Creative Commerce - Tips for selling Your Art

Welcome to my lens about selling your art. I hope to pass along what I have learned about selling art over the last 30 years. A good bit of it you may recognize as common sense, but some of it is not so obvious.

My family has owned a gallery in a small town on the east coast of the United States since 1977, so we have a pretty good idea now of what sort of things can help a piece of artwork sell, and some of the things that can hurt sales.

Most of this advice is focused on helping you get your art in to the hands of the average art buyer, which, if that is what you are interested in doing, means selling a higher volume of art at more affordable prices. You will have to market yourself and your talent, which I feel is difficult for many artists.

If you happen to be as adept at marketing and promoting yourself as you are at creating your art, you may be able to command high prices and high demand for your work. However, I want to assure you that it is not necessary to go that route if you want to at least make enough money to support your art habit. One way you can get your work out there is Etsy.com. I have added a good bit about the ins and outs about Etsy as they have applied to me.

Are you a sellout?

Coming to terms with being a working artist

Creating art can become pretty expensive, and being talented doesn't always pay the bills. To continue with your art, you may need to be able to justify the associated expense by selling your work. You probably want to sell your work anyway, if you are reading this.

If you are not located in close proximity to a strong arts community, or a major city, you may be stumped as to where to offer your art for sale.

If you have the time, energy, confidence and resources that would allow you to go the gallery route for selling your work, by all means have at it. But, if you have more limited resources, or aren't truly convinced yet that people will even want your work, there are other ways to get your work in front of the masses. And in general, the other ways will offer you more control over your schedule, your art and the income your art generates. Gallery sales are generally higher dollar amounts in lower volumes, while commercial art sales (those you generate through wholesale, or consignment or your own retail space) are less dollar amounts at a higher volume.

First, you have to come to terms with the fact creating art is seldom free. You are not a sellout because you want to be able to continue with your art by selling some or all of it. It is a luxury to be able to create art on your own terms . Artists who support themselves with their art have this luxury in varying degrees, and it seems to me that many if not most that have a high degree of that luxury are in the minority. That means most of us can't afford our art without making some money by selling it.

So, you have a decision to make. You must decide if selling your art is what you truly want to do, for whatever reason you want to do it. Then commit yourself to it. You will be putting your art, and thereby yourself, out in front of people, and they won't always be kind. You have to be able to handle the rejection inherent in this line of work. If you are present at the point of sale, like at an arts and craft fair, or a coop gallery, you will most likely hear snide remarks about your work.

So...if you are ready, you have come to the right place. I'll try to address anything I can think of that may come up in your travel down the path to becoming a selling artist. Enjoy.

Casting a Wide Net

Establishing a presence on the web

I personally believe that getting your work on the web in as many places as you can is good for sales. So...I do that. I have many outlets for my work, my own websites, other gallery sites, online fulfillment services for merchandise, and others. I'll touch on each of these venues more deeply in later articles, but here's a list of links to sites that I used to promote and sell my work. Some are free, some are low cost and a few are more costly.

One word of warning: You will see that many of these sites are under construction. That is one of the dangers of getting a lot of sites going at once.

So...take your time, try to choose sites that simplify the posting process, etc. It can be very difficult keeping a large number of sites current.

Consider just dipping a toe into the online waters at first. Just put a few things up until you feel like the effort will be worth it. But...once you do think it's worth it, be prepared to get very wet. If you are not willing to let it take over your life, it never will.

I will be adding more of these I get them ready for public consumption.

My Etsy Shop: Etsy is awesome. It's a great community of artists and craftspersons creating some really cool art and making it available to the public at very reasonable prices.

The big rule is that human hands have to be involved in the creation of what you sell there. They allow digital reproductions, but it is important be upfront about that in your descriptions.
The Art of John W. Golden: This is the online store for reproductions of my artwork and photography. It is a huge endeavor to try to get 20 years of artwork and photography online. So, it's going a bit slower than I would like, but I have designed the site to be easily updated, so that new work can get out there in front of the buyer as soon as I create it.

Leave me your feedback

Tell what's helpful or leave questions for me...

This is the place to let me know if I am helping you or just confusing you. And also leave me questions that i can answer...

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Angie Angie Sep 25, 2007 @ 9:41 pm

Enjoyed your lens! And your sites..thanks for all the info!

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eileena74 eileena74 Sep 13, 2007 @ 8:01 pm

I truly need to sell my art rigth now my husband lost his job and we have to take care of our daughters needs, I'm working on my website by now im using http://www.geocities.com/eileena74/, , I'm willing sell prints of my current art pieces, how do i get people to know my art

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Ms_Appleseed Ms_Appleseed Sep 9, 2007 @ 7:47 pm

Hi John. Great lens on marketing art online. I'm lensrolling you for my SmallTownBiz lens. I get traffic looking for running an art biz in a small town and this is very helpful info!

