I like the way you talk about art, so full of ease and grace. Thank you for this blog post, really useful. 🙂
Yay Marie! And thank you for your comment — that means a lot to me. I’m so glad you found this post useful!! 🙂
I already benefit from sharing my process with others, so your post deeply resonates. This has given me more specifics in how to engage my community. Namely, title ideas!! I often know what the piece is about, but I feel blocked when working out titles. I’m sure my online community would love to help with that!
Mandy, I don’t know any artist who doesn’t get stuck when it comes to title ideas. It’s so fun to get other people to help out, and it’s a great way to get them involved. 🙂
Thanks for the tidbits into the Art world. I’ve done some craft of some sort my whole life and now I’m trying to be true to the art portion. I have always had a ‘sluggish’ sale problem. I like sharing the creative process idea!
You’re welcome, Janiel! I’m glad it was helpful. 🙂
BTW, I’m super curious about your abstract cookie painting. Back before I thought of myself as an artist, I was really into cake & cookie decorating, and gingerbread houses! Now I look back and see that this was my art at the time — I just wasn’t able to own it back then.
Sorry, never saw your reply. I really thought that was going to take off. But my food allergies, just won’t allow me to bake cookies. Now I’m doing pastel art. I’m having a great time and it feels more like Art where as the cookies-craft. Now, I have get going on selling myself?
I’m so glad you’re having a great time. Yay!!! 🙂
thank you Melissa. You’re inspiring me to “sell” my creative photos and artwork. You have a lot of great ideas I’m going to try. Have a blessed day. ~sherree~