Marketing Prints of My Artwork

[KenBabcock]

Any ideas on where to market my digital paintings that I print on canvas?

I've tried a few sites but haven't had much luck.

I'm attaching a few samples of my work.

[Randy Carone]

Get your work into shows and exhibits. That is one of the main avenues to then get buyers to your website. Be careful about celebrity shots and likeness' as some are protected - Elvis, for example. I suppose if you captured the original image then turned them into paintings you may be able to claim image rights, but I'd still check.

[keith_cooper]

Any ideas on where to market my digital paintings that I print on canvas?

I've tried a few sites but haven't had much luck.

I'm attaching a few samples of my work.

I know this may seem obvious, but is your work what people want to buy?

It took me a while to realise that what I like best is not always what people want to buy. My greatest print is worth nothing if no-one wants to buy it.

Find where similar work sells..

I've found that a lot of 'artists' don't like this aspect of business, and to be honest, I'm still a bit uncomfortable with the idea of printing my own photos on canvas, but if you are serious about business, then learn about marketing...  I recently wrote up some thoughts about this after visiting a few galleries when on my honeymoon ;-)
www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/photo-opinions/selling-prints.html

Oh and don't sell too cheap!

[coreydwinnell]

Check out www.deviantart.com

[KenBabcock]

Will do Randy, thanks.  I'm pretty sure I'm safe though because I'm selling art I created, not photos someone else took.  I will check it out though.

Keith - I am doing paintings that others like and not what I want.  With the samples I posted here, I don't like Boston or Taylor Swift, I hate the whole Twilight/New Moon saga, and I'm not a fan of that 34 hot rod.  Where I live there are tons of Boston and Bobby Orr fans.  Everyone is going crazy over all this vampire stuff, and the hot rod was a custom job.

About not selling too cheap, if I increase my prices I won't sell anything!  I'm afraid people are being spooked away now by my prices, which are cheap.  Currently I'm listing prints such as the ones I posted here for between $50 - $100 for various sizes, and that includes being stretched and wrapped and everything.  10x15 is $50, 14x22 is $75 and 20x30 is $100.  I've been offered $60 for a 14x22, that's it.  I've tried selling just the canvas rolled up for only $25 to see what would happen.  Absolutely nobody has bought one yet.  When you say not too cheap, any ideas on a pricing structure I should stick to?

Corey, I have checked out Deviantart but it seems more like a place for artists just to show their work.  I don't think many people are buying off Deviantart.

[KeithR]

A word of caution. Be very careful about marketing artwork from others work and especially from trademarks and copyrights. Team colors, logos and images of games are generally not to be marketed without permission from the league(usually in the form of a marketing license-not cheap) of the sport depicted unless it for the media use only. The Bobby Orr image is famous and no doubt copyrighted and could get you into big trouble.

[keith_cooper]

About not selling too cheap, if I increase my prices I won't sell anything!  I'm afraid people are being spooked away now by my prices, which are cheap.  Currently I'm listing prints such as the ones I posted here for between $50 - $100 for various sizes, and that includes being stretched and wrapped and everything.  10x15 is $50, 14x22 is $75 and 20x30 is $100.  I've been offered $60 for a 14x22, that's it.  I've tried selling just the canvas rolled up for only $25 to see what would happen.  Absolutely nobody has bought one yet.  When you say not too cheap, any ideas on a pricing structure I should stick to?

I don't actually know this market at all (I'd not heard of any of the subjects - I'm in the UK), however, the key would seem to be finding out how much similar works go for? Who buys them? Who are your potential customers and where do they buy from?

It's like selling any product - research your market.  Pricing is about perceived value and demand - I've no idea of the values in your potential market or your (true) costs.

Unfortunately it comes down to business not art ;-)

Have you read any of Dan Hellers business related articles?
www.danheller.com/biz-prints.html

[feppe]

Will do Randy, thanks.  I'm pretty sure I'm safe though because I'm selling art I created, not photos someone else took.  I will check it out though.

Keith - I am doing paintings that others like and not what I want.  With the samples I posted here, I don't like Boston or Taylor Swift, I hate the whole Twilight/New Moon saga, and I'm not a fan of that 34 hot rod.  Where I live there are tons of Boston and Bobby Orr fans.  Everyone is going crazy over all this vampire stuff, and the hot rod was a custom job.

IANAL, but even if you "created" (painted) them yourself doesn't necessarily give you the legal right to reproduce other people's copyrighted works. Derivative works require permission from the original artist - ie. the photographer who took the photo. Looking at the paintings it's obvious some of them are derivative works. There are numerous case studies available, the latest one being the famous Obama image, which would mirror "your" Bobby Orr image in its presentation (photo turned into a painting), and probably that of Ms Swift and the Twilight kids.

I would highly recommend contacting a lawyer in your jurisdiction before opening yourself up for lawsuits or even punitive damages.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

IANAL...

Hey, Harri, be careful with those new-speak acronyms, this one can easily be confused with iANAL  

[milonlouei]

Hi KenBabcock

The pics that you have given as examples are so nice and really amazing. I too have some original abstract paintings on my walls. I am a huge lover of paintings. For more paintings check out link in my signature.