Reply

ming ming Jul 18, 2007 @ 10:58 pm

hey john the link to your portfolio site seems to be broken.

artmaker.blogspot.com

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The_Jaxster The_Jaxster Feb 21, 2007 @ 5:14 pm

Hi there - just popped over after completing the Artsphere lens (www.squidoo.com/artsphere). I'm gonna have to recommend you to our artists - do you think this info will transfer to the UK market? Thanks for your generosity!
Best Wishes from Jax
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Keeping It All In-house

Reasons to sell your work yourself

As I have stated, the Gallery Sales route for selling your art can be very lucrative, if you are very confident about your work, and your work can get you noticed by gallery owners and buyers. Most gallery space is hard to come by, because gallery owners are business people, and they may have a limited amount of space that they can devote to an artist with no record of work that sells.

I am not saying that the gallery route can't work for you, just that it is tougher in which to make headway for the art sales newbie. If you can get into some galleries, go for it.

But, if you can't, don't let it get to you. There are many factors that go into the decision of who gets to hang in galleries, and it's not always a reflection on you or your talent.

Take heart, as there are many good reasons to keep control of the sales of your art in-house, so to speak. You may not become rich this way, but if you want to support your art habit on your terms, you may be happier maintaining control of your art empire.

Here are some reasons to be your own master of your art world by selling your art the way I do:

You keep more of your money from sales. I try to avoid situations where someone else makes 30% commission, but you will have to make a decision aboout commissions on a case by case basis.
You have more control of what direction you want your art to take, with less outside influence.
You can make your art when you want, as much as you want. However, as you become successful with your sales, you will find yourself occasionally having to create more than you would prefer due to meeting the demand for your work.
It can be very rewarding and fun. If you enjoy the process of producing your work, and you enjoy having contact with the people who purchase your work, there is no better way to do so.

Like Betsy without the B...

Etsy :: The place for all things handmade

Etsy.com has arrived on the online art scene in the last few years, and they are making it possible for artists like yourself to put your work in front of a huge audience. For some artists, Etsy will be the only venue they need to support themselves, and for many, it can be a great way to support your art habit.

And right now, Etsy is attracting a lot of attention, which can lead to galleries approach you to carry your work, exposure in national and international press, getting blogged, etc.

There are lots of resources online to help you learn the ins and outs of Etsy, and I will try to get a list together to post here soon.

Just make clones of yourself, Part 1

Consider reproducing your work

Now...this is most easily accomplished with the 2 dimensional arts, like painting, etc., but making and selling reproductions of your work is a great way to provide revenue for yourself and an affordable version of your work for your patrons. Reproductions also allow you to distribute your work to a wider audience.

All of what I sell is currently reproductions, being that all of my artwork is created using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, and there is no other way to get the image on paper. My photography is digital SLR, so digital prints are again my only option.

With today's digital imaging technology, it has become much more affordable for artists to reproduce their work with much better quality and a longer lifespan than commercial printing.

I use Epson printers, Epson Inks and Epson papers. I recommend them over all other brands of printer, but there are some good options besides Epson out there. The important thing is that you have good resolution, archival inks and archival papers. In most cases, you will want to stay within the brand.

For example, if you use Epson printers, use Epson paper and ink. And don't use refilled cartridges. You want what you are selling to be around for as long as possible, and not have faded or discolored in a few years time.

For that reason, and a few others, never go to your local office supply store and get color copies of your work to sell. You are just selling yourself and your customer short. It is better in the long run to try to save that money and use it to set up your own system to reproduce prints on demand.

Getting your art into the digital realm

Choosing a scanner

If you are creating your art using traditional or analog methods, you will need to be able to create digital files of your work. There are a few methods for doing this. My two favorite methods are:
Using a scanner and using a digital SLR camera. Now...they are kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of level of difficulty and initial costs.

I'll concentrate on scanners for a moment here, and then I'll tell you about the digital SLR method.

When you choose a scanner, you need a couple of things:

Resolution or DPI. Go ahead and get as high as you can afford. The higher the resolution, the less scaling up you will have to do to create larger sizes of your work.
Platen size. Again, you'll want to get the largest you can afford, but you can get buy with your standard size scanner until you can afford something larger. You can scan larger pieces of work by tiling them (scanning the work in sections) and then reassembling those pieces in an image editing software (like Photoshop).
Image editing software. Most scanners will come with some form of this software, and you can do a lot with the scanner straight out of the box using that software.

I recommend first trying the programs that come with your scanner to see if they fit the bill for your needs before investing in a more full-featured program like Photoshop.

