Use a Hand for Your Art Making - Passing on Artist's Wisdom by Juri Umagami

Use a Hand for Your Art Making 

Passing on Artist's Wisdom by Juri Umagami

One interesting thing I learnt in college was to use your hand for art making / marketing. 

Art making can be divided into 6 important elements:

Pinkie: Production
You prepare your budget (how much can you spend? how much are you going to sell it for?), tools (canvas, paints, brushes or clay, film...) and get some help (space / equipment to rent or assistants). 

Ring: Context
It's genre. In which genre does your art belong to? Pop? Classical? Expressionism? Setting up this idea helps you see where to distribute your art (*Thumb). 

Middle: Content
The physical aspects of the artwork such as medium, image, symbol, color, value, space... Your decision making on "what are you using" for your art. This is important as art world these days also focuses on investigating "materials" you present. 

Index: Intent
Why are you painting this (or making this)? Your intention in art making can be from "This is a gift for my mother!" to "I want to make the world better!" You may not be realizing but any image you create comes from your personal experience and tells your story or story you want to tell. When you keep your intent consistent that leads you to "a body of work." 

Thumb: Distribution 
Most artists are not good at this... Where are you going to show your art? How are you going to let people know about it? Instagram has become a huge asset to art business. It is probably the easiest way to connect with your audience and sell your art. I am old fashioned and love going to galleries as I believe art looks better and tells more in person. If I were you, I'd start looking for galleries that present the genre you are in. You bring yourself to openings and introduce yourself (as it is rare galleries find and contact artists these days) then use SNS for the invitation for your shows. 

Palm: Documentation
Make sure you document your artwork. Images of your work are what get people interested in what you are doing. I usually have two: one that in high resolution and the other in about 300 You can have a decent camera or just have someone do the job. 


If you are taking my drawing & painting classes, you know that you learn real time tested skills, the skills have been passed down for centuries. 

Now what will you draw and paint after Bargue drawings and master copy paintings? 
The answer is in your hand... 

My messy note from college!

Juri UmagamiOctober 2019