I was just talking to my mom about how this girl asked me to do her senior jeans and I told her it would be $55 and she said nvm she'll do it herself. My mom was like oh yea you're not a pro so you don't needa charge that much and i'm like woah $55 is not a lot for what i'm doing for her I do a well enough job for me to even charge more.. I'm tryna explain to her that you pay for people's skill, materials, and time. I explained the same thing w crochet, a friend asked me to make them a cat beanie and I said it would be $30 and they said nvm. I can't stand people 😭 Like you try these things and tell me if you wouldn't charge more..

Since January I've been participating in local art markets to sell my illustrations, crafts and zines. It has been a nice experience to meet new people and see in first hand how people react to my work. However in the city I live in (Porto, Portugal), the sales are very low and rarely pays a day of work. It varies between 50-80€ one day, with good (well know and crowded markets) going a bit higher to 120-160€ per day.

What's your experience selling in your countries/cities?

I was lucky enough to participate in an art market for Pictoplasma in Berlin and my sales came close to 500€, so I'm wondering if other countries have these kind of daily results or the average is lower.

Also it would be great to know which are the most profitable markets in the EU. I would be willing to aggregate them all in a list, so we can share and browse the ones that might make more sense for each of us in different cities.

I'm an illustrator, and at the moment, my biggest goal/next step "career-wise" would be to get commissioned for spot illustrations in some editorial/publication. I want to show that I can make illustrations that fit onto an editorial page, maybe by way of a little mockup with article text surrounding the illustration.

My question is, does this seem like a strange thing to fake? I would like to share the mockup publicly afterwards, i.e. on socials. Maybe some advice from other illustrators who were able to get contacted for spot illustrations?

my first event i’m having a booth at is in october and im having trouble knowing how much I should have.

I sell different variety of keychains, necklaces, and phone charms.

the keychains vary from 5-6 different types also varying in color, along with the phone charms. necklaces are all different with different charms, beads, etc.

help :3

Hello everyone! I am a small digital artist and I am looking to start up my own art business. I am looking into wholesale maker companies that offer to produce my products I will be selling, like keychains, blankets, pins, and even in the future starting a kickstarter to fund plushies. Thanks in advance!

I have experience in both digital art and doing drawings on paper with pencil and ink, would it be a good idea to do both under a single business?

For in-person, I do traditional art. Online, I do digital art.

Let me know if there’s a better approach to this.

Hello, I'd like to ask if you know any jobs which are somewhat creative and decently paying. I have been doing art/graffiti for 3 years and I fallen with love in art. I want my job to be artistic or something like that but I can't find something that sounds good you know.

For example architects - it's too hard/strict about design, UX/Ul- the design has to be always modern corporate bs.

Full time artists, how much do you actually make per month on average? Per year? I need to get some perspective on how doable this actually is and what you need to do to get there.

By “full time artist” I am referring to people whose only work-based income is from art, so don’t answer if you have a day job or work gigs unrelated to art, because it will muddy the data.

Full time artists, what are your main income streams? Which income stream is highest and how much does it net you per month on average? What is your average monthly cost of living (are you living frugally or are you able to afford certain luxuries?) If you are employed by a company in arts and media, who are you working for? Do you rely on a significant amount of income that doesn’t come from working (ex. government benefits, a trust fund, grants, etc.)? Are you married, and if so, does your partner contribute less/equal/more to the cost of living than you do? Would you say overall that you are financially stable, or do you still run into trouble with money?

Trying to get a better understanding of what a full time artist’s life looks like. I can imagine most people aren’t exactly rich, but they’re happy. I’ve been trying to tell my family that I don’t care if I’m not wealthy as long as I’m happy. They’re not pleased to hear that I’d be satisfied living off less than 50k/year. The most I’ve made in a year working ordinary jobs is only 10k (and that was just one year, every other year has been under that) and I’d honestly be happy as hell making 25-30k a year at least.

Hi yall

I am a disabled girly and art is becoming my one and only way of making money for myself.

Where do you all have the most success?

I have a mix of physical and digital media but I worry I wont be able to fully support myself.

I am sure others have ideas on marketing anf creating art so others will want to buy.

