It Is Competition Season! Are You Ready?

It Is Competition Season! Are You Ready?

Artists, it is competition season again. If you have not entered the BoldBrush, OPA Online Showcase or the Gateway International Painting Competition or ArtMuse or ARC Salon, etc., you should be thinking about it — if you have at least 3 of the best pieces you've ever made, photographed or scanned in well and in .jpg format and ready to enter. It will also help if you have an up-to-date website with an easy to use shop so collectors can buy your work or prints.

With that said, it is critical for artists to understand that acceptance into and an award from an art competition is not a hands-down verdict on the quality of your work. I know this because many times, I've had the same exact artwork win grand prize in one competition and not even get into another. AND I've had winning pieces receive terrible critiques. One judge told me my work was boring! And that was a winning piece!

The easiest way to disconnect emotionally from the competition rhetoric is to know that the purpose of competitions, in my view, is to:

a. build your resume with prizes (always helpful if you intend to teach or apply for signature or master status with painting organizations such as Oil Painters of America or the Art Renewal Center.

b. an affordable way to gain extremely valuable pr and marketing (if you actually get recognized)

c. a platform for you to reach collectors, students and peers (even if you are only a finalist)

Competitions however, are not the end-all be-all on whether or not your work is 'good'. YOU must determine that and one of the best ways to do that is to put your work side-by-side with the work of your favorite masters and determine the differences and then work to fill those gaps. 

Also remember that not all competitions are equal. If you are entering a portrait of your favorite nephew into the 4th Annual Animal Art Competition, unless he is riding a tiger or has the face of pug, you're just insulting your nephew and wasting your entry fee on a competition your painting isn't qualified for. 

I also recommend you enter competitions where the actual physical painting doesn't have to be shipped anywhere. Why? It is very expensive and risky to ship a painting any real distance for the chance of getting into a competition and this is 2019...we have technology today that can scan a painting and create a very accurate representation of your artwork so that you can simply upload a .jpg and never risk damaging or losing your artwork. For scanning, I use Image Quest in Kansas City, Kansas. You probably have a similar service in your area. Ask the curator at your nearest museum who they use, then use them too! Additionally, usually online-only competitions don't have size restrictions or even restrictions on whether or not the work is available for sale. 

A bit about the entry fees: Sometimes artists complain to me about the cost of entering competitions. That tells me that they have no idea how much advertising actually costs. One page of magazine advertising can easily cost $3000 to show in a magazine one time. A minute of airtime on a local tv can cost $30k. So, with that information in mind, if I told you that you might win $3000 in cash and $5000 worth of print and online advertising, would you think a $14 entry fee is okay? I would hope so! Now, if the entry fee is more than $50, there better be a really large prize available OR the winner must get a ton of free publicity or a really big hole filled on their resume. I say this because essentially, entering competitions is a very affordable gamble on receiving a ton of publicity for a small fee. 

And don't forget you do not have to compete on an international or national level. There are a lot of really great regional and local competitions with really great prizes and host of local artists following the prize winners. Check out the Missouri Valley Impressionists Society if you are in the midwest, if you're somewhere else in the world, google "Regional Art Competitions in ________________. (and insert your region or state).

One last tip! Visit the competition website and READ THE PROSPECTUS...AND FOLLOW THE RULES. You may not be winning because your entries are not even being seen because you sent in images that were the wrong size, wrong format or just poorly taken or the file might have been labeled wrong. Also, look at the past winners and see how your work compares. If you have more work to do to get your work up to par...go do it!

I hope you are all progressing in your work! Be sure to join my Students Only Group on Facebook so you can share your progress with me. Just visit my Artist Tina Garrett Facebook Page — Like it! Then scroll down to GROUPS and ask to join. If you've been in a workshop with me, you are eligible to join! 

See you online!

Tina

Tina receiving an ARC Salon Purchase Prize at the MEAM Museum of Modern Art

Europe, in Barcelona, Spain.

My new instructional video, Painting From Photos In Selective Start Method can help you make better work so you can start entering and winning competitions! You can stream it over and over for just $99. Visit tinagarrett.com to purchase today!

Get Tina's Instructional Video Here!