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Steps to Take After Completing Your Artwork

What do you do after you’ve finished a work?
 

• Finish the Details
• The work shouldn’t be considered complete until you do the following with the physical piece.
• Sign it!   Sign it wherever you can, and however you do it best..
• Add the date on the front, back, or underneath – where and when it’s appropriate for your medium.
• Many artists don’t like to date their work on the front because it doesn’t look as fresh. That’s fine, but date it somewhere. Dating is a way that helps you claim credit for copyright and will be used by the curator that mounts a retrospective of your work in 30 years.
• Again, if appropriate for your medium, make an identification card for the back that includes the complete credit line: Name, title, media, dimensions, and price. This is enormously helpful for venues.
• Document It
• Record details in your inventory database. Don’t let that artwork out of your site until you have done this.
• Have artwork photographed, or do it yourself if you have the proper equipment.
• Name image files according to your standard. Images are easier to find if they are all named in the same manner. I suggest starting the file name with your name:
• lastname-abbreviatedtitle-imagesize.jpg
• Add the image to your inventory record for that piece.
• Resize images to three or four standard sizes that you use most often. Create a digital file folder for each artwork and differentiate your digital images using your naming convention. This takes some time to do now, but it will save you time and frustrations in the future.  Using the example above, your image files might look like this:
• hart-redsky-600.jpg
• hart-redsky-300.jpg
• hart-redsky-72-300px.jpg
• hart-redsky-72-200px.jpg
• File a copyright claim at http://copyright.gov  if this is part of your practice.
• Tell People About It
• Blog about the work. Be sure the complete credit line is visible with the image, and that viewers will know it's for sale.
• Edit the text from your blog into a descriptive sentence that you can use on your website or social media profiles.
• Add the descriptive sentence to your inventory database. When you do this, the sentence will always be with the work, and you can copy and paste it with abandon.
• Upload the image to your website. Double check to make sure that your name and credit line is visible whenever the image is enlarged.
• Upload the image to any online sales venues you use. (Etsy, RedBubble, etc.)
• Share your newly completed work on social media sites.

Newsletter subscribers can download a checklist of the above list:
http://artbizcoach.com/after-complete.pdf

What did I forget? Leave a comment on the Art Biz Blog.

http://artbizblog.com/after-complete