Naming Your Art
Giving our art a better title than Untitled will help promote and sell.
Sometimes we all have difficulty giving a title to our art and we resort to using Untitled. Even I have done it. But I’ll never do that in RedBubble!
“Why not?” I hear you collectively cry out.
Let me explain by way of direction:
1. Go into BUY WALL ART
2. Choose a Laminated Print or Mounted Print.
3. White Border with Artist’s Details or Black Border with Artist’s Details
4. Any size. Large is better. Costs more, but that’s the price of size. ;D
5. Look at bottom of PREVIEW box. It says in the lovely redbubble colors/colours:
- Title—Artist
That’s right, whatever you entitle your work is going to appear on your buyers wall-hanging. Therefore, taking the time to think of a name for your art is important.
Who would want a wall hanging that says “Untitled”?
Ok, so the ‘masters’ did it, but only on the stuff that wasn’t destined for the Vatican basements or Bill Gates trophy room. (Well, none that I know of!)
Note
Yes, your buyer could choose the “No Border” Option. But what if you purchase your own work – would you go for that option? No way! You want your NAME and TITLE – for bragging rights! Marketing your Art on your own work – Easy and lots of fun! Finally you can say to friends, “I did this!”
“But I can’t think of a name!” I hear you cry out across the redbubble abyss.
Ok, ok, sometimes it’s difficult to find just the right word, particularly one that doesn’t sound corny, cheap, cliched and crapola.
Therefore
Here are my ‘suggestions’ for naming your art:
1. Think About How The Picture Makes You Feel.
Think with your heart, not your head. Forget the dollar signs, the family running around you and the unlimited broadband – ask yourself how it makes you feel inside.
Anger, Disgust, Frustration, Serenity, Harmony, Calm, Whimsical, Happy, Sleepy, Shameful, Dirty ... the list goes on for words you might use to describe the emotion of an image.
2. Say Exactly What It Is
That’s right. Why spend too much time worrying about what to call it when it already has a name.
“Lone Brown Chair”,
“Black Cat on Green Rug”,
“Jar of Potpourri” or
“Unused Exercise Bicycle”
(For those wondering, these are all items I can see from my computer.)
3. Ask Your Partner, Wife, Child, Friend, Boss, Client, etc
You’ll be amazed how many people willing to say: ‘You should have called that one blahblah’ Oh wait, that would be me. Yeah, I’ve seen a few photographs around the placed entitled Untitled. Weird!
That’s it from me. Anyway, a longer list might send you to sleep! Which is probably where I should be right now… but RedBubble is so addictive!!
I hope there are more ways you can think of to entitle Art. I encourage you to leave a comment here: There a lot of people around the world who want to know our secrets to creative art-naming!
PS. Yeah, if all else fails, keep calling your stuff Untitled.
POSTSCRIPT:
Webgrrl has an article entitled Title Tank Needed that asks for wordsmiths to help other artists with naming their work.
This is a great idea that I encourage the friends of RB to get involved with!
Craig Shillington
LMAO And if all else fails …..... call it Untitled ;) :P
georgiegirl
Webgrrl has got something going called a ‘thinktank’ for those who can’t think of names… and I read somewhere else that someone has thought this as well (Anelli?).
I think the reason the Great Artists have paintings called ‘untitled’ is because those particular works were found after the artists left our planet. Maybe the artists in question didn’t think much of the paintings so didn’t name it. You never know!!
I was going to sleep after I uploaded those snails… But anyway I’m still here!
Sometimes I want to name my pics with cool clever names, but most of the time I name them what they are… ‘snails’, ‘a cat, her friend and a toy’, etc. I find it harder to think of all the tags!
Amanda J Slack...
Thank you Stephen! Nothing frustrates me more than work without a title. I know it isn’t easy but once you leave high school the notion that ‘untitled’ is somehow mysterious should really fall away :) People also seem to forget that a great title can really enhance the reading of the work.
