{"id":171323,"date":"2025-04-04T19:32:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T19:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/art\/covering-the-cost-of-creating-art\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T19:32:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T19:32:25","slug":"covering-the-cost-of-creating-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=171323","title":{"rendered":"Covering The Cost of Creating Art"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\"covering<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Covering the Cost of Art\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

With the rising cost of
\ninflation and a world heading towards or already in a recession, on paper at
\nleast, the outlook for working artists might seem desperate and bleak. But,
\nthis isn\u2019t the first time that the creative industry has had to weather a storm
\nand it\u2019s unlikely to be the last. This time, we take a look at navigating the
\nswelling seas of an economically challenging art world, just as many artists
\nhave had to do time and time before. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We made it folks! 2022 will
\nshortly be giving way to 2023 and despite a seemingly bleak outlook with
\nescalating inflation and all of the other drama the world has had to face
\nthroughout 22, there are plenty of opportunities for artists to continue creating
\nart. <\/span><\/p>\n

This time I will be reflecting
\nback on the turbulent times that many artists have faced over the past few
\ndecades and we take a deep dive into thinking creatively about how we might
\nrespond as professional artists. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the hindsight I wish I\u2019d
\nhad back in 2007\/2008, if I had written this post back then I might have said
\nsomething along the lines of the art world is about to enter a bumpy period but
\nit won\u2019t necessarily affect every market in every country in the same way.
\nToday, I think post-pandemic, the situation in Ukraine, I\u2019m not so sure that
\nthe current climate won\u2019t be far wider reaching than other financial meltdowns
\nthat we have endured in the past. Whether other regions fall into recession just
\nas we are now seeing here in the UK, is something that I\u2019m sure will pan out in
\nthe coming months. <\/span><\/p>\n

Something else that I wish I
\nhad known pre-the last recession, was that I would see a slow down on mid-price
\nworks, smaller works would be more popular than previously but would take a
\nlittle longer to sell, but larger works would be mostly unaffected. I\u2019m
\ncertainly not an economist but I would go so far as to say that I don\u2019t
\nnecessarily see that being any different this time around because my sales
\ntoday are beginning to follow a similar path to my experience back in 2008. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"seascape<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ethereal Seas by Mark Taylor – One of the few seascapes I produced in 2022!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

I can only base my experience
\non what happened here in the UK back in 2008 and the downturns I experienced
\nbefore, but if economies elsewhere follow a similar trajectory this time, I do
\nthink at the lower price end of the art market, buyers will be more discerning
\nabout what they buy because whether we want to hear it or not, the majority of
\nart at lower to mid-price points that is sold outside of galleries is sold to
\nprovide an aesthetic. There\u2019s often a link with any shift in house prices,
\nsomething that we last experienced in the pandemic when people would purchase
\nart because they were busy renovating their homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that what the
\nmajority of artists produce is decorative art, neither is it a statement intended
\nto be dismissive, but the function of art at a lower price point is more often
\npurchased to serve this purpose. If people are spending money on redecorating
\nnew homes, they tend to purchase new art. If money is flowing less freely, art
\nsales at some price points can be negatively affected. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are a lot of caveats
\nwith this. If you regularly sell in a region that isn\u2019t affected by financial
\nmarkets hitting a wall, you might not see any difference, but I think there is
\none thing we can all agree on and that is that prices of art and craft materials
\nare definitely on the up no matter what type of art you create.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are a traditional brush
\nand canvas artist you will have noticed pretty big hikes in the cost of art
\nsupplies lately. Over the past few years art supplies have been increasing in
\nprice more rapidly than ever before. Raw materials to produce paint have
\nincreased between 50% and 100% as pigment manufacturing has moved away from
\nheavy metals. <\/span><\/p>\n

Artists have for a while been
\non the lookout for cheaper alternatives that maintain quality, but there is
\nonly so much excess cost any artist is able to consume in order to maintain a
\nsustainable business and keep prices consistent with what they charged before.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"vintage<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vintage Dial by Mark Taylor – Originally created as a commission, you can add your own telephone number on the dial!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Even creating digital art has
\nbecome much more expensive than it was even just 6-months ago. With rising
\nenergy costs, increasing digital subscription prices from a nervous technology
\nindustry, chip shortages and seemingly never-ending lead times to take ownership
\nof new technology, never listen to anyone who tells you that creating digital
\nart is an inexpensive endeavour. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the past six months, the
\noutgoings to create my own digital work have mostly doubled, and that\u2019s just to
\ncover things like server hosting, application subscriptions, and the constant
\nsupply of printer inks and good quality paper and canvas stock. Add to this the
\ncost of shipping and export duties for the physical prints and incoming
\nsupplies, professional digital artists are beginning to feel the pinch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many digital artists are
\nhaving to do things differently, like having to transfer digital assets
\nelectronically for printing elsewhere. That can be a pain point for many
\nartists who will, by doing this, be forgoing quality control of the prints and
\ntaking a risk that their assets don\u2019t reappear somewhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recessions are rarely if ever great
\nfor small businesses and it still surprises me when I hear that some people
\nstill believe that small businesses have small overheads. Mostly the overheads
\nfor any small business is usually much higher than the corporate giants and
\nthat\u2019s when inflation is low. When inflation is high, there\u2019s an added burden
\nto business to meet the costs and explain any increases that need to be passed
\non to customers. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"abstract<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spectrum by Mark Taylor – Because we all need bright in our lives!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Many small businesses will
\noften shield buyers from the additional costs wherever they can in order to
\ncompete with the big corporations, but it\u2019s not a level playing field for these
\noften independent ventures because they rarely if ever see the same level of
\nsupply discounts that are offered to the big players.<\/span><\/p>\n

For most artists, increases in
\nproduction costs are costs that you can\u2019t really pass on through
\nnon-commissioned work, casual art buyers will only ever pay what they\u2019re
\nwilling to pay, and art, whether it is purchased by a causal buyer or a
\nhardened collector is only ever worth as much as the market is prepared to pay.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

As for commissions which are
\nnotoriously more expensive to produce because you might have to use specialist
\nsupplies or carry out revisions, the production costs have risen considerably
\nover the past year. I\u2019m just about managing to absorb most of the extra costs
\nfor now by offsetting the increases through print sales and second gate
\nactivity and because I lucked out by buying a lot of supplies pre-price
\nincreases, but it is becoming challenging when prices for everything are
\nincreasing so quickly and there will be plenty of artists who don\u2019t already have
\nestablished second gates to their business. <\/span><\/p>\n

Just like many other small businesses,
\nmy prices will inevitably need to rise at some point. For many artists working
\nin the non-represented space this is a pain point for their regular buyers,
\neven more so for casual buyers or those purchasing art for aesthetic rather
\nthan artistic reasons. As an independent artist, increasing costs isn\u2019t
\nsomething you will probably be able to avoid long-term in the current financial
\nclimate. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are usually options to
\nreduce costs for artists but those options right now are fewer than they were. Digital
\nmight have been the most cost effective option few years ago and I championed
\nthe practice for many years as a wallet friendly way to continue creating art
\nwithout the expense of buying traditional art supplies, but that\u2019s certainly
\nnot the case now and less so if you are just about to start out with a digital
\nart practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also paint using traditional
\nmaterials, historically this is a practice that would cost more to produce a
\npiece of work than creating a piece digitally, but creating professional art
\nusing a digital medium is now becoming the more expensive option because there
\nare way fewer options to cut costs. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"wind<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kinetic Fields by Mark Taylor – Available now from my Pixels Store or Order Directly!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

This is in part because of the
\nglobal chip supply chain issues and in part, because digital doesn\u2019t
\nnecessarily follow the rule of thumb around economies of scale, if you scale
\ndigital you tend to see increases in costs rather than reductions. <\/span><\/p>\n

