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Is DD’s art work good enough to sell.

730 replies

themotherhoodproject · 08/05/2024 08:23

NC for this as a regular user of MN and this is fairly outing but looking for peoples unbiased opinions.

DD is an A level Art student, it’s actually not where her love lies she is hoping to apply for BIMM’s university In Bristol to peruse music and she also does performing arts.

However she is very talented in her painting and blows me away weekly with her work, we have had a few extra special things from her (some of you might remember the snowman Christmas card, it seemed very popular) and lots of people on here saying that they would buy if able too.

Another few months have gone by and we just had another cracker of a card from her (a thank you card for a friend) and well I just think it’s wonderful and have said she should really think about taking on commissions.

We live in a very rural area so lots of horse and dog lovers and I honestly think she could make a bit of pocket money to put away for uni life or fritter away on gigs noodles and vinyl

Can I ask what people think, she is only a year into A level art and will have lots more of technique to learn but maybe £15 a painting she might have some takers?

Is DD’s art work good enough to sell.
OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
StoatofDisarray · 08/05/2024 20:11

Sorry, no it isn't.

themotherhoodproject · 08/05/2024 20:14

Thanks everyone that’s DD had 3 orders and has taken on peoples advice and charging £20 for a a card size painting, she is absolutely delighted and that definitely pay for gig or two!!

For anyone who wondered we have given this lovely horses portrait to its owner and her reaction has really made our day, she cried and said it was the best present she has ever received.

OP posts:
infor · 08/05/2024 20:17

@themotherhoodproject If painting brings your daughter great joy, I would be wary of making it a business. As a sixth-former, a friend sold a painting for £400 forty years ago - the buyer was used to paying a lot more for canvases and unrealistic expectations that followed, sadly destroyed her as an artist.
On the other hand, JMW Turner went to the seaside and produced dozens of copies of small seascapes to fund his larger works.
I can imagine plenty of small commissions if she had four of five stock images that could be adapted to represent a rider's own horse.
I knew someone who did very well from pen and ink sketches of classic cars - the simple image became much more valuable when he added the owner's registration number.

MyBrownEyedHandsomeBoy · 08/05/2024 20:17

I think your daughters horse picture is bloody brilliant op she is very talented and will make a fantastic artist in the future if she keeps it up 👏

WiddlinDiddlin · 08/05/2024 20:22

LarkRiseSummer · 08/05/2024 18:53

My daughter paints pet portraits as a sideline - she gets commissions from all over the country and abroad. People send her photographs to work from, she doesn't go and meet the pets and paint from life! I'm pretty sure most pet portrait artists are the same.

Yep, this is normal - the animals owner sends you photos, or if they are nearby you go and take your own photos (this is preferable for many reasons but logistically not always possible).

The number of artists painting particularly pet portraits, in live sittings is VERY very few its just not practical unless you're painting the Kings favourite horse (and even then its more likely you would go and get some photos and possibly a few sketches then go home and do the rest from memory/still image. Damn even Munnings did that!).

greengreyblue · 08/05/2024 20:25

Brilliant Op. That’s exactly the point , it’s what it’s worth to the individual. Well done to her.

YouJustDoYou · 08/05/2024 20:42

Yeah, I mean it's ok but, doesn't look like it;s finished? There's no depth to things like the harness etc?

spritebottle · 08/05/2024 20:46

It is a nice painting beyond what most people including me can paint, but honestly it's quite simplistic in technique compared to many other animal paintings I see out there.

Not that I think paintings should be overly elaborate, but something about her painting just seems too basic. I'm sure she'll become a million times better over time though.

That said, I have a business, and selling stuff (especially art) is rarely about how good you are. It's just about whether you can create a market or not.

The most talented artist in the world may not be able to flog their paintings, whereas some basic teen painter might find a lucrative niche/audience locally or even on Instagram/Tiktok/etc.

You can encourage her to give it a go, but remember to account for her hours too (eg £100 for a painting might seem amazing, but not if you take 10 hours to make it because that's minimum wage – of course to a teen that may still be good pocket money though).

spritebottle · 08/05/2024 20:46

themotherhoodproject · 08/05/2024 20:14

Thanks everyone that’s DD had 3 orders and has taken on peoples advice and charging £20 for a a card size painting, she is absolutely delighted and that definitely pay for gig or two!!

