Art selling 

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• 6 Quick Tips For Selling Your Art On RedBubble
  by Jo O'Brien

  Keep your portfolio short and sweet. Show only y…

  Keep your portfolio short and sweet. Show only your absolute best work and ensure your portfolio can be flicked through in under a minute. People have really short attention spans Use tags. But only use relevant tags which describe key features of the work. Use your journal to give buyers a glimpse into your motivations, inspirations and learning. Don’t put anything negative in it (people can see it!) Remove negative or critiquing comments from under artworks- potential buyers can read them and you don’t want them to be put off Personalise your work by adding meaningful descriptions that tell your audience about how the work was created, what it was inspired by or the story behind it Think about and make a deliberate decision on how much to charge for your art

• Selling Art At Markets
  by Jo O'Brien

  Selling Art At Markets Without repeating the points I made in my Selling Greeting Cards Through Stores...

  Selling Art At Markets Without repeating the points I made in my Selling Greeting Cards Through Stores post, here are some of my pointers for selling artwork at markets. It’s going to be another long one so I’ll use headings and give you some pretty pictures to look at on the way :) / Pin-Up Strip Collection – Cards : Freedom by Helen McLean Know The Market You are Attending / Visit the market first! This step is often overlooked and yet it will help you a lot. Some markets can be described as ‘glorified garage sales’ (nothing wrong with that) and others are almost outdoor shopping centres with every convenience. Make a special trip with your stall in mind and ask yourself some questions: What is already being sold? How would you categorise the shoppers? How many people are buying things vs. having a look? How much do things cost there? Is there an entry fee for customers? Have a talk to the current stallholders who will give you the gossip on which spots are the best and how much you can charge for your stuff. Find out about how to get a stall/space. Some markets will ask you to pay an stallholder fee and rock up on the day, others will require a formal proposal in writing and an interview. So find out how to go about it and get advice from current stallholders. By the way, if you’re freaking out about approaching store holders for advice, get over it. Market folk are the nicest people and love a good yarn, just make sure you don’t keep them from their customers. Know Your Target Customer / In an ideal world you would look at your art and work out whom it is best targeted at. Then you would strive to get their attention by stocking your art in places that they go. In the market circuit, things are backwards. You find the market with its existing crowd of shoppers and find a way to sell them what you have. Or you could even make artwork especially to appeal to them. (This is known to some as “selling your soul” – I prefer to call it “paying my bills”) / Since you have visited the market, you have some idea of who goes there. Think about what they are likely to buy and aim to supply it. So take your lovely florals to the nursing home charity fair, your brightly coloured clown shots to the school fete and your super chic city shots to the tourist market. Always have some variety but you can often work out what will be popular before you pay for a heap of printing. / Matilda and Scarlet by Lisadee Displays Are Important / Displays are important. Displays are important. Displays are important. I can’t stress this enough! Most people who sell at markets will at some point learn (usually the hard way) how true that statement is. Think about it before you get there. How do you want it all to look- even if you are artistically challenged like me, draw a picture of how you are going to set everything up. Do you have any space restrictions you need to consider? Are you allowed to hang things? Put them on the floor? Allow people to walk around your allocated space? Are their any other restrictions such as number of displays or tables? All markets have their own (seemingly random) rules so find out before you spend money getting your display units. If you can, do a mock up at home first and see what it’s like from the customers’ side. Some pointers from me on this topic are: / 1) Make sure people can ‘try before they buy’ i.e. can they touch your products to see what the quality is like? / 2) Display things at an appropriate height. Putting your work on the ground degrades its value. If it’s a children’s item, keep it lower, if its wall décor hang it at eye height. / 3) Protect your stock from children, accidents and the weather Packaging / Just a brief note here that in addition to packaging you items to look great, in a market situation they have to withstand the weather. It is also a good idea to have shopping bags so that people can easily carry their purchases around with them. Charge the Right Amount / If you are at a busy tourist market, you can usually set higher prices. As a general rule, I charged 50% more than my ‘shop’ price at tourist markets. Yet at less commercially driven markets you may find the price point has to be a lot lower. You simply have to suss out what is reasonable before you get there by checking out other stalls. The other thing to be aware of is that a lot of market shoppers are out for a bargain. So be prepared for hagglers and decide before you get there how flexible, if at all, you are going to be. You can try and nip it in the bud by having special deals planned ahead of time. It’s also a good point to drop here that human psychology is a wonderful thing and in terms of prices and deals- something displayed in writing will be treated