So, as a digital artist you
\nreally don\u2019t have the same options that traditional artists might have when
\nchoosing between say a variant of white paint. There are fewer areas that you
\ncan look towards to cut down on essential costs, and there are very few digital
\ntools that now don\u2019t require an ongoing subscription.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When you can find the
\ntechnology you need to buy to continue creating your digital work, it now carries
\nwhat I call a technology tax that originates from that lack of silicone chips
\nand a pandemic when the entire world decided to go online at the same time. This
\nincrease in buying meant that existing supplies that were supposed to last
\nlonger in stores were rapidly depleted and couldn\u2019t easily be replaced. It was
\nthe perfect storm in that regard and few could have predicted the fall out in
\nthe way that it has happened. With hindsight, the signs were there for the chip
\nmarket, but it was too late to do anything. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"printer<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Will Work for Ink by Mark Taylor – At this point, we are literally working for ink! There’s nothing quite like the thud of a dot matrix printer!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

To give you an idea of just how
\nmuch digital production costs have increased, a quick look at some of the
\npercentage increases I have experienced might give you some idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Printers<\/span><\/b> \u2013
\n2022 increase of between +15% and +20% – Printers are not built like they once
\nwere, they\u2019re more complex yet don\u2019t seem to have the build quality of previous
\ngenerations. This year I had to replace a wide format dye-sub printer that was
\njust 14-months old because replacement parts were not available and in all likelihood,
\nmight not be even available post-supply chain problems. It looks like the manufacturer
\nhas completely changed the production method for new models to make supply
\neasier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Printer Ink<\/span><\/b> \u2013
\n2022 Increase – +5% to +15% for regular inkjet supplies, and up to +30% for
\nspecialist inks for use in dye sublimation printers. If you use premium inks
\nthat retain their colour there are few options other than to buy original inks
\nfrom the printer manufacturer. Ink was already expensive but today the premium
\ninks really are on another level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Premium papers for archival
\nprints<\/span><\/b> +38% increase in 2022. This was mostly because of the
\nsituation in Ukraine and increased shipping costs but what really affected
\nsupply was the industrial action being taken at paper mills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Application subscription
\nincreases<\/span><\/b> in 2022 \u2013 median increase across a range of services is
\n+18% (annual subscriptions) Lifetime licences are now a distant memory for most
\napplications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Specialist Print Masters<\/span><\/b> (this
\nis a people cost) to prepare work – +12% but I do wonder how many of the print staff
\nare seeing that level of pay increase in their pockets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Power for digital production
\nequipment<\/span><\/b> +150% and increasing. Rising energy costs make it much
\nmore expensive to run the technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Replacement digital equipment<\/span><\/b> +15%
\non average but with lengthy lead times too. Where technology is in short
\nsupply, the increases are often more. A good example of rising costs is a
\nRaspberry Pi 4, a single board mainly hobbyist computer which usually retails
\nfor around \u00a380 in the UK for the 8Gb model. Pre-used ones are now routinely
\nfetching more that twice that on sites such as eBay as the devices are not
\ncurrently being manufactured due to chip supplies. <\/span><\/p>\n

To compound matters, scalpers
\nwho purchased in bulk as demand initially increased are now charging a premium because
\nproduction of these devices has been suspended due to the lack of chips. There
\nare other electronics that are currently being scalped so it\u2019s inevitable that
\nwe will see more increases next year. The chip supply issue isn\u2019t looking great,
\nbut it is slightly better than it was. My guess and the information I\u2019m being
\ngiven right now is that 2024 might be the year we start to see any kind of
\nnormality return.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cloud Storage<\/span><\/b>
\nacross a number of storage providers \u2013 Median +50% per year. Remember that
\ncosts will always increase as you use more storage but base storage fees are on
\nthe up too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shipping<\/span><\/b> \u2013
\nWith industrial action frequently taking place in the UKs mail service, you
\nhave to look for alternatives and some of these services are charging up to 400%
\nmore than pre-pandemic levels. Whilst shipping looks like it will stabilise
\nnext year, it\u2019s unlikely that companies will drop all of their newly increased
\nshipping costs. <\/span><\/p>\n

I think there is a real risk
\nthat todays prices could become the new normal for shipping in the future and
\nthat\u2019s a major issue as people have been conditioned to expect free shipping. Services
\nsuch as Amazon Prime have made us expect free shipping and even though Prime is
\nan annual membership that covers shipping, people place the monetary cost on
\nPrime membership against all of the benefits that come bundled with it rather
\nthan thinking of it as an upfront payment for unlimited shipping with added
\nbenefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

So looking at this, you start
\nto get a picture of how significant some of these cost increases are, and these
\nare costs that don\u2019t just apply to artists, many small businesses buy similar
\nproducts and have similar logistics needs. It doesn\u2019t matter to the suppliers
\nwhether you are a small independent business or a large corporation, arguably
\nas a small business your costs are always going to be more expensive because
\nyou are working with lower volumes. <\/span><\/p>\n

What I haven\u2019t included here
\nare things like hosting, and other consumables, and the day to day expenses of
\nrunning any business which have also increased. The cost of shipping is a standout
\nexample of excess costs because while the prices have massively increased for getting
\nproduct from A to B, the speed of delivery has massively decreased, especially
\nhere in the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n

The big one here in the UK is
\nBrexit. Forget the land of opportunity that Brits were promised, a lot of my
\npaper stock originates in Italy and import taxes now also have to be considered.
\nWith Brexit came the additional burden of bureaucracy, import duties and
\nadditional taxes, and the increased time to get things delivered due to added customs
\nchecks which has created some serious challenges for many businesses based here
\nin the UK. <\/span><\/p>\n

So the next time someone asks
\nyou to justify the cost of producing digital art (there are a lot of people who
\nstill believe we pixel pushers just press a button!), tell them to come and
\nread this blog!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"sunset<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Adrift Under A Neon Sky by Mark Taylor<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the cost of art
\nsupplies and materials that have increased, there is some good news in the art
\nworld as a result of higher costs. Some sectors of the high end market are
\nseeing more positive signs with prices going up as a result of demand. <\/span><\/p>\n

Major artworks have been
\nseeing a leap in value with collectors who have an eye on rising inflation and
\nthen bidding big money at auction. Works priced at over $1 million nearly
\ndoubled in sales from 12% in 2021 to 23% in the first half of 2022, those
\nfigures are on a par with levels last seen in 2019. If the market turns out to
\nbe anything like it was in 2008, it might fluctuate up and down for a little
\nwhile longer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recessions almost always have
\na positive impact on art prices at this level because collectors tend to hold
\non to works. It is literally the classic tale of supply and demand. For a few buyers
\nat this level, it really is about the art, for others, art is seen as little
\nmore than a commodity to be traded down the line. It\u2019s a cold world this art
\nbusiness, at the high end there\u2019s little appetite for emotion, it purely a
\ntransactional process.<\/span><\/p>\n

In practice, the reduction in
\nsupply tends to keep prices stable for established artists who sell into the
\nmajor primary markets. The one problem with art, is that it is a
\nsentiment-driven asset that is mostly tied to surplus wealth, it\u2019s not a widget
\nthat solves a problem. The art market is pretty resilient at this level because
\nit is one of the very few industries that self-regulates supply and demand both
\nin times of a financial slump and in times of financial excess.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the 2008 crisis, some
\naspects of the high end fine art market eventually succumbed to a depression,
\nbut only in certain areas and genres. Established artists and genres held out
\nreally well before eventually recovering completely, but works with a shorter
\nhistory or from less popular artists and genres struggled for a while longer
\nbefore recovering, although some never did quite recover to previous levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

