Making a living as a career artist is about more than just creating beautiful pieces of art. It involves understanding how to build an audience, how to price artwork, and knowing the specific requirements for shipping art. It means thinking like an entrepreneur.
Before the rise of e-commerce platforms, artists relied on third-party gallerists, agents, and retailers to distribute their work. Today’s creator tools allow independent artists to own their distribution channels, creating and selling their work online on their own terms.
These changes have allowed gallerists and curators to connect with more artists and begin selling prints online to reach broader markets.
Whether you are a creator or an agent looking to make money online selling art, this step-by-step guide will teach you how to sell art online, with tips from successful gallerists and artists.
In the following sections, we will explore the basics of selling art online for both beginners and experienced artists. Explore the information in each section, including working with printers and fighting plagiarism.
Artist Maria Qamar in her studio
No matter what kind of art you are passionate about—original acrylic paintings, digital prints, or sculpture—this article has helpful tips for every artist. Read expert advice from Spoke Art gallerist Ken Harmon, Ferme à Papier owner Cat Seto, and artist Maria Qamar, also known as Hatecopy. These experts will walk you through every stage: from learning how to sell paintings online to reproducing your work on merchandise.
1. Choose Your Business Model: Sell Your Own Artwork or the Work of Other Artists
There are two ways to sell art online: create or curate. Cat built her career both ways: by creating and selling her own work, as well as representing the work of other artists in her boutique. Which method is right for you?
Create and Sell Your Own Art
As an artist, you are the creator of original works of art, reproductions of originals, or digital art. You can sell them directly to your customers or indirectly through a gallery, retail partner, or agent.
It has never been easier for artists to sell directly: new tools for creators appear almost every day.
Artist Maria Qamar runs her own online store where she sells prints and other goods, cutting out the middleman and keeping her costs low. But she also relies on collaborations with experienced galleries to exhibit and sell original pieces of art there.
If you are just learning how to sell paintings online, don't forget that galleries can introduce your work to a new audience. They may also have access to resources and specialists who can help promote, exhibit, handle, and ship artwork to buyers.
Curate the Work of Other Artists
If you aren't an artist yourself but have a great eye and a love for the art world, you can still get involved in selling artwork as a curator.
Some artists may not enjoy marketing or looking for the best way to sell art online. Instead, they rely on gallerists, curators, and retail partners to handle this aspect of the business. As a partner to artists, you receive a percentage of the sale price in exchange for your business expertise and services.
There are several ways to work with artists to sell their pieces online—whether it's selling originals or prints, licensing work for printing on merchandise, or using artwork in publications. "Most galleries offer a standard industry rate of 50% for original art," says gallerist Ken Harmon. "The artist provides the artwork, and we do our best to sell it."
2. Decide What to Sell: Original Artwork or Prints
The best way to sell your art online will depend on the nature of your art and your chosen medium. You can sell the piece of art itself, a reproduction, or both.
Artists using classical materials and selling their work at high prices might, for example, prefer to sell only originals, while digital art, which can be reproduced without losing quality, is perfect for prints and merchandise. However, most artwork created in 2D media has several options for unlimited sales of the same work.
Consider the following formats:
- Original Art: paintings, drawings, illustrations (you can sell both original pieces and reproductions).
- Limited or Open Edition Prints: framed, unframed, or canvas prints.
- Digital Art or Digital Downloads: desktop wallpapers, templates, artwork, etc.
- Custom Art: made to order upon client request or company commission.
- Merchandise: your artwork printed on hats, iPhone cases, mugs, T-shirts, pins, greeting cards, stationery, etc.
- Patterns: on fabric, wrapping paper, or wallpaper.
- Licensing: "renting" work to other brands or publications (great for illustrators and photographers).
- Brand Collaborations: a limited collection sold through a partner brand's store.
Indigenous artist Patrick Hunter creates affordable reproductions of his work on items like greeting cards and clothing.
Some mediums, such as sculpture, are harder to reproduce or use commercially. But for those who cannot scan and print, there are still ways to gain extra income from a single design. For example, when making clay products, you can use the same mold to create identical pieces, and 3D models can be created over and over again with a 3D printer.
Artwork Reproductions: Open Edition and Limited Edition
Hatecopy art decorates clothing and other goods on Maria's own site
Reproducing artwork on T-shirts, mugs, or as prints means one work can bear fruit indefinitely or for a limited time. There are two ways to sell your artwork as reproductions: open edition and limited edition.
