Hey all! I put this post under marketing and not under instructional videos because I am posting about this aspect of Youtube.
Many artists using Youtube to sell their art. I don’t enjoy teaching and am not an authority on anything, though apparently you don’t need to be to use Youtube successfully that way. They are sitting in their studios, basements, garages, doing their art, all the while chatting like the camera is a person visiting them. Most of the art is terrible (don’t tell them I said that, after all who am I to say such a thing?), but they have lots of views and lots of patrons! Some of them over $2500 a month in patronage. And some of the good ones move over to Patreon. and scale up from there. It’s a good way to round out your income. Smart. Not for me. Is it for you? Yes, you’d have to know or learn how to edit vids or like these guys do, just let the camera run real time, no editing, just uploading.
When I’ve run out of steam and have to lie down, I usually break out the ipad and look up awesome ceramics, woodworking, sculpture etc… that’s how I’ve come across these vids so I thought I’d post about it!
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Thanks for sharing Sunny.
I don’t think it’s for me (well maybe one day) but would definitely work for some people. There are also the ArtBytes on here, some of which are accompanied by a bit of video. I have purchased several of them and found them to be very good.
I think even if you don’t earn anything directly from making a video, it’s got to be a great way to promote yourself.
I feel weird about Patreon. Like if I put that much energy into my paintings, I could earn what I would get with Patreon… maybe?
That was my thought too! I wouldn’t want to do it for same reason.
Re: Patreon- most of the artists I’ve seen using Patreon successfully are digital painters- the bonuses for donating are things like getting to see WIP images, exclusive videos of works in progress, mini-tutorials, or votes on what they’d like to see an artist paint more of etc. So it’s not a massive amount of extra effort spent in order to get a handy income boost. If I had more time to pursue my digital work as well as traditional, I’d definitely jump on the bandwagon, but sadly there are only so many hours in the day…!
I’ve never actually seen traditional artists using Patreon, and I’m not sure how they’d make the system work for them. I may have to look into it a little.
As for Youtube, I do know that a lot of painters upload videos of themselves at work, whether instructive or casual, and it seems to pull in traffic/sales for them. Not for me at all, as I want to be behind the camera, not in front of it! But for some reason, a lot of people really enjoy ‘getting to know’ the person behind the art. Unfortunate if, like me, you are a very private person and want to remain fairly anonymous and let your work speak for you! Oh well.
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I’ve only seen traditional painters there, I guess the suggestions they give you are what you have looked at before? They do voiceovers and explain what they’re doing, I’ve seen some offer small studies in exchange for support. It’s almost passive income, you upload one video and a lot of people give small amounts and enough subscribers and…there ya go.
I hear what you are saying and I am the same way, I like my art to speak for me as well. This model works for a lot of people though.
Hi Sunny,
I know my comments are now probably very late, but I’m posting anyway as this is something I’ve seen a lot of recently. Firstly, I must say that the vast majority of these ‘artists’ don’t gain anything from social media other than ‘likes’, which in the real world are completely pointless and don’t sell paintings. From my personal experience, if you have a desirable painting, you will find the right collector, regardless of YouTube. Also, as a point of note, some collectors don’t usually buy anything online that’s over a certain price threshold; they will need to see the actual painting, unless it’s a collector you’ve sold to before and he/she knows the quality of your work and what to expect.
Hope this helps,
Mario