In order to become more organized and productive in my art biz, I came up with a checklist of steps required after finishing an art piece.
The idea is to slow myself down and tie up all loose ends of the admin process so that I never lose track of a piece and have all the information and images in one place so I’m not scrambling around later trying to find everything I need.
12 Steps to Organize Art
-
Before you varnish:
- 1. Sign the art.
- 2. Date it somewhere on the piece – consider making an info card that includes artist name, title, media, dimensions.
- 3. Scan or photograph.
- 4. Clean and adjust the image.
- 5. Add copyright & info. (artist name, title, media, dimension, key words)
- 6. Name images properly > with ©nametitlesize if you like.
- 7. Save hi-res image for print & low res image for web >> one folder per image with all formats and sizes included.
- 8. Save to your art inventory database (publishing on May 2) – cheap and easy types are Evernote and Dropbox or a spreadsheet you’ve created. A more robust database would be something like Bento, eArtist or The Artist Archive.
- 9. Add piece to any online store fronts you use (like Storenvy or Etsy).
- Write about the piece on your blog – include a link to buy.
- 11. Share on the web through social media.
- 12. Email your mailing list with a link to buy (you may want to consider doing this before your post it publicly – it gives your list the special “VIP – first crack” at your originals.
There are other lists out there – for product launches, event planning, show promotion…
Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed something that you find valuable, or if you have your own ideas for a an art checklist.
Happy organizing!
Want more tools to help grow your successful art biz?
Get in the Library for TONNES of videos, downloads & resources!
|
![]() |
![]() |
We hate spam just as much as you
|