When you’re ready to submit your artwork to local art competitions, here are nine art tips that can help make this a great experience.

Juries of the Art Contest

One of the entrants’ favorite pastimes is trying to predict the type of artwork a particular juror will accept, based on that juror’s painting style. Sometimes choosing your entries this way works and you get in, but I’ve also seen jurors choose an eclectic mix of styles and themes, only a few of which were like their own.

Art Tip #1: My advice is to enter your best work: art that shows skillful use of your painting medium, a well-designed composition, and an image that shows creativity. These are three important criteria of most juries.

When you enter your best artwork, you are showing your strengths. After that, it’s up to the jury and their point of view. And you will just have to accept the vagaries of the evaluation process. As a more extreme example of what can happen, I once had the same jury for two different shows. I presented the same painting in both art competitions and the jury rejected it in the first exhibition and awarded it a prize in the later one. A nationally known artist told me a similar story about a painting of his. He was rejected on one national show and won Best of Show on another. I’m pretty sure I didn’t have my jury.

Photography Your Art

Art Tip #2: The second most important factor you control, after painting a great piece of art, is taking a good picture of it. This is what the jury sees to judge your art; It has to represent you well.

The image must, of course, be in focus and display colors that closely match your art, so learn to photograph your own work or find a professional to do so.

What people who take pictures of their own art may not realize is that lighting conditions affect the color of your image. Just like old film cameras, taking pictures with a digital camera using incandescent light bulbs will make your image more orange. Using fluorescent lights can cause images to turn green. Shooting outdoors when the sky is cloudy can create a bluish cast, so look at your photos closely before you get into them.

Many people make the mistake of leaving their digital camera set to Auto. In order for the color of your image to match your artwork, you need to understand how to set the white balance. Every time you shoot under different lighting conditions, you need to reset the white balance. Check your manual to find out how to do this on your camera.

Another prize and ticket killer is not submitting your entry in the required format with the required information. Always read the art contest flyer. It’s amazing how many people don’t follow the instructions, which instantly turns their entry fee into a donation.

Art Tip #3: Film is going to disappear, so my advice is to get familiar with preparing and submitting digital images.

Art contests that require digital entries often require your images to be in a specific format. The prospect will often say that your post must have a black background and be X number of square pixels. If you don’t want to buy software (such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements) to help you do this, there are free Internet sites you can also use to format your images.

framing your art

Okay, you’ve been accepted into an art contest. There is another important decision to make. How well are you going to frame your work?

Art Tip #4: The jury often won’t pick the award-winning art until they get to see the actual work. Your entire presentation affects that decision.

Shading and framing your art well is very important for two reasons.

Reason 1: If you have a good piece of art surrounded by a frame that looks cheap or a frame that is scratched or dented, you have just reduced the value of your work in the eyes of the jury.

If you also have your art surrounded by flashy or inappropriately colored doilies, you have further reduced your chances of winning a prize. It is best to be conservative. Use white or off-white rugs.

reason 2: If an art buyer likes their art and would consider buying it, they often want to be able to take it home and immediately hang it on their wall. If he feels that he needs to spend more money to reframe your art more appropriately, he will likely decide that it is not worth the wait, cost, or hassle.

Art Tip #5: My advice is to frame your work the best way your budget allows. If your work doesn’t sell, you can always reuse the frame for other art at other shows…but keep Tip #6 in mind.

Art Tip #6: Ask yourself: How experienced are the people hanging the show?

Let me explain. There was a time when she used to participate in some of the smaller local art shows. The problem that made me change my mind about this was that I had a lot of scratched and ruined frames because they were mishandled. I use nice frames for my art, not the really fancy ones, but not the cheap ones either. In the smaller shows, what sometimes happened was that art was stored with the back of one artwork leaning against the front of another. When that’s done, the screws on the back of a frame can easily scratch the frame or the artwork behind it.

Small art shows and small organizations may have volunteers who have little or no art handling experience. Especially at these small shows, you need to make a decision about the cost of framing your work.

I trust much more if the exhibition venue is a professional gallery, as they have experience in handling and placing artwork.

Glass for your frame

If you create artwork that needs to be framed under glass, you have another decision to make. Do you use regular glass or the more expensive non-reflective glass?

Art Tip #7: Use the best glass you can afford.

As expensive as it is, let me explain why I’m a strong advocate for non-reflective glass. A few years ago I was accepted into an art contest at a gallery. Galleries typically have track lighting that can be positioned to reduce glare.

Unfortunately my art (under normal glass) was hanging on a wall facing the front windows. When the sun was shining on the street, the scene outside was all you could see reflected in my glass. This is a very effective way to ensure that you don’t get a sale or a prize.

But, being a slow learner, I continued to use regular glass until one weekend a few years later. I had signed up to exhibit my art at an art fair. Now, at an art fair, the artist pays for the space to set up their marquee or tent to display and hopefully sell their work.

Tents for this use are almost always white, like mine. The white walls of my rented store created a reflective situation that the lights I was using couldn’t overcome.

Standing in front of some of the artwork was almost like standing in front of a mirror. Once again, the only way to see the art was to stand to the side. I had a sale that weekend.

I can be a slow learner, but eventually the lesson sinks in. Since that disastrous weekend I have used nothing but non-reflective glass. It’s almost as expensive as gold, but it works great and removes a major headache.

Shipping your art

At some point you may decide to enter an art contest in another area, where you will need to submit your art.

Art Tip #8: Add up all costs before you enter a competition, because costs add up fast.

First, you need to purchase a sturdy box to ship your painting. Air Float Systems (www.airfloatsys.com) carry boxes made especially for shipments art. The boxes are very sturdy, but they are not cheap. Or, you can build something similar to the Air Float boxes by purchasing a mirror box (available at U Haul and other packaging stores) and some foam.

Second, the art group organizing the show will designate a local shipping agent to receive your entry. The agent will unbox your art, deliver it to the show location, pick it up after the show, repackage it in its box, and ship it back to you. The fee for this can be several hundred dollars in addition to the cost of your original box and shipping costs.

Art Tip #9: Never submit more artwork than you are prepared to submit.

If you call the organizer of the art show and try to avoid submitting one or more of your accepted pieces, you won’t get a sympathetic ear. Or, if he simply doesn’t submit all of the art that was accepted, under the rules of that art competition, he could be banned for several years.

So remember: do your planning ahead and follow these tips, you’re much more likely to have a rewarding experience entering art contests.