Constructive Criticism

Looks like you need more and better keywords.
-- mary ellen anderson

Hi Ken...

A question... are you presently taking art lessons from an instructor? This is a genuine question... not a critical one.

Ken, I love your paintings! This one reminds me just a bit of the style of Charley Harper, who is very popular right now.



I don't know anything about external views (sorry) but you'll get more views, comments, likes and faves from other members here at FAA if you follow others, and in turn they will follow you. Keep on painting! Love your style!

Keywords and descriptions are very, very important.

I love your painting. Each one interesting and with a story. Perfect representations of the Naive Style. http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=155469

I think perhaps you should find forums or groups dealing with that genre and introduce yourself.

Very cool!

facebook isn't a good place to advertise. that place is only a spot to have people acknowledge you posted an image, few will click on it. get on twitter, advertise more heavily.


this looks darkish to me, hard to know what it really looks like. don't mention kincade or rockwell, because not only is it not, it looks nothing like what they would make. give a better description, add your own name to the tags.


unless you want rockwell and the like to have the credit, only have your own name. adding their name won't help you to sell better and it's spam. you won't group up with them or fool people. walk, jog, ivy, phone booth - watch where you put keywords. no one will find this without the right stuff. remove the words - i tried to do something. tell them you did this - there is no try, only do.

you seem to have a random amount of things in your folder. with no one solid theme or style. it will make it harder to locate your work from the crowd.


then you have this one random over exposed spider - which is totally out of place in here.

ideally:

1. increase prices a bit
2. fix your tags so the image have the right tags. drop rockwell, kincade etc. include your own name.
3. give better descriptions and leave out the wishy washy stuff.
4. figure out your style. there is a real mix bag of stuff in there.
5. create some themes
6. get on twitter, and make webpages etc.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I agree with Mike. On my calibrated screen the images look dark. They need a brightness boost.

Thanks for all the replies, Glenn I am not nor have I ever been instructed by an art teacher other than 25 years ago I took a course as a freshman in high school which I won 2 contest I was in. Mike the 2 paintings you feel are too dark are very dark night paintings and that's why I did not brighten them because they didn't look like the originals and changed the mood. I only added Kinkade and Rockwell to boost traffic not to try and fool someone. I have seen a lot of artist add keywords that don't pertain to their paintings as I've come across this myself. Are you saying raise my print prices or originals? As far a picking a style I have been told that from Howard Allen himself he is a friend of my girlfriend. The problem is I would get bored if I didn't paint Diversely, I can not sit and paint repetitive themes over and over, that's just not me. As far as keywords is everyone saying put phrases instead of only single words? I will work on better descriptions for sure. I will add my own name to my tags. Thanks to everyone who answered my questions!

Ken

"I only added Kinkade and Rockwell to boost traffic not to try and fool someone."

Someone typing in "Kinkade" and ending up on your work has been hoodwinked.

but that's spam, and when people are looking for yours, they won't find it. and the ones who want the real one, won't look at the rest of your stuff.

i don't know who howard is, but if you paint all kinds of random subjects, the buyer won't know what you do. its like going in a chinese restaurant, and getting lo mein, taco's and pizza. none of which is done super well, and you can't pin point what they make is best. the place won't stand out. the style should be the same, but there should be a commonality between things. you don't have to batch things. make a duck, make a moose, make a farm, then make another duck.

sometimes for business you have to make things you don't enjoy. the prices are for the prints themselves. i don't know how to price originals.

add phrases and single words. and remove the famous artists. it won't help you at all to sell. let you be known for your own art work, don't let them take credit.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I wish I could add more other than I fully ditto agree with Mike Savad and his thorough critique with great pointers. My general feel is that many of your images are too dark. Keywords and good image photos and descriptions might help.

On my led screen the image appear bright to me and are shot with a 24 mp camera. I have looked on other screens and some were dark, some were light depending on the computer, I will look into that, thanks.

make sure the screen is calibrated. most screens start on the highest brightness setting to show off the lights. but it's not a good way to edit photos, everything will look dark by comparison. best to get a calibrator. the camera won't make a difference, but the lens and lighting can.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

ok thanks

Hey Ken,

Thanks for answering my question. I want to start by saying I applaud your efforts.

What I see in your work is potential for greater things. What others may see here, in competition with all the great artists on FAA, (or anywhere else for that matter) is work that is in beginners stages. I am not saying that to be harsh. I'm just being objective.

My mother has been an artist since childhood. Her main medium has been oil. She was good just from her basic school teachings and living in an area of France filled with art. But when she finally took some very serious courses that taught her new technical skills it changed everything. Learning how to work in oil, acrylic,how to build layers,composition, etc, etc, etc made all the difference and took her from very good to outstanding. It didn't hurt that she had an excellent teacher who was well established in academic circles.