NOTE: I will go more in depth into the scanning method in another module.

Mama, Do take my Kodachrome away...

Using a Digital SLR to Produce Your Reproductions

I only use this method when a piece of traditional artwork is just too big to scan easily. It is a good bit more difficult to achieve a good quality image this way, but for the sake of giving you some options, here goes...

Today's digital SLRs are amazing in there quality and ease of use. The main advantage to using a Digital SLR to photograph your work, is that you avoid a loss of quality that you get when you shot slides or film. A negative or slide is enlarged, losing some sharpness, when it is printed or scanned. You don't have that step when you shoot with a digital SLR.

If you are going to shoot artwork with a digital SLR for the purposes of reproducing that art work, keep these things in mind:

You want your digital SLR to have the highest megapixels you can afford. More megapixels translates to a broader range of sizing options for your reproductions. More megapixels means you can reproduce at larger sizes.
Lighting is key. Shooting outdoors on a sunny day works best for us. You should try shoting in full sun as well as in the shade. Shooting indoors works as well, but generaly requires a lighting set-up and some extra work for you color-correcting your digital files.
Use a 50mm lens and tripod to keep the camera still and parallel to the surface of your painting.

NOTE: I will go further into this process in a later article.

The Camera Sees All

Choosing a Digital SLR

I use a Nikon D50 for my fine art photography and occasionally to reproduce artwork digitally.

It is a great basic model to start with, and allows me to reproduce images up 12"x18".

The D200 adds more features and additional megapixels so that you can reproduce even larger.

EDIT: May 2007: Nikon has released the D40 and the D40x, which are 6+ and 10+ megapixels respectively. They are priced lower than the D50, and I am not even sure you can still get the D50...

Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm & 55-200mm Nikkor Lenses

I love this camera. I was reticent at first to make the switch to digital from film, but I have been very pleased with the results.

Amazon Price: $2,399.00 (as of 11/17/2009)

Nikon D200 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-70mm AF-S DX f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED Nikkor Zoom Lens

Amazon Price: $1,993.73 (as of 11/17/2009)

Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens

Amazon Price: $461.89 (as of 11/17/2009)

Nikon D40x 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens

This camera has a smaller body than the D50, but the lcd screen on the bag is enormous!!!

Amazon Price: $1,099.95 (as of 11/17/2009)

Picking your Printer

A brief guide to what I use for my reproductions

Here's what we used to produce our reproductions. I have only used Epson products, so that's really all that I can recommend.

Epson Stylus R2400 Photo Printer

We use this printer for all our reproductions, plus an Epson 2200, which is hard to find now, and an Epson 1280. We have been astounded at the quality that this machine has when outputing photographs and artwork. Prints up to 13" x 19" using sheet paper and 13" x 44" on roll paper.

Amazon Price: (as of 11/17/2009)
List Price: $849.99
Used Price: $450.00

Epson Stylus Photo 1280 Inkjet Printer (Silver)

This has been our workhorse for the past several years, and we still use it even though we have added the 2200 and the 2400.

Amazon Price: (as of 11/17/2009)
List Price: $549.99
Used Price:

Epson Stylus Photo R340 Inkjet Printer

I have not used this one, but generally any of the Stylus Photo printers are sufficient resolution and quality. Will only print smaller prints up to 8.5" x 11".

Amazon Price: (as of 11/17/2009)
List Price: $199.99
Used Price:

Epson Stylus C86 Inkjet Printer

This is decent little printer to get you started, and maybe the proceeds from the smaller prints you can make with this model can help you with the purchase of a larger model. Prints up to Letter size.

Amazon Price: $353.99 (as of 11/17/2009)
List Price: $99.99
Used Price: $34.99

Usually ships in 1-3 weeks

The Paper Trail

Choosing your paper for reproductions

What finish of paper you use for your reproductions ( generally matte, luster or glossy) is a matter of personal preference. I use a matte paper (Epson Enhanced Matte) for my art reproductions, and a luster for my photography reproductions.

EDIT: May 2007: Epson has recently changed the names of some of their papers...Enhanced Matte is now sold under a different name, although there still seems to be a lot of Enhanced Matte available. I now use Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster for my photos.

The important thing is that you use only papers that are recommended for the particular printer you either already own or are going to buy.

Epson Ultra Premium 17 x 22 Inch Luster Photo Paper 25 Count (S042084)

Amazon Price: $58.47 (as of 11/17/2009)

Size does matter...Reproductions, Part 2

Bigger isn't always better

When considering what size to reproduce your images, or even to create your originals, you have to consider your target customer.

For instance, I am located in a coastal town with a large Summer tourism industry. Hence, our target customer during the summer is the visitor.