with more respect than information giving verbally. So use price tags and signs. / So Pedestrian by Melody Let People Give You Money / You’re thinking, “Jo, of course I’ll let them give me money- that’s why I’m sitting at this cold, wet market to start with.” But are you really? Are you really letting them give it to you? Do this little task right now, while you’re sitting there at the computer. Pull out your wallet or purse and count how much cash you have. Now think about how much lunch would cost you and deduct that amount, now deduct half a tank of petrol or train fare, which you used to get to this hypothetical market and see what is left. Do you have enough money there to buy heaps of fabulous art? Most people will say “no.” Some will be lucky to break even. What is my point? If you were your own customer, you wouldn’t be buying much- if anything. I can hear you saying “But if I was going to a market I’d get cash out first.” Maybe you would, but, and I mean this in the nicest way, most people will forget. So idiot-proof yourself as much as possible. This might mean knowing where the nearest ATM is to direct people, it might mean having credit card facilities, it might mean having business cards with your online store URL for customers without cash. It seems ridiculous but I have encountered so many customers at markets that simply don’t have cash and therefore can’t buy anything. So have a way around it. / Jo’s little tip: bring a calculator with you. Like They Say in The Scouts: Be Prepared / Make a list of what you need to bring and check it twice. It’s laughable but I’ve seen stallholders forget their trestle table, which is basically the most important part of their stall. So don’t think it won’t happen to you. I know it sounds pessimistic but it’s important to think about what can go wrong. At markets the most common problems are… / 1) The toilet paper runs out in the one and only unisex toilet which is a 5 minute hike across town / 2) You run out of change to give customers- and then you realised none of the stall holders have enough change so you can’t even beg for it, and because it’s a Sunday you can’t get any from the bank… / 3) You are bored stupid waiting for people to start arriving / 4) The weather lets you down. We often prepare for rain but the real killer is the wind and in summer intense sun / 5) You can’t find anything decent to eat for lunch / 6) You need to go to the toilet or eat something but because your ‘help’ is late or didn’t make it, you are literally tied to your stall all day, and the stallholder beside you is too busy to keep an eye on it for you, and you wouldn’t trust them anyway. / 7) You forgot your big warm coat on a freezing cold day or your sunnies on a really bright day. / 8) People keep shoplifting your stuff or even steal your money tin/bag (much more common at markets than in shopping centres with video surveillance) So ask yourself how you will prepare for some of these situations and have a plan. Bring extras of everything and generally don’t feel bad when you can’t even move in your car because of all the stuff you’ve piled in there. When I was doing markets, I prayed for the day I could afford a van. Logistics / Think about all the stuff you need to take and work out how you are going to get it there, set it up and keep it supervised. Can you park your car behind your stall or do you have to move it? Are there strict set up and pack up times you need to consider? If you need to park away from the stall, can you do it securely and do you need to pay for parking? Can your stall be covered if you need to leave it unattended for a bathroom run or are you happy to ask a fellow stallholder to keep an eye on it? And this is a big one guys- What are you going to do with your rubbish at the end of the day? Expect to take it home because the public bins will be overflowing by lunchtime and littering is just not on. / CLOWNS by Mugsy Budgeting / It’s really the first thing you need to do but it scares people so I thought I’d hide it down here at the bottom. When you set up a market stall, you are essentially running your own business and like all small businesses, money, is important. You need to think about what it’s all going to cost you and decide if you are going to make a profit. Let me keep this very simple, the three things you need to think about are… / 1) Things that you buy once to get set up / 2) Things that will keep costing you money as you go / 3) Things that make you money I could write about making budgets all day but I’m trying to keep this post relevant to art. Basically, you want to make enough time to pay yourself back for any major set ups costs like buying new display stands, as well as any ongoing costs, and on top of that you want to make a profit. And please don’t forget to factor in your time. Decide if you are worth $20 per hour or $10 and hour or whatever and include “paying yourself” in your calculations. Keep Financial Records / Another scary one but important one. Keep a list of what stock you bring with you and what you sell. That way when you get home you can determine if anything was stolen or if any money went missing or the wrong change was given. It’s also good to keep a more general record of how much money you are making and what you are spending for each market so that you can see if your business is growing or struggling. It will also show you patterns; for example, an outdoor market would most likely have a quiet period during colder months. I will have to create a separate post about budgeting and financial records because they are both huge areas and very important. For now, my best advice is to get some advice! Oh the irony! I hope that is useful to a few people. And if I made it sound like hard work, well it is. But it’s also good fun. / Nurses by Samantha Thompson

