Creating a Fine Art Series
Lesson 56 of 70
Failure vs. Sell Out

Creating a Fine Art Series
Lesson 56 of 70
Failure vs. Sell Out
Lesson Info
Failure vs. Sell Out
We're going to talk about the business of fine art, and there is a lot to talk about when it comes to that, because fine art again is just personal work. So how do you set up an entire business around something that's completely personal? What are you supposed to do with that? Well, we have to talk about branding, because personal work means that we're putting ourselves into the work that we're doing. So we have to create a very special narrative all around us. And if you're uncomfortable with branding yourself into your business, think of it as more of your essence rather than you yourself. You have the choice of how you move forward with branding. We're also going to talk about galleries creating original prints, creating Siri's prints, limited edition and open edition prints. So all of that is going to get covered right now, and I'm really excited to dig in because it's one of my favorite topics ever. The first thing that I wanted to bring up is this idea of being a failure and bein...
g a sellout, because very, very often artists get branded as one or the other, and it is a massive problem, in my opinion, because both of them have negative connotations for things that most people will have to do in the industry to survive. So let's start with failure. What does it mean to be a failure? Well, first of all, it essentially means that you didn't reach your goal, but as we talked about with the timeline goals and timelines and setting dates for your success is pretty arbitrary. So I don't necessarily like to talk about failure in terms of not meeting a goal by a certain time. We often think that were a failure if ah goal isn't met or if an image doesn't work out or if success doesn't come in the way that we think that it's going thio. But those are all things that will necessarily happen on the way to success or to quitting. So failure is a stepping stone, of course, and it's often the thing that forces people to stop their business or to never start one. So if you want to make money from fine art, you have to recognize that failure is part of that process, and the more you can incorporate your failures into your brand the more likely you're going to be to move forward through those failures rather than letting them stop you the next term that I absolutely hate. ISS sell out and sell out really just refers to somebody who changes their style or their values in some way to accommodate outside influence and to make money. There should be nothing wrong with changing something about the way that you work to put more wealth into your life unless you're going against your moral code. So this is where there's a lot of confusion in terms of how do you make money from fine art? Because artists more than any other profession, I would argue, are expected to be humble and to stick to their own values and never compromise, even though almost every other profession is allowed to acquiesce to other people's demands or, um, anything that they want really, for getting the product out to them. So this is, in my opinion, one of the biggest roadblocks when it comes to artists having a career in fine art, which is not wanting to be labeled as sell out as not a really artist, but also feeling like a failure when you don't get to that point where you're making money from your art. It's a little bit of a Catch 22 because either you're compromising in some way usually to sell your art or you're not selling anything, so you haven't reached that milestone. I think that some compromise in art is probably a necessity for a lot of people to be able to sell their art. Now that does not necessarily mean changing your style, changing your concepts, anything like that. So I'm not trying to say change what you do to please a crowd. That is not what I am saying. But I think that if you're willing to make some slight changes for connectivity gain, so to connect better with an audience or for monetary gain, I don't necessarily think that we should be able to sell out for doing that. So then think about this. How often do you think does somebody cell substantially without making any compromise or taking the audience into account? How often do you think people are selling Ah lot without thinking about the market that they're selling? Thio? I think it's quite little and I think that the artists who have been able to create anything that they want and still sell that still have a brain for branding. And they're thinking about how that work is being presented to an audience. You might call that sellout. I call that smart, and it's okay if we disagree about that. But I want to make something clear, which is that if you want to make money from your art, it's very beneficial to think about how you're going to get that art into the hands of who's going to buy it. That's part of marketing that's part of branding, and some might say that's part of selling out, but I don't think so. It's all about this willingness to consider the customer.
Class Description
AFTER THIS CLASS YOU’LL BE ABLE TO:
- Beat “creator's block” by practicing exercises to help you overcome it
- Conceptualize a series that nails story, emotion, and connection
- Execute a low-budget, high-impact photoshoot for your series
- Edit your images for series cohesion and seamless compositing
- Brand yourself and your art into a story that others can connect with
ABOUT BROOKE'S CLASS:
Creating a fine art body of work can be daunting when you consider that a great series has innovative ideas, cohesive editing, and an undeniable connection to an audience. During this class, Brooke will walk through the entire process of creating a fine art series, from conceptualization, shooting, and editing to branding and pricing. The success of a body of work comes from the artist’s ability to go beyond the connection to an audience; it must land in the heart of the viewer and then instill a call to action within them. Brooke will lead you through not only how to make your work relatable, but how to take that extra step to become unforgettable, and ultimately, sellable.
