Earlier this week, I stuck my foot in something nasty.
An earlier guest post on selling art on Fiverr.com raised some hackles. While she says right in her post that artists should limit the amount of time that they spend on Fiverr.com projects, apparently the mere suggestion that ANY piece of art could sell for as little as $5 was enough to release the hounds of war.
In addition to the blog comments, my email inbox has been inundated with negative feedback. People unsubscribed from the mailing list. Others told me they were outraged that I even suggested such a thing.
I can tell when I’ve crossed a line. My bad. Sorry. Won’t happen again.
Better now?
What is the Value of Your Art?
TAA reader OD made several comments that I thought were very on point. He pointed out that the value of art is completely subjective. I agree with him.
So – what is the value of your art? How much money is it worth? Obviously, most artists feel that their art is worth more than $5.
Perhaps the value isn’t monetary. Perhaps the value of art lies in something like how many lives can it change, or how many pieces of wilderness can be saved, or who is elected president.
Can I level with you for a second, though?
I was actually really surprised that so many artists spoke out against selling their art for $5. There are thousands of artists that read this blog, and every day I get emails telling me how difficult life is for an artist, how no one recognizes their talent and how they need to sell “just a few more pieces of art” to make a living.
I figured it would be interesting to show artists an easy way to make $5. After all, if you can make $5 with your art, you can make $10, right? If you can make $10, why not $100, $1,000 or $10,000? It’s a stepping stone. So, at what point is selling your art for $5 beneath you? When are you too good to sell for $5?
I recently interviewed Owen Garrett, the Pencilneck. In the interview, he told me that he used to go door to door selling his art. He used to do simple sketches for very small amounts of money. Now, he draws for celebrities and has a six-figure art career. That’s a pretty awesome blue-collar artist story (we’ll be posting his interview soon).
Could you go door-to-door selling your art? Is that too far beneath you? Is your art worth more than that?
Look, I’m overjoyed that most of you feel that your art is worth more than $5. It makes my job easier, actually. Do yourself a favor, though, and as yourself what the true value of your art is, and if you aren’t making a living from your art just yet, evaluate whether you really are doing all that you can to make it happen.
Thanks for reading The Abundant Artist. I’d be nowhere without the amazing artists like yourself reading and sharing what’s written here.
Let us know what the value of your art is in the comments!
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