Category: Art Marketing

June 15, 2013

Best Online Art Markets to Sell Paintings

With the digital age, canvas artists are now harnessing the power of technology to start their art business. Finished paintings are professionally photographed and uploaded to an online art gallery to hopefully interest potential buyers and generate sales. With hundreds of online art galleries and auctions out there, here’s a list of the best of them to help you start.

Artmajeur. Artmajeur is one of the largest finest art gallery in the world, featuring the best contemporary artists. Established in 2000, it displays over 2 million original pieces and has sold over 150,000 art works. You can sign up for free and start networking with other artists. Artists in Artmajeur are ranked by popularity using visitors’ and page views. (www.artmajeur.com)

Artnet. Artnet offers a wide range of information and transaction services for artists. It has an extensive collection in its database of Fine Art, Design, and Decorative Art which provides information on the market and pricing trends. The site features 1,700 galleries around the world and displays 170,000 art works. (www.artnet.com)

Artsy. Artsy features artworks from famous galleries, museums, foundations, and private collections worldwide. It displays the largest collections of contemporary pieces and it aims to make world art accessible to the people. (www.artsy.net)

Artspace. Artspace is an online platform for fine art and design, featuring an extensive selection of curated artworks from leading museums and artists around the world. It aims to help people discover and collect fine pieces of art. (www.artspace.com)

Artwanted. Artwanted is a large network of artists and online galleries. It serves as a community and a place for selling artworks. The site promotes members and gives informative feedback on their work, helping artists to hone their craft. (www.artwanted.com)

Fine Art America. Fine Art America is the leading marketplace for buying and selling artwork around the world. It provides various sales and marketing tools to help artists build their brands. (www.fineartamerica.com)

Deviantart. Deviantart is the world’s largest online community for artists in various genre. The site primarily caters to contemporary artists from fan art, digital art to animation but it also offers its services to painters. It has over 25 million members and artists can submit their works and connect with other members. (www.deviantart.com)

Etsy. Etsy is an e-commerce website launched in 2005 where artists can sell their works. It is a bustling marketplace where you can buy and sell handmade and vintage items, including paintings in different medium and even art supplies. (www.etsy.com)

Imagekind. Imagekind displays millions on canvas art, framed wall art, and photos. It is a platform where artists can share and create their works and buyers can purchase museum-quality framed art. (www.imagekind.com)

Paddle8. Paddle8 is an online auction site, giving artists and buyers a platform for transacting business. It offers low-cost themed auctions, getting 6% commission from artists and 12% from buyers. It also offers benefit auctions for non-profit institutions. (www.paddle8.com)

Zhibit. Zhibit offers user-friendly tools which help artists create their own websites, build their art business, and connect with other members in the community. It offers the lowest rates, for as low as $49/year, in its subscription plans. (www.zhibit.org)

Image source: www.fineartamerica.com

June 10, 2013

Tips for Building a Successful Online Artist Profile

When it comes to building an online business, artists should include in their priorities writing a quality profile. It may seem not as important as creating your canvas art, but if you want to increase your success rate selling your pieces online, then you have to spend some time drafting your profile.

Here are some tips on how to build an impressive online profile:

Tip 1 – Create an engaging profile. Write about some interesting details about your life, focusing on how you were led to the painting business. Tell why you paint, how do you use your paintings as an expression, and write in the first person narrative (I, we, my). If your site visitors can connect with you on a personal level, they are more likely to purchase your art than those who don’t have that kind of connection.

Tip 2 – Edit your profile. Don’t write a long, complicated profile. Read it to a friend first and if he loses interests after awhile, then you’ll know you’ve written a lengthy one. Ask for your close family and friends what they think about your profile and consider their comments.

Tip 3 – Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. There are websites such as SpellCheck.net which you can use to check these things. Don’t post your profile until you’re sure it’s free from errors. It shows that you care about the littlest details and are serious about your business.

Tip 4 – Use effective keywords in your content. Keywords are important in getting high rankings in search engines such as Google and Yahoo! Using the right keywords will help people find you across the web. Include top keywords which attract people who you want to buy your art works. These will drive qualified traffic to your website. The more popular the keyword, the more traffic it will bring you.

marshall_kerry_james — International renown artist, Kerry James Marshall

Tip 5 – Include your best photo as your profile image. Use a good photo of yourself. People are visual creatures, especially in the online world. We want to see the person behind a blog or website. Seeing your profile picture lets other people know that you really exist and they will be more comfortable communicating with you if they have a picture in their mind of how you look like. It’s difficult to connect with someone whom you don’t know how he/she looks like. Eventually, you will have the occasion to meet your clients, so they should connect your profile photo with you in person.