• Selling Art Through Galleries- My Advice
  by Jo O'Brien

  I recently received an email from a fellow RedBubbler and thought I should share my response… DISCLAIMER: this is just my opinion an…

  I recently received an email from a fellow RedBubbler and thought I should share my response… DISCLAIMER: this is just my opinion and advice so don’t take my word as gospel! ____________ Hi Jo, I ‘discovered ’ you on Red Bubble and love your work.. You mentioned you work for a gallery that takes work on consignment. I’m interested in getting some of my work into galleries but don’t know how to. My stuff is here… http://www.redbubble.com/URL So just wondering if you have some advice?? Cheers & thanks, ____________ Hey M First thing is you will notice that the footer of this email has all my phone numbers- please do not hesitate to call me and we can have a proper conversation about this. I have a lot of artists ask me about this and am only happy to help out. I have found that the best way to get your stuff into galleries is to do what you have just done- send an email with a link to your work. Your webiste is basically your CV in the art world – it doesn’t have to be flashy (and redbubble is totally appropriate) but having work that loads quickly is important. You will be lucky if a gallery spends more than 1-2 minutes looking at your site. The other thing you can do is to print out samples of 5-8 images of your work, a biography or artist’s statement and any quirky info that could be used to market you. Put this together into a CV or folio and make several copies. Then you do the door knock thing. If you take this option be aware of a few things- Gallery staff at some places (certainly not us though) can be quite snobby to artists who come off the street and try to sell their wares. I suggest being pleasant but do not try to take up too much of their time. I’m more receptive to a “here’s a copy of my folio, here’s my contact details, i’d love to have a chat some time but obviously now isn’t the best time for you- maybe give me a call if you’re interested?” than a lengthy rehearsed sales pitch. Each gallery will have a slightly different way of doing things. Some will ask for a tax invoice when you bring in art and they will just pay you when it sells. Other will ask for an invoice only once something has sold and they may or may not request a consignment note when you deliver your art. Other places do 90% of the paperwork for you but these are rare. We keep a running file of what work you bring in and if anything gets returned to you because it wasn’t selling. Then if something sells we call or email you the same While I’m on this I should mention that some galleries will not deal with you unless you have an ABN. GST normally doesn’t make a difference but I have heard of a couple of fussy places who have insisted on dealing with GST inclusive artists only- go figure? The other thing that changes between galleries is the mark up of your work. In some of the artist run galleries you can get a 30/70 split of the sale (with the artist being better off). Other places will rip you off majorly and mark up your work by more than 100% and therefore will get more money than you do when it sells. Don’t let people bargain with you for your cut and THEN try to add 10% on for GST- insist on bargaining on the final price inclusive of GST. I make this bargaining process sound difficult but the truth is most places have a policy about how they split things and you either take it or leave it- my advice is more to show you the difference between money grabbing and artist appreciating! Which brings me to my next point- look at the attitude of the gallery. Some places are really picky about what you give them to sell which can mean that they either have no idea OR it could mean that they know their clientelle really well. You just have to be good at reading people to wrok that one out. The places that I would steer clear of are the ones who don’t seem to fussed by what you give them or don’t really care about having a biography or any information about you. They should be interested is selling ‘you’ as a product as well as your stuff. You have to balance out the financial side of things with the personal side. At our galleries we go 50/50 on sales which is considered a bit high. The upside however is that you get a mini cheering squad who will rave about your amazing talents to anyone who glances at your work sideways. We don’t have artists complaining about the higher mark up because we make up for it in branding and promotion you. This is a call each artist has to make for themself. If you’re stuff is considered sellable (which is decided on a case by case basis) we will give it a decent chance of selling- normally I put new stuff on display straight away or in the shop window. Then we see hwat the reaction is. Sometimes we find out very quickly that there is no interest, or everyone loves the image but thinks it is too small, or red, or badly framed or whatever. We aim to have open lines of communcation with our artists so that they don’t keep sending us stuff that no one wants! But in the end if after 4-6 weeks things are not going so well I send things back and invite the artist to try again if they begin experiementing with a different syle or medium. I certainly invite you and any other RedBubble artists to contact me about selling work through our galleries. We are always very keen to see what people have got to offer. Jo O’Brien Work: +61 3 9349 4333 (Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday) Work: +61 3 9827 3338 (Monday)

