I’ve recently had the opportunity to sell some of my art, not once, but twice in the last year! The first I tried September last year, in Berlin, at Pictoplasma, an animation and art festival with a big art market on the last day. The second was August this year, at a very spontaneous Pop-Up gallery here in Munich, organised by a local restaurant, Stemmerhof.

Even though I’ve been making art almost my whole life, it was a very new experience to show it to people that way. As a social media child, I’ve always posted my art online, be it deviantart, artstation, or now instagram and tik tok. There’s some small amount of reward in getting likes and followers, but ultimately I’ve found it too easy to get caught up in the numbers, comparing myself to bigger creators, and generally getting despondent about my lack of relative blessings from the algorithm. And for what? Those numbers, even when they encourage me to create more, don’t give me the ability to make a living, at least not directly. It feels a lot like gambling.

(Funnily enough, I found out about the Stemmerhof Pop-Up Gallery through instagram. But I only followed them because a local artist friend recommended them to me, so I guess irl social networks win again this time.)

The first market, Pictoplasma, was more of a “why not” venture for me. I’d already attended the festival before; the market was a new thing, and I didn’t have to pay for a table, just apply. I couldn’t not try it, with such little investment required from my end. It was a golden opportunity to learn about selling art in person, with attendees conveniently provided. I tried to learn about what people responded to and didn’t, what other sellers were doing, and what seemed to work for me. I didn’t make much money per se, but again, it was a golden learning opportunity, and ended up being really enjoyable.

The second was almost as different as an art market could be, at least in scale. Pictoplasma had dozens of artists in a large space, with hundreds of visitors over six or so hours. The Stemmerhof Pop up Gallerie had only six artists, in one room, over three hours, and most of the promotion for attendees would have to be done by the artists. Terrifying.

I knew it would be a different audience, and because it was in the city I live, I was able to bring a lot more original art and display it better. The promotion was yet another new experience for me, and like I said, terrifying. Directly texting my friends, asking them to come, asking acquaintances and posting in channels I was a part of, felt really hard. But it worked! I had the same positive experience before of being able to talk directly with people about my art, with the added bonus of people coming just to see me. And I sold an original painting! As scary as it was to do some self promotion, I felt so appreciative of everyone who came to support me, friends and people I barely knew.

I still feel like I’m finding my way in this area, mostly when it comes to predicting what people will want to buy, so what prints I will order. I sold all my stickers at Pictoplasma and only one at Stemmerhof. Next time, I want to bring more prints of my digital paintings, not only because people seem to like them, but they somehow seem much more impressive to me when they’re off my computer screen and in my hands.

Maybe the next step would be to find more opportunities like this, and/or to sell stuff in my own etsy store or something. We’ll see!