Do you think a clever, funny, poetic, thoughtful title gives a piece an advantage selling over an obvious, boring title?
I never read titles…I notice the thumbnail and if it grabs me then I look.
I think a clever and/or funny title definitely adds to the artwork (though of course the image goes first, and it must be catchy enough for the viewer to be willing to come closer to read the title (or to do an extra click if we speak about online galleries). Unfortunately nearly all my titles are rather boring, and every time I type those generic Three-Apples titles, I think that I could have left the work untitled, as the name doesn’t add anything to the work: anyone can count till three, and - hopefully - anyone can tell my apples from pears.
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I usually end up with boring titles for my still life paintings because I run out of fruit-themed puns too quickly. I need to devote a few hours a week to pun-planning as a part of my work schedule, maybe…?
Serious response, though- I very rarely look at the title of artwork if it’s a still life- I’m only interested in the picture. If it’s a landscape or cityscape, I may look, but only to check what the location is. Of course, I’m looking at it all as an artist, and not a buyer. I don’t have enough money to buy most of the art I fall in love with! I don’t know how much a title would impact a potential purchase…
Sometimes a great title comes to me when I’m painting a piece. If that doesn’t happen, though, I know I’ll struggle to come up with something interesting for it. Most of the time I’d be happy to leave my paintings untitled, but I need something to put in my records, so Boring Title No. 534 is born… I’ve sold a few with boring titles, though, so thankfully it doesn’t seem to put too many people off!
I think a clever title is a little extra frosting on the cake. I usually don’t have great titles but I very much appreciate them. Have a look at Carol’s. Love them.
Yeah, I felt like title can attract the readers,
I have been using song titles for about two years. I started with one painting and it has just kept going. I always feel that I can possibly find a song title for the current painting…but somehow it comes to me. I listen to music when I paint so it just kind of happened. Anyway to answer your question…no…I don’t think anyone reads them. They look at the painting first and decide if they like it.