As a gallery owner who used to represent Thomas Kinkade and Norman Rockwell, I can only say that competing with their likes is a pretty hard nut to crack. These are guys who knew what they were doing. They knew the in's and out's of their mediums.

I suggest that one of the reasons that you are not getting the views is because there are so many others that do it so much more professionally and their work can be had at a better price. You can market to more people all you want... but some technical knowledge would help you so much more. Take some courses if you are financially able or bury yourself in tons of You Tube courses and practice, practice, practice.

Getting more views is easier when you can keep the interest of your prospect. Getting your offering to that next place is what should be your main focus.

That's my opinion.

Good Fortunes to you.

Ken, aside from the technical issues and good advice from others here, I do believe you have a distinctive painting style, and it wouldn't matter what the subject matter is. I may be the only one, but I think you should paint what you want. It will still look like you created it. That's no small thing.

I haven't read all the responses and don't know a thing about painting.

I do know a touch about composition. I find that buildings like the barn below and cars like your 49 pickup work better at an angle. I don't think I have ever sold a building composed straight on even though I have a few.

Reminds me more of a Grandma Moses the renowned American folk artist. Took up painting at age 76 after years of doing embroidery.

"Her early style is less individual and more realistic or primitive, despite her lack of knowledge of, or perhaps rejection of, basic perspective. Initially she created simple compositions or copied existing images. As her career advanced she created complicated, panoramic compositions of rural life." -wikipeidia

It is not easy, though once you get the right people on your side, then the traffic comes to play, I am going through the same thing as you, but lets not give up, by the way, NICE art work you have.

My advice is to just keep painting! In art school, we had to paint a small 5x7 everyday. Those small paintings helped me discover what I really enjoyed painting most. Remember that everyone has their own unique style. Not everyone likes how bold I make my paintings but you know when you see them they are an ArtbyKatsy. Enjoy and paint what seems natural the sales do eventually come!

Getting a lot of visitors is a major task. It is some sort of an evaluation of the artists work but doesn't mean it was bought. People look at images for curiosity, comparison, and probability of acquisition. It is a dismay that the number of visitors will be a basis for success, popularity and sales. Major sigh here.

Paying to maintain a website without any sales is somewhat debilitating, though some artist derive pleasure by showing their work, participating in the network rather than selling. They are passionate about art but have other means of livelihood.

For a striving artist, sales is a must. The number of visitors and marketing propaganda is essential. The questions is how did the new artist get a lot of visitors, in comparison to an artist who have been in the website for years. Was there any sale that took place for the new artist with good numbers of visitors?

marketing propaganda? what the heck is that?

you get visitors by advertising and telling people your here. simple as that.

having unique work that people want to look at is also how you get views. new artists can get sales, but it depends on:

1. how well they market their work.
2. how good their work is
3. how marketable their work is
4. how good their work will look in someones house.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Well said Mike but I can tell you that some of my friends bought a painting with no understanding about it. They did not think about the effect of the painting on the house or the artist in general. They just wanted to put something on the wall to make visitors think that they like art. It is an infectious rhythm in some people who owns a house. Not necessarily putting value on the painting or artwork, just a display without knowing who the artist is. What a pity.

As for marketing propaganda, it is a strategy you need including volume of artwork, originality and content of pieces you are displaying in the market, the amount and number of network you have to market your work, your projected sales for the year, your future events, and the list go on...

I realize I am not the best artist by a long shot and I will improve, that being said, I have seen lots of art on here that looks, in my opinion horrible and they have way more views than me. But that's my opinion and saying my art looks like Grandma Moses really has no affect on me at all because many other artist have said otherwise about that painting so.... I will listen to suggestions from here regarding getting more views, but not really about my art because I feel in one year I am progressing nicely, I don't take lessons because I want to develop my own style for better or worse. I knew putting this question up I would be hit with positive and negatives, that's fine, I am very secure in who I am and where I am going. Everything I have accomplished in life has been like that, I am a self taught piano, drummer and guitar player. Many more people who are NOT artist and potential buyers love a lot of my paintings and praise how far I have come in a short time. Maybe not taking lessons is the harder route to get from point A to point B but that's how I like to do it, on my own merit. I also have met a few people who have taken lessons, have been painting for twenty years and they have told me I am much better than they will ever be. Anyway I appreciate all the feed back, it will only make me strive to create better art!

Oh I went and lightened 6 darker paintings I had up! Thanks

not adding anything except to say that i really like the mood and lighting in this one:



and the almost abstract surrealism of this one:



and very much enjoying the fish pictures.

thank you very much