For anyone who wondered we have given this lovely horses portrait to its owner and her reaction has really made our day, she cried and said it was the best present she has ever received.

Just saw this, yay!

tillytoodles1 · 08/05/2024 20:51

I think the yellow bit on its ears spoils it. Also the mane and the face are too solid.

sunglassesonthetable · 08/05/2024 20:52

*Thanks everyone that’s DD had 3 orders and has taken on peoples advice and charging £20 for a a card size painting, she is absolutely delighted and that definitely pay for gig or two!!

For anyone who wondered we have given this lovely horses portrait to its owner and her reaction has really made our day, she cried and said it was the best present she has ever received.*

That's fab.

RedHelenB · 08/05/2024 20:56

themotherhoodproject · 08/05/2024 08:30

This has taken her around 6 hours.

She needs to charge more then. But being brutally honest I wouldn't pay for that picture, jts good but not amazing.

LifeIsHardAlways · 08/05/2024 20:59

Honestly, no I wouldn’t buy it. At A-level my sister could paint to an almost photographic standard, so I have a high bar!

greengreyblue · 08/05/2024 21:00

I’d love to see all the art in some poster’s homes. Obviously all art critics.

pistonsaremachines · 08/05/2024 21:01

Well done to her OP!

DailyEnergyCrisis · 08/05/2024 21:03

I’d probably pay a friends child £20 to paint our cat but most likely to be kind rather than wanting a £20 painting of the cat IYSWIM. I think it’s a lovely talent to be proud of but not perhaps a genuine skill people honestly want to pay for- which is so hypocritical as I’d be lining up to boost the self esteem of a friends child in this circumstance.

spritebottle · 08/05/2024 21:03

YouJustDoYou · 08/05/2024 20:42

Yeah, I mean it's ok but, doesn't look like it;s finished? There's no depth to things like the harness etc?

I agree! I actually love simple solid art styles, but you can have a simple and bright style with some depth & texture. Not necessarily in the realistic sense – just that little something that makes the drawing (whether caricature, doodley, realistic, happy little 2d painting, etc) come to life.

But from a business perspective, there are teens/young adults getting really, really rich off selling really simple flower paintings (like, 5 petals, what I would be capable of) on Instagram/Tiktok. It's due to their trendy marketing and branding!

In the long term, business is a separate skill to art, no matter how amazing your art is. There's no point being Monet if no one knows you exist. (Not a sly dig at OP's daughter but a fact!!) So it's really promising that OP's daughter is already getting a little taste of branding and selling her work!

LittleRedRidingSnood · 08/05/2024 21:04

It's very interesting to read everyone's comments about your dd's art. I actually really like the composition with the yellow fly cap. It makes it a bit different.

Your dd sounds very like mine. Ours is also into performing arts, music and art. She's younger than your dd and is just about to sit her GCSEs. It has been wonderful to see her love of art grow, as she only discovered about a year ago that she could paint and now is in love with art.

We have found that just letting her do her own thing has brought its own success. Her school has entered her for a couple of competitions, both of which she's won and on the back of this she's been offered a residency with quite a well known artist and has an exciting commission lined up for summer.

Will your dd's piece be part of her A level art portfolio? We have been given strict instructions not to share any images online, however have been told a single image from a competition win online is fine!

Very best of luck to your dd. I am sure she will find success.

Maneandfeathers · 08/05/2024 21:11

I like your daughters drawing a lot. I actually don’t like the hyper realistic style of pet portrait. If she enjoys it and can make a few pennies doing something she would do anyway why not!

bohemianmullet · 08/05/2024 21:12

What I really love about this is the softness of the mouth and muzzle area. It's amazing how she has captured that which is so true of horses. I think the picture has a lot of sensitivity actually. The yellow ear covers slightly over-dominate and the way they are painted - very thick and textured - makes the eyes recede into the background and eyes are the thing that are so important in portraits whether of humans or animals. Although the eye is a characterful kind eye. But is knocked back by the yellow.

I do admire her going for it with the yellow ear covers though because she's trying something. She is trying to capture a different texture by using different paint thicknesses. This is the sign of someone trying things and engaging with the materials, not just someone trying to make an image.

For me, the left side is less successful, but the main face and muzzle in particular are wonderful.