In recessions, there will
\nalways be a number of people who do extraordinarily well, but, there are also
\nusually more people that don\u2019t do very well at all. I always think of a
\nrecession as a microscope that amplifies inequality.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also people who sit
\nsomewhere in the middle, the recession rich, yet they\u2019re still a long way off
\nbeing a high earner. These are people who just happen to be slightly better off
\nand are able to afford slightly more than those around them. They are people
\nwho find themselves in a position where they might have access to a greater
\ncashflow or credit than most other people around them do. Those investing in
\ntop-end artworks priced a million and above also tend to have enough of a
\nfinancial buffer behind them to weather the storm better than most and they
\ntend to be the most able to self-regulate supply and demand too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit a show such as Basel
\nduring an economic downturn and you won\u2019t see people shying away from major
\npurchases, and besides, those buyers are coming from a place of power and
\ngalleries, whilst not admitting it openly, absolutely know how precarious the business
\ncan be at times like this.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the pandemic, many
\ngalleries had to pivot to online sales but where gallery owners retained
\nphysical spaces, they\u2019re not immune to energy price increases, nor are they
\nimmune from inflationary costs of running a business. The galleries and artists
\nthat survived in 2008 and during the pandemic, were galleries and artists who
\ncontinued to move works out of the door. Many of them had to discount work to
\nmake this happen and I suspect the same will be true this time around.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"1984<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1984 by Mark Taylor – This looks brilliant printed on acrylic block!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst few gallerists like to
\nadmit that prices are lowered at times like this, because that\u2019s akin to a
\ncardinal sin in the art world, the place of power when you do have access to
\nmoney puts the recession or cash rich buyer in a much better position to
\nnegotiate deeper discounts behind closed doors. That\u2019s not peculiar to the art
\nworld, those who can least afford excess are the ones more likely to have to
\nfind it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Technically, the discounted
\nartworks are never offered for less than their original value and discounting
\nis never an openly admitted practice in public. In challenging times you can
\nbet that there will be plenty of gallery owners who will be quietly negotiating
\nbetter offers or offering deeper discounts than at any time before. If you are
\nin the market for fine art, now is probably a good time to buy if you can find
\nwhat you are looking for and can afford it, but if it\u2019s not on the market
\nalready it might be a little too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

The depth of the discount you
\nmight find will vary between galleries. If you were expecting a 5% discount
\nbefore for loyalty to a gallery or an artist, in times of economic turmoil you
\nno longer have to be loyal to either. In the past month alone I know of
\ncollectors who have been offered double digit discounts to switch from their
\nusual galleries and a couple of collectors I know have been doing deals that
\nhave realised discounts as high as 20 – 25%, something unheard of even a few
\nmonths ago. But bear in mind that in many cases, the discount is usually coming
\nout of the artists commission, not necessarily the galleries profits. <\/span><\/p>\n

The here and now at times like
\nthis is frankly, for most working artists more about survival, and to an extent
\nwe have generally had a good run over the past decade at least up until the
\npandemic. Some artists and galleries have had it even better than most whereby
\nthey have unjustifiably raised prices for the weakest of reasons and they have
\ncontinued to make sales, and they have been really stretching the bubble.<\/span><\/p>\n

The physical galleries and to
\nsome extent artists, that won\u2019t survive will be the galleries and the artists
\nwho would, during the good times, regularly increase prices on a whim without
\nany real justification. If an artist won an award, a social post went viral, there
\nwas a Y at the end of Wednesday, prices would be increased.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Insert<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Insert Coin by Mark Taylor – Thanks to the many buyers who have purchased this print recently – More coin-ops on the way!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

If you raise prices, they have
\nto be justifiably increased, never artificially inflated which can and sadly does
\nhappen all of the time in the art world. In a cost of living crisis when small
\nbusinesses are facing massive hikes in overhead there are legitimate reasons to
\nincrease prices for some works as production costs have risen, but the more
\ncasual buyers might not fully appreciate that it\u2019s a supply driven cost for
\nmaterials and the artist isn\u2019t suddenly making more money. It\u2019s not that the
\nart is worth more, it just costs more to produce and the excess costs are
\npassed on.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the opposite end of the art
\nworld, the end where the majority of working artists work and who are not
\nrepped by a big gallery, the competition is fierce with more people than ever
\nbefore turning to the creative sector after seeing it as the ideal work from
\nhome gig during the pandemic. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, not everyone who
\nstarted a side gig in the creative sector during the pandemic will still be
\ncreating today, many would quickly find out that while it\u2019s a great gig when
\nthe sun shines, it\u2019s often easier to do anything else when the sun goes back in.
\nBut, there will certainly be more competition today than there was during the
\nrecession in 2008, not least because it is easier to surface your work today
\nwith all of the services that have appeared online over the past decade or so
\nthat make it easier to become published.<\/span><\/p>\n

This sector of the art market it
\nis a much more volatile market to work in than the high-end, high-value gallery
\nmarkets. At the lower priced end of the market there will be fewer buyers who
\nare immediately immune from the effects of a recession, no matter how small or
\nbig the recession is. At this level there is a choice to be made by buyers, do
\nthey spend a hundred bucks on a new print, or save that hundred bucks to
\ncounter rising inflation. If there\u2019s a limited pot of money to start with the
\noptions become clear. <\/span><\/p>\n

If there was one thing I learnt
\nduring the recession back in 2008, it would be to keep a level head, try not to
\npanic, and definitely don\u2019t start lowering prices as if you are having a fire
\nsale. If your market needs you to reduce prices, price sensibly and be
\nrespectful of what your market will be willing to pay, but don\u2019t make reduced
\npricing your new norm. Before the purists begin to scream that you should never
\nlower prices, mostly I would agree, but in a recession, in the art world that
\nisn\u2019t repped by the major galleries, as an independent artist your goal should
\nbe to survive. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"ocean<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Adrift on a Building Sea by Mark Taylor – One of 2022s most popular seascapes!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

In good times I would always
\nadvocate never offering a discount or at least a discount where every work becomes
\na loss leader, and at any time, good or bad, you should try to never place
\nprevious collectors in a completely precarious position whereby lowering your
\nprices means that you have irrecoverably devalued what they have already
\npurchased. <\/span><\/p>\n

Many artists though, won\u2019t
\nnecessarily be completely affected by this, reducing a fifty dollar print to
\nforty dollars isn\u2019t going to make a major difference either way but it might
\ntempt someone with forty dollars to buy it. Selling a previous thousand dollar
\nprint for a couple of hundred dollars, that\u2019s slightly different. <\/span><\/p>\n

That said, you do have to have
\na pricing strategy that makes sense, puts the work within reach, at least for
\nthose who find they still have a little more to spend, but I think more than
\nthat, ensures that you can continue to move enough work to survive. That\u2019s
\nsurely in the interests of previous collectors too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diversifying your portfolio is
\nnever an easy thing for an artist. We are taught early on that work should be
\nconsistent, follow a genre, follow a theme, follow a medium, and every piece
\nyou work on should look exactly like every other work you ever created. You
\nknow, you probably attended a similar class, and I mostly think that\u2019s the
\nright advice for artists repped by big galleries who are deeply rooted in
\nhistoric practices and who are stoic in their outlook. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the majority of working
\nartists are independent and there are no rules that say you absolutely need to
\nbe glued to one thing or another. I might even go so far as to say that will
\nharm any chances you have of finding commercial success outside of a gallery if
\nyou are so completely rigid. One thing that I might say though, is that if you
\ndo diversify, it should make sense to any existing buyers, but it\u2019s totally
\nfine to stretch your creative wings and reach entirely new markets. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"deckchairs<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A Perfect Day by Mark Taylor – Still one of my favourite works, just how I remembered a beach in Jamaica a few years ago!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking for trends is one way
\na lot of artists diversify their portfolio but in my experience, trends are only
\never short term fixes. Ideally, you need to start a trend rather than join it
\notherwise the fruits are short lived, but starting a trend, well that\u2019s not an
\neasy ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diversification can also be
\nmaking smaller pieces at more affordable prices, offering smaller sized pieces
\nin editions and in limited numbers, or it could mean offering something
\ncompletely new. If you venture down this route though you really do need to do
\nyour homework. A limited edition is just that, limited as in available to the
\nfew not the many, and the size of the edition should never be more than you
\nwould usually sell as an open edition. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a rule of thumb, limited
\neditions in very small numbers are more prized by collectors, but if you are
\nlooking for volume, personally I would never create an edition any bigger than
\n10% of the regular number of works I would expect to sell in an open edition. <\/span><\/p>\n