What is an Open Edition?
An open edition means printing and selling an unlimited number of products (prints or copies of the original work).
Advantages
- You can continue to profit from a single piece of art indefinitely as long as there is still demand for it.
- Your art can spread everywhere through satisfied customers who never encounter an "out of stock" warning.
Disadvantages
- Unlimited availability of your pieces might devalue your work as a whole.
What is a Limited Edition?
A limited edition means printing only a certain number of copies before copying stops. They are often numbered and signed by the artist to increase value and authenticity.
Advantages
- The effect is much like that of a limited-time offer: creating a sense of scarcity and urgency is a great marketing strategy.
- Limited availability increases the value of the artwork, meaning you can sell copies at higher prices.
Disadvantages
- As demand exceeds supply, a secondary market emerges where buyers resell pieces at inflated prices.
This print from Van Orten Design is a limited edition of 100 copies and is available on the Spoke website
Spoke often chooses a limited edition strategy. "We work very hard to find things that will be special for sale. Special things should be treated specially," says Ken.
To minimize resales, Spoke limits the number of sales of certain copies to one per customer. "Making sure true fans can actually get what we sell is always a priority," says Ken.
3. Photograph and Scan Your Work
Clear and accurate photography and presentation of your products are important for any small online business. Without the ability to feel the product, potential customers must get a better idea of what they are buying through clear and detailed images.
Selling artwork online is no exception. "If you have a poor image of your work or the image doesn't accurately reflect it, it will be harder to sell," says Ken. "Or you'll have to deal with unhappy customers and process returns."
Photography for Sale
Photographing art is a bit trickier than other products, and a basic lighting setup can still cause glare or uneven color. Consider hiring a professional to shoot larger works or artwork with 3D elements or glossy surfaces.
Photographs depicting your items or artwork in a space or scene help inspire your customers and convey scale. Ferme à Papier
If you sell merchandise or other products featuring your artwork, general product photography rules apply. Take clear shots from different angles, as well as zoomed-in shots to show texture and detail. Lifestyle photos (your product in a scene) are great for your homepage and social media and help convey scale.
Print-on-demand services often provide image mockups with your artwork embedded in them. You can use these mockups on your product pages instead of or in addition to a main photo.
Scanning Artwork for Sale
For 2D works, Ken recommends scanning as an affordable and efficient alternative to photography. "The most cost-effective way to do this is to buy a desktop scanner, scan the work in parts, and stitch it together digitally," he says. "If you have a piece with a glossy finish or resin, it will be a bit harder to do, but for most works on canvas or paper, it's fairly easy." For more complex scans, galleries and other printing services can help.
In both cases, you want the final product to reflect your work as accurately as possible so you can use it in your portfolio or sell it as prints or digital art.
Read more:
4. Use a Printer to Print Prints of Your Artwork
Understanding how to sell copies of your artwork comes down to mastering the printer, whether it's a home inkjet printer or a company that performs this task for you. There are many options, from "DIY" to "hands-off," that can help you sell artwork reproductions and other goods to your audience.
Printing Prints Yourself
You can start selling your own artwork by creating quality copies (prints) yourself using high-quality paper, ink, and a home office printer. For a new artist, this method can lower costs, but it may prove unsustainable as the business scales over time.
"At first, I printed, packed, and delivered every ordered poster by hand," says Maria. "At some point, the volume became so large that I didn't have time to paint. I spent all my days working on shipping and transportation."
This method is usually limited to selling paper prints, but some special home printers allow for printing on canvas or fabric specifically designed for this purpose.
Using a Printing Company
A local or online print shop can mass-produce your work and even offer bulk discounts if you print many of the same pieces. This might be the best way to sell artwork online if you have a small catalog and high sales volume for those pieces.
When using this method, you will still be responsible for packing and shipping the copies you sell online. However, these companies can often produce high-quality copies due to more advanced printers.
Artist and shop owner Cat Seto often prints large batches for collection releases. Although she uses print-on-demand services, the copies are first delivered to her studio rather than being sent directly to the customer. "It's important that we are the last ones to check, pack, and ship products to our customers," she says.
Print on Demand
Print on demand is the most convenient and versatile option, as well as the easiest way to sell artwork online, especially if you plan to sell your work printed on merchandise like T-shirts or hats.
Print-on-demand services usually integrate with your Shopify store in the form of an app. When a user places an order, the app sends information to the service, which triggers the printing process and ships the item directly to the buyer. This is an excellent option for low-budget art sales as there is no need to invest in equipment or inventory.
