Do you sign and date your artwork? (Poll results)

Making A Mark Poll October 2011 - The Results

214 people responded to the October Making A Mark Poll which asked "Do you sign and date your artwork?".

The poll results can be seen below as numbers and above as a chart.

Yes - always sign all artwork	65 (30%)
Yes - always sign and date all artwork	51 (23%)
Yes - sign all artwork for sale	25 (11%)
Yes - sign and date all artwork for sale	15 (7%)
Yes - initial artwork	12 (5%)
Yes - initial and date all artwork	7 (3%)
Yes - but only when I remember!	10 (4%)
No - I don't sign or date my artwork	12 (5%)
No - my art's not good enough for a signature yet	17 (7%)

Votes so far: 214

Key findings were:

• over half of the respondents sign ALL artwork (53%)
• 18% limit their signature to just artwork for sale 
• only 8% use initials only as a signature on their artwork
• in general, in relation to whatever option was used fewer people also added a date.  In general the ratio of those adding in a date compared to those who just used a signature was about 2:3 in this poll (but see another poll on the same topic below)
• 12% add no signature at all
• very few people thought their art was not yet good enough to sign (7%)
• very few people forget to sign their artwork!  (only 4% admitted to signing only when they remember!)  

I've also created a new website How to Sign a Painting to provide a resource which offers a structured introduction to artists signatures for:

• ARTISTS who want to know more about the best way to sign and date a work of art
• ARTISTS who want help with signatures for specific media (this needs some more work!)
• ART LOVERS AND COLLECTORS who want to know more the signatures of artists from the past and present

It also includes three slightly different polls which expand on this topic - and below I indicate the main answers from those polls.  (Click the links to go to the polls)

• POLL: Do you plan your signature?  (67 people have voted to date)
• over two thirds plan HOW and WHERE to put their signature before they sign - because signatures are really important to artwork
• POLL: Size and location of the Artist's Signature  (55 people have voted to date)
• Two thirds make their signature readable and place it somewhere where you can see it if you look for it
• POLL: Do you date your artwork? (55 people have voted to date)  This is a slightly different question than the one asked in the main poll - as it provides options which permit a date to be placed on the reverse of the work.  It produced a mixed response - which you can see in the chart below 
• 60% of respondents to this poll date their artwork somewhere on the work - with nearly half that number dating it on the reverse
• 40% rarely or never date their artwork

How to sign a painting and other fine art - Do you include a date on your artwork?

Tomorrow I'll be posting November's Making A Mark Poll - which is about how much of your available time for art you spend on marketing.