SELLYOURARTWORKS

Hola gorgeous souls!

A corking business organisation question asked today from a Creative Goddess!

I want to sell my artwork as prints. How practice I do that?

I've got a buttload of feel in this i.

Once upon a time, in ye olden days of yore, I began my start foray into business by selling my fine art.

first markets

I had my first solo art exhibition at 23, got featured in the Canberra Times + sold prints, original art + commissions online. It became mega decorated, and I concluded upward deciding to quit studying at university office fourth dimension and reduce my hours at my government job in society to continue upwards with demand… I still think one memorable December where I had over 120 packages to send out, and was heading domicile early on from Christmas parties to pigment paint paint and paint some more than!

Information technology was very fun, and such a gorgeous fourth dimension in my life.

I'thou now so busy with creating due east-courses in the Shining Biz Life Academy and writing and illustrating the Shining Year goal planners that I don't sell artwork anymore. I withal create every twenty-four hour period though!

In that location'due south 4 steps to selling your artwork every bit prints:

ane. Digitise your artwork.

Minor artworks:

If it is smaller than A4, you tin scan it in using a scanner. Scanners come up in nigh multifunction print units now – getting so cheap!

I employ an Epson – this is the latest version of the ane I use.

I've had information technology for four years now or and so and it's notwithstanding rocking information technology out.

Large artworks:

If you tin't fit it onto your scanner, yous can either photograph it, or browse it in different parts and and then stitch it back together using Photoshop. I tin't tell you if your camera is expert enough to take prints – just trial information technology and see how it goes! An SLR camera is the best photographic camera to use for this to make sure you've got the clearest image possible with plenty DPI to exist printed nicely. I'm particularly fond of Catechism SLRs.

Tips when photographing art: Don't use flash. Don't put in direct sunlight. Photograph in the shade, or in a well lit room. Try and go the sides of your frame to line up parallel with your artwork to make cropping easier afterward. Stand parallel to your artwork.

You will demand to ingather it using a digital photo editor similar Photoshop or Elements. You will also want to play around with contrast and colour to get it looking as lovely digitally as it looks in existent life. Colours commonly get dimmer when you scan/photo an image, so digital photograph editing is all almost restoring that & making things popular once again.

If you lot don't have a camera, or access to a digital photo editor, you could try:

  • request a friend to exercise it
  • hiring a professional studio to take photos & edit for you.

ii. Decide how to price your prints

  • Average pricing is about $25 for A4 sized prints, but tin range from $10-$100 (with a high end priced impress, you'll need to have them professionally printed)
  • Hint: If you print A4 sized, you can send them in a flat envelope and it is much cheaper. As soon as you kickoff making bigger that you lot have to curlicue, it costs Fashion more than to ship in a tube.

iii. Decide on whether to print them yourself or outsource them?

The Print Them Yourself Method:

  • You lot demand to purchase a colour printer if yous don't already accept 1. I take an Epson CX5900 printer/scanner, but I recall any is fine.
  • Print on some good card stock. I would just buy watercolour paper at 180gsm and print on that. It gave a lovely texture to information technology!
  • Simply beginning out with one size for right now.

Pros:

  • More than profits
  • Yous can do sales on them when you lot like
  • Mailing them out yourself can exist a fantastic opportunity to brand it with your own branding + include flyers + vouchers to upsell to them).

Cons:

  • You need to buy printer, ink and paper
  • You lot need to print & mail them out
  • It can get frustrating when your printer makes mistakes & screws up ink/paper.

The Print On Demand Method:

  • Upload your images to a Print on Demand service, which volition host a shop for you. People purchase the prints, and the visitor prints & sends them out.
  • You make up one's mind how much royalty you desire to earn for each print.
  • Options for this: www.redbubble.com & world wide web.lulu.com & www.cafepress.com & www.society6.com.

Pros:

  • You don't have to print & transport them out
  • You lot don't suffer ze cost of impress mistakes/messups
  • You don't have to outlay anything for printers, ink & paper.