When the number of orders exceeded her ability to print and ship work herself, Maria switched to using a print-on-demand company. "All I have to do is upload my work and let them do all the work for me," she says. "Now I can focus on creating artwork and connecting with people."
Print-on-demand items aren't limited to paper copies. Your artwork can be printed on various sale items, from phone cases to stickers.
Request samples from your print-on-demand provider so you can check colors and print quality. This is especially important if the goods will be shipped directly to your customers.
5. Create Your Artist Brand
When you start selling your artwork, your brand can evolve as a natural extension of your activity. Your chosen style and medium will define you as an artist, and through this alone, you will naturally attract fans and buyers. However, there are many decisions you will need to make consciously when you begin thinking of yourself as a businessperson as well as an artist.
Since art is a personal and sometimes emotional purchase, your brand story as an artist can influence someone's buying decision. Other business assets, such as packaging and site design, should reflect or complement the visual aesthetic of the work itself.
Branding work should be based on answering the following questions:
- Do you create and sell artwork under your own name, a pseudonym, or a brand name?
- How will you tell your brand story? How much of your personal story will you reveal?
- Do you have a mission, values, or a goal you want to communicate through your brand?
- Beyond the art itself, what is the visual direction of your brand? What is the tone of your communication?
- What branding resources do you need? Even without design skills or a budget to hire a graphic designer, you can create a logo using a logo creator service and perform branding design with free and simple tools.
Answers to these questions will help you create a branding guide that will form the basis for website design, marketing materials, etc. If you start to scale your business, this guide will help you maintain brand consistency while delegating tasks to staff or other partners.
Your brand story can appear in different places, including social media content, packaging inserts, and the "About Us" page of your website, such as the page of Australian artist Sarah Migliacco.
Many artists build a fan base around their online accounts or personal brands, closely tied to their art. Tatiana Cardona, also known as "Female Alchemy", decided to put her face at the center of her social media strategy.
For Cat, causes closest to her heart take center stage in her brand. Cat's brand values influence the types of projects she undertakes with other brands and clients. "I think in collaboration it's important not only to stay true to your brand," she says, "but also to be able to listen and show initiative towards the person you're collaborating with."
Read more:
- How to Create Your Own Brand from Scratch in 7 Steps
- What is a Personal Brand? 7 Steps to Building Your Business
6. Set Retail Prices for Your Products
When setting a retail price for artwork, consider more subjective aspects such as value, demand, and popularity of the artwork or artist. Pexels
How do you sell art online and make money from it? Making a living as a working artist is possible if you know how to value and price your work. Pricing art is a challenge because it doesn't necessarily fit neatly into typical pricing strategies.
Pricing Original Art
Running any business that will be sustainable in the long run involves making a profit at some point. To achieve this, you will need to price your art accordingly. If you're just starting to experiment with how to sell your art and don't have broad popularity, you can start with a simple valuation formula for your original art:
Your sales and marketing costs + material costs + other expenses + your markup (profit) = retail price
When using this method, it's helpful to consider the time you spent creating the piece. It's common for artists to undervalue their time and labor, especially at the beginning.
The formula above might not work because the value of art is subjective and doesn't necessarily depend on specific details like material costs or labor. Famous artists can get much more for a piece whose creation cost is roughly the same as that of a new artist. Check the market, compare your prices with those of similar artists of a similar level, and adjust accordingly.
You can collaborate with gallerists who are experts in valuing artwork to set a price that makes sense for you, the gallery, and the market. Note that the gallery will take a commission from the retail price when selling paintings online and offline.
Pricing Art Prints
Selling prints or other types of reproductions can be done using a simpler pricing formula:
Printing cost + your sales and marketing costs for the copy + other expenses + your markup (profit) = retail price
Your markup may depend on whether you are selling open or limited edition prints. Other expenses may include stationery, software or app fees, professional services, studio rent, and more.
"Knowing what your products represent and what compromises you're not willing to make is a key component when making pricing decisions," says Cat. For her, printing on eco-friendly paper was a necessity, even if it meant higher material costs and, ultimately, a higher retail price. It's vital to communicate these decisions to the customer, especially if your prices are above average.
Read more:
- How to Price Your Product: What You Need to Know Before Launch
- The Right Price: 14 Strategies for Finding the Perfect Price for Your Products
- Product Pricing: Setting Prices for Wholesale and Retail
7. Create an Online Store to Sell Your Artwork Online
The best way to sell your art online is through your own online store. You've already done most of the work if you've defined your brand rules, prices, and business model (selling originals, copies, or merchandise). Selling goods through an online store is simply a matter of assembling all the pieces of the work done.
