About work smART artists

The content of this site is primarily for professional and semi-professional artist, or hobby artists who are considering a change of employment status, and who use (or intend to use) the Internet as a marketing tool. Work SmART Artists aims to give only relevant and practical business advice.

All visual artist are welcome to contribute to this site's content by suggesting additions (e.g. Internet resources) or amendments to articles, and adding their web site to our links page.

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Contents summary

Starting-up: The truth of the matter is that becoming a professional artist has very little to do with artistic ability: the transition is wholly about learning how to market your goods or services.

Tax & NI: Anyone deriving an income from artwork should declare this to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). This article provides an overview of the self-employed sole trader's obligations, and tax liabilities.

Trading Laws:
If you are an artist selling your work or services on the Internet, you need to be aware of the requirements of the UK distance selling consumer laws, especially the customer's right to cancel (i.e. the right reject goods and have their money refunded).
If you hold information about customers, whether it’s on paper, in data files, or on a web site, the Data Protection Act 1998 applies to you.

Health & Safety:
No regulations, just common sense advice to preserve your mental, physical and financial safety. This article is in two parts:

simple steps to ensure you and your clients' safety, and

networking with other artists to safeguard your mental health and prevent feelings of isolation.

Client Trust: It is essential that artist's web sites cultivate trust, and encourage visitors to become clients. Customer confidence can be gained through appropriate web site content, thoughtful design, and taking steps that show you are responsible.

Societies: Unlike most professions, which have Associations, Federations, Guilds or Societies that govern the standard of their work, in art there is no measure of quality: what is good and what is poor is a matter of personal taste. It is therefore difficult for artists to establish credentials to support their work as being of a meritorious standard. Joining a society can be a method of gaining a credential, and this article (under development) aims to describe some of the art societies that exist.

Getting Seen:
There is little purpose to developing/maintaining a web site if it is invisible to search engines, and never found by the surfing public. This article is in four parts:
Search Engine Optimisation,
Link Exchanges.
Supplementary pages:
Top Sites,
Article Writing.

Copyright: All Artists need to be aware of the copyright laws, and know how to safeguard opportunities to maximise commercial gain form their artwork.

Image Protection:
The Internet makes the theft of images very easy. Artists using the web as a marketing tool need to know how to defend their artwork from unauthorised use. This article is in three parts:

Simple,

More technical.
Supplementary pages:

Other types of Internet protection.

Image Licensing: If you produce any form of artwork on paper (canvas, etc), you might occasionally have the opportunity to sell copies your images for use in printed material, or as a digital graphics. This article provides and overview of licensing options, and pricing hints.

Links pages:

Links to Artists

Links for Artists

Endorsement scheme

Is your web site business content: something fit to be imitated; a pattern after which others should be made? If so, you may be an "Exemplar".

Endorsed artists: Lara Addams, Anna Shipstone