What Is Commercial Art?
There are so many opinions on whether you should make art that sells, whether it should be commercial, whether it shouldn’t.
In today’s episode, we talk about what ‘commercial art’ means and what we can do to adapt our work to make it more sellable.
There is a certain type of art that is created with commercial output in mind, meaning that the reason that we are creating this artwork is because we want to sell it or advertise something.
Art we are making with the purpose of advertising, selling or promoting. That’s the end goal. And So that is one bucket of commercial art.
The opposite of that, and you might have heard this phrase is ‘fine art’.
Fine art is the opposite end of the scale in the traditional sense, of somebody creating art for personal self-expression, emotional connection, and that is the intent of the artwork. It’s purely the artist expressing a vision or emotion.
Then there is this grey area in the middle of fine art and commercial art where the artwork is then called ‘accessible’.
This is where people sometimes get derailed because they think that they should start creating more commercial, more accessible work because that’s easier to sell.
That seems to be what everyone wants at the moment. But I’ve been working with so many artists now over the years and it really comes down to why you want to make art in the first place. Because that passion and your individuality and what you bring as an artist is the most important thing.
It’s about you really getting clear on what type of artist you want to be, what excites you. Then as you develop, thinking about ways that you can connect your artwork to other people – what purpose does it have?
This is what we’re focusing on in our Hub membership this month. We’re focusing on our purpose, as it relates to our art making and also relates to other people who might buy it or be interested in it.
Have a great week.
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Take care everyone,
Michelle xo
