What am I doing wrong?

[disturbedair]

Hello kiwi bikers, i am an airbrush artist - custom painter, i have been part of the kiwi biker forums for five years now and i have had many conversations with members in here who were looking to have airbrush work done on there bikes or helmets, but i have never actually got any work from anyone, so i thought i'd ask you guys in here directly "what am i doing wrong?" i have seen a couple of the jobs that members have taken to other painters and i don't mean to be an asshole but i really didn't think the work they got done was of any real quality, is my work really that bad? should i give up and throw my airbrush and spray guns away? i no i'm not the best in the world but i didn't think i was the worst either?, so il leave the judgment up to you guys as to weather i hang up my guns or not, if the majority of replies say my work is crap and that i should hang up my guns i will, (WEBSITE DELETED)so have a look and let me know what you think it would be much appreciated, please note thought that i have had to work into peoples tight budgets and most of the custom work in the website i have had to really hold back on to keep them on budgets, a few of them were actually freebee's for advertising, but i got no work from them either, is my work really that bad? thanks guys,

[hellokitty]

I love that helmet!!!!!!! seriously, if I had any money to spare I would love my helmet to look like that!!!!!!!!!!

the white skull like one

and damn you! I want my ute to look like that ute........ grrrrrrrr

[Headbanger]

Your work is stunning.

But you know that already.

So lets hope the thread works and more work comes your way.

[CHOPPA]

I always get my helmets painted. Just had 2 done recently. One was done by Helmart that is exceptional quality and the other by Outlaw Helmets which is completely shit!!

I have another id be interested in doing.... How much do you charge??

All the guys I have dealt with are so busy they cant get helmets done for months

[Mental Trousers]

I'd be interested in finding out how much to paint the chin bar part of a full face helmet.

You really need to do something about lifting your profile on here. A single post might get you a couple of queries but you need to put a link and some text in your signature (maybe a little thumbnail pic or 2 of helmets) to your site. But of course you'll need to post more often for people to see that.

[schrodingers cat]

You are obviously talented.
However, not everybodies taste is the same as yours. I suspect that your portfolio is indicative of what you like and value. Since you are seeking work in a mainstream environment you need to display high quality 'bread and butter' type work.
Art and income don't always meet in the middle
Good luck

[98tls]

Mate i think your works amazing but have to confess ive never read anything about your work on here.I will kick things off and ask you for a price to put this logo on the back of my helmet,yea i know its pretty simple but have been meaning to get it done for ages,will look after freight cost so a price to put it on there eh?

[Urano]

You are obviously talented.
However, not everybodies taste is the same as yours. I suspect that your portfolio is indicative of what you like and value. Since you are seeking work in a mainstream environment you need to display high quality 'bread and butter' type work.
Art and income don't always meet in the middle
Good luck

i agree.
your works are beautiful, but maybe you are on a very "narrow road".
i really like your snakeish helmet but i'd never actually use one like that.
in my opinion you could offer high quality particular works, as you do, but aside that you should give the possibility to choose something simpler, easiest to understand and to deal, from an artistic point of view.

if you do "hard" works you have to accept the possibility that only few people would like them and to set aside the money aspect.
in contrary if you want to earn from your work you should try to reach the widest market possible, accepting the possibility that you'll prolly have to loose the "essence" and the real nature of your works...

that is why artists often looks at people that make arts to live like whores...

[Berries]

Your work looks pretty good to me. Like Mr Trousers says, it might help if you up your profile on KB. Add some info to your signature and post a bit more. Get your name out there. Once you get a few commissions then word of mouth should sort you out for a few more.

[hellokitty]

We used to have auto colour matrix as a sponsor for our speedway sidecar - they did the paint job on the bike - free advertising!

Perhaps there is something you can paint to attract attention?

[YellowDog]

It's not your work that's the problem, it's how you present your business and what you do that is letting you down. I would suggest that your website name and email address are the first things that let you down and the rest is totally forgettable and just puts the viewer to sleep.

Your skills are where and what they are and will stay a secret forever unless you enlist the assistance of someone who knows more about business.

They couldn't do your job and you can't do theirs.

Advertising Logos, motifs, and affiliations are big business. AND you seem to be missing out on the action. All your local autoshops and dealers should know all about you. I bet they don't. With your skills, you could help them sell their products and services and not be able to cope with the workload, rather than scaping around for any work you can get.

My advice to you would be to stop trying to do anything anyone wants you to do and specialise in one aspect e.g. Helmet painting. Then go to everyone who knows about helmets and promote your services.

I've just types helmet painting airbrush artwork in Google. Can't see you there?

Try EMA or something like that to get pointed in the right direction.

Good luck.

[Banditbandit]

Yeah. As everyone thinks ... stunning work man ...

No prices on the web site ... a painted helmet is a luxury for me .. and a luxury I can do without .. tho' I would love to have one ...

There's probably a market tho' .... rich Harley owners with more money than sense ... another status symbol or them ...

[imdying]

No prices. Death for eCommerce. I automatically assume that it's a case of "If I have to ask, I can't afford it". Admittedly that's a portfolio, and not a shop... so I went looking for the shop... Don't know where that is.

Not here, here, or here, at least.

Finally, all of the work in your portfolio is pretty samey samey. Not that there's anything wrong with the work, but it's all sterotypical airbrushing work like we've seen before. Show us something new! How about picking something that's 'now' and leveraging off that? What about a Despicable Me Minion? How much would that be?

[scumdog]

There's probably a market tho' .... rich Harley owners with more money than sense ... another status symbol or them ...

Yep, me 20+ year old FFM helmet could do with a bit of gussieing-up I guess....

[gatch]

Yeah man, same as all the above.

You obviously have great skill. If you want more work you have to really get yourself out there. And as has been said above as well, need to display more works that are more main stream.

My sister is right into painting on canvas. She was selling nothing until she started entering shows, badgering businesses to display her stuff, also taking notes from others in regards to what people want. Now she makes enough to call it an income..

Good luck man, you obviously have the talent.