A lesson I certainly learnt during
\nthe 2008 downturn, and a couple of downturns before that, was just how
\nimportant it is to look at second and third entrance gates which buyers can
\ncontinue to afford to walk through. <\/span><\/p>\n

For a while, galleries have
\ncreated second gates by opening bars or coffee shops in the same physical
\nspace, it\u2019s another reason for people to arrive at your door which in a
\nfinancial downturn could turn out to be your primary entrance gate until things
\nbecome more like business as usual once again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second gates are really
\nimportant for independent businesses of any description. If you can find the
\nright product or service it can provide continued cash flow so you can continue
\nto focus on your main body of work. Your primary work might be aspirational for
\nsome for a while during a recession but the really important thing to do is to
\ncontinue to sell aspirations to own your work when things become financially easier
\nagain so if you can provide a second gate that reminds them of your primary
\nbusiness, that\u2019s a win.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You have to think creatively
\nwhen it comes to offering a second gate. It doesn\u2019t have to be something that
\nyou sell, a second gate could just as easily be a blog, or a podcast or a
\nYouTube channel, maybe even offering training. Monetising these things isn\u2019t
\neasy, online ad-spend is generally down and for most people, and online
\nad-revenue was never great to begin with, no one likes or even expects
\nadvertising to appear all over a blog post these days, they might expect it
\nwith podcasts but it probably won\u2019t be enough to cover all of the costs. <\/span><\/p>\n

But remember that continuing
\nto sell the aspiration to own your work is important and these are well trodden
\npaths that have proven to be a life source of many an artist to raise and
\nmaintain awareness of them and their work.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"watercolour<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chase Stag by Mark Taylor – A work inspired by my local area!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we carry on with second
\ngates, it\u2019s worth looking into diversification of markets a little more
\nbroadly. The notion of a starving artist might seem romantic to many looking in
\nbut the starving artist badge isn\u2019t a badge that you should ever feel compelled
\nto wear as an artist. It is a right of passage that should remain optional, but
\nmostly, remember that you need to eat.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a good idea during any
\ndownturn to revaluate your position and your place in the art world, I would
\neven go so far as to say that you should be at least reviewing your current
\nposition at least every year. I know of artists who did just this back in 2008
\nand came out of the experience in massively stronger positions by repositioning
\ntheir work and surfacing it in front of new audiences. <\/span><\/p>\n

Art is no longer something
\nthat has to be sold through a brick and mortar gallery in the back end of
\nnowhere, you can migrate to new audiences relatively easily these days with the
\npower of the internet, so long as those audiences understand and appreciate
\nwhat you have. <\/span><\/p>\n

You might even have to
\nrevaluate what you present and make it more relevant to other audiences and
\ncultures, but this is all part of becoming more entrepreneurial, something that
\nyou absolutely have to become during a recession. <\/span><\/p>\n

Changes in your work, style,
\naudience or practice, shouldn\u2019t mean that you have to completely turn your back
\non what you did before or your previous markets, you just have to find that same
\nconnection with something else and with someone else who can afford to pay either
\nyour regular prices or even a little more. <\/span><\/p>\n

I know that for most people,
\nthat\u2019s easier said than done. It\u2019s a bold if not even a brave move for any
\nartist who takes on this shift in direction but the rewards could be
\nsignificant. When I did this back in 2008, and again in 2014 when I first sold
\nprints online through print on demand, I had no idea at all if I would ever be
\nable to connect with a new audience yet despite some very long hours over a
\ncouple of months I was able to find some new connections in new markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

With this in mind, \u00a0<\/span>if you take the opportunity to reposition
\nyourself and your work to enter new markets there is some consideration that
\nneeds to be put into the prospect of raising prices in the new market,
\nparticularly if you have experience of other markets prior to entering any new
\nspace. <\/span><\/p>\n

This might sound
\ncounterintuitive in a recession, but there is precedent set by many artists
\nthroughout history to move your game up to meet higher end markets where the
\neffects of inflationary price increases are not as impacted as they might be at
\nthe lower cost end of the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a risk in doing this,
\nmainly in alienating all of those people who previously purchased your work at
\nlower prices. But remember, we are repositioning here and potentially
\nintroducing a second gate in a new market, maybe even in a new region. The
\nbeauty of a second gate is that it can be very distinct from your primary
\nmarket, so long as you don\u2019t introduce confusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, when the recession
\nis over and things begin to normalise, if sales are going well in your new
\nmarket with higher prices, you absolutely don\u2019t have to go back to lower cost
\nworks. Those who purchased your work at a lower cost than you currently sell
\nwork in the new market might at this point even be elated that they now own
\nwork that is worth more than it was.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s best not to sugar coat
\nthis strategy as being easy or suggest it might even be feasible for everyone. It\u2019s
\na challenging approach to take in regular times. In a recession, not only will
\nyou need to scout out new markets and figure out your place in them, \u00a0<\/span>you are to some extent starting from scratch
\nalbeit with the benefit and hindsight of working in previous markets, so whilst
\nit can be incredibly challenging, it should also be a little easier the second
\ntime around. <\/span><\/p>\n

I took this approach back in
\n2008 with over a decade of previous sales and experience and some existing collectors,
\nand I have to say it was one of the most challenging times I had ever faced in
\nan art world which for many years had enjoyed the benefit of people having
\nslightly more disposable income year on year. <\/span><\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t planned to make any
\nchange on the spur of the moment, I had spent almost 12-months before I made
\nthe leap looking into other markets to find a second gate that I knew I would
\nbe able to offer. I had to find new tribes, make my work relevant to those new
\nmarkets and cultures, yet despite this planning and preparation, it was at
\nleast initially, a very slow burning candle.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"yin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Clockwork by Mark Taylor – a technically challenging work, every piece was hand drawn!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are still looking for
\nideas on how to diversify your offer, especially if you do want to take on the
\nchallenge of looking into new markets, then you might want something different
\nto offer them. This is something else I found myself inadvertently doing a few
\nyears ago when I began to create art work out of waste electronic components
\nwhich led to me becoming even more involved with the vintage computer community
\nwho were eager for technology related artwork very much like the artwork you
\ncan see on this site today, but this had the knock-on effect of raising the
\nprofile of my regular retro art. <\/span><\/p>\n

You can use your creativity to
\noffer something different that still makes sense to your buyers by creating
\nsimilar works but maybe on new products. If you are looking at markets such as
\nthose through Etsy, you could even offer personalisation as an option, or
\ncreate accessories. My daughter owns a bakery yet her second gate is to supply
\ncake toppers to other bakers or as an upsell to her usual buyers. There are all
\nsorts of options here and there are plenty of devices that can make creation really
\neasy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cricut Maker 3 is a very
\ngood example of an incredible cutting machine that can cut out from more than
\n300 materials. Machines such as the Cricut are essentially, with some
\nimagination and a few good ideas, businesses in a box. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, you are going to need
\nsome practice and some up front investment, but the end result is that you get
\nto retain the relationship between you and the buyer and there\u2019s no need to
\nintroduce a third party to create the products for you. The whole point of this
\nis that you get to be involved in the wider hand made community and your
\nimagination is the only block to finding new things to create for new audiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

