How to Sell Art Online Through Print-On-Demand Sites
“Art is too important not to share” – Romero Britto
In this digital age, art is a more viable career than ever before. As a painter, illustrator, designer, or photographer, you’re only a few clicks away from sharing your work with a vast audience; the Internet has connected artists with art lovers from every corner of the globe. And in addition to a plethora of online networking options, fresh, exciting business opportunities have emerged for artists, offering new revenue streams in an industry that has traditionally been considered low-paid, except for the successful minority. We’re talking about print-on-demand, an online service that sells prints and custom products from artists around the world.
Selling print-on-demand wares can be a fantastic way to supplement your income as an artist. With print-on-demand, you’re no longer limited to selling your original artwork––you can sell art prints and all sorts of customized products––from wall art and home decor to apparel to framed fine art prints. By far, one of the best aspects of print-on-demand is the convenience of dropshipping. With dropshipping, you spend far less time worrying about the hassle of logistics, printing, framing, billing, and order fulfillment. Instead, your focus remains solely on creating your original artwork, promoting it to your audience, and growing your sales.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of print-on-demand and give you tips on how to choose the right platform for your artwork.
Tips for Artists Using Print-On-Demand
As you’d expect from any business opportunity, there are challenges that come with print-on-demand, including a great deal of competition. For instance, the print-on-demand site Fine Art America has over 500,000 merchants selling their wares. But don’t let that intimidate you; Fine Art America also attracts over 125,000 daily users, and there’s truly something for everyone.
Fortunately, as an artist, you have a few significant advantages: First, unlike other aspiring merchandisers who have to agonize over sourcing artwork––you already have a solid body of work ready to go. You may have also already started building and promoting your personal brand as an artist and, as a result, an audience that is receptive to your work.
Once you decide that print-on-demand is right for you, you’ll need to decide which of your designs you’ll use or if you’ll create new ones. You’ll also need to spend time building your existing following, focus on marketing and promoting, and ultimately, growing your sales.
- While you’re creating or choosing artwork to sell through a print-on-demand platform, aim to have a large body of consistent, high-quality work that is both eye-catching and representative of your unique style as an artist.
- As you’re uploading images to the website, keep in mind that most sites will reject low-quality or blurry photos. Make sure the images of your work are in focus and don’t have sloppy backgrounds or sharpness issues.
- Provide great titles and descriptions for your work. The search features on print-on-demand sites work a lot like Google, so you must have really good, creative keywords to get discovered. As you’re writing your descriptions, consider including things like the location, emotions, colors, themes, types of decor that it might be suitable for, etc.
- Regularly update your shop with new artwork and products.
- Promote your products on your artist’s website and your social media.
Choosing a Print-On-Demand Platform
There are quite a few print-on-demand platforms out there for artists to choose from. Here are a few of our favorites:
Fine Art America
By far the largest and most popular digital art marketplace, Fine Art America has transformed the online art industry. Their massive global audience, easy set-up, and print-on-demand technology make it an attractive resource for any artist. And their career-accelerating tools, including branded web stores and newsletter design, make this marketplace downright irresistible.
Getting started with Fine Art America couldn’t be easier. With just a few clicks, you can open an account, upload your images, select the products you want to sell, set your prices, and begin selling your artwork to interested buyers all over the world.
Printify
Printify is a comprehensive print-on-demand service designed to let merchants make original designs that they can place on clothing, home decor, postcards, and other products. Rather than having an online marketplace like other print-on-demand services, Printify allows you to create your products and add them to your eCommerce site, with the added convenience of dropshipping. Here’s how it works:
- Select the type of product you’d like to sell. For example, you might want to sell wood canvas prints, journals, t-shirts, or greeting cards. These are the raw items you’ll use to place your artwork on.
- Upload your artwork and place it on the product. Printify has design tools so that you can upload images, designs, logos, and more. The tools are straightforward; after uploading your artwork, you drag and drop it onto the product, then adjust the size and decide whether or not you want something on the back.
- Add the product to your site. Use Shopify, Etsy, or WooCommerce integrations to speed up the process.
- Start selling. Once someone purchases your product from your site, sit back and relax! Printify completes this entire process for you, from order fulfillment and billing to shipping.
Society 6
Society 6 has works from more than 300,000 independent artists from 160+ countries. In terms of products, they offer everything from premium wall art (canvas prints, metal prints, and wood pieces), apparel, home decor, tech accessories, and even furniture. It’s easy to start selling on this popular platform. Simply create your account, upload your artwork to your artist shop and select the products you want to sell. Promote your work – and watch your earnings roll in.
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