Preparing for an Art Fair

I haven't posted a blog in ages, I know! I was swamped with work, and didn't have any free head space to sit down and write. But do you know what else I did this summer a looot? Participated in many art fairs and conventions! I feel like I gathered a bunch of experience from that, and I am here to share this with you.

Different art fairs have a different type of crowd. Research the audience visiting the particular event you are looking into in order to define if it would be suitable for your type of work. For example - my illustrations are very cartoony, they depict witches, magic, mermaids and that sort of characters, which makes it suitable for comic con and anime conventions. If you do more of a fine art type of art this might not be the best place for you! That's what I mean when I say to look into what kind of people would be visiting the event. Usually outdoorsy Art Fairs that are in the city center could work for pretty much everyone, but I would still advice you to have a chat with someone you know who has already participated, in order to get some more insight.

Make your booth beautiful! Or decorate according to your brand. Get your own table cloth, organize everything well and just make it look welcoming and presentable. This summer I started putting more effort into making my table look all cute and I can 100% confirm that it works. More customers would pay attention and come check you out!

Something else I find really important- always have some small, cheaper items to offer. For example- stickers! There would be visitors, who would love your work, but won't be able to invest in your more expensive items, but stickers or button pins, or something of that sort would be a great way for them to get something from you and remember you. If your work is colourfull and cartoony, it might attract young people, who would also be looking for something small and not pricey, and would be disappointed if there's isn't anything. So make sure you add stickers, or small pins, or something similar to your inventory!

Next thing- promote your booth before and during the event. Use your social media, ask friends to share, post videos on TikTok, whatever you can do to make people know about your participation!

Your attitude would be key. Keep positive (even if it's not going great), greet your customers and try to talk to them. You can even think of this interactions as networking and creating connections with your audience. You will also get new "followers", and people who might later be willing to support you!

Building a relationship with your audience is great, but art fairs are a way to build a connection with other creators too! It is a chance to become a part of the community.

A question I got asked a lot by first-time-market-goers: How to decide how many of each item to bring to an event? You never know what would sell best and what would not, often something that I think would be a hit doesn't sell, and something else does instead. What I would recommend is to keep a higher stock on small items - they sell much more! If it's your first fair, make sure you have enough of everything- if it doesn't sell today, you will just bring it again on your next event. After a few fairs you would be able to determine for yourself what items sell best, and which ones- not so much. I always stock up on stickers, I would bring at least 200-300 stickers with me just in case! Count everything before and after the event to know the exact numbers of what you've sold.

Come prepared- bring a lot of change. That is pretty self-explanatory I believe!

tl;dr version: Look into event audiences and if they're suitable for your type of work. Have small items such as stickers for customers who like your work, but aren't ready to spend money. Make your booth all nice and pretty and promote your participation on social media. Be nice and positive with your customers and the other fair artists. Bring many coins.

Oh, and last but not least! Perform quality control on your stock- make sure everything is in good condition and pay attention on quality. I've made a separate blog post on why quality is so important for artist.

I hope this was useful! If you have any other questions, you could let me know in the comments, I'd be happy to help you out!