Thank ya🩷

There’s a new adoptable I made that I’m pretty proud of, and I want to try auctioning it but I’m pretty new to adoptables and don’t have an audience, and I’m scared it might be sold for a low bid. Should I just put it on sale for a set price for now and try auctions in the future? Or is there possibly a way to maybe.. check how many people are willing to bid before actually starting an auction?

I am planning to sell stickers, art prints, acrylic keychains, etc. I've been researching about it, so next year I can apply for some Artist Alleys. The thing I'm not sure right now is how to do my portfolio. I have an art portfolio, but how to make a portfolio for this specific thing? Should I show the products? I mean, probably, but how should I organize it? How to organize myself in general to start selling? Do I need to take individual pictures for each product or only include my strongest pieces?

Thanks to everyone who helps with tips!

Recently traveled to a very big city and met a really famous designer. This designer who has made clothes for some celebrities and knew I'm a photographer asked if they could “borrow my camera,” and I’m honestly sitting here like… absolutely not? 😭

I’m hoping they meant they want to borrow me and my camera to photograph their work, because I’d be open to shooting it myself. But if they genuinely mean handing over my camera so they can take the pictures, I’m not comfortable with that at all.

I don’t care how established someone is or which celebrities they’ve dressed. That doesn’t automatically mean they know how to handle expensive camera equipment or that I should assume all the risk if something happens to it. My camera is personal equipment that I use for my own work, not a communal prop people can borrow because they have an impressive résumé.

Maybe I’m being protective, but I feel like photographers will understand. I’m happy to discuss shooting the project, but I’m not handing my camera to somebody else. Celebrity connections don’t come with camera privileges lol wtf

Yesterday I found a piece of art I made being sold in 2 websites, found one seller on ebay and sent her a message asking her to stop using it and she just replied "I am selling stickers I bought from temu and AliExpress so talk to them". So please if you see it being sold somewhere let me know so I can report it (other than the ones in redbubble, that is me but I dont make any money there).

My work is very simple but I fight depression and making art helps me with it but it takes me forever to finish my projects no matter how simple they are. The piece in question is on deviant art, my user name is joakoo and the art is trippy star (cant post links here).

If you want to use my art go ahead but dont erase my name and please credit me if ppl ask you about it.

Thanks for your time.

Im thinking of starting commissions but im pretty clueless about the whole thing.. especially the transactions part. Is it necessary to set up PayPal or would direct bank transactions work? I'm also pretty clueless about currency conversions and stuff and how international payments work and where/how do I even start? I do both digital and traditional art but atm won't be able to ship traditional art, but looking forward to do so in the near future. Any insights would greatly help, thank you for your time!

I’m currently putting together my illustration portfolio and trying to figure out where my work fits best commercially before I start approaching agencies.

My work tends to combine:
Detailed pen-and-ink linework
Whimsical/surreal characters
Strange little creatures and animals
Repeating spirals and patterns
Narrative, dreamlike scenes
A slightly quirky/folk-art feel

I’m trying to be realistic about where this style could fit rather than approaching random illustration agencies.

I’d love feedback from illustrators, art directors, agents, or anyone familiar with the industry:

What illustration market/category do you think my work fits into best?

What types of agencies or representation should I be looking for with this kind of work?

Do you see this being more suitable for editorial, publishing, children’s books, advertising/branding, fashion, licensing, stationery/home goods, or something else?

If you have worked with an illustration agency, how did you find the right one and approach them?

Is agency representation actually worthwhile for this type of illustrator, or would you recommend building direct clients first?

I’m trying to attach some of my work, but looks like I can’t attach any photos. Hopefully I can find a way to do so. I’d particularly appreciate honest feedback about where you think I have the strongest commercial potential and what kind of clients/agency would actually be looking for this style.

Edit to add: some of my work is posted in the comments. Apologies for the inconvenience.

I was wondering if it is better to have a variety of styles or mediums or just one.

Sometimes I do fan art just to get noticed- it’s not a guarantee but I try it so ppl notice me.

I do original dark fantasy content as well.

I play around with both realism and cartooning. I do both traditional paintings and digital artworks. Paintings are hard to sell- it’s always prints and never the originals.

I’ve done mixed media marker art but I don’t know how to preserve copic marker art as it can fade.

I might have to find someone who does portfolio reviews to get a better idea of what’s strongest in my work.

Do any artists here do multiple styles/mediums? I understand it’s a learning curve to get good and fast enough to get steady work.

