It is fairly comprehensible that, as a inventive man or woman, you might be curious about the likely pros of blogging about your artwork. Nonetheless, the thought of crafting about your practice in this way can also be rather overwhelming.
There may possibly seem to be to be so many distinctive strategies in which an artist can get blogging ‘wrong’. Possibly you’re worried about the risk of alienating your audience with the mistaken type of content, or not submitting frequently ample, or having an unfocused strategy to your weblog.
So, be confident to think about the adhering to 3 thoughts prior to you begin hammering that keyboard.
1. What variety of blogger are you?
This is one of the to start with thoughts that you will have to response as an artist blogger. Bloggers come in so numerous various varieties — some are unashamed hobbyists, many others could possibly bring a great deal of qualified and specialist know-how to their creating, and many others may well choose the consummately professional technique, managing their blog site like an extension to a hugely small business-like artistic exercise.
To get a perception of your remedy to this issue, think about your commitment. Why are you even imagining about running a blog as an artist? Is it basically to ‘get your artwork out there’? Possibly you want to share guidelines on the extra mundane elements of creative follow that go uncovered by other blogs? Or probably you wouldn’t think about blogging as an artist to be worthwhile except if it led to an uptick of fascination in and opportunities for your observe?
2. How usually need to you write-up?
You might not feel this ought to be a urgent situation for an artist blogger as opposed to other styles of blogger. Just after all, you are a mercurial artist, appropriate? You’ll article an update any time you find the time or inspiration, whenever you make a significant breakthrough with your apply, any time you uncover a new procedure or make investments in that etching press — you get the concept.
Alas, this is a absolutely sure recipe for an abandoned website, of which there are now significantly as well many littered throughout the online. Sure, even artists have to have to be methodical about this type of factor if they wish their weblog to bring in the loyal foundation of readers desired for sustained achievements. As a rule of thumb, we would for that reason propose that you publish a new blog publish at least after a week.
If that sounds a small challenging, look at creating all of your blog posts for the month in advance and scheduling their publication so that even when you’re fast paced, your readers will usually be greeted with contemporary content material.
3. What structure really should your site posts be?
Though we obviously just cannot dictate how you should generate as an artist blogger. The likelihood is that your posts will conclude up resembling 1 of a amount of effectively-known and demonstrated formats.
For illustration, you may well discover yourself composing checklist posts, which consist of a series of frequently numbered factors, comprehensive with a catchy title. Feel one thing like “7 things you never ever knew about X”, or “10 factors why you must do Y”. Readers appear to appreciate list content articles, perhaps simply because they are so simply digestible and it’s evident what sort of content they will be looking through prior to they get started.
But there are several other likely very helpful formats out there for an artist’s blog site write-up. Quite a few web site posts by artists are, of program, weighty on images, and the tip below is to make all those photographs as large, beautiful and exciting as achievable, devoid of overwhelming your viewers by including much more accompanying textual content than strictly important. (Check out our guides on how to take compelling photos of your art and how to digitise your artwork.)
One more possibility is that you publish a ‘how to’ post, potentially on a certain portray or printmaking technique. This is a wonderful option to integrate a movie to genuinely drum in the lessons imparted in the textual content, particularly if you’re videogenic and a very good verbal and visible communicator.
Or, if your target with your artist blog site is to give your audience a nearer search at your exercise, you may possibly want to take into account how you can explain to a persuasive tale that prevents your article from becoming way too dry or monotonous. Perhaps you could acquire visitors on a journey by your experimentation with a specified technical system, or what you discovered when you took on an art quick class.
With other preferred formats for artist blog site posts ranging from previews or evaluations of exhibitions to interviews or profiles of artists, gallerists and other important figures with whom you could perform, there’s a good deal of scope to swap items up on a dependable basis to genuinely stimulate and excite your visitors.
It’s time to give it a go
The higher than, of training course, only touches on a smaller portion of the problems that you will have to contend with as an artist blogger. Nevertheless, they will ideally give you a small properly-timed inspiration for your endeavours in this at times ignored channel for advertising and marketing and discussing your artwork.
What have been your personal experiences of blogging as an artist? Sense cost-free to share your feelings in the remarks section down below, or read more about why you should not hold off in setting up your own artist’s weblog.
Connected reading
How to publish properly about your possess artwork
How to get your artwork recognised by way of social media
This submit was originally revealed in July 2017. Final updated: Oct 2021.