Critical Pages for an Online Store
Every online store should have several important pages that customers expect to see when browsing the site. These include the homepage, contact page, "About Us" page, collection pages, and product pages. Some lesser-known but important pages to note are terms and conditions, FAQs, privacy policy, and shipping policy.
Tracie Andrews Online Store
For artists, a gallery or portfolio page can also be useful if you plan to license your work, sell through galleries, offer custom pieces, or attract partner brands.
Online store of artist Alex Garant
Store Design and Themes
When setting up your online art store, choose a Shopify theme that allows your art to breathe—with large images and plenty of white/negative space. Here are some of our themes for selling artwork online:
While Shopify themes are designed for easy customization without coding, you can further customize your theme by hiring a Shopify expert to help you with design or development.
The Spoke Art website uses a simple theme that prioritizes large images, making the art the foundation. Spoke Art
Read more:
- Best E-commerce Website Designs: 27 Site Examples
- How to Choose the Best Theme for Your Online Store? Take Our Quiz
Apps for Art Stores
The Shopify App Store is full of apps that connect directly to your online store to solve specific problems, add unique functionality, and help you manage your store with more ease, allowing you to focus on the creative aspects of the business.
App recommendations to help sell your artwork online:
- Print-on-demand apps. If you sell your artwork as prints and merchandise, apps like Creativehub, Printful, or Printify will help with this.
- Gallery creation apps. An app like POWRful Photo Gallery can be used to create a portfolio or catalog of your work to share with galleries or brands looking to collaborate with you.
- Social marketing apps. Keep your site content current with an app like Instafeed, which shows Instagram images on your site.
- Product page apps. If you offer artwork in different sizes, with frames, on different types of paper, etc., use an app like Bold Product Options to add various options to products.
Read more:
8. Discover More Online Channels for Selling Artwork
Where is the best place to sell art online besides your own online store? For example, if you have many followers on social media, this could be a great start.
Having an omnichannel strategy is important for strengthening your independence as a creator. A standalone site allows you to control its appearance and have direct contact with the audience you attract. But using other channels can help you access additional markets and build your personal brand.
Where to Sell Your Art Online
- Standalone site using an e-commerce platform such as Shopify.
- Marketplaces such as Etsy, Amazon, or eBay can be integrated into your store as additional sales channels, allowing you to synchronize sales and reach a wider audience.
- Other specialized art marketplaces will help you find places where art lovers gather (Society6, Artfinder, Saatchi Art, Fine Art America, etc.).
- Social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram, which can also be integrated into your Shopify store. Sell on TikTok and run TikTok ads to attract fans to your store.
- Sell wholesale or consign to other online boutiques and galleries. You can browse wholesale markets to find suitable retailers who want to sell your artwork.
- Collaboration with other artists who sell artwork online. Gain access to their audience by creating joint works for sale and promotion on both your and their sites.
In addition to her wholesale business, Cat sells goods directly to customers and works on custom projects for clients and brands. "If I had tried to balance all of this from the beginning," she says, "I think the result would have been overwhelming."
9. Sell Your Art Offline: Gallery Shows, Pop-up Shops, and Events
Because Maria often works in traditional media, much of the impact of texture and scale in her work would be lost in a digital format. "It's real physical work, so when we hold exhibitions, you can walk into a gallery and see that I'm a real person with technical skills capable of creating paintings and large-scale installations," she says.
Artists can also connect with fans and find new audiences by selling artwork offline. There, you can personally drive people to your online store.
When selling your own artwork in real life, consider the following:
- Partner with a gallery to exhibit work and create buzz.
- Explore local art markets, art fairs, and events and set up a one-time or semi-permanent booth there.
- Sell retail or wholesale in retail stores for art, gifts, or lifestyle.
- Open your studio to the public when launching your website or hold a weekly open studio day to familiarize fans with your workflow.
- Open a pop-up shop (collaborate with other artists to share the costs).
- Lend or consign your work for decoration to emerging retail businesses like cafes in exchange for exposure.
Before Ken opened his permanent gallery, he dabbled in pop-up shops to build his reputation and test business ideas. "For those selling original works, the personal experience element is critical," says Ken. "It is very rare to find a successful art gallery that operates entirely online."