With these kinds of machines
\nyou can also enter the world of personalisation, create small gifts, add logos
\nto clothing and shoes, create stickers, and with dye-sublimation and the
\naddition of a mug press, you can even create a range of dishwasher and
\nmicrowave safe mugs for every occasion. In short, you can relatively
\ninexpensively set up a small Etsy business to produce smaller gifts that might
\nprovide you with a lucrative second gate. <\/span><\/p>\n

The downside, the initial
\noutlay can be prohibitive for some, the Cricut, mug press, and some materials
\nand tools to get you going might need somewhere in the region of \u00a31000
\nUK\/$1,000 US, before you make anything, which definitely isn\u2019t insignificant,
\nbut once the investment is made, you essentially have the tools to build an
\nentire business. <\/span><\/p>\n

My advice if you do think
\nabout doing this, is to shop around. You can usually pick these kinds of
\nmachines up for less than the recommended retail price if you look online, and
\nthere are cheaper alternatives from Cricut, they\u2019re just slightly less able.
\nOne area I would advise not skimping on is by buying cheaper Far Eastern
\nproduced machines with questionable power supplies, kit like the mug press gets
\nhot and that\u2019s a potential problem with dodgy electronics.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the mug press, I\u2019ve
\ntried various mug presses over the years and most have one major flaw, as soon
\nas the mug goes in the dishwasher the print starts to peel off. The Cricut uses
\ndye-sublimation, the print becomes at one with the mug and the process is much
\nquicker than many of the other presses I\u2019ve used over the years. The flaw with
\na lot of them is that they often tend to not heat up too well, they overheat or
\nthey never quite get consistent heat across the surface. If you are looking for
\nany equipment that uses a heat transfer process, it is worth paying a little more
\nand not having to then replace it over and over again.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"adrift<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Adrift Under A Glowing Sky by Mark Taylor – thanks to the more than 500 people who purchased this print in 2022! Love you all!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

With platforms such as Patreon
\nit\u2019s easier than ever to consider reviewing your business model or at least
\noffer alternatives to the way people currently buy your work. <\/span><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t recommend artists
\nstart up a Patreon in the expectation that people will subscribe to receive a
\npiece of full price art each month but this is where editions and smaller works
\nbegin to make a lot of sense. If you could come up with a range of
\ncollectibles, maybe with the use of something like a Cricut machine, there are
\noptions that could provide you with a regular income if you offer the right
\nrewards. Even in an economic slump, people will still buy things that make them
\nfeel good, your mission is to make sure that what you offer is what they want
\nand what they\u2019re able to still afford. <\/span><\/p>\n

When offering a subscription
\nmodel through something like Patreon, you need to make sure you can commit to
\nthe time needed to fulfil any pledges made. Time isn\u2019t something that should be
\nunderestimated and it can get complicated once you begin to offer more and more
\nreward tiers. <\/span><\/p>\n

You need to be mindful when
\nsetting up any rewards that pledges might come from overseas so you might have
\nadditional shipping costs to consider, but it can, if managed properly, become
\na lucrative side business especially if you work with digital mediums which can
\nthen be sent electronically. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are other rewards that
\nyou can offer that don\u2019t always mean that you have to commit to sending out
\nproduct via the mail, many of the podcasts that I listen to are supported by
\nPatreon campaigns and they offer exclusive access to early episodes, an
\ninvitation to a community discord server, Patreon only web chats hosted on
\nGoogle or Zoom, but you also have to turn up which might be more of an issue
\nfor some people who don\u2019t particularly enjoy the people thing, and there are a
\nlot more people post-pandemic who no longer like the people thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

You need to be mindful that
\nyou won\u2019t be the only artist offering their work through Patreon too, so have a
\nlook at what others are offering as rewards and see if you can provide a value
\nadd with your offer. Make no bones about it, it\u2019s a competitive space but as I
\nsay, the rewards for those who are committed can be lucrative and you don\u2019t
\nespecially need that many subscribers to take the edge off any financial
\npressures.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Abstract<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Happy Summer by Mark Taylor – available now to brighten up your day!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

If you only sell original
\nworks it might be time to look at the print market. There are lots of options
\nhere from print on demand services such as Fine Art America, but there are
\nother options if you have the time and can afford the equipment you need to produce
\nyour own prints. Utilising an e-commerce platform such as Shopify would allow
\nyou to take orders online and fulfil them either by outsourcing the printing or
\nfulfilling the orders yourself.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The benefit of producing your
\nown prints is that you are able to control quality and you can more easily
\ncreate, and more importantly, control limited editions. There\u2019s only one POD
\ncompany that I have ever come across that allows limited editions, although
\nsignatures through this service would more than likely be applied remotely with
\nan auto-pen and right now, auto-pens are becoming controversial with the recent
\nnews that Bob Dylan used one of these devices to sign his latest book. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are a few things you
\nneed to consider when setting out in the print business, firstly, print on
\ndemand is a lot more work than you think it is despite many promises about how
\neasy it is from the services who fulfil the orders. It\u2019s not an easy gig and is
\npossibly more reliant on building relationships on social media, and that could
\nvery well turn out to be problematic in the long-term with the way social media
\nis changing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Irrespective of whether you
\nuse print on demand or your own website to take orders, you still have to bring
\nthe people to your work as none of the print on demand services conduct any
\nmarketing on your behalf, unless you\u2019re a really big name with huge sales
\npotential. <\/span><\/p>\n

The good news here, if you
\nmake the right noise in the right places, have an idea people can rally behind,
\nand get some positive press, there is nothing that can really stop you from
\nfinding new markets. But, because there\u2019s always a but with these things, print
\non demand isn\u2019t for the faint of heart. For most artists, it will be a single
\ntool in a much bigger toolbox.<\/span><\/p>\n

The main benefit of print on
\ndemand is that payments are processed by someone else, the order is then fulfilled
\nand then sent directly to the customer, it is a zero touch business beyond
\ncreating the work, uploading it, and promoting it. But that\u2019s also print on
\ndemands weakness from an artists perspective, the service owns the relationship
\nwith the customer and you are unlikely to ever find out who the customer is.
\nThat makes future sales with the same buyer next to impossible unless the buyer
\nreaches out directly to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another consideration is what
\ncan you realistically produce with your own printer if you want to handle the
\nprinting in house. You will ideally need a good quality dye-sublimation printer
\nand if you want to offer anything above copier paper size, you will be looking
\nat a wide format dye-sublimation printer and the investment that needs to be
\nmade in this level of technology isn\u2019t insignificant. You also need to consider
\nthe cost of replacement inks. If you are only receiving infrequent print orders
\nthen print on demand or outsourcing your printing to a local company will be
\nmore cost effective if you can live without owning the relationship with the
\nbuyer. <\/span><\/p>\n

I use a mixed economy of
\nprinting in house, outsourcing to a team of specialist print masters and print
\non demand. It takes a little more planning but for the most part, most of my
\nwork is either printed directly by me or a local print company who specialise
\nin fine art prints and this means that I tend to get the benefit of owning the
\nmajority of the relationships I have built over many years with existing
\ncollectors. Just make sure that your pricing is consistent across every channel
\nyou sell through.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe more importantly right
\nnow, I can offer the biggest range of print mediums to meet any budget and
\nthere\u2019s an inbuilt access to a more global audience with print on demand. The local
\nprint company I use is one that I have complete trust in and have worked with
\nfor a number of years. They have access to an encrypted Cloud based service to access
\nmy digital files and they have access to the relevant ICC profiles that go with
\neach work. <\/span><\/p>\n