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR:
- Intermediate creators who want to focus on personal work and find a deeper level of creating.
- Creators who not only want to tighten the cohesion of their work but ensure that the full depth of meaning is communicated.
- Artists who want to learn simple yet effective ways of creating a body of personal work.
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Photoshop 2020 (v21.2.4) and Adobe Bridge CC 2020 (v10.1.1)
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR:
Brooke explores the darkness and light in people, and her work looks at that juxtaposition. As a self-portrait artist, she photographs herself and becomes the characters of dreams inspired by a childhood of intense imagination and fear. Being the creator and the actor, Brooke controls her darkness and confronts those fears.
After studying films for years in college, she realized her love of storytelling was universal. She started photography then in 2008, excited to create in solitude and take on character roles herself. Brooke works from a place of theme, often gravitating toward death and rebirth or beauty and decay.
Ultimately, her process is more discovery than creation. She follows her curiosity into the unknown to see who her characters might become. Brooke believes the greatest gift an artist has is the ability to channel fears, hopes, and experience into a representation of one's potential.
While her images come from a personal place of exploration, the goal in creating is not only to satisfy herself; her greatest wish is to show others a part of themselves. Art is a mirror for the creator and the observer.
Brooke's passion is storytelling, and her life is engulfed in it. From creating self-portraits and writing to international adventures and motivational speeches, she wants to live a thousand lives in one. She keeps her curiosity burning to live a truly interesting story.
*This course contains artistic nudity.
Lessons
- Class Introduction
- Overview of Brooke’s Journey
How Brooke went from creating only for herself to building a multi-faceted career in fine art photography.
- Your Timeline is Nonlinear
How to incorporate the idea of wealth into your journey as an artist.
- Using Curiosity and Intention to Build Your Career
Too many people rely heavily on either intuition or goal setting as a means of propelling their career forward. Brooke believes that there is a blend between the two that sets most professionals apart.
- What Factors Dictate Growth
A look at how improvement in the categories of technique, conceptualization, clarity of voice and vision, and impact all work together to create growth.
- Organic Growth vs. Forced Growth
The most successful artists are able to use inspiration strategically to create innovative works that regularly impress their audience.
- Niche Branding
If you brand yourself into a story, you will be less likely to fall victim to boredom within your branded niche.
- Brooke’s Artistic Evolution and Timeline
Watch as Brooke shares every important event in the past eleven years as an artist to see which were the most helpful in propelling her career forward.
- How Can You Get Ahead if You Feel Behind?
When you learn to celebrate small successes like they are big successes, you will rewire your brain to find optimism in the journey rather than pessimism.
- Ideation and Conceptualization to Identify Meaning in Your Art
Walk through several categories of meaning to figure out how you create and how others perceive your creations. You will learn how to layer the concepts of your art, create controversy in your ideas, how to make viewers feel something, and figure out where you land on the scale of fixation.
- Idea Fluency
Learn abou how your ability to generate many good ideas in a short time is directly influenced by brain science, and then learn how to control your own idea fluency through exercises.
- How to Represent an Idea
Ideas are represented by four elements: visual, symbolic, experiences, and emotions. Learn how to control those elements in your work by figuring them out in your work.
- How to Innovate an Idea
By examining your sense of style, sense of idea, and sense of innovation, we will walk through exercises to not only create what is in your mind, but to take it further to stir yourself and your audience.
- Creating a Dialogue With Your Art
Dialogue comes from provocation and response. Take a look at how to provoke an audience through visual and thematic clues, and then how to issue a definitive call to action.
- Conceptualization For a Series vs. a Single Image
Find out the differences between coming up with ideas for a single image vs. a series and see examples of series Brooke has created to deconstruct how they work.
- Transforming a Single Image Into a Series
A look at how to take a single idea and transform it into a cohesive series by focusing on visuals, theme, and through-line.
- How to Tell a Story in a Series
Storytelling can unfold thematically, abstractly, linearly, and/or concretely. Here you will look at how story structure can help create a more impactful series.
- How to Create Costumes From Fabric
Look at which fabrics work best for costuming, how color plays a role in costume selection, and how to tea dye or coffee stain costumes.
- Brooke’s Most Useful Costumes
See which costumes Brooke uses again and again and how to build a costume wardrobe with a few essentials that won’t break your budget.
- Using Paint and Clay as Texture in an Image
Brooke will demonstrate how creating texture on both skin and costumes can create a more dynamic look in the final image.
- Create Physical Elements in an Image
Brooke will share ideas of how to create sculptural elements in your images, like using wire, paper mache, and more.