Basically pet portraits are quite generic and tend to have a particular style and look to them. There are some people who are absolutely incredibly at pet portraits. But it can also be a bit of a straitjacket artistically. There is an expected learned style which people can get stuck in and find hard to branch away from. There are so many tutorials online about how to do fur (for example) for the expected pet portrait. It's not necessarily that individual.

I think if she could take the sensitivity she has got in the way she's captured that soft mouth area in this work and apply that kind of specificness/particularity to the rest, this piece could be really stunning.

You say art is not where her heart lies so maybe my thoughts are not very helpful or relevant. She's lucky to have a lovely skill in addition to other things in this case. If she was interested in art, my advice would be to block her ears to the sniffy people on here. At her age, it's a lot about levels of exposure to different materials and how much confidence is encouraged to try things, as well as basic drawing skills. Being exposed to lots of different artists and artistic movements. Trying out different ways of doing things and different materials. Art is about experimenting and also being bold enough to risk things toppling over into failure. The trouble is our exam culture is not exactly brilliant for encouraging these sorts of qualities. It's a good exercise to think what is it that I bring to painting that others don't? What is the thing that I particularly have a feel for? I'd say it's a real sense of sensitivity in this piece, that you don't see in all pet portraits. A lot of people can draw, a lot of people can draw extremely well. But it's those other qualities like sensitivity or specificity in the way you look at a particular subject, that makes the difference between a good drawing and something more.

£15 is ridiculously cheap. You have to think is it worth her spending 6 hrs for such an amount. Plus as others have said, commissions can be difficult and stressful and people can be ridiculously demanding even when not really paying a proper price. She might want to think if she does some finished paintings she really likes about printing them on nice paper with a nice sense of the personal about them to make semi-handmade cards? If she works in a tearoom, often cafes welcome art to display on their walls. It might be they would be open to displaying some for possible sale, or cards. But @Stainglasses has a good point. Trying to monetise a hobby can take the pleasure out of it. So that is worth bearing in mind. Love of drawing and painting can develop and deepen across a life-time. It would be a shame if it became a chore for her so young.

As for @ArseInTheCoOpWindow's teaching in the "best art department in the city" whatever that means, what kind of teaching produces a list of criticisms but no actual analysis of what is good and what can be developed further? Art is not just a set of "nots" like avoid black and not enough highlights. Really good teachers encourage students to really look, challenge their preconceptions, and really engage with the subject, materials, experiment and have confidence. Really good teachers inspire people to go further and better. An uninspiring list of "nots" is no use to anyone.

Good luck to your DD, OP! She sounds like she has many talents and interests. Encourage her to keep drawing no matter what else she decides to do.

InTheUpsideDownToday · 08/05/2024 21:20

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 08/05/2024 18:31

I think what people are missing is there is a market for naive art. It’s literally a thing. It happens to be my thing. I don’t want something perfect. Lots of people don’t. That’s why art movements evolved that were removed from perfect life drawings and portraits.

Yes I love this type of art - the not perfect stuff and paintings with an atmosphere or feeling.

Realism is not my favourite and whilst I'm in awe of the talent, I feel I could get the same from a photograph.

Art is so subjective!

Coconutter24 · 08/05/2024 21:23

spriots · 08/05/2024 08:27

Something she could look at is taking commissions for pet portraits.

There is a lady on my road who does this and she charges more like £400!

I think your DD just starting out should charge less but not £15, maybe £50 or so to start with?

I think your DD just starting out should charge less but not £15, maybe £50 or so to start with?

I’m confused, £50 is more than £15?

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 08/05/2024 21:25

I can clearly remember a relative of mine being derisory about me making cushion covers. How long it took. How much I sold them for. Yada yada yada. Ended up being a successful business for a decade of my life. Large oak trees grow from tiny acorns.

Naughty1205 · 08/05/2024 21:26

Coconutter24 · 08/05/2024 21:23

I think your DD just starting out should charge less but not £15, maybe £50 or so to start with?

I’m confused, £50 is more than £15?

She means less than £400, which is what the lady on her road charges. Not as low as £15, more like £50.

OneWildBiscuit · 08/05/2024 21:26

Janedoe82 · 08/05/2024 10:00

I have often found some teachers to be emotionally stunted as they never actually leave the school environment and don't develop good people skills with actual adults. You seem a good example of this 😳

There's also a lot of truth in the adage "Those who can, do; this who can't, teach"!

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