Image source: http://mileswmathis.com/ and http://newsgrist.typepad.com/

June 7, 2013

How to Sell your Canvas Art on Consignment

Artists can sell canvas art on consignment. You may have thought of consigning art but are not clear as to what goes in and out of this arrangement.

Consignment is defined as “an arrangement whereby goods are left in the possession of another party to sell. Typically, the consignor receives a percentage of the sale (sometimes a very large percentage).”

When consigning art, you provide your canvas art to a gallery or shop. When the item sells, you get a portion of the retail price and the rest goes to the consignment venue. Usually, a 30/70 split is agreed upon, where the artist gets 70% of the sale price of the artwork. You can agree to make the split higher, but not higher than a 50/50 split.

The main advantage of consigning art is you can make more profit from it compared to selling it completely. When you sell your art on consignment with a dealer, you can get around 60-70% of the retail price and even as much as 80% or more if there is high demand for your work.

The drawback of consignment is you make money only when your piece sells. Also, the consignment venue is not pressured to sell your work since they didn’t have any investment in it that they need to recoup.

Things to Consider:

Consignment Venue

Choose a trustworthy consignment venue which has a good chance of selling your art. Avoid consigning to a venue which will just use your art as free decoration with no intention of selling it.
The gallery must have good lighting to emphasize your work.
Location is key. Shops along tourist districts can have a better chance of promoting your work to more people.

Consignment Agreement
Here are important details to include in your contract:

The consignment commission percentage. Be specific and list the portion which you and the gallery will get.
Contact details of both parties.
Term of the contract. Specify when you will drop-off the piece to the gallery and when you need to pick it up if it doesn’t sell. It is normal to get the artwork if doesn’t sell within 6 months to a year.
The retail price of the piece. Make sure that your paintings are offered at a fair price. It should at least cover all your expenses (e.g. art supplies, rent of studio, etc.).
Terms of payment. Define when and how you will receive your payment once the piece is sold. Usually, the artist receives payment within 30 days after the purchase of artwork. Identify whether you want to receive cash, cheque, via PayPal, or bank transfer.
Insurance requirements. Either or both you and the consignment venue should have insurance for the items. In case of fire, flood, or any disaster, your artwork will be safeguarded by insurance.

Tip: If you are consigning several items, create a master list of every item that you will leave at the gallery, including its prices.

If you’re not a “sales” person, consignment might work for you. In consigning art, you let other people to promote your artwork and you get your money when it’s sold. It may be time consuming at first, especially if you consign to several shops, but after to drop-off your artworks, you can continue creating more paintings.

May 30, 2013

Tips on How to Sell Canvas Art Online

With the latest advancements in technology, artists are taking their careers online. Using the Internet, artists now have more platforms in sharing and selling their canvas arts outside the usual art galleries. There are thousands of online markets where artists and buyers meet. With many fish in the sea, how can you stand out so your canvas art prints are the ones sold online? Here are some tips that you can use to get more exposure and help boost sales of your art.

1. Take time to write the best descriptions for your artwork. The best online art galleries allow full descriptions for each artwork uploaded to their websites. Make your descriptions easy and enjoyable to read, free of spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. Include keywords in your descriptions that art buyers use when searching art online. Also, prepare a small bio and artist statement to introduce you to website visitors.

2. Create a portfolio site or blog. Upload the photos of your artwork and include complete descriptions. Make sure that you use good and clear images of your work since the colors of your art and its photo may vary when posted online. Promote your work and use a friendly tone to invite new visitors and potential buyers. Provide the information on payment, handling, and shipping.

3. Use the social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are some of the most popular social media platforms available today. Use them to introduce yourself and your work to your network and your friend’s networks. Create a YouTube channel to showcase your artworks and your skills. Join forums that you enjoy to network and don’t just settle for art forums. Expand your network beyond the art world by joining forums related to the themes you use. If you paint nature, join a botany forum. Put a link to your website in the signature line of your posts.

4. Create newsletters for art lovers. If you own an art blog, it’s easy to send email newsletters to your subscribers. This is where you can inform them about the latest in your projects and finished pieces. Regular contacts with them can help you build long-term relationships and to let them know what you’ve been busy with lately.

5. Choose one online art gallery. The President of BoundlessGallery.com Luke Terpstra advised artists to do a lot of research about online art galleries but choose only one to try out wholeheartedly. He said it’s more productive for artists to concentrate on one venue than be all over different galleries and become overwhelmed with all the inquiries and issues in managing the business. If you give all efforts and still don’t get the sales that you expect in your chosen art gallery, then go to another venue and see if it will give you what you seek.

Image from here.