All I then have to do is
\nprovide the size and filename for each print and decide the medium before I
\ncollect the work and send it on its way. If you can build a relationship with a
\nlocal printer you do get added benefits, and it contributes to the local
\neconomy. I can\u2019t overstate how well this works if you can build that initial
\nrelationship and establish trust with someone who can offer you affordable,
\nquality print services.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"electric<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brit Pop by Mark Taylor – Another one that looks brilliant on acrylic block<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a huge demand for
\nonline resources to support teaching and learning, there\u2019s also a demand for
\nthe creation of assets to use in computer generated environments and user
\ninterfaces. If you are a digital artist then creating content and digital
\nassets can prove quite lucrative, even in a recession as more and more
\norganisations look to transition some of their learning and services online.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using tools such as Articulate
\n360, Rise 360 or Storyline, whilst initially expensive and with an ongoing cost,
\nyou can easily learn how to create interactive materials for use in all sorts
\nof tasks. Learning the nuances of platforms such as Unreal Engine (ideally Unreal
\nEngine 5) will also give you a platform that you can utilise without any
\ninitial costs for the development platform. <\/span><\/p>\n

Unreal Engine 5 will become
\nthe default environment for environment and character creation within the next
\nfew years. At the end of the recession you will also have a healthy second gate
\nand a bunch of new skills to continue to create from, and I think that\u2019s a
\nreally important takeout, take every opportunity to develop your skills so that
\nyour future options are never quite so limited.<\/span><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t begin to tell you how
\nimportant it is to have a direct relationship with your clients. One thing that
\nI have discovered during my own career is that it is much better to have 10
\ncollectors than to have 50 casual buyers. If you own the relationship directly
\nwith those buying your work you have an opportunity to keep them up to date
\nwith everything you do and if you look after your tribe, they will become your most
\nvocal ambassadors through word of mouth advertising and that\u2019s advertising that
\nis not going to cost you a penny.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of my existing collectors
\nhave been with me through thick and thin, there are even a few who have stuck
\nwith me since the 1980s when they first purchased some of my earliest pixel
\nwork I had created on 8bit computers. In the years since I have supplied them
\nwith everything from book covers to restaurant menus and many have gone on to
\ncontinue collecting my retro works and landscapes.<\/span><\/p>\n

There have been times when
\nthey have been less able to afford work but during these times I have always
\nmade sure they haven\u2019t been forgotten. Those who have purchased work from me
\nover the years have become firm lifelong friends who might just call me for
\nsome advice on setting up their own computers, or they have continued to
\ncommission the same kind of 80s inspired work they were purchasing back in the
\n80s. <\/span><\/p>\n

I know that by looking after
\nthem and hopefully being a good friend the money and more importantly, the work
\nwill continue to come when money isn\u2019t quite so tight as it is during a
\nrecession.\u00a0 <\/span>My key takeout here is that
\nyou should take any opportunity to connect with your tribe whether they\u2019re
\ncurrently buying or not, and definitely, be sensitive to when they might and
\nmight not want to buy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"eighties<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eighties Toy Keyboard by Mark Taylor – If you didn’t own one of these, you missed out on making soooo much noise! They’re used in professional music tracks today because of the distinct and unique noise\/sound!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

The benefit of age is
\nexperience, I can\u2019t really think of any other benefit right now, but experience
\nhas certainly guided me away from making some pretty huge mistakes, mostly
\nbecause experience reminds me of the pretty huge mistakes I\u2019ve previously made.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vanity gallery model was
\nmore prominent pre-pandemic where you could rent wall space to display your
\nwork alongside other artists. The galleries still exist, some are good, but
\nthere were and probably still are, a number that are questionable. I honestly
\nhaven\u2019t looked into vanity galleries since before the pandemic because I learnt
\nenough back then to avoid them in the future, but each to their own and maybe
\nyou can find one of the few good ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

The upside is that you get to
\ndisplay work in a space where in theory, footfall would be expected to flow.
\nThe downside, most of the vanity galleries I came across in the past required
\nyou as the artist to do all of the work to bring that footfall into your space.
\nYou would need to hang the work, be present to take payments or be charged for
\nthe service, and then you either paid rent for each piece, or you paid for an
\narea in which you could display your work. In addition, some would also apply a
\ncommission on each sale. If you go down this route, figure out up front what
\nthe real costs are likely to be. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another downside to this model
\nis that it would be rare for the gallery owner to do any kind of marketing,
\nwhere they only charged rent and didn\u2019t take a commission they would be paid
\nwhether the work sold or not so there really is no incentive for them to do
\nanything except take your money and keep the doors open. Any marketing would usually
\nbe done by artists or the artists would be charged an additional fee for the
\ngallery to perform any marketing duties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bear in mind that with this
\nmodel, usually it would be down to the artist to bring in foot traffic but in
\ndoing this, you are also bringing in traffic for everyone else in the same
\nspace. <\/span><\/p>\n

Many of these places were
\nnever curated, this meant that your work would be displayed next to work that
\nyou wouldn\u2019t ideally want it displayed alongside, or there would be sub-par
\nwork that generally put any visitors off before they came across the good work.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent a month in a vanity
\ngallery before taking my work out and moving it into a local coffee shop. In
\nthat first month I sold one piece of work in the gallery, but more than 20
\npieces from the coffee shop during the following month. I paid something like
\n30% commission to the gallery and a hanging fee, yet only 20% to the coffee
\nshop. Both still better than traditional gallery fees, but the vanity gallery
\nreally didn\u2019t earn any of the commission at all.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"information<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Information Superhighway by Mark Taylor – Remember the noise? Remember how fast we thought it was? There’s nothing quite like the sound of a modem\u00a0from the 1990s! All hand drawn, even the texture of the cardboard on the box and a little nod to Memphis Design!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Another area to avoid is the
\nget rich quick Ponzi-like schemes that appear frequently online with promises
\nof rags to riches in one or two easy steps. These are usually portrayed in a
\nway that almost makes it a no-brainer to sign up, and just as I have been saying
\nfor the past couple of years, this includes falling for the lure of things like
\nthose non-fungible-tokens (NFTs). <\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, some people have made a
\nlot of money through NFTs and good luck to those who have, but they\u2019re rare.
\nWe\u2019ve all read the headlines, \u201cartists are being lifted up out of a life of
\npoverty through NFTs\u201d, or, \u201cthis technology will revolutionise the art world\u201d,
\nand then back in April 2022, NFTs crashed, big time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lure is often how much on
\naverage an artist could make if they minted a new collection of NFTs, but the
\nproblem with averages, and bear with me here because math really ain\u2019t my super
\npower, is that to find an average you need to add up a whole lot of numbers and
\ndivide that by more numbers and you will find that the final number is pretty
\nhigh. <\/span><\/p>\n

But averages are fallible,
\nthey are skewed by numbers that are high and numbers that are low and you only
\nneed a couple of high numbers to influence the low and make everything seem
\nbetter than it really is. As a metric to measure the economy, an average is
\nabout as reliable as a chocolate fire guard.<\/span><\/p>\n

While we were looking over
\nhere at the averages, the real story was being shown over there by the median,
\nthose were the real numbers no one wanted you to see. This is where all of the
\nnumbers are listed in ascending order and the mid point is the median. What you
\nmight find when you look at the median is that there are relatively few numbers
\nthat are high but there are plenty that are low, and the high numbers are
\neye-wateringly high. \u00a0<\/span>When you then look
\nat the median and see how far away it is from the top, you begin to realise
\nthat your chances of hitting those high numbers is relatively low.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lots of artists who have
\ncreated NFTs haven\u2019t made anything at all after taking into account things like
\ngas costs, not the gas you put in a car but the fee you pay to mint the NFT,
\nand that\u2019s not including the environmental impact from the power needed to
\nperform this task. A lot of lower priced NFT based art is sold, yet more often
\nthan not it is sold for a price that ultimately the artist might, with a very
\nhigh probability have to subsidise.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gas fee is frequently
\nframed as the cost of doing business, but in some cases the gas fee and wallet
\napproval fee can turn out to be more than you make, meaning that at the end of
\nthe sale you owe more money than you earn especially where in some cases the
\ngas fee can be 105% of the sale. Unless you sign up to what we regular folk in
\nthe UK now call the Kwasi-Truss school of economics, there\u2019s no sense at all in
\nspending ten bucks to make eight or more likely, six.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"retro<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Retro Peripheral by Mark Taylor – did you know they’re still making compact cassette tapes today! Not an NFT in sight!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

