The International Guild of Realism

The International Guild of Realism
For the advancement of Realism in Fine Art

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Since marketing and promotional training are missing in most art education programs, the International Guild of Realism provides its members seminars, marketing counseling and newsletters on these topics all year round. Marketing is key to supporting gallery sales. Promotional campaigns are vital to building greater name recognition, which leads directly to a larger potential collector base.

Unfortunately, most artists rely solely on their galleries to publicize their artworks. This creates gaps in any promotional campaign when there's a long lull between one-man shows. Research has shown that a potential collector (or any consumer, for that matter) needs at least 3.2 annual exposures to the artist's creative work before the name and signature style begins to make a lasting impression.

The three most common mistakes artists make in marketing their artworks are:

• Advertising or publicizing a painting that's already been sold.
• Having reviews or magazine coverage appear after the exhibition is over.
• Not building a "critical mass" of audience impressions across a wide range of media.

Most galleries, if they advertise at all, run only one ad per artist in one magazine. Yet no art magazine in the world reaches more than 10% of the potential buyers for artwork at any given time.

MARKETING COUNSELING

The Guild is committed to provide expert marketing counseling and career guidance to its members. Upon joining the International Guild of Realism, you will be given access to our Marketing Resources not available to the general public. This information will deal with all aspects of building your art career.
For example, our Members are counseled in:

• How to effectively advertise in a cost effective manner.
• How to win major art competitions.
• How to obtain media coverage, including articles, press releases and reviews.
• How to gain representation with top-tier galleries in the major art markets.

MEMBER WEB PAGES

The Guild is now offering web pages for our members. A web page is an excellent idea for those interested in having an Internet presence with increased marketing exposure through Guild association. Member web pages consist of six jpeg images of artwork, a résumé/bio, a large name header, links to other sites and the artist's contact information (address, phone numbers and e-mail link). The cost for this excellent marketing tool is only $125 initially, then $50 annually. This fee includes page design, publishing, and hosting for the duration of one year.

For page design click here for example. All the members pages will be made in this design, no exceptions.

Members taking advantage of the member webpage will have a star * added behind their name.

FAQs

What are the costs for displaying your art on realismguild.com?	Only $50 US dollars per year to display a portfolio with 6 images of artwork. A one time activation fee of $75. Once the website has been approved by you the artist it will be placed in production. From that moment any change(s) to the website will cost $25. When new works (or more than the standard 6 works) have to be entered we will charge you one full hour of web design at a cost of $45. We will communicate to you upon receipt of the new information when more than one hour of web design is needed. Upon your approval we will start with the design work.
What should I submit in order to set up a personal Realism Guild member page?	1) Send in your choice of 6 images that represent your body of work. 2) A typed list of all submitted works, including any information you wish to appear with the image, such as: - Title of the work - Medium - Size - Price (optional) - Brief description of the work (optional) If sending a CD Rom with images, this list can be included in a Word document on the disk. 3) Your artist's résumé or biography (optional). 4) Artist's statement (optional). 5) Personal or other website link(s). Please always double check the spelling of the web addres(es) you send us. Web links will be reviewed by the Guild for content approval. Unappropriate links will be rejected. 6) Contact information that you wish to display on your website, such as address, phone numbers, email address. 7) Awards (optional). 8) A check made payable to the International Guild of Realism for $125 US dollars. Any payments are not refundable under any circumstances. 9) A self-addressed stamped envelope for the return of your materials, if desirable.
Where do I send the materials for my personal web page?	International Guild of Realism 4400 North Scottsdale Road, #9539 Scottsdale, AZ 85251
What are the image guidelines?	Images sent should accurately represent your artwork. They should be sharply focused, undistorted images with true color. Well-lit, even exposure is crucial. Please photograph your artwork without any frames. Frames often cast shadows on your work. We strongly advice the artist to invest in having proffesional photographs taken of your art work. You may send a Photo CD (professionally scanned images created from 35mm slides) or a CD Rom (high resolution images in Jpeg format of at least 1 MB or higher from a digital camera). Opt for maximum quality (minimum compression). We will resize and optimize them for the Internet. You may alternatively send high quality photographs which we will scan in and digitalize. Please send photos of 8" x 10" (maximum). Never crop photos, as we will be able to crop them digitally in a more accurate manner.
Is there any other important information I should know?	The International Guild of Realism does not exhibit or include works which are mass produced. Limited edition prints that are signed and numbered are acceptable. Please keep in mind that all computer monitors display images and colors differently. Thus, images that appear somewhat dark on one person's screen may appear light on another's, etc. We make every effort to match your images as closely as possible to your originals. Please allow at least 4 weeks after receiving the materials for realization of the personal web page. When the personal web page is ready, the artist will receive an email with a link to a test site in order to preview his or her personal page. You will be able to access this test page by simply clicking on the link (blue underlined) in your email. The artist should carefully read the entire contents. If there are any mistakes or typos, this is the time to alert the Guild's web designer. We will need the artist's approval before making the page accesible to all.

If you have any additional questions, please contact us at realismguild@cox.net