23 April, 2021

For the painters out there, and photographers to some extent

Are you seeing a trend, or change in trend, in terms of the size of works that are popular?

What has been popular in your genre/media and/or location?

Almost all my recent work has been 11 x 14 or 11 x 15, which is framed up to 16 x20 (landscape or portrait orientation). I want to go larger but workspace constraints of the studio are a minor hinderance.

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6 Comments

Rick Corbett 23 Apr 2021

Mark, great topic. I'm not a painter or a photographer per se, I love to draw and I do take an occasional iphone photo from time to time. I have noticed that sizes becoming smaller. I don't know if its due to limited space or because there are more virtual exhibits due to the pandemic, but I have noticed smaller sizes. I myself have stopped creating 11 x 14 pieces and have gone down to creating more 9 x 12 pieces. For me, it's more filling in less space, I use less graphite drawing on a smaller surface so I find my supplies go further and I'm not buying as much. I have not idea if I even came close to answering your topic but it's just my two cents. I look forward to seeing other replies on this great topic.

Mark A. Lembo 25 Apr 2021

My bad, did not intend to omit or dismiss the fine work that you and others who create with graphite, pen, ink and other drawing/illustration media.

Your points are well taken. As I ponder moving up to 20x26, ink consumption could increase dramatically.

Cheers, MAL

Fred Rousseau 30 Apr 2021

I do not limit myself to a particular size as I try to sell to a client what they require.Then,on the other hand,if you look at the detail of work I put into an artwork I must most certainly be unwise to go for larger formats if the clients are not willing to pay per a fixed price per square inch.Many tourists visiting my country prefer to purchase smaller sizes.I don't think however that any artist should limit him or herself to any standard formats or sizes.The sky is the limit!

Mark A. Lembo 02 May 2021

Fred, thank you. Flexibility is an asset all artists must embrace. The intent of the question was to gauge what others are seeing in their respective markets or niches. As may be gathered from my work, I am not chasing trends. Limitations of my workspace are hindering my ability to work on much larger surfaces which is something I would like to try.

I would think most visual artists work in the 8x10 to 22x30 range, and smaller groups at the 'miniature' and over-sized ends of the spectrum - for practical reasons of cost, storage, transportation and presentation. Within the range 8x10 to 22x30, I am interested to know if there are any trends worth noting.

Cheers, MAL

Lucia Stewart 02 May 2021

Can't say I have noticed any sorts of size trends. My commissions are based on sizes my clients prefer, so I will do anywhere between 9x12" to 36x36". I usually drift around the middle size and love creating on 20x20 and the 24 x 24 sizes, moving to larger canvas pieces now. My most popular online selling size is 8x8 inches, at art fairs its 20 x 20 inches. Interesting topic for sure!

Mark A. Lembo 08 May 2021

Lucia, thanks. Makes sense that 'cash & carry' is on the smaller side, commissions on the larger side. Just did a few 20x26 trials on Yupo and it does pose the issues of storage and presentation, but those are nice problems to have if the size is popular!

Cheers, MAL

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