Artybuzz has formed a new company to move into creating specialist wall murals. The new website MuralsWallpaper.co.uk, specialises in creating wall murals wallpaper, custom wallpaper and bespoke wallpaper for homes and businesses.

The new website is giving artists on Artybuzz the opportunity to have their work sold in a brand new ‘Art Mural Wallpaper’ category on the site, so if you would like your work to be considered for inclusion in this new category as a mural custom wallpaper, please contact us to declare your interest and let us know which work you would like to be considered.

We are open to hearing about any kind of art, so feel free to put forward your work if you are interested. The only condition is that the images you put forward must be available in a very large format, or if you are a designer, in vectors format ideally. This will enable a high quality murals wallpaper to be created.

Thanks, and we look forward to seeing some of your entries.

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Check out some of the great work from our featured member today, Stephanie Pyren…

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We recently had a ‘Tree’ themed home page which people seemed to like as we sold a couple of pieces of the home pages work that day. Trees also seem to be a pretty popular subject for artists on Artybuzz so we’re going to run another ‘Tree’ themed home page very soon.

As part of our new ’share’ area on the blog, you can add links to your tree artworks below which we can then consider for a home page feature.

So add your links below and show us your trees…

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Today we are featuring the work of the illustrator Paul Abbot, check out his work and interview below…

What inspires your work?

In short.. my children, it was with the birth of my first son that I wanted to create something they could look at, until then it was all video games stuff as, I’m sure you will understand is mostly inapropriate to show children, ironic really as its some of the most childish, immature imagery out there! The actual content is inspired by memories and imagination, recently my work features heavily my 2 boys in post apocolyptic situations! I love the way children will still have fun and find ways to play in situations adults would bitch and moan about (again this is from reality – our living situation since the housing market crsh has been far from ideal!)

How long have you been illustrating?

Ive been doing art all my life, I did fine art at university, freelanced for a bit afterwards, gained recognition as a portrait painter after coming runner up in the national portrait awards and since then working as a professional artist in the games industry doing concept and 3D work. My recent personal iluustrations though have only been around for as long as my kids, so 3 years

Do you have any future goals?

yes, i want to illustrate childrens books and tv shows and use the royalties to fund my retirement!

Why did you join Artybuzz and what do you want to get out of it?

Recognition, a better internet presence, followers to my blog and connections, you never know who may be writing a kids book and want illustrations. oh also to sell some work!

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When it comes to the question of how to sell art online, there are a number of different theories, techniques, ideas and things people swear by when it comes to achieving the success you desire in how to sell art online generally, and how to sell your art online as an artist.

The top tips below should show you and give some extra ideas of how to sell your art online whether you are an artist, photographer, designer, or any other creative who wants to know how to sell art online…

Make it Personal

People love a connection, so before you even start testing out how to sell art online you need to make sure that you have a detailed description or background of you artwork on your own website if you have one, and also any other websites you sell work through. Let people know why you created your work and it will increase the desirability of it greatly.

Make it Easy

In order to sell work online, you need to make it easy for people to buy. A long winded buying process or a hard to navigate website is unlikely to yield good results when it comes to impulse purchases etc. If you want to improve how to sell art online, then you need to make it as simple and easy as possible for people.

Desireable Work / Products

Only certain kinds of products sell well online. Obviously a huge 8 foot high canvas is going to be very undesirable when it comes to buying online, because of expensive postage costs and also the risk of damage occurring. So you need to think when deciding how to sell your art online about what products will sell best. Maybe selling just prints, cards and t shirts might be an idea instead of trying to sell expensive original artworks.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

If you have your own website you will need to think about the SEO for your website, as there is no point in having a fantastic website online if nobody ever finds it. A quick tutorial for artist’s websites can be found here, which will give you a great starting point for your SEO. By the way, it’s not rocket science so don’t be scared…

Special Promotions

You can offer special promotions, offers and incentives when you sell your art online, so that people looking to buy art online feel there is an incentive to doing so.