Cons:

  • You don't get every bit much profit.
  • I don't retrieve y'all get equally many sales through companies like this.
  • Some companies won't pay out your royalties until y'all reach a certain level like $25.

The Outsource Method

This consists of you getting a printer (ordinarily local) to print your prints for y'all. They accept a better quality end than your home printer, but it also means you will demand to outlay for the club, and and then hopefully sell all the stock you have.

Pros:

  • Similar in the Impress on Demand method, you don't have to impress.
  • You don't suffer ze cost of print mistakes/messups
  • You don't have to outlay anything for printers, ink & paper.
  • Once your business is upwards + running + is doing well, you'll need to buy back your ain time to focus on marketing then outsourcing is a practiced solution to that
  • As with the Impress Them Yourself method, mailing them out yourself tin be a fantastic opportunity to brand it with your ain branding + include flyers + vouchers to upsell to them)

Cons:

  • You'll still demand to send them out on your own.
  • You don't get every bit much profit, only more than if you went the Print on Need model.
  • Yous'll need to outlay for the printing yourself, and then sell what stock yous accept.

My recommendation on which printing model to employ:

Practise what is doable for yous right at present.

You can e'er change afterward.

If you can exercise the printing yourself great.

Or if outsourcing prints or impress on need works for you right now, go for that.

DO WHAT IS Doable.

four. Gear up (online) shop

You lot tin sell your prints on sites like Etsy or Made It, or create your own due east-commerce website to sell your prints.

At present here'southward the point where nigh people think:

YIPPEEEE!

Done!

And they sit down. And they wait for the sales to come up in.

And they get discouraged when they don't come up in, or they don't come in fast enough.

And they call back "I'll never make a living every bit an artist. This will never piece of work out. Information technology wasn't meant to be. I gave it a go. Now I'll give up."

And they'll cease updating their store. They might fifty-fifty accept it down.

And they'll ever look back on that time where they tried to brand a living as an artist, only found it impossible.

But here's the matter.

In that location's i footstep y'all didn't do:

5. Your task doesn't end here. You lot need to become a Business Goddess!

A Business Goddess you cry?

But I detest marketing!

I don't want to SELL to people.

I just want fairies and pixies to find my piece of work and rabidly purchase it, and I'll just sit here in my tiny little studio, and create, and be totally oblivious to the world.

I'chiliad here to give you lot a bit of tough (but real loving) communication:

It own't gonna happen that way, baby.

And equally much every bit you want a knight in shining armor to come forth and PING you on the head with the Shining Wand of Success and removing all the work y'all'd need to do to get at that place… you're kidding yourself.

What you're here to practice instead is stand for your gifts.

Be your own knight in shining armor!

And exist courageous. And learn new things. And yep, that means becoming a business and a marketing goddess.

Y'all need to larn HOW to share your work with the world in a large and powerful way.

You Demand to invest in your education – in learning the secrets of shining success, of marketing + presenting your work in a way that is compelling + delicious + attractive to your tribe.

And and so I can hear y'all say:

Only THEY don't accept to do that. THEY are successful without all that stuff!

And you lot signal out every successful artistic person you lot know of out there.

Here's the truth though:

You can bet your ass that they have business + marketing know-how that you don't.

And they are using it.

They await like little duckies gliding forth the pond effortlessly.

And what you don't see is their niggling feetsies doing the work that feetsies were born to do.


(Leonie ala 2008!)

The aforementioned is true for you lot.

Here's the very all-time news I tin can requite you:

You're not Born with business or marketing know how.

Anybody learns it.

We ALL start from somewhere.

And if this fiddling numbers-phobic broke creative hippy of 2005 tin can go along to build a half 1000000 dollar a yr artistic + soulful business, certain as shit you tin as well.

But ya gotta be willing to learn.

Ya gotta exist ready to become a Business + Marketing Goddess and so that your gifts tin go out into the world in a Large style… touching thousands and thousands of lives and transforming your own.

Share your gifts. Start now, beautiful Goddess!

dear,