The promises\u00a0 <\/span>and testimonies proffered by many of the
\ncrypto-based online services seen online represent a miniscule number of
\nartists making a considerable amount of wealth off a small number of high value
\nsales. In short, there are a few people who are making serious bank but many artists
\nare losing out <\/span><\/p>\n

However, the majority will
\nfind that their work never sells and there are a lot of artists who mint a
\nseries of NFTs which never find any market traction at all. Those artists will
\nstill need to promote their NFTs just as they would with any other platform
\nthey sell on. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mostly, what you are more
\nlikely to find in the NFT space is that there will be a lot of artists who are
\nmaking very little if anything and in some cases, are having to pay for the
\nprivilege of being able to say their work is available as an NFT. <\/span><\/p>\n

The problem, which in fairness
\nis a problem shared by any service that is by design, complex for the majority
\nof regular folk to fully understand, is that none of the NFT services are very
\ntransparent about the hidden costs or the amount of sales previously made. If
\nit\u2019s clarified at all, it\u2019s often in the small print that is buried within the
\nsmall print of the small print or it is presented as a range (you\u2019ll pay
\nbetween X% and Y%).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These issues aren\u2019t especially
\npeculiar to the crypto-industry, it\u2019s the same story we hear in every market
\nwhere the few amass the greatest wealth. That\u2019s kind of how the art world
\nworks, it\u2019s not always fair, but the difference with the markets for NFTs and
\nsuch like is that there\u2019s a heap of hype that has encouraged many artists to
\nclimb on board without fully understanding the complexity of what they\u2019re
\nentering into and what tends to happen is that very few will go on to make any
\nreal financial gain from it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Add to this that some crypto
\ncurrencies used to purchase NFTs rely on the greater fool theory. A good
\nexample is when you buy Ether which you can\u2019t actually buy anything with (it\u2019s
\na transactional token), so it\u2019s value is only determined by the demand for
\nit.\u00a0 <\/span>You can sell it at a higher price
\nthan you paid for it but only if you can convince someone else to buy into it,
\nbut this sounds very much like every Ponzi scheme in the history of ever.
\nAgain, in the UK, it\u2019s a bit like British politics, where inflation is now
\nmeasured by the eye watering cost of a Freddo Frog chocolate bar. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is no scarcity in Ether,
\nthere\u2019s a never ending supply, and when there is a never ending supply of
\nanything and the people following stop buying into it, the bubble will
\neventually burst, even my bad math recognises this. If you\u2019re that gullible, I
\nhave a bag of air you might be interested in. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you think that the recent
\nnews about a certain ex-politician creating NFTs is news you can comfortably
\nhang a future NFT business on, I wouldn\u2019t be minded to hang anything on that
\none with regards to potential future value. They will increase in value short
\nterm, longer term however, most likely not. Like I said, much of this is really
\nabout the greater fool theory and that particular sale of NFTs demonstrates
\nreally well that the greater fool theory is still a model people buy into. I\u2019m
\nBritish, that statement shouldn\u2019t divide us, it\u2019s an observation from
\nexperience of NFTs and we have bad politics here too, but still, here\u2019s another
\nbag of air you might be interested in\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, the technology
\nbehind NFTs and Blockchain has always shown promise, but it needs to evolve and
\nmature into something that the technology can be used for that more people can
\neasily understand. If people begin to understand it they\u2019re more likely to get
\nbehind it or at least be informed enough to make a more informed decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than that, the technology
\nalso needs to resolve the issue and clean up its image around its use in
\nelaborate pyramid schemes and those promoting it need to address the public
\nneed for them to be better educated in what it is, and what it isn\u2019t because
\nthe evangelists who need followers to buy into it are drowning out the noise of
\nit doing anything good. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"landscape<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winter is Coming by Mark Taylor – My official landscape for Winter 2022!\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Right now, the technology has
\na trust problem, people don\u2019t understand it because it is complex, overly so in
\nmost cases, and no one has explained it in very simple terms so that the public
\ncould feel comfortable in understanding it or confident enough to get behind
\nit. It\u2019s a PR problem that all sorts of cloud services encounter but NFTs,
\nCrypto, Blockchain, there will be plenty of people who think they are one and
\nthe same.<\/span><\/p>\n

That in itself is a problem in
\nthat the public hear the same words to describe these technologies in the same
\nsentence as scam. As much as you listen to the hype around NFTs in the art
\nmarket, more art is sold outside of the NFT eco-system than within it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Its PR problem is maybe its
\nbiggest downfall. There are plenty of people who don\u2019t trust either their smart
\nspeaker at home or the cloud service they use to upload the photos they shoot
\non their phone, so expecting them to trust something that has so much negative
\npress with the potential to lose so much money is a very hard ask. Its very
\ncomplexity automatically locks regular buyers out of the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blockchain technology (which
\nis not a crypto currency) can be useful but it too needs to mature and find
\nsomeone who is really good at PR to lead the charge. None of this technology is
\nsome kind of golden panacea that promises and delivers immediate riches, but
\nthe concept behind its use for proof of stake and provenance is commendable. Even
\nBlockchain is not without its own problems right now. <\/span><\/p>\n

If people were thinking these
\nwould be democratizing technologies, what crypto currency businesses have
\nmostly done is create a parallel universe that\u2019s a duplicate of the one we\u2019re
\nalready in and then it has managed to go even further and give it the image of
\nsome really dark mafia plot. <\/span><\/p>\n

From experience, the lesson we
\nshould maybe take from earlier financial crisis\u2019s would be to \u00a0<\/span>hold your nerve and avoid getting sucked into
\nthe evangelistic over-hype of promised riches or British politics it seems.
\nYou\u2019re quite correct in thinking that I\u2019m not a fan of either or Ether. <\/span><\/p>\n

If I had to make one prediction
\nfor the next decade it would be that social media as we know it today will either
\nchange unrecognisably or die, and if I were to pick one, as it is currently on
\nlife support it\u2019s only a matter of time before that support is switched off. <\/span><\/p>\n

If we can find something new to
\nfill our time and keep our scrolling fingers busy before then, its final days
\nwill be lonely with tumbleweed rolling through data centres around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

I might have said this in an
\narticle I wrote a few years ago, but social is clinging on to the cliff edge
\nwith its finger nails and it might just be worth taking advantage of any
\ndowntime through a recession to rethink how you might connect with your
\naudience in the future. <\/span><\/p>\n

If it stays, it will change
\nalmost unrecognisably so. There\u2019s little doubt that monetisation will only ever
\nbe sustainable from those who gain the most value from using it and the
\nintroduction of monetisation from users should have happened years ago. <\/span><\/p>\n

We have become so accustomed
\nto having access for free, blindly and conveniently ignoring that we are the
\nproduct, that to pivot and charge users real money now will be a massive uphill
\nstruggle for all of the platforms unless they offer a value that guarantees
\namplification, and that will only work while users who access it for free or at
\nless cost choose \u00a0<\/span>not to turn down the
\nvolume.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"vintage<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Retro Snake by Mark Taylor – One of my latest Retro Inspired works! I remember playing this over and over, but the graphics were nowhere near as good as this! Time for a remake… anyone!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

