How to Create Your Artist Brand Online?

The online world is one of the best platforms for budding artists to showcase their artistic brand. Listed below are a couple of tips on how, as an artist, you can gradually create your artist brand online by utilizing different tools.

1. First of All: Find Your Own Style!

That doesn’t mean that all of your paintings have to look the exact same, but let them share something similar. For example, that could be a signature motif or color scheme, a painting technique, or just one element (like a green star) which your audience can find in every piece.

Your style is what makes people recognize that your art is yours. So, it can be any of the aforementioned things, or something else completely, as long as it’s visual. Oftentimes, an artist’s style is, as unhelpful as it sounds, how they draw certain motifs, like faces or bodies. A style can be hard to describe, but it has to be instantly recognizable. 

Make Your Art Unique

This is the key to building a brand, since recognition is the foundation of every brand. You can’t have a brand if people don’t recognize you. If you want to be successful, it makes a lot of sense to hone your craft in a certain direction to create a niche for yourself. You want people to look at your art and know that it’s yours.

You have to differentiate yourself from all the other artists out there, so you need a unique selling point that is your style. A great example of that is Banksy, who is famous for his unique art style. 

Not only does your style tell people that they are looking at your art, but it also adds a lot of personality to your art. It helps people identify with your art and to connect with you. Most importantly, you need to be comfortable with your style. If you look at your art and you don’t like it, and you feel like it isn’t right, you haven’t found your style yet.

It’s of no use forcing yourself into another style, just because you haven’t found yours yet. You are not going to succeed with someone else’s style, owing to the fact that you are not being authentic. Art is about expression and, as such, is stifled by inauthenticity. 

Look for Inspiration

Another important part of creating a style is the subject of your art and what inspires you to it. It’s vital to find sustainable sources of inspiration, and you should take your time to find the right source of inspiration. Inspiration lurks behind every corner, as so far as there are no boundaries to what can inspire you.

Some artists are inspired by other artists and their works, by music, by nature, by family or friends, and by everyday items. There really is nothing that can’t inspire you. Of course, inspiration can’t be forced, but after it has been lost, you can always find it in new places. So if your old wells of inspiration have dried up, it might be time to dig new ones. 

The experimentation to find your style is vital. Try new techniques and art mediums, and copy aspects of your favorite artists’ styles until you reach a point where you can comfortably create something new. You could also try stretching your own canvas. Buyers are very attracted to artworks that have special features like that.

Don’t be afraid to reach outside of your comfort zone, although you will for sure not be as good at new things. You have to push through that initial, inherent slump in quality that comes with learning and trying new things. Mistakes are a great learning opportunity and should be treated as such and not as a failure.

2. Use Social Media to Create Your Artist Brand

With social media, everyone has the chance to share their art all around the world with thousands of people who are potential new fans and collectors. But that potential needs to be utilized! Many artists struggle to use social media to its full potential, as they tend to only show the end result of a painting which can take days, weeks, or even months. In between the finished works, many aren’t active, which is a big waste of a great opportunity.

Show Your Process

You can show how you start your paintings, how you mix colors, what colors you choose, the different types of paintbrushes you use, and the steps of how your painting comes to life. Show the painting alone, show yourself together with your painting, and show the painting on the wall.

With this alone, you can publish a lot of posts, videos and reels, and many stories about just one painting. Revealing your painting process will allow you to connect with your audience on a deeper level, as it either explains or further mystifies your process to them. It’s a great strategy to grow your Instagram audience.

Stay Consistent

The second very important aspect of social media is consistency. The key to being successful and to being seen online is consistent posting. It can be difficult to follow a set posting schedule, especially if you aim to post often (every day or every other day).

To keep up with such a rhythm, it makes sense to use tools like the Creator Studio to plan your posts ahead for a certain amount of time. By doing this, you can designate time for social media and plan all your posts, for example, for this week.

Perhaps this can get a bit confusing. Don’t force yourself to post something you don’t want to post. Yes, consistency is important, but not just in how often you post, but also in the quality of your posts. Furthermore, work with your audience to discover what they want to see from you and how often they want to see it. Of course, you don’t have to post what your followers want to see, but you can only make that decision if you know what your audience wants.

Stay Authentic

Social media, and especially Instagram, are very visual. As such, posting high-quality images that are pleasing to the eye has to be your top priority. Pay as much attention to the composition of the picture as you do to the composition of your artwork.

Don’t use filters that distort your artwork and its colors. Your priority should be to portray the artwork as it looks in real life. Additionally, no post is complete without a captivating Instagram caption. Write about your artwork, what inspired you to make it, and what it means to you.

Stay true to yourself. Your audience follows you because they want a connection with you, so be honest. Of course, like everything, honesty should be employed in moderation. While your followers want and have a connection with you, they are still strangers to you, which means don’t share everything. Your followers are an audience that you can share select words with.

3. Use an Online Art Gallery

With the internet, there are so many possibilities to exhibit your art online even besides social media. You could, for example, join an online art gallery to find new fans and potential collectors to sell your art to.