I will cover other aspects of what we have learned about our summer target customer, but for now we are specifically discussing sizing our reproductions, specifically so they will appeal to that customer.

It really doesn't matter if it is Summer or Winter, but if your target customer base is visitors to your area, the size of your artwork for sale will affect how desirable it is to your target customer.

A Stranger in Your Midst

Size and the Visiting Customer

Some things to consider when sizing your artwork so as to appeal to the travelling customer...

Travelers generally have a limited amount of space when it comes to taking home souvenirs.
Whatever your visitor buys, they will most likely have to carry it around for a while.
Traveling is expensive. So travelers may have more limited funds to spend on art

So...smaller is better?

or...Small is the New Big!

So, hopefully you see the pattern that is developing. We have found that folks that are travelling generally prefer smaller versions of the artwork we sell in our gallery.

Some times travelers will surprise you and want bigger pieces, but on the whole, smaller, easily totable pieces are more likely to move, in my experience.

We sell photos most in the range of 2"x3" up to 12"x18", but it is the 4"x6" and 8"x12" sizes that tend to sell best.

My art pieces are generally sized to what format works best for a certain image, but 3"x5", 4"x6", and 8"x12" tend to be favorites.

Note: We frame and matte most of our pieces in house, so producing our pieces to common sizes (8"x10", 11"x14", etc.) are not as much of an issue as it would be if we did not frame and matte on-site. More on that later.

One plus to smaller reproductions for you will be reduced per item cost, so you will be abe to create more units to offer for sale.

Keeping the locals happy....

Sizing your art for local customers

One of the things that is convenient for artists that have a lot of traveling customers is that many of the sizing guidelines I suggest for travelers also hold true for local customers.

Locals, generally, aren't any more interested in lugging around a large objet d'art than visitors are, but there is more of a market for larger pieces when locals are buying.

A few things come into play that you should consider that are applicable to all kinds of buyers as far as size:

Wall space: Some buyers will have lots of it, but I would venture that most don't. You can size your art a bit larger for your local customers, but I would refrain from making large pieces (larger the 12"x18") the largest portion of your inventory until you have found that there is a demand for it.

We use large pieces to attract customers into our gallery, and they generally leave with a smaller reproduction of the larger piece.

Many of your local buyers will also be considering what the options to matte and/or frame your work are locally. If you aren't yet able to offer matted and frame pieces, strongly consider offering your reproductions in standard sizes (4"x6", 5"x7", 8"x10", 11"x14", 16"x20", 18"x14"). People often will not buy an unmatted or unframed piece if they think it will be a hassle to matte or frame it.

Keeping the locals happy...Part 2

Buyers aren't your only customers

Most likely, unless you are fortunate enough to have your own retail space, you are going to have to find stores and/or galleries to carry your work.

It is very important to think like the owner of one of these places when approaching potential vendors. A few things to keep in mind:

Provide Your Own Display
Stores and/or galleries often have limited wall, floor and counter space. You can work with that. Try to develop your own point-of-purchase display. If you can offer a vendor a self-contained display that means less work for them, and it will be much easier for them to work your wares into their space. It also will give you an opportunity to market your work more if you design a header for your display with your name, logo, etc. If it happens that a vendors has his own displays and doesn't want to use your displays, that's great. That's one more display you'll have to offer another vendor.

If you want, you can contact vendors prior to your sales pitch to ask their preference.
Once Again, Size Matters
Smaller work is probably better here as well. Along the same lines as bullet 1, if your work is huge, it's going to be harder for a vendor to fit it in their space. To new vendors, you may be an unproven seller, and they may be more willing to take a chance on a product that won't take up too much of their precious space.
Make Sure You're a Good Match
Visit any potential vendors prior to approaching them to carry your work to see what they already carry. Look for holes (as in what they don't currently carry) in their inventory and also for items similar to what you have to offer. Vendors may not be interested in artwork too similar to what they are already carrying. But, maybe what you have is better than what they have. Don't let it stop you from approaching a potential vendor. Just be prepared for the response.

Shameless plug....

Can you relate?

Some of my friends and I are constantly saying this, and it is something to remember as you move forward selling your art. You have probably had someone tell you that you are so talented, and while it is nice to have compliments and have your talent noticed, you may have thought being talented doesn't necessarily pay the bills.

This button is for all who have ever had such thoughts.

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Thanks for Reading This Far....

More is coming....

I am endeavoring to add new content each day, and I have tons more to add, so I hope you will bookmark this lens an visit often.

Upcoming topics will include:

Common sizes and how they can help you sell your art (a more in-depth look)

Packaging your art for sale

Resources for packaging your art

And much, much more...