Paul Fleming
Titles sure make a difference. I uploaded my early images to RB with the extraordinarily creative titles of “red flower, ‘blue flower’ etc etc. No one left comments. I went back and renamed everything and within a few minutes people started leaving comments… still, it isn’t easy coming up with a title. I just go with first thing that comes to me when I look at a picture, even if it makes little sense to the end viewer.
Stephen Mitchell
@Craig, you’ll see I’ve amended the end of the post to allow for that choice.
@Georgie
1. I’ll go hunting for that ‘thinktank’ and link to it in my post. Thanks!
2. You’re probably right.
3. Being addicted to RedBubble is neither a crime nor an obsession: It’s a passion to one’s talent. That’s what I keep telling my wife!
4. Tags, tags… that’s another post. Watch this space!
@Amanda,
Ah yeah, I remember those days when I named both drawings and poems “Untitled”. Yep, we lose that idea real quick when people start asking what it’s called. Blank stares mean they don’t understand why it has no name.
@CN
I just go with first thing that comes to me when I look at a picture, even if it makes little sense to the end viewer.
Spot on. That’s exactly how to name your art. In 26 words!
John Conway
Stephen,
I think a title is important. Not so much as in it makes it easier to catalog your shots, but, it gets you thinking more about your shots BEFORE you take them, not after.
Let me explain. I sometimes just go out for a wander to take photos with no plan in mind. On one such day, I found myself in a paddock surrounded by trees and rocks, yet, despite plenty of topics around, I couldn’t get into my mind’s eye, what I deemed worth photographing. As I made my way back to the car, I found this log. Nothing special you might say, but there was no other log within any distance, and here it was, almost in the middle of a clearing with trees around. I couldn’t see where it had been cut down, or if it was dragged there. I walked around it and I thought I could see in it, an almost body shape to it, with an arm up reaching for a helping hand. In the back ground, was a healthy living tree. I suddenly for some reason got the thought of the log saying, that’s what he once was, a living tree. So, composition wise, I placed the log as the main subject with the tree in the background. I had the name, What I Once Was, as title before I even focused.
So, sometimes titles can help us, not only differentiate our photos, but inspire us to look at our subjects more closely. (Well, it works for me) :)
What I Once Was
Jienn Heibloem
Stephen you continue to make a real contribution to the redbubble world with your knowledge and expertise and of course your opinions, (which are usually hmmmm spot on- bit of flattery there)
and i look forward to your contributions keenly as I learn something or think or evolve in some way as a response…
so a hearty thankyoumate !!!!
Stephen Mitchell
@John,
1. I know that feeling. That’s a great story that I’d imagine most photographers can relate to. I agree: Actively searching for that first shot can open the mind to possibilities. Yes, when that moment is found, the rest just falls into place.
I’m planning on doing exactly this when I return to Kangaroo Island in July.
2. Your link to your image has a common error – one that is easily made. I made that same mistake a few times in my first few hours of my RedBubble addiction!
You’ve linked to
http://www.redbubble.com/mybubble/works/edit_image/14914
1. The /mybubble/ directory is only seen by the owner of the account.
2. /edit_image/. Again, thankfully only viewable by the owner of the account, (accessible only by knowing your login and password – NEVER GIVE THESE TO ANYONE)
Thankfully I know how to fix this. The link you meant to use was ( I searched your entire collection for 14914!)
http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/30938 (Yep, that is the link to the purchase page. This gives the viewer the chance to test sizes, backgrounds and frames straight away!)
Therefore, here it is for others reading this post:
hhttp://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/30938 I Once Was
John Conway
is this it?
here
gaylehebbard
I believe a title is essential too. I never use Untitled. It implies that you work is about nothing. Must have a look at thinktank though.
Craig Shillington
Awww Good onya Stephen ;) The main reason I mentioned that is because I name some of my photography after songs titles …. do a search for songs called Untitled and see what you come up with LOL
.
