Making a living as a career artist is more than creating beautiful art. It involves understanding how to build an audience, how to price art products, and the unique requirements for shipping art. It means thinking like an entrepreneur and learn “How to Sell Your Art Online”.
Before e-commerce platforms, artists relied on third-party gallerists, agents, and retailers to distribute work. Today’s creator tools allow independent artists to own their distribution streams, creating and selling their art online—and on their terms.
This shift has allowed gallerists and curators to represent more artists and expand into selling affordable art prints online to reach wider markets.
This comprehensive tutorial will show you how to sell art online with tips from renowned gallerists and painters. Learn “How to Sell Your Art Online“.
1. Choose Your Business Model:
Begin your artistic journey by defining your business model. Are you aiming for an exclusive collection or a broader reach with affordable prints? Your choice sets the tone for your entire venture.
2. Original Art vs. Reproductions: Make Informed Decisions
Determine whether you will sell original artworks or reproductions. This decision impacts your production process, pricing, and market positioning.
Consider the following formats:
- Original artwork, such as paintings, sketches, and drawings (Note: You can sell prints and original artwork of the same piece.)
- Prints in limited or open edition: canvas, framed, or unframed
- Digital art or digital downloads: Print-at-home artwork, templates, desktop wallpaper, etc.
- Custom art: Art created on demand at the request of the client or on a company’s request.
- Merchandise: Printed items featuring your artwork include hats, iPhone cases, mugs, t-shirts, enamel pins, stationery, and greeting cards.
- Repeat prints: on wallpaper, wrapping paper, and fabric
- Licensing: “Renting” content to periodicals or other brands (great for illustrators and photographers)
- Brand partnerships: exclusive line offered via the partner brand’s online store
How to sell artwork on the internet.
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3. Capture the Essence: Photograph and Scan Your Work:
For every small internet business, taking clear and precise product photos and showing them appropriately is crucial. Potential buyers must use crisp, detailed photographs to obtain the greatest idea of what they’re purchasing in the absence of the opportunity to touch the thing.
Online art sales are not an exception. “You’re going to have a tougher time selling it if you have a lousy image of your work or if the image doesn’t represent the product accurately,” Ken explains. Otherwise, you’ll be forced to handle disgruntled clients and handle returns.
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4. Printing Excellence: Find a Reliable Printer:
Learning how to sell prints of your artwork requires developing a close relationship with a printer, whether it is an office supply company or your inkjet at home. There are several ways to assist you in selling art prints and other items to your audience, ranging from do-it-yourself projects to full-service sales.
5. Craft Your Identity: Build Your Brand as an Artist:
Your brand may develop organically as you discover how to market your artwork as an artist. You will be identified as an artist by your chosen style and medium, and it will draw customers and admirers on its own. But when you begin to consider yourself both a business and an artist, you will have a lot of intentional choices to make.
Your brand narrative as an artist may influence someone’s purchase choice because art is a subjective and occasionally emotive thing. Additionally, the visual aesthetic of the work itself should be reflected in or enhanced by other corporate assets like packaging and website design.
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6. Set the Value: Retail Pricing Strategies:
Value, demand, and the artist’s or work’s popularity are more subjective factors to take into account when determining retail prices for art.
How do you make money selling your artwork online? If you know how to value and charge for your work, you can become a working artist and support yourself. Because art doesn’t always fit easily into conventional pricing systems, pricing it might be difficult.
7. Digital Storefront: Build an E-commerce Platform:
Using your own website is the most effective approach to sell your artwork online. If you’ve set pricing, originals, prints, or merchandise as your business model, you’ve already done a lot of the work; all that’s left to do is assemble.
8. Monetize Your Creativity: License Your Art
Aside from selling physical art—both original and reproductions—there’s another way to make licencing is how artists make money. Selling permission for a company, organization, agency, stock photo website, person, or brand to use a digital copy of your shot for a particular use case and duration is known as licencing your work.
Artists frequently look for clients to license their illustrations or designs using websites like Behance. Behance.
A digital art image may be used for an extended period or with unrestricted usage rights; however, licensing agreements typically contain restrictions to safeguard the artist. Before you sign any legal documents, be sure you understand what you’re getting into and that you still control the rights to your image.
💡 Advice: Seek legal counsel from a contract lawyer to assist in drafting the terms of your licensing contracts. This becomes increasingly crucial as your reputation grows or the value of your painting rises.
9. Artistic Promotion: Market Your Brand
Like Maria, a lot of artists first gained popularity on social media, building a fan base before opening a shop and charging for their creations. It makes sense to focus your efforts and financial resources on the channel where you first saw the greatest success.
Artist Adam Spychala advertises his print shop and artwork on Instagram, where he has amassed over 100,000 followers.
10. Secure Delivery: Package and Ship Your Art
Since art is mostly visual, even the slightest elements, like how your artwork is packaged and sent, should be taken into consideration. Delivering artwork intact is the minimum; instead, provide your clients with an experience worthy of the effort and attention to detail you devote to your creations.
As art can be fragile, follow these guidelines to ensure your work arrives safe and sound.
Is selling art online profitable?
If you’re thoughtful about your pricing and marketing approaches, selling art online may be financially rewarding. Setting retail prices that include a profit margin will be made easier if you have a clear understanding of your expenditures, which should include art supplies, marketing expenses, selling fees for online stores or other marketplaces, and other overhead. After you understand how to sell artwork online, you may investigate the various avenues that can assist in getting your work in front of viewers. You can reach a wider audience and increase sales by selling on marketplaces, but watch out for costs that may reduce your earnings.
How Shopify Features Benefit To Artists For Selling Their Arts Online
Empowering Online Presence:
When it comes to online art sales, Shopify is an extremely useful tool for artists. User-friendly features are easily integrated into the site, making it easier for artists to sell their work.
Customizable Storefronts:
- The most notable aspect of Shopify is its storefront customization.
- Artists now have the ability to create visually striking and unique internet galleries.
- Artists may showcase their artwork in a way that reflects their individual style and business identity thanks to the abundance of templates and design options available.
Secure Transaction Process:
The platform shows a great dedication to a safe and easy-to-use transaction process.
- Offering support for multiple payment channels gives customers and artists flexibility.
- Customers get confidence from this, which builds trust and eventually motivates them to buy.
Efficient Inventory Management:
- Shopify offers advantageous features for efficient inventory management.
- Automatic updates on stock levels prevent overselling.
- Real-time tracking keeps artists well-informed about their inventory status, ensuring smooth operations and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.
SEO Capabilities:
- The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features offered by Shopify are essential for attracting customers to the online businesses of artists.
- Shopify’s product listing optimization techniques improve the discoverability of artworks in search engines.
- By using this calculated technique, artists may reach a wider audience in the cutthroat online art market.
Global Empowerment:
- To sum up, Shopify is a priceless resource for artists looking to get into the internet art industry.
- Shopify helps artists sell and exhibit their work to a worldwide audience by providing everything from visually appealing storefronts to secure transactions and SEO optimization.
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