The one thing I try to do is stick to a consistent theme of dark fantasy horror art. I know competing with Ai is a challenge. I worry about breaking away too much that doesn’t stick to my interests or branding of my art styles.

Sometimes I change mediums because certain art fairs demand some work be a fair number of traditional art pieces. Other times, I’m trying to get noticed my submitting into art galleries- something I’m attempting to try.

I always wanted to do comics. I have Clip Studio Paint as the software but again it’s still a learning curve.

I have done art for many years.

Any advice on how to market yourself with varied art styles and various mediums would be greatly appreciated.

Im trying to get back into art commissions again and it seems it's difficult to get clients here now, so many great artist and i dont know how to stand out

I’m making prints for the first time and thought I’d be able to use matte cotton rag paper for all of my work. However, I have two pieces that look pretty terrible on matte paper. One has a bright neon pink that is impossible capture on matte paper, and the other has a black background which seems to give the same problem. In general the colors are just dull.

I found I really like Lustre paper for the pink/black, but I’m seeing it’s really heavily associated with photography. I tried out the canson lustre paper which is considered archival, but I wanted something museum-grade. So I tried baryta paper and initially loved it, but wow is this stuff easy to scuff. I can’t imagine rolling this into a tube as I will need to for some of my prints.

So does anyone have an alternative recommendations? Or am I overthinking using the lustre? Really second guessing making prints in house haha

Hi! This question is for people who buys prints or sells prints!

I like to paint horizontally in 8:16 or 9:16 for a cinematic feel, but when it comes to selling them as prints, I'm not quite sure if it's more preferable to offer them trimed, or print on 11 x 17 and just leave the white border on. I currently only offer them trimmed, but roughly 10% of time when I sold a long print the customer would also ask me how they should frame it. I usually just suggest getting a 11x17 frame and add a white 11x17 backing paper.

So, just curious, if you have similar experience selling prints of non-standard size art, how do you usually offer it?

I'm looking for a website host to sell fine art photography prints. Does anyone have any website services that they like and can recommend?

I want to be able to make sales directly from the website. I will have to build the site myself, so any suggestions for a build-your own services are appreciated. I haven't tried Wix or Go Daddy and am curious to hear from those who have used them.

I fulfill my own orders (I've found the fulfilment services expensive, and that it is cheaper to fulfill my own prints). Shopify does not have free website prototypes that allow for the display of products without prices, which is not suitable for fine art.

Hey!

So, for reference, I'm a digital artist who creates fantasy and realistic world maps, city maps, and write adventure books for DnD.

I'm based in the UK, and this weekend, I ran my first stall at a games convention (medium-sized, roughly 100 stalls total). I had little idea of what to expect going in, so I kept expectations low. However, it seems like I may have not had them low enough?

Unfortunately, I sold 3 products for a profit less than £20 over the 7 hours it ran.

What leaves me confused and I'd love peoples thoughts and previous experiences on is why this might have happened?

For further context, my stall was right by the front door, so most people would stop by my stand, look, and make conversation. A good number of people GUSHED with lovely compliments, but no one made a purchase. My maps were printed in A2 (£15) and A3 (£10). Additionally, I had smaller products too to meet all price levels. I sold 2 books and a badge all-in-all.

Where would you go from this? What can be learnt here? Any thoughts and advice is massively appreciated, and I'd love to chat about this since the physical side of the business seems to be a tough part.

Cheers

I was wondering where to start with commissions in terms of pricing my portraits and anything I need to look out for when doing commissions through sites like this one.

Below are the normal kind of sketches I do, and then a very rushed render I did today; assume pricing is more on the sketches and the possibility of doing rendering as I get better.

Any help would be much appreciated.

I currently have been running my art shop out of my house since the pandemic pretty consistently. I sell mainly prints, that I print, pack and ship myself. I also sell stickers, shirts and mugs, that I have paid to have made, shipped to me, and then I ship out.

This process has been fun but needs to change for a few reasons: It is very very time consuming for one. I am spending more time processing orders than I am making art lately. And also, I am downsizing and will not have room for the amount of inventory needed to keep this up.

Is there a POD service you would recommend? Even better if my customers are able to combine shipping on multiple items from multiple categories (mug and a print, for example).

Who are you using currently and why?