Using Color Harmony to Better Communicate With Your Art

Colors have always been so much an integral part of the culture that people oftentimes neglect its relevance. Colors are used in many symbols and visual cues as well as cultural events. For example:

·  Traffic lights that tell when to stop, take caution, and go.

·  The colors of the flag in different countries symbolize different things that reflect their history, culture, and values.

·  Colors are also associated with different holidays; red and green for Christmas, black and orange for Halloween, pastel colors for Easter, orange, brown, yellow and red are associated with Autumn

·  Religions and cultures have different colors that are associated with them as well. Hindus have saffron, Islam has green and Tibetan Buddhists have blue, to name a few.

Color harmony is a technique for choosing color palettes used by many artists for throughout history. While many would say that art is about expression and artists should be as free as possible to do what they want, having a little background on color harmony is quite useful.

Color harmony is about knowing the following:

·       Which pairs of colors do not share common elements are “complimentary colors”

·       The balance of opposites or  otherwise called the “yin/yang” approach

·       Each color has an opposite on the color wheel, which are their complimentary colors (red-green, yellow-purple, blue-orange)

·       When mixed together, the opposite colors create chromatic neutral gray

Color harmony can be used in many expressions and fields of art.

•  In web design, there are color tools such as ColoRotate, Color Scheme Designer, Copaso, Toucan, Color Blender, and Color Explorer, which help in palette generation, but are all made under the premise of color harmony.
• In interiordesign, color harmony is used to modify the appearance and feel of spaces—to make them look bigger, warmer, more relaxing, etc.
• Painters look at the use of color harmony to create a new palette to play with whenever they feel uninspired.
• In photography, color harmony is very useful too, especially when doing photos of landscapes and festival scenes.
• The use of color harmony is particularly obvious in pop culture such as the works of Andy Warhol.
• Artisans and crafters such as those who make jewelry make use of color harmony in design and color blocking that can also go well with trends in color and fashion.
• Color harmony can be seen in many animated movies and television shows, too.
• Color harmony is also used by many illustrators of comic books and children’s books.
• In art installation, color harmony can also play a role in arranging the different elements or knowing, which artwork goes well together in a gallery.

In communicating your art, color harmony can indicate the artist’s emotions and inspirations at the time of the creation. Color harmony is also a great tool in putting together a collection for an exhibit or show. Ultimately, the uses of color harmony in an artist’s life are limited only by the artist’s imagination.

The Top Ten Methods to Market Your Art

How many times have you impressed people with your artwork? Have you heard the statement “You should sell these!” Are you seriously considering art as your bread and butter? Let’s face the facts, art in itself is a powerful channel of skills, personality, and emotion but, producing art is not an instant way to make money. In addition, if you were like almost every artist and crafter out there, you would rather spend your time creating than doing art marketing. However, you probably already know that art marketing is necessary to get the cash flow going so you can continue creating. But how? Here are the top 10 methods to get you started in art marketing:

1.  Get listed
If you want to succeed in the art industry, you should know that you could not do it alone. Luckily, the art community is welcoming to those who can prove their worth and chances are, there is a local art group in your area that you can join. Getting listed in art communities marks the start of creating your network and getting access to other resources such as other artists, venues, shows, fairs, discounts, and more.

2.  Attend forums
Once you have access to a local art group, it is also wise to attend their events and physically socialize in forums. You do not just get connections; you also get ideas and inspirations. So many opportunities come to people who go out and attend these things.

3.  Have a blog or website
The power of the blogosphere is beyond awesome. Having a blog establishes your online presence and it is a way to build relationships with other people in the art community, potential buyers of your art, and more. The best thing about blogs is they are virtually free from platforms such as blogger.com and wordpress.com. If you put content like tutorials and tips for other aspiring artists, you could also establish a following and a specific audience, too.

4.  Embrace social media
As most businesses know by now, it is a major disadvantage if a business does not have a single social networking account. Artists can benefit from social media because it is easier for word to get around and works to be shared through social media. There’s not a lot to do, just put your work (watermarked of course) and thoughts out there and chances are someone will appreciate and share it with others. Some of the most useful social media platforms for artists and art marketing are:

•  Facebook (especially the business page)
•  Pinterest
•  Instagram
•  Tumblr
•  YouTube (if you like moving art and tutorials)

5.  Get an online store
It is important that people have a go-to place when they want to view or purchase your work. Getting your own gallery or storefront is way expensive, but getting an account with Etsy.com costs next to nothing. Participating in the online market place does not just give you online visibility, but keeps you updated on what other are making and selling as well.

6.  Collaborate
Once you have made some friends in art communities and in social media, it is a good idea to collaborate in an artwork, a video, an exhibit and even co-authoring in blogs. This has been common over at YouTube, where artists cross over to other artists’ sites as guests. The premise is to be discovered and liked by the existing audience of the other artist you are collaborating with and vice versa.

7.  Teach
Another good way to engage your audience and possible clients is through teaching. It may not seem like a good art marketing idea, but if you have a certain skill that many are interested in learning about, sharing your talent can earn you money. Teaching a class targets so many aspects of art marketing:
•  Getting people interested in the craft
•  Getting people interested in you as an artist
•  Getting people to pay to learn
•  Getting people to want to buy what you make since you appear to be an expert

8.  Art garage sale
If you have the space to do it, have an “art and supply garage sale”. It does not mean sell your stuff for cheap. Think of it as introducing yourself to your neighborhood as an artist that they might want to commission for future work.

9.  Advertise subtly
Get your logo on a shirt, give a small artwork to a coffee shop, or volunteer to do art on the wall of a restaurant. It’s all about visibility.

10.  Get a bazaar stall
Bazaars are everywhere and even if you just share a stall with a friend at a Sunday market, the fact that you are there gets you noticed.