However, advances in technologies like 3D and AR for online stores, as well as the trend toward digital experiences, may bring big changes to the art world in the future. It's important to keep an eye on consumer trends as you learn how to sell your art and grow your business.
10. Collaborate with Galleries to Sell Your Art
You can work with galleries to sell your art on your behalf if you're not interested in the business side of art. Or as an additional sales channel to supplement your own efforts. This partnership can give you access to a new audience, including serious art buyers and collectors.
Here are some do's and don'ts when working with galleries:
✅ DO check the gallery's social media accounts. "The gallery should be able to provide you with more exposure than you can get on your own." "The gallery should be able to provide you with more exposure than you can get on your own."
❌ DON'T contact a gallery via social media (unless they specifically ask for it). "While social media is a primary area for us, it's not a professional way to introduce yourself if you're an artist," says Ken.
✅ DO conduct research and only contact galleries that represent work in line with your style. "You can't sell street art to someone who collects impressionism," says Ken.
❌ DON'T sacrifice quality for quantity. "It's frustrating when an artist hoping to catch our attention tags us and 20 other galleries in one email." Choose a few top galleries you most want to work with and send a personalized message to each.
✅ DO your homework. "Find the name of the gallery director or curator," says Ken. "Being able to personalize an email is an excellent first step in this process."
11. Sell Licenses for Your Art
Besides selling artwork—both originals and prints—there is another way to make money as an artist: licensing. Licensing your artwork involves selling permission to a brand, business, institution, agency, stock photo site, or individual to use a digital version of your image for a specific use and for a specific period of time.
Artists often use sites like Behance to sell licenses for using their illustrations or design work. Behance
Licensing contracts vary and can include unlimited usage rights or the right to use a digital art image indefinitely. Although, there are usually limits to protect the artist. Before entering into any legal agreement, understand what you are signing and ensure you still retain ownership of your image.
Consult a contract lawyer for help in negotiating the terms of your licensing agreements. This is especially important if you plan to gain significant exposure or expect an increase in the value of your art.
12. Promote Your Art Brand
Many artists, like Maria, started with social media, first gaining followers and then opening a store to monetize their work. The channel where you gained the most popularity initially is where you can primarily spend your marketing energy and money.
Artist Adam Spychala uses Instagram—a platform where he has over 100,000 followers—to promote his work and his print shop.
There are several ways to advertise your art and drive traffic to your sales channels. Try these marketing strategies for your brand:
- Paid Advertising. Run ad campaigns on platforms like Google or Facebook.
- Invest in organic social content, posting regularly and frequently engaging with fans and art communities.
- Host contests or offer exclusive discounts. Use them to build your email list of potential customers.
- Use influencer marketing. Reach out to popular personalities for promotion when launching your site or a new collection.
- Apply SEO. Learn about E-commerce SEO to improve your store's visibility in search engines.
- Try offline marketing. Participate in art exhibitions and fairs or collaborate with a gallery to reach a new, wider audience.
- Use content marketing. Share your experiences regarding art, tutorials, behind-the-scenes looks, etc. through a blog, TikTok account, YouTube channel, or podcasts.
Artist Segun Caezar shows fans the process of creating a painting.
In the end, you will need to balance the amount of time you have for marketing with your skill level and desire to create content. Often, artists prefer to focus on what they do best and leave the rest to experts. Working with retail partners or galleries can lead to lower profits but takes the burden of marketing off your shoulders.
Read more:
13. Packing and Shipping Artwork
Since art is visual, you should pay attention to the smallest details, down to how your art is packaged and shipped. Art that arrives undamaged is the minimum: give your customers an experience consistent with the quality and care you put into your work.
Since art can be fragile, follow these recommendations to ensure your work arrives safely.
Shipping Prints and Posters
The Paper Tube Co. sells standard and custom tubes you can use for professional delivery of your oversized prints. The Paper Tube Co.
If you ship original artwork or choose to ship prints and canvases yourself rather than through a fulfillment company, take extra packaging precautions. Larger prints and posters are best shipped in cardboard mailing tubes, while smaller ones are best in rigid cardboard mailing envelopes.
Use glassine (water- and grease-resistant paper) or clear cellophane envelopes to protect sheets inside the package. Custom branded packaging, such as tissue paper or poly mailers with your brand image or artwork, can enhance the customer experience of your brand.
Many e-commerce platforms integrate with shipping providers and shipping apps to help you find the best shipping rates for each market and package. Determine whether you will offer free shipping and include the cost in the retail price, or charge a flat fee for it so the shipping cost is transparent.
