Usually, when people admire a piece of art, they will look for the name of the artwork. The title of a painting can help create a connection between the art and the admirer. Sometimes it can be as important as the painting itself. Ultimately, how to title your art is of course up to you and what you are trying to convey.
In order to title your art, you have to know what you want to transmit to the viewer. For most of my paintings, I try to find a title that conveys a feeling or what I had in mind when I painted the piece. I try to find words that encompass what my art is about. A good title helps tell a story.
Make the title meaningful
Coming up with a good title is not always easy. It can take a while to decide what name to choose for your artwork. Reading poetry sometimes helps me. For the one below, I read some short horse poems and stumbled upon the words wild and elegance and they resonated with me. I felt these words together described perfectly the feeling I tried to put on canvas. “Wild Elegance” was born.
A good title should encompass a feeling while leaving room for interpretation. Inspiration doesn’t always come right away and if you are wondering how to title your art, looking at poems, synonyms, or even dictionaries can help. Other times, it may come naturally. I thought right away of the titles of some paintings that compose what I now call my Dream Series. The series consist of animals on abstract backgrounds featuring soft, cloudy, watercolor-like shapes. It is as if these animals are part of a dream. Ours or theirs? Who knows? The title creates an atmosphere and a question.
From left to right: Bear Dream, Elephant Dream, Peacock Dream, Cat Dream
I love this style and I have used it on a lot of paintings, however for some, I had other titles in mind.
How to title your art is ultimately up to you
Some people choose to not title their artwork at all in order to leave the interpretation and emotional response up to the viewer. Leaving it blank is sometimes what’s best. Or some artists may want to confuse the audience instead of conveying meaning.
I have been guilty of not looking far for a title on some occasions. I didn’t feel the need to title some of my artworks so I just came up with a couple describing words when I uploaded them online. See below. This fox digital painting is simply called “Happy Fox”.
Doing pet portraits is so much easier! No need to title anything!
Do you struggle coming up with names for your art? What are your suggestions? Share in the comments below!
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