Oh …. there is another way to name your photos ;)
.
And I have a tip …. I have a program I use for storing all my Important Sites with Passwords … and in that program there is a Password Generator. It can be set to whatever length I want it and can include numbers. Anyway … I used that once to name a photo. Just kept clicking till the Jumbled letters looked nice. The Name of that photo is Di Shouorai
Karen Cougan
I too found out the hard way that Untitled just doesn’t cut it. I didn’t realize that one of my pics that I uploaded privately not for public viewing to get printed come back with untitled on it and it don’t look the best. I have learnt that lesson too.
Glad I’m not the only one.
xkc
MiMiDesigns
Just going back to the original topic… I have only one piece which has the title ‘untitled’. I’ll tell you why. I was invited to submit a print to an online print exhibition, and at the time I had no idea what I was going to send. I had to submit the form asap, so I just put ‘untitled’.
Then I thought of the image. I could have called it ‘white cloud’ or ‘after the rain’, but that’s not necessarily what the image is about. So I leave it to other people to decide what it’s about. I’m not going to do another ‘untitled’. There’s only one.
Craig Watson
Just a little asside…
my Maths teacher at High School used to write U.B.S. if you had a wrong answer to a question… it took us almost the entire year before he told us what it meant… unmittigated bullshit… it caused a few laughs back then in the mid 70’s! Yes, I’m “approaching” middleage now!!!!
Anyway… the info on this matter is very interesting… it does add a little extra thought to coming up with a title… thanks everyone for the input… and that idea of that Craig Shillington come up with “Di Shouorai” is brilliant!... and I still love that photo!!!
Here’s to some wonderful titles on future uploads!!!
MiMiDesigns
We have a motto in our family – JDI, or JBDI – meaning don’t muck around, just…
when I went to my uncle’s funeral, I discovered he had exactly the same motto – although I’d never mentioned it to him, not he to me. Is this a universal human motto?
Shannon Mowling
Great post, I find coming up with the title is almost as enjoyable as taking the shot itself.
Stephen Mitchell
Ditto with that, Shannon!
Like this shot …. The Millenium Falcon Hits Light Speed!
Once you take a look at it—the title makes sense.
Anthony Hedger
Well done Stephen it makes a lot of sense to me buddy well done.
In fact I may just start a list of names to use for when I get the dreaded ‘Untitled’ block. That way at least there might be something on the said list I could use even if temporary.
Stephen Mitchell replied
Thanks Anthony. That’s a great idea.
owlspook
@Stephen … great tips! I host a group here called All Untitled ... I didn’t start it but lassoed into helping out since I got into a jag one night and offered suggestions to a dozen or so members (grin) ... I found this journal entry by accident (serendipity (big smile) .. What I’m now trying to do is help others learn how to name their work … my first trick is Talk a Walk on the Wild Side ... getting into your image .. in other words imagining yourself inside your image .. what do you see, what’s happening around you, etc. .... it’s helped me a lot and sometimes it’s sparked a mini story to go along with my art (smile) ...
you have provided me with more ammo to kill the dreaded untitled (grin) ... would you give me permission to use these ideas in my forum? I promise to give you full credit and add a link to this journal entry (smile)
and thanks for the link to TitleTank… will certainly have a chat with Webgrrl
@Anthony … I have a small notebook with titles I come up with out of the blue and when I get stuck naming my work I go to the book and find one (grin) .. great minds think alike (grin) lol …
Stephen Mitchell replied
Feel free to link to this article and use this idea as you need.
I now look forward to seeing all those untitled works with new titles!
owlspook
thank you so much Stephen (smile) ... All Untitled is getting livelier by the day … am hoping at least some of the more prolific posters to the group may learn how to title those works of theirs (big smile) ...
Ann Mackay
Hadn’t thought about how important titles are. Now I must go and do a bit of re-titling… Thanks for all the info and ideas!