Social Networking

The power of social networking should not be underestimate when trying to figure out how to sell art online. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and Artybuzz accounts are all fantastic ways of keeping your fans updated with what’s going on and what you are selling; as well as finding new fans and followers of your work. The more fans you have, the easier it becomes to sell art online of course.

What are your top tips for how to sell art online? Please share them with your comments below…

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We have a new category on the blog, entitled……… ‘Share’

This new category will allow you to share lots and lots of things including, art groups on artybuzz, ideas, twitter accounts, themed work subjects and much much much more!

This will be a brand new and exciting interactive space on the Artybuzz blog that will give you a brand new place to get you and your work noticed on Artybuzz.

We will be adding regular sharing opportunities from now on, so check back to share your own stuff, and find other cool stuff from others on Artybuzz.

Why not begin by sharing your stumbleupon profile below…and if you don’t have an account, why not sign up at http://www.stumbleupon.com – it’s a fantastic service to use!

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To all of you who are on stumbleupon, we would love for you to share your stumbleupon profiles with us, so please comment and let people follow your profiles.

Ours, by the way, can be found at – http://www.artybuzz.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/artybuzz/ – so please subscribe to follow our website recommendations….

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(This is a guest blog post by Gayle Mahoney, an artist and arts marketing consultant. You can follow her blog about arts marketing, Make a Living Making Art.)

When I started my arts business I dreaded writing a business plan. The mere idea was overwhelming and I did not know where to start. But as soon as I began working on it I realized it was the best way to work out the details of how to run my business. It required me to do research about overhead, cost of materials, production methods, marketing opportunities, potential investors and potential profits.  It also allowed me to consider how I wanted to spend my time, what I wanted my business to be and what I did not want it to be.

A business plan is a road map to help you plan and grow your business. It can help you focus your energies to meet both short-term and long-term goals. A good business plan can help establish credibility for you as a business person and is necessary if you are seeking outside investment from other individuals or financial institutions. A business plan is a strategic tool that determines how your business will operate.

Once you have a business plan, you can translate each section into actionable task lists, allowing you to take control of your career as an artist. Any time I face an important business opportunity or decision, I review my plan and determine whether or not that opportunity will help me accomplish my goals.

An artist’s business plan will not necessarily look like a traditional business plan. What is most important in an artist’s business plan is to determine whether your venture will be profitable, how to price your work, how to estimate costs of doing business, how to manage your time, how to fund the start-up of your business, how to find outlets to sell your work, and how to grow your business.  Business plans are flexible, organic documents and will change and grow over time.  Just like a road map, they need to be updated to reflect changing markets, prices, products and what you want to do in your business.

Most business plans include:

- A cover page

- Table of contents

- Executive summary (summary of the plan and a mission statement).

- Organizational plan (how your business is structured now and how it will be structured as your business grows)

- Management plan (description of your management capabilities and resources)

- Marketing plan (how you plan to sell your work)

- Financial plan (summary of your financial condition, funding sources, profit and loss projections, cash flow projections)

- Resume- description of  your skills and experience.

Your unique business plan is  a reflection of your dreams and goals, and will help you turn them into a reality.

Here are some online resources to help you write a business plan:

http://artsandcrafts.about.com/od/businessplans/Creating_a_Business_Plan.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_5783504_write-artist-business-plan.html

http://www.craftsreport.com/business-wise/92-planit.html

http://www.bplans.com/

Please post any questions you may have about getting started! Or send me an email at gayle.mahoney@mac.com

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It often seems that everyone is a critic, especially when it comes to art.

Art is such a subjective thing, it is inevitable that some people will love your work and some won’t. The important thing to remember though is that certain peoples opinions really don’t matter, and should be ignored. If someone with no influence likes your work then who cares, they probably will just never talk about you again. You can never please everyone and it would be foolish to do so.

The important thing is identifying those who can judge your work and make it better, and those who can view it and reward you for what you have created that matter. Identifying these often influential judges or critics is the key to becoming a successful artist.

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