- Shooting for a Fine Art Series
How you can create cohesion and conceptual flow across images in a series.
- Conceptualization: Flowery Fish Bowl in the Desert
A description of the image being created and why it is conceptually and visually relevant to the rest of the series.
- Wardrobe and Texture
How to choose wardrobe based on the concept of the image, and how to add texture to make the image more visually appealing.
- Posing for the Story
Brooke will photograph three different poses, each one changing the story of the image, to demonstrate how pose can alter the viewer’s perception of the series.
- Choosing an Image
Brooke will explain why she chose one image over another to demonstrate the need for angles and dynamic movement within an image.
- Conceptualization: Rainy Plexiglass
A description of the image being created and why it is conceptually and visually relevant to the rest of the series.
- Posing for the Story
Brooke walks through poses that become more and more complex, from posing the model behind a Plexiglas sheet, then adding water, then adding syrup.
- Creating Backlight
Using a portable LED light, Brooke moves the light from the side to the back to create a more abstract image.
- Photo Shoot #1 - Creating a Simple Composite
- Photo Shoot #2 - Creating a Dynamic Composite
- Photo Shoot #3 - Creating a Storytelling Composite
- Shooting the Background Images
- Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Working With Backgrounds
- Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Retouching the Subject
- Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Color Grading
- Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Floor Replacement Texture
- Editing Samsara Shoot #1 - Final Adjustments
- Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Cropping and Editing Backgrounds
- Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Selective Adjustments
- Editing Samsara Shoot #2 - Adding Texture + Fine Tuning
- Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Compositing Models
- Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Expanding Rooms
- Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Selective Color
- Editing Composite Shoot #1 - Selective Exposure
- Editing Composite Shoot #2- Masking Into Backgrounds
- Editing Composite Shoot #2- Creating Rooms in Photoshop
- Editing Composite Shoot #2- Compositing Hair
- Editing Composite Shoot #2- Global Adjustments
- Editing Composite Shoot #3- Blending Composite Elements
- Editing Composite Shoot #3- Advanced Compositing
- Editing Composite Shoot #3- Cleanup
- Materials for Alternative Processes
Brooke shows some materials she uses for alternative processes, or applying texture to an image after it is printed. She shows oil paints, wax, and more.
- Oil Painting on Prints
A look at applying oil paints to canvas prints and how that adds value to original prints.
- Encaustic Wax on Prints
A look at applying encaustic wax to canvas prints and how that adds value to original prints.
- Failure vs. Sell Out
Brooke shares how the most successful artists straddle a line between personal work and consideration of audience.
- Create Art You Love and Bring an Audience To You
When you identify areas of your process and craft that are non-negotiable vs. negotiable, you begin to identify how you can work best with clients and what you need to keep sacred.
- Branding Yourself Into a Story
When you consider that branding is a mixture of personality, art, storytelling, and business, you can feel more at ease with your brand not just being one single thing.
- The Artistic Narrative
Defining what stories you want to tell about yourself directly influences how you tell the story of your brand through your business.
- Get People to Care About Your Story
Your brand must inherently bring interest and value to the people who are viewing it. Take a look at how you can begin down that journey.
- Get People to Buy Your Story
From identifying your clientele to figuring out how you can meet their needs, shifting someone from an admirer of your art to a patron of your business is important in becoming a full time artist.
- Getting Galleries and Publishers to Take Notice
Steps we can take to get representatives to pay attention, like the importance of regular interaction and becoming a resource.
- Pricing For Commissions
- Original Prints vs. Limited Edition Prints vs. Open Edition Prints
Brooke goes through the benefits of selling original prints and how they can be done simply to add to your arsenal as an artist.
- Class Outro
- Live Premiere
- Live Premiere: Layers of Depth 1
- Live Premiere: Layers of Depth 2
- Live Premiere: Q&A
- Live Premiere: Photo Critique
Reviews
a Creativelive Student
Brooke never fails to deliver. I found this course superb from start to finish. From exercising your creative 'muscle', demystifying taking self portraits, and showing that they don't have to be perfect before you begin editing, to walking you through her editing process and how to price your work. Brooke's enthusiastic personality and excitement about the work shines through it all. Definitely recommended!
Søren Nielsen
Thank for fantastic motivating an very inspiring. The story telling and selling module was very helpful - thanks from Denmark
Rebecca Potter
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Brooke for this amazing class. Inspired and so full of practical knowledge, this is the best class I've ever watched. You have given me the confidence to pursue what I've always been afraid to do. Watch this space!