Shipping High-Ticket and Oversized Original Artwork
Framed works and canvases require extra precautions. Packaging supply stores offer packing and shipping materials like cardboard corners and special-sized boxes designed specifically for artwork.
If you're shipping an original work to a gallery or art collector, there are ways to cut costs. "The cost of shipping a large painting stretched on canvas can be quite significant," says Ken. "Sometimes we strip the canvas, roll it into a tube, and ship it that way, which significantly reduces shipping costs. Then we can stretch the canvas locally."
Direct Art Shipping Using Print on Demand
The easiest way to sell artwork online is to delegate printing, handling, and shipping to a print-on-demand partner. They can access great shipping rates due to volume and carrier partnerships.
Art Shipping Insurance
Insurance is important when shipping original works since a lost or damaged package cannot be replaced. Many standard carriers offer fairly basic insurance for most packages, and if you're selling your art, you should research the specific additional coverage costs and limits of each carrier's insurance offerings.
When selling his own high-priced artwork, Ken takes extra steps to ensure safe delivery. "Shipping anything worth over a thousand dollars is difficult," he says, suggesting artists consider using a private freight company or a carrier specializing in transporting fine art, despite the higher costs.
Learn more: Order Fulfillment and Shipping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Shipping Your Products to Customers.
14. Understanding Plagiarism and Artist Copyright
Artist Tuesday Bassen fought a war against copycats—large chain stores that stole her original work—by hiring a lawyer and telling her story to the media. However, both Maria and Ken say that imitation and plagiarism are just a sad reality of doing business. Maria sued once, after which she changed her perspective.
"In the end, it took me a lifetime to learn how to create my art," says Maria. "If someone copies me, they'll have to sit down and eventually learn themselves because sooner or later they'll run out of ideas."
Maria views imitations as a sign that there is something valuable in her ideas. "It's a sign that I inspire others and that what I'm doing is right, because otherwise they wouldn't be copying me," she says, "it doesn't offend or bother me anymore."
For galleries that represent multiple artists and sell art online, copycat websites are a constant problem. "We have an issue where various online sites just copy what we do," says Ken. "Unfortunately, it's part of how the world works. We do our best, but it happens."
While imitations remain a reality, artists and companies have the option to go to court. Also, one should seek advice from a copyright lawyer to help protect their intellectual property before an infringement occurs.
Start Selling Artwork Online
For many aspiring artists, the best way to sell your art online is simply to start with what you have at your disposal. Cat started her art business in a spare bedroom. Whether it's a basement or a kitchen table, it can be your launchpad.
At this stage of your business, you will play every role: creator, marketer, packer, shipper, web designer, and customer service representative. Cat describes this time in her journey as lean and humbling. "It gave me the confidence that I know every aspect of my business inside and out," she says, "including its strengths and weaknesses."
Perceiving yourself as an entrepreneur from the beginning will be crucial on your path to becoming a successful artist. You may stumble while learning the business aspects, but they will ultimately help you grow and scale your online painting business. Eventually, you can delegate and automate some responsibilities, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating beautiful things.
"You can know everything about business and know everything about art," says Maria, "but it's the combination of the two that really makes a successful brand."
Art illustrations by Pete Ryan.
FAQ
What is the best way to sell your art online?
What steps do I need to take to sell my art online?
If you are an artist and want to learn how to sell art online, you can get started by following a few simple steps:
- Choose a format: originals or reproductions.
- Choose a printer (for reproductions).
- Create your artist brand.
- Create an online store.
- Expand your reach by selling through marketplaces or online galleries.
- Market your art business.
Is it profitable to sell art online?
How can I sell my original artwork online?
What type of art sells the most?
This is a difficult question because art is so broad and subjective. When you sell prints of your work, it can be very profitable because you can continue to make money from a single piece. Lower prices (compared to original art) mean you can likely sell a larger volume. As a curator, you should follow trends in art and design to understand what art collectors and potential buyers are buying, and then work with artists who have the potential to be successful. As a creator, you should rely on the style you do best and build an audience based on that.
Is it possible to work with galleries to sell your art?
Yes, you can work with galleries to sell your art. Both online and physical galleries are always looking for new talent to feature. They can help with online art sales or promote your original artwork at a gallery show. Many successful artists benefit from showcasing their work in this way. Send a personalized, professional email with links to your portfolio. Each gallery may have a different application process, so do your homework!