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  Perfume
  by Archan Nair

  US$4.13–US$110.20

  one note dark / one note red / one piece of water flow away / one chill u get after sweat / u hear summer minor C collab with Shadow / I just love collabing with her

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  Fish Dream
  by Hoffard

  US$3.99–US$106.40

  Pastel drawing of Salmon swimming under the desert with a dark night sky.

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  Thinking Pink
  by Hoffard

  US$3.85–US$102.60

  Collage pen and ink watercolor.

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  Outside The Lines
  by Carrie Glenn

  US$3.99–US$106.40

  Acrylic and metallic paint on canvas, 46” x 38”. This is a commissioned abstract work for a client re-staging her home for sale. I created this expressionistic piece to tie a black, white and tan gallery art wall together and to become the focal point of the room. / I call the work “Outside The Lines”, in that the strong black lines create structure and balance and yet the color does not conform to the boundaries. The wild movement of the colors contrast and create chaos within the design of symmetry.

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  Rockpool
  by Kathie Nichols

  US$3.79–US$101.08

  Macro photography from the bark of an Australian Gum Tree. MY GALLERIES / Rockscapes / Barkscapes / Flowers / Paintings / Sunsets / Story Photoart / Panoramics

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  San Francisco Dream
  by Hoffard

  US$3.85–US$102.60

  Pastel drawing of many things take a close look…

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  Donkey Bird
  by Hoffard

  US$3.85–US$102.60

  Pen and Ink drawing of a Donkey Bird.

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  #140 Tiger Swallowtail On Butterfly Bush
  by MyInnereyeMike

  US$3.99–US$106.40

  This is an original photograph.

• Two Things!!!
  by Karin Taylor

  / 1. Spotting Rainbows....

  / 1. Spotting Rainbows just got featured in All the Colours of the Rainbow Group and I want to thank the hosts or whoever chose it!! / Little Green Teapot TShirt sold just a few hours ago to a mystery buyer….thank you whoever bought it and hope you have heaps of fun wearing it around or giving it to someone else who’s gonna wear it around :D

• 

  Carnival Abduction
  by Hoffard

  US$3.85–US$102.60

  Pastel drawing of a Abduction at the Carnival.

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  Ha Ha Ha
  by Hoffard

  US$4.28–US$114.00

  This is a pastel pen and ink drawing of The Man, Big Brother, his corporations and evils doings… He is saying Ha Ha Ha to all of us.

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  Shoot The Moon !
  by Starr1949

  US$2.99–US$79.80

  http://www.redbubble.com/people/derid/art/182358-1-blue-moon I will give Credit to derid ..as she is whom I borrowed the Blue Moon from in this composition. The rest is all my own doing.

