2 of 8

Write now Article Tools

I have recently put some effort into putting my art work onto the net, and in the process I have found a number of useful resources to assist with selling your work and/or prints of your work. There is a revolution going on and established methods of selling art (and anything for that matter) are being challenged by the growth of business done on the Internet.

Undoubtedly the biggest player in the internet art business is http://www.art.com.
This is a vast site with impressive visitor numbers and sales. The major difficulty for anyone starting out and trying to get an audience for their work on this site is competing with the sheer volume of work on the site. The site has recently undergone some fairly major structural changes and at present the jury is still out on whether this will really benefit the majority of artists. I would still recommend a look and it's certainly worth taking advantage of their free gallery facility. They pay a 15% royalty on all "posters" sold. In short I would classify art.com as the leader in selling low cost "wall decor"

My personal favorite art selling site is http://www.imagekind.com. I like the look of this site and if their prints are as professionally produced as their web site then they are onto a winner. Like many sites, Imagekind offers a free gallery of limited size which allows you to upload in the region of 15 to 20 images. The major difference between imagekind.com and art.com is that the former allows you to set your own profit margins when selling prints of your work. If you have a successful website selling your originals Imagekind really is ideal for artists who wish to sell quality selling prints without all the work. Like most sites they do everything from printing, framing and shipping, allowing you to concentrate on creating.

Both sites allow you to sell the original work via their website and retain 100% of the proceeds.

A new site for me is redbubble.com. This site seems to attract a younger (or perhaps younger at heart) audience and features many unusual and "funky" images. Again artists can set your own profit margins and this must be a plus. The site has lots of ways of providing feedback to and between artists.. its always nice to get a message from another artist saying "great image"

There are now a number of sites offering a wide range of other products for the artist who wants to see their designs on everything from T shirts to postcards. The two leaders in this area are probably cafepress.com and zazzle.com

Although few artists make a living from these sites they do provide another all important revenue stream for artists. The name of the game is increasing your exposure as much as possible.

This is a rapidly developing sector of the art market, and sales figures are increasing dramatically and new art selling sites are starting up all the time. I would recommend to anyone wishing to keep up to date on new ways of selling their images on the net, is http://www.onlinevisualartists .com. This was set up only a few months ago by a group of like minded artists looking to share their knowledge of attracting audiences and selling on the net. The forum is rapidly become an influential and busy forum with lots of very useful links and suggestions coming from its members.

Of course none of this is a substitute to getting out their and showing your work in brick and mortar galleries, but it is a useful addition.

Learn more about this author, Andrew Mercer.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about An introduction to selling art on the internet?
We want to hear your view. Write now!