Maria takes Hatecopy’s copycats as an indication that she’s onto something.“It’s a sign that I’m inspiring others and that what I’m doing is right because they wouldn’t copy me otherwise,” she says, “I’m not offended or bothered by it anymore.”
For galleries that represent multiple artists and sell art online, copycat websites are a consistent problem. “We do have an issue with various online sites just bootlegging what we do,” says Ken. “It’s part of the way the world works, unfortunately. We do our best, but it happens.”
While copycats may be a reality, artists and businesses have legal recourse and should seek the advice of a copyright lawyer to help protect intellectual property before infringement happens.
For many emerging artists, the best way to sell art online is to just get started with what you have at your disposal. Cat started her art business from a spare bedroom. Whether it’s a basement or a kitchen table, it can work as your launch pad.
In this stage of your business, you’ll wear all the hats: creator, marketer, packer, shipper, web designer, and customer service rep. Cat describes this time in her own journey as lean and humbling. “It gave me assurance of knowing every aspect of my business inside and out,” she says, “including its strengths and weaknesses.”
You could know everything about business and you could know everything about art, but it’s the combination of both that really makes a successful brand.
Thinking of yourself as an entrepreneur right from the get-go will be crucial to your success. You may stumble as a creative to learn the business aspects, but they will ultimately help you grow and scale. Eventually, you can delegate and automate, allowing you to focus on what you do best: making beautiful things.
“You could know everything about business and you could know everything about art,” says Maria, “but it’s the combination of both that really makes a successful brand.”
The best way to sell art online is by building your own branded ecommerce site with a platform like Shopify. You can also sell your work on a crafts and art marketplace like Etsy or on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook Shops. Understand where your target customers like to shop to find out the best place to sell your art online.
If you are an artist looking to learn how to sell art online, you can get up and running in a few simple steps:
Yes, selling art online can be profitable if you’re intentional about your pricing and marketing strategies. Understanding your costs, including art materials, ecommerce or marketplace selling fees, marketing costs, and other overhead will help you set retail prices that include a profit margin. Selling on marketplaces will help you reach bigger audiences and make more sales, but be wary of fees that can cut into profits. Get started with Shopify
Selling original art online is still possible through your own branded website. Price point for original art will be much higher, so it’s important that you build a strong, loyal audience for your work. Diversifying your sales channels, like also working with a gallery, will help you broaden your exposure as an artist. Get started with Shopify
This is a tricky question because art is very broad and subjective. Selling prints of your work can be very profitable because you can continue to generate income from a single piece. Lower price points (versus original art) mean you likely can sell more volume. Curators should follow trends in art and design to help understand what art collectors and potential buyers are buying, then work with artists that have high success potential. As a creator, you should lean into the style that you do best and build a following from there. Get started with Shopify
Yes, you can work with galleries to sell your art. Both online and physical galleries are always looking for new talent to represent. Reach out with a personalized and professional email with links to your portfolio. Each gallery may have different processes for submissions, so do your homework! Get started with Shopify
Don’t you just love the idea of having a steady cash flow even if you are on your vacation or you are busy working on other projects?
To be honest, that’s one of the most attractive benefits of selling art prints online and, there are two major ways on how you can make art prints to sell online:
As a digital artist, you can either focus your creative energies in making custom digital art for your clients or you can make a generous amount of money by selling prints of your digital artworks.
Of course, you can also do both since selling prints won’t require much of your time and effort once everything is set-up on your website or on a certain art site that supports artists.
In other words, selling prints of your digital art isn’t that labor-intensive as creating digital artwork for a client from scratch.
Gallery WallCementing a good reputation as a digital artist is crucial in your success in this art business and, one way to ensure that you are safeguarding your reputation is by creating a high-quality print of your digital artworks.
Hence, you must know how to prepare your art for printing. You can’t just print your artwork right away, and you can’t either go to a printing shop directly.
If you are working on a 13 in (33cm) by 19 in (48 cm) image, you can stick to the standard resolution of 72 dpi.
Once you’ve adjusted the resolution, it will automatically affect the color of your work. Hence, you need to tweak the color and texture of your print from the color menu, so it will go back to its original color.
If you are going to print your digital art for posters, banners, and other similar huge projects, consider using tools like Perfect Resize and Blow-Up.
Figure out how you can change the contrast of your artwork since photo-editing software has different ways where you can adjust this element from the toolbar.
Increase your work’s contrast until it looks really sharp on the screen. Most often, what looks sharp on the screen won’t be as sharp once it is printed out on paper or whatever material you are printing it on.
Increase your work’s contrast until it looks really sharp on the screen. Most often, what looks sharp on the screen won’t be as sharp once it is printed out on paper or whatever material you are printing it on.
Go to the “layer” menu on Photoshop, and right-click on “Art Layer.” After this, you have to duplicate the layer and then choose “filter,” “other,” and “High Pass.”
And then, just choose 3 on the “radius” drop-down menu and click “Ok.” Once you are done with these steps, choose the “Overlay” or “Soft Light” from the drop-down menu on the Layer Palette.
Tweaking the sharpness this way gives you a different effect from just adjusting the resolution directly. It helps in making the edges of your work sharper. Hence, emphasizing the outlines of your artwork.
However, you should remember to only save your file as JPEG once you are done with all of your changes. Saving your file as JPEG repeatedly will diminish the quality of your work once it is printed.
On the other hand, you can save your file as TIF if you don’t want to lose the quality of your work after saving it repeatedly as TIF.
Your choice of ink and paper plays a crucial role in the success of your digital art’s printed output. Below are some considerations that you need to look into as you tread on this essential step:
If you are leaning more towards producing more vibrant colors, dye-based inks would work best for your project. These inks are also great if you are using glossy paper.
So, if you want your print to last for a longer period (up to 150 years), your best option is to use pigment-based inks.
On the other hand, it can still be managed – you just have to buy the inks directly from the manufacturer of your printer.