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  False Idol (Suggestive Sell) Third coming
  by nofrillsart

  US$23.94

  Ganesh gets the false idol treatment this time round in this the third installment. Previous ‘no frills’ false idols include: The Pope Buddha detail:

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  Selle Francaise
  by BarbBarcikKeith

  9×12 watercolor enhanced colored pencil. Original unavailable. Complete 2006

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  Giving the Bride Away
  by Hoffard

  US$27.93

  Acrylic painting of me in front of the house I grew up in in Portland Oregon. / Click on Image for “Giving the Bride Away” Print /

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  The Cowboy
  by Hoffard

  US$3.99–US$106.40

  Pen and ink drawing with some added effects and colors. In the yellow fever contest.

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  ballet girls oil paintings
  by salsa zhang

  XiongFei Oil painting compnay is specialized in manufacturing of oil paintings, founded in 1998, located in the oil painting hometown—Xiamen city. We have 30 studios and 200 professional artists to serve for wordwide customers. / We cooperate with many foreign trade companies and also work for xiamen govenment.Many of our paitnings are collected by art-lovers. / And As for the severe dometic competition ,we would like expand international business .The price we offer would be the direct factory price,no middle-man. / There is no minimum requirement to start our cooperation. / You can refer our online catalogue Or send us your own pictures . / To each and every order,We make the belowing promises: / 1. 100% hand painted oil paintings on canvas. / 2. Various subjects,styles and skill in paintings with different sizes. / 3.Painting service according to your custom-made requirements. / 4. Keep quality guarantee. The the paintings are strictly examied by our Quality department before shipping. Contact us today to get more profit. XiongFei Art Salsa Zhang / Xiongfei oilpainting co.,ltd / Tel:0086-592-7561542 / Fax:0086-592-5550397 / http://xmoilpainting.com / E-mail:sale001@xmoilpainting.com / MSN：xmoilpainting@hotmail.com / yahoo:deco_gallery85

• How do you get your images sold on here???
  by John De Bord Photography IPA

  Call me discouraged, call me frustrated, but how in the blue hell is everyone sellin’ shit but me? Ya call this a rant….idk….just kin…

  Call me discouraged, call me frustrated, but how in the blue hell is everyone sellin’ shit but me? Ya call this a rant….idk….just kinda down I suppose. Thought the Sunflowers actually woulda sold, but spose I am wrong. Ya I know, I sound like a whiner and that I am complaining, but I am honestly starting to question my images’ abilities to be sold. Here, DA., etc…..Sure, my stock does ok I ‘spose, in a sense, but my really best images….nada…..maybe it’s just not fit for people’s walls…..I just don’t know what the hell to think anymore. I honestly don’t. Sigh….

• 20,000 views Yippee
  by Shane Walker

  My artwork just hit 20,000 views I’m so excited, I just like to thank those who bought my images and thank everyone for commenting on my …

  My artwork just hit 20,000 views I’m so excited, I just like to thank those who bought my images and thank everyone for commenting on my images and shirts. / I just love taking photos, and playing around with art, my imagination just runs wild. / Would like to see a few more buyers, haven’t had anyone by my artwork on canvas or framed yet, so get your wallets and purses out and buy something for Christmas. / There is some great artists and photographers on Red bubble and a lot of it inspires me to do more.

• First Sale!!...After only 26 days of starting to sell here!
  by Lisa Weber

  I’m shocked! Surprised, thrilled, excited, grateful!! Thanks so much for purchasing my art! Enjoy! / !http://i57.photobucket.com/al…

  I’m shocked! Surprised, thrilled, excited, grateful!! Thanks so much for purchasing my art! Enjoy! /

• Why We Photograph.....
  by John De Bord Photography IPA

  Why I am writing this at some ungodly hour of the morning is really beyond me, I am not even sure…..blame on me sitting here looking, t…

