Keeping track of your Artwork

Do you keep a record of all pieces of art you have made? Do you remember which pieces of art have been copied for reproductions? Do you remember the reproduction limits, numbers remaining, sizes and price for every piece you have for sale? 

Many artists don't keep a complete records for what one day may become more than just their hobby, but their job and livelihood. Of those that do keep records, most do so in a notebook or on a printed out spreadsheet stapled together, and only ever have 1 copy. 

But what if the worst happens... you leave the notebook in a coffee shop, you spill a drink in your bag over it, or worse yet, a fire flood or other natural disaster destroys your records entirely. A less disastrous reason would be you go on a holiday overseas for several weeks, leaving your records safely at home, and one of your galleries or websites you have reproductions on makes a sale, and you don't know what numbers are left for the reproduction cannot be shipped to the buyer and you lose the sale.

So how do you avoid these problems? By keeping your records in a program or spreadsheet that utilises cloud storage and backups. Whether you use Microsoft Office Online, or Googles G Suite, or something else, Cloud access and backups remove the hassle and worry about knowing your records are safe. The option we recommend however is a online software called "Airtable", it is a spreadsheet type interface with database style features.

Features:

• Records available anywhere, anytime, on all devices
• Mobile app with most desktop features
• Powerful sorting, filtering and grouping to help organise your records
• Shareable for collaboration with people helping run your business and selling your art

So how do you get started?

We have made some example "bases" as Airtable calls them for you to copy to speed up your setup process, but if you find yourself wanting to save more information or change what you want to see first, you can easily add, delete or re-organise the spreadsheets to suit your needs.

AirTable Examples

1. Original art inventory and location/sales tracker https://airtable.com/shr0lFAkjx4HZve2D
2. Limited Edition number tracking https://airtable.com/shry6KgLX4FjN59y6

Note: the free account for Airtable has a limitation of 1200 records and 2gb "per base" which is easy to stay under using our examples with 1 sale using up 2 records (1 for the edition sale itself, and 1 for the buyer data), allowing for reproduction limits of 500, and several hundred photographs of your work added into the inventory catalog before hitting these limits. The solution to stay free? Just like when your notebook runs out of pages, just make a new base and start it empty, or upgrade to one of the paid options with greatly raise the limits so you don't need to change anything.

The Setup Process

Recommended setup using a computer

1. Go to https://airtable.com/ and Sign up, Free account is all you need.
2. Skip or Fill out new account questionare as per your preference.
3. When you get to your dashboard, Create your own own blank workspace with the "Add a workspace" link, name it anything you wish if you intend to share it with others ensure it has a unique and relevant title to yourself or your business.
4. Now your ready to make your own bases from blank or provided templates, or continue in the next section to copy ours.

1. Click on the link to one of the examples above
2. Click "Copy Base" in the top right corner
3. Choose the workspace you created in step 3, and press "Add base"
4. Rightclick on the "new" icon, and rename it to the artwork you are setting up

cont. Inventory tracker specific steps

1. look at the example artwork to see how we invision usage
2. delete example record 
3. start adding your own artwork

cont. Limited Edition tracker steps

1. Go into the "Info and Pricing" tab
2. Delete example data, and fill out the products and prices you are offering for the artwork
3. Go into the "Reproduction Tracking" tab
4. Delete all example data rows.
5. Fill in your previous edition sale information, or just the status column 

Notes on limited edition tracker.

• depending on how you are offering your reproductions, you may wish to duplicate the "reproduction tracking" tab to split different sizes or media.
• It might be convenient in the long term if you create a new row for each edition number when you set up the sheet to allow selling in any order
  • the Edition Number field in the table can be changed to an auto-number field so you cannot mistakenly sell the same number, but cannot sell out of order without creating empty rows
  • if you have different limits for different artworks or media types and sizes, create new rows to that limit, or set tab description as a reminder.

How to make the most of Airtable

Share with Art House for digital signing and numbering of Buy Art Now sales

1. Make a new Workspace labeled "*YourName* - Buy Art Now"
2. Drag (or create) limited edition number trackers for all works you have listed on Buy Art Now
3. right click on the workspace, or individual Edition trackers, and "share"
4. Invite "mail@arthousehq.com" to be an 'Editor' for the whole workspace or each artwork.

Now as long as you have supplied a digital signature, every sale on Buy Art Now can easily be recorded and added to your records without you having to work our which number should be used.

note: please ensure all workspaces and artwork trackers have clear and complete names to ensure fast and easy access for Buy Art Now.