I think at the moment every
\nother social network will be looking towards Twitter as some kind of litmus
\ntest to see if pay to play is a viable option. If ad-spend is down, there\u2019s
\nliterally almost nothing that can bring in the revenue needed to support these
\nplatforms, at least at their current size. The only other option beyond people
\nis whether any of these platforms could potentially find a way to harness a
\nusers technology power to harvest cryptocurrency whilst they use the platform
\nbut beyond that I have zero idea how you pivot from free to paid without losing
\nbig numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe we might get back to
\nbasics and reintroduce the idea of real community, but there are already a lot
\nof community based portals that face similar challenges around ad-spend and the
\nvery idea of community seems to be becoming more and more like some antiquated
\nidea. Ironically, the divided world we live in today could really do with some
\ncommunity love, but I can\u2019t see technology fixing it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your lack of privacy on social
\nmedia is exactly the product the tech giants need to sell in order to fund your
\nfree ride. Their revenue right now is generated a lot less by large business
\nad-spend and more by small business small ad-spend so again, even my almost
\nnon-existent math skills are screaming, recession, small business and
\nprecarious. <\/span><\/p>\n

With this in mind, thinking
\nabout raising your online presence in other corners of the internet might be a
\nwise move. Podcasts which I have covered a number of times before on these
\npages, are increasingly popular in a world where the only downtime most people
\nhave is on their commute. As a business, it has to be up there in the top five
\nof great ways to make a connection with an audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for ideas, I
\nthink there\u2019s a niche for a podcast that isn\u2019t too much up its own derriere
\nwhen it comes to the art world. \u00a0<\/span>The
\nmajority of working artists aren\u2019t too interested right now in the high-end big
\nspend art markets already covered by a number of fine art websites and podcasts.
\nMost artists might raise their eyebrows when a piece sells at auction for tens
\nof millions, but the majority of working artists will be more interested in how
\nto generate more leads on platforms such as Etsy, or figuring out new ways to
\ngo about their creative process. Independent artists who want to own the
\nrelationship with their customers might also be looking for tips on setting up
\ntheir own e-commerce sites.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are a few podcasts that
\ndo this already, but not many. Most that spring up are fleeting when the
\ninitial listener numbers are in the single digits. The trick with podcasts is
\nto not provide something that sounds a too much like radio, they should be more
\nlike a conversation amongst friends. You have to maintain quality but equally,
\nI think the best ones I listen to on a regular basis also manage to add in a
\ntouch of authentic humanity too. <\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to listener
\nnumbers we\u2019ve come to expect immediacy a little too much in this world so we
\nexpect that if we build a website or deliver a podcast the viewers and
\nlisteners will come, except they don\u2019t, at least for a while. Those with a
\nvalue add and who keep going are the ones that will eventually build a
\nfollowing, and this can then lead to a third gate in the form of subscriber
\npower.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Y2K<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Y2K by Mark Taylor – Back in the days when all we worried about was the Millennium Bug!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

During a recession, it\u2019s
\ninevitable that things will become slower. It\u2019s a tough time for any small
\nindependent business and especially a small independent that is focussed on
\nselling a product that isn\u2019t essential to either life or death. Unfortunately
\nthat\u2019s the category art falls into.<\/span><\/p>\n

I mentioned earlier that
\nprices should be reviewed but not lowered to a point where you are neither
\ncovering costs or having to live a life of resentment towards your buyers,
\nneither are healthy options for artists. But you do have to be flexible and you
\nneed to be flexible quite quickly after the immediate onset of any downturn.
\nFrom experience, the first weeks and early months of any long term recession
\nare going to be critical in how well you then move forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

In any recession,
\ndiscretionary spending reduces for the majority of people. Even when life is
\nrainbows and glitter, art is often an incredibly hard sell and in the art world
\nwhere regular artists work hard to sell every print or every hand made gift,
\nbeing flexible is about survival.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether you decide to raise
\nprices or lower them, whatever price you sell your work for doesn\u2019t change the
\nartwork, its message or intention. I think you do have to remember that it\u2019s
\nthe same painting, painted by the same artist, the difference is that you can
\neither sit on a thousand dollars worth of collecting dust or a thousand dollars
\nthat see\u2019s you through the tough times and at least gives you back the material
\ncost of the work. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"retro<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storage Wars by Mark Taylor – Hello World! With the exception of punch cards, I use all of these mediums almost every day! Each piece is individually hand drawn and painted, the original drawings of each item here were at least 6000 x 6000 pixels at 300dpi!<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

One
\nof the things that always struck me as amongst the strangest things I took from
\nart school was that there was always a reluctance to talk about having a plan B
\nas an artist. That might have had a place in the days of the gatekeeper, the
\nthinking was that you needed to only focus on the one goal, but the art world
\nand the world more generally has moved on. People buy and consume art very
\ndifferently today. Having a plan B is as critical as having a plan A.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artists are incredible. At
\nleast the hundreds I have ever met are. They have unique talents, are able to
\ncommunicate the complex and the contentious, make a statement, and send a
\nmessage, in a way that few other professionals can. <\/span><\/p>\n

We often talk about art
\nbecoming democratized, but here\u2019s a thought, it\u2019s not NFTs, or Ether, or even
\nonline platforms or social media that have democratized art, it\u2019s not the
\nmega-galleries and the gatekeepers,\u00a0
\n<\/span>they\u2019re all simply tools an artist might choose to use. <\/span><\/p>\n

What has democratized the art
\nworld is the dedication of artists themselves, the support they provide to each
\nother, and the opportunities that they often share. It\u2019s the positive impact
\nthat they have on society, and above all, it\u2019s their resilience that has done
\nmore than anything else to democratize the art world and move the needle
\nforward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Art is more accessible then
\never, it\u2019s part of our fabric, it is a foundation of society, and more people
\nthan ever are beginning to view art not as some stuffy elitist society that can
\nbe enjoyed by only the few, but as a significant part of our culture that is
\nneeded not only to provide some aesthetic or investment opportunity, but
\nsomething that has the power to bring people together in ways that no
\ngovernment or regime ever could. <\/span><\/p>\n

It builds bridges between
\ncultures, opens dialogue and conversation, it can embody values that are
\nmeaningful to everyone. Artists have the power to do all of that and make an
\nimpact. <\/span><\/p>\n

So in these dark days where
\nrecession and contraction are the most popular trends of the day, remember as
\nan artist you can and do continue to change the narrative and make a
\ndifference. Focus on that and you will get through this just as so many artists
\nhave done so many times before.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Highland<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Highland Nights by Mark Taylor – Still one of my favourite landscape works, I really must create a follow up in a similar style!\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

2022 has been quite a year for
\nall sorts of reasons but as we move in to 2023, just know that as an artist,
\nyou\u2019ve got this. Until next time, stay creative, look after each other, and
\nHappy New Year!<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark is an artist who
\nspecialises in vintage inspired works featuring technology and is also known
\nfor his landscape works and the occasional abstract! He lives in Staffordshire,
\nEngland. He has been creating professional digital work since the 1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can purchase Mark\u2019s work through
\nFine Art America or his Pixels site here:\u00a0https:\/\/10-mark-taylor.pixels.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You
\ncan also purchase prints and originals directly. You can also view Mark\u2019s portfolio
\nwebsite at\u00a0https:\/\/beechhousemedia.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Join the conversation on
\nFacebook at: https:\/\/facebook.com\/beechhousemedia<\/a>
\nconnect on Twitter @beechhouseart or waste hours on Pinterest right here: https:\/\/pinterest.com\/beechhousemedia<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Covering the Cost of Art\u00a0 With the rising cost of inflation and a world heading towards or already in a recession, on paper at least, the outlook for working artists might seem desperate and bleak. But, this isn\u2019t the first time that the creative industry has had to weather a storm and it\u2019s unlikely to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[1885,11488,4242,11513],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-171323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-art","tag-cost","tag-covering","tag-creating"],"yoast_head":"\nCovering The Cost of Creating Art - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=171323\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covering The Cost of Creating Art - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Covering the Cost of Art\u00a0 With the rising cost of inflation and a world heading towards or already in a recession, on paper at least, the outlook for working artists might seem desperate and bleak. 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