  Why I am writing this at some ungodly hour of the morning is really beyond me, I am not even sure…..blame on me sitting here looking, thinking, taking in, reading into, seeing, all the images on Red Bubble. I suppose at 5:52 in the morning, under-coffee’d, let’s the mind wander, especially when viewing art. In fact, it made me wonder straight to the topic of this journal…...”Why We Photograph….” For me, it is not easy to describe nor easy to write about. It is rather personal in some ways, and obvious in others. It is about feeding my creative right brain, .....it is funny when I sit here editing a shot how I get lost in “the zone” and my world around me almost stops….the same way it did when I used to draw and paint. Therapy. Plain and simple. It is my meditation….. This is one simple aspect and there are probably 1000s of other little ones along the way as well. I also shoot for a higher purpose, a higher sense of romance, and a higher sense of hope and feeling. Some of you here know exactly what I am in reference to, having followed me on deviantArt for years. Others, well, you will have to read in to that as I am kinda restrained from talking about it….sadly. And it isn’t my choice. Let’s just say that in these last 3 years, I have learned a lot, about me, about what it means to be alive, about what it means to be accepted, loved, and given an opportunity that few will ever have. And every night I thank the Lord above for that. It is odd though, and many ask why I am on so many sites for photography…..and honestly, for once, I seriously think I have an answer to that question…... After much soul searching the last few years on that subject, looking for an answer and never finding one, I now know why. I am what is called a ‘visual learner’, meaning that I learn things by seeing them…..this all goes back to my childhood and how I am learning disabled, still am, but have serious learned to compensate. It also explains my whole creative side…..see I suck at math, and anything along those kinda lines, but I am the only one in my whole family that is a creative. This is where I compensate at…..I am not to good on left brain kinda things. but the right side, I will jump right in the fire in a heartbeat! This has all lead up to the above question---and now an answer why I am on so many sites…... When I view photography, I suppose I take it in differently than most. I de-construct the image, and examine it, usually I am able to do this quite quickly….having done it since my childhood. I look at it like a doctor looks at a patient…..trying to find out more about the image, how it was shot, exposed, compensated for, processed, etc etc on and on…..I learn this way! And the more photography I see, the more i learn also! As I said, I am a visual learner. I dive in, I want to know all, and photography is something I want to know more about. The technique, the process, the marketing, the professionalism, the workflow, all aspects…..all areas. How it is done, how it is presented, how it is sold, how it is bought, how it is shot, every single aspect that there is. And by being on so many sites, it allows me to take it all in…..my right side of my brain has a massive appetite…....to say the least. However it also doesn’t come without frustration. being a member of so many sites has caused some problems for me in the real world….sometimes I get a lil lost, never realizing just how much time I spend looking at this damn screen. When I sure as hell should be doing something else. It has caused issues in my personal life, issues which shouldn’t be issues, issues that are so far unresolved. And issues which must be solved asap. Hell, I have probably said to much already…so moving forward…... I aspire, I dream, I create, I want to sell my images and dream of the day I can really make an honest living from my work, I dream of the day editors call or email me asking me if I have some shot from Colorado…...I aspire to be the best I can be….and I hope one day my shots will grace the cover of the likes of magazines which you can buy in the super market. Will it happen??? I don’t know. I wrestle with inner demons a lot, I struggle a lot with the actual ‘marketability’ of my shots. I really am not that confident in that aspect at all….I want my shots on greeting cards, yet when I try to sell them, no one buys them.What scares me the most is the thought of this-—- / My pictures are nice, pretty, and well done, but not something which would sell. So I examine this, I reflect on this, I try to learn from this, and I try to compensate for this. A lot of it though is left brain, and well…..it is hard for me, honestly. I look at peoples work that does sell and I think “ok so so and so did this, so what if I…....”, see I learn….always am lol I think all of us in many respects are on this big journey together…...we never really know where it leads us, but we do know what we enjoy, and we all have our reasons why we shoot. If photography has taught me anything, it has taught me to have a better eye, and how even in the most ugly of circumstances, there can always be beauty. It has taught me to see the world and nature in a whole other way. It has made me think….and to become aware of conservation. Yeah, I know why I shoot….I know why…...I shoot because it is something I not only love, but must do. / —-John