Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Should I try sell my prints?

Options

Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Rolllo
    Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭Rolllo


    Look into websites that do print-on-demand like society6 or cafepress - you upload the image and people can order it as a framed print or printed onto various products like phone cases or t-shirts. They do the printing, shipping etc. and you get a cut of the profit.


  • Options
    #3
    alzer81
    Registered Users Posts: 51 ✭✭alzer81


    Cheers Rolllo. I setup one on Society6 but its so hard to get traction. I've sold nothing on it. Are there ways to get spotted on it I wonder?

    Cheers

    Al


  • Options
    #4
    Randomfriend
    Registered Users Posts: 1,662 ✭✭✭Randomfriend


    Hi Al, how's things. Your stuff is really nice!

    I dipped my toe in to this a while ago now, I sell primarily through etsy, as I have my own A3 printer at home, and produce my prints myself. I know plenty of illustrators who try to make connections with local printers and get their stuff printed in bulk at very cheap rates to get as big a margin as possible.

    I've been producing work of what I would call a decent sellable quality for perhaps the past 12 months, for the previous 12, I was still really only learning the ropes and refining my style. My sales have picked up especially in the past 6-9 months, as I've grown some sort of reputation and decent portfolio of work to sell.

    My main advice is to be patient, you won't magically start making a lot of money for quite a while, it's a competitive market, social media is your friend, I manage to find a lot of work this way, twitter especially has been kind to me.

    Outside of my etsy, I also set up shops on society6 and redbubble about 6 months ago.

    If you're interested, as regards online sales for myself in the past 6 months.

    Etsy -30-40 sales https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/BarryMastersonArt
    Redbubble -12 sales http://www.redbubble.com/people/barrymasterson/shop
    Society 6 - 1 sale https://society6.com/barrymastersonart

    So from my experience at least, Society 6 is crap, but I also wasn't a huge fan of their UI and it can be occasionally glitchy and slow to update.

    If you have any other questions or anything fire away sure!


  • Options
    #5
    alzer81
    Registered Users Posts: 51 ✭✭alzer81


    Really nice stuff Barry.

    Thanks for the advice. How much would would a proper A3 printer cost ya? You'd probably need to sell about 30/40 prints before its starts earning ya some cash I suppose?

    I have a society6 and a redbubble sites setup but getting pretty much nothing from them. I'll keep tipping away. I wonder would it be worth going to craft fairs or the likes to sell framed prints. Anyone ever try anything like that before?


  • Options
    #6
    irishmoss
    Closed Accounts Posts: 194 ✭✭irishmoss


    The Epson Stylus 1500w is a great a3 printer costs around €300 on Pixmania. I would open an Etsy account. Wouldn't bother with craft fairs that's just my opinion.
    Also check you are not breaching any copyright or trademarks especially those owned by Disney


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    justmyself
    Registered Users Posts: 117 ✭✭justmyself


    People always like to buy 'original' pieces by an artist.

    I would suggest you print a limited run of 100. Signed and date them. Makes your prints that more rarer, exclusive and more attractive to the buyer.

    You aren't talking about a big initial outlay either. You can print A3 posters on a good 250 gsm paper for 40euro all in - if not cheaper. And that's them delivered to your door. So when you sell 2, you're straight into profit. If you need a name of cheap printer PM me.

    Your work is class by the way. You've a nice clean style.

    Can i ask you what your creative process is?
    Do you First sketch in Pencil?
    Then Scan and Redraw on a Wacom Cintiq tablet?
    I'm assuming in Illustrator?


  • Options
    #8
    alzer81
    Registered Users Posts: 51 ✭✭alzer81


    Cheers for all the advice guys. Im gonna see if I can get my hands on an A3 printer and take it from there. Maybe setup an Etsy site.

    Thanks justmyself.

    My process is pretty crap to be honest haha I dont sketch anything first, i tend to just jump in with both feet. Sometimes it might be something totally different that Im trying to draw then end up veering off and come up with something totally random haha Its all done in illustrator too. I havent drawn on paper in years.


  • Options
    #9
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,131 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    This is very anal (sorry), but the Samuel Beckett bridge facing the 'wrong' way in relation to the Conference Centre would drive me mental on a T shirt.


  • Options
    #10
    alzer81
    Registered Users Posts: 51 ✭✭alzer81


    Haha I know spurious, someone said that to me before. Plus if you look at the chimneys, they're miss aligned with the bridge too. Also, if you look at the illustration for Dublin on the Ryanair site when you book a flight to Dublin, you will notice the same thing. Im head of ui for Ryanair and did all the illustrations for the site (actually I didnt do the Dublin one but I need to fix that)


  • Options
    #11
    Lukas87
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭Lukas87


    Hey man! Great artwork! I don't think you'll have problem with selling this stuff. I definitely recommend Etsy. Have you tried Deviantart? A friend of mine started from there and she's selling her works quite well.


  • Advertisement
Advertisement