How Do I Sell My Art Work? Give The King What He Wants
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by Les Anderson
Are you creating art that people like? Are you creating likeable art? Do you know your audience? The crash of the dungeon gate slamming startled her awake. Her arms ached, her wrists stung from the cuts of the iron cuffs and her hair stuck to her face in a mass of wetness. The table on which she lay was gritty, hard and cold, and slippery from her own sweat. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she heard an old woman's voice echo in the chamber. "My name is Garma, dear. Now at last we'll see what's really in your head." "If only you really could see!" cried the young woman on the table. "You would love it! It would make you young and beautiful as you once were."  Then she heard the first of two men speak. "What do you say we'll see?" snarled Zaight, the first assistant. "The king wants to know.""The king? Who cares about the king?" argued number two man, Bulbran. "I want to know!" "Silence you two!" cried Garma. "Let the girl tell us." Approaching to the table, Garma turned on her sweetest gravelly cackle, "Now Milerra, my dear sweet thing, you were saying, what's in your head? What do you think we want to see? What will we see?" "What do you mean, what will we see?" cried the girl. "What do you mean?" Over the years, the king had demanded that only the most beautiful works of art would grace the royal castle. You see, Milerra was the top official artist of the kingdom. She had created works of art to rival the masters: beautiful landscapes of purple mountains and fields of vividly colored flowers, the bluest of blue oceans and seascapes, and rivers that seemed to flow off the canvas! Lately Milerra had taken to painting stormy pictures full of lightning, rain and snow. She created beautiful works of art that showed the night in all its beauty, and the lower side of life and death. Milerra created masterpiece-quality works of art with sunsets, sunrises, deserts and cacti, of animals and birds and many living creatures. When the king asked for a painting of the Valley of Daisies, Milerra brought him a beautiful landscape depicting the Rock Valley of the Volcanoes. When the king demanded a painting of Wonderful Beach, she brought him a breathtaking view of the Oak Woods at night. So the time came when the king summoned Milerra to his throne room. He could no longer tolerate this insubordination from one of his subjects. He had to know why his commands were not kept. "Why, Milerra? Why" asked the king. Milerra replied, "I am giving you my all, your highness. I am giving you what is in my head. I am giving you my thoughts and my dreams and the pictures of my very soul." "That's not what I am asking from you." said the king. "If what you say is so, then the beautiful landscapes you have done for me in the past are in your head as well, are they not?" "No." replied Milerra. "They are gone. However, their beauty has been replaced by a darker, more powerful assemblage of ideas and paintings. If you would give them the attention they deserve, you would like them. They would rejuvenate you. They would enlighten you." "How can what was once there, be pushed away so suddenly?" demanded the king. "Why can you not still paint what I love?" "Oh, but I can still paint the pictures you love, my lord. But I am now painting the pictures that I love." "Then Milerra, if they are there, and you are still able, why won't you paint the ones I love for me?" asked the king. "Because I don't love those. I love what I am painting now, and I am painting what I love." the girl replied. "Very well. If the beautiful things are still in your head and you will no longer reveal them to me, I must see them for myself." So the king called for his top surgeon, Garma, and commanded her to open the head of Milerra and show him what was inside so that he could again appreciate and enjoy the things that Milerra no longer painted. He knew that if he could see inside her head he would be able to gaze upon the beautiful landscapes that Milerra once rendered, and he would take pleasure in those again. As the king watched Milerra's casket lowered into the ground at the royal cemetery, he wept because there would never again be an artist whose work could touch him the way of Milerra. What he saw when her head was opened was not the beautiful and wondrous landscapes of the past. Milerra was right, there was only darkness. If your work is not moving, if you are not selling your paintings, your sculptures or even your writing, then you're not giving the king what he wants. Don't get me wrong, you can still create for yourself. Don't ever give up what you enjoy. Always, always, always be true to yourself. However, if you are painting for the masses or if you are attempting to create works of art for money, you have but one choice: create what your audience is craving. You can change your audience, but if you do, the result is the same. You are still creating to sell to your audience. The moral is the same: Know your audience and create for them. |
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Copyright © 2007-2008 Canvas and Pen / Levi's Rain™.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Copyright © 2007-2008 Canvas and Pen / Levi's Rain™.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.