The realization that every freelance designer must go through is that the client work isn’t enough to ensure a long-term financial security. So instead of selling your time, you can sell your work.
Get Your Work in front of the Public
Before the World Wide Web, artists had very few outlets to sell their artworks. The main choices were galleries and art fairs. Today there is a huge variety of host online art retailers, making it much easier to get your work in front of the public. These sites enable you to find buyers for original works, or to offer prints of your works. With millions of people surfing the Internet, the chances of finding a market for your art works are particularly increased. Such online platforms significantly expand the number of potential buyers and your audience is now the entire online world.
Although there are lots of marketplaces for selling digital goods, they often take a big cut of the profits. What’s more, they don’t let you customize the sales page, or let you use your own brand.
The limitless possibilities of the e-commerce industry nowadays has its disadvantages. Most of the well-known art retailers such as DeviantArt offer you the opportunity to upload, market and sell your artworks, but the huge amount of artists using such platforms will make a serious impact on the your potential sales. Most of these websites do not filter the quality of the artworks uploaded, so basically anyone with little to no skills in digital design can upload their works. Leaping off the thousands of pages of high and low quality digital art works can prove to be difficult.
Customize Your Web Presence
As useful as they might be, online art retailers are stripping artists off their individuality, so setting up an own custom website, where you can upload your own work is still the best way to reach out to your potential buyers.
Web-hosting services like Weebly, offer free and easy way for you to set up and customize your own website. A lot of digital artists are using Weebly not only as a portfolio platform, but also as an online store for their works.
Darren Boudreau’s Inception 8 Digital Store for example is powered by Weebly and not only represents the Canadian artist’s digital artworks, but also allows you to make a purchase via an external website called Tinypay.
F.R. Amthor is another example of a digital artist using a Weebly web page as an online store. A neuroscientist with a passion for science fiction and surreal digital art. His Weebly website Abstract, Surreal & Science Fiction Art by F.R. Amthor offers a collection of his digital artwork. All of his works have a copyright watermark, excluding his Free iPad Wallpapers collection. His personal website provides a link to Zazzle, where you can purchase his artworks.
Candid Equine Artwork is an artist offering both his digital and hand drawing works on Weebly. The purchase and payment of the artworks is conducted via PayPal.
An interesting webpage called Painurdreams, that is powered by Weebly, acts as agent for numerous artists on a global scale. From digital artists to photographers and painters can use this website as a platform to present their virtual gallery and promote their works. The website is equipped with an Online Agent that allows for people to purchase the desired artworks though different electronic payment methods – from recognized credit and debit cards to PayPal and Google Checkout.
Diana Riukas is one of the artists using Painturdreams Weebly web page to promote her work – an award winning artist who has exhibited nationwide and her works are represented in many private and public collections. She offers a wide range of artworks – from painting and originals to digital art. Her works can be purchased either from Paintourdreams via Google Checkout or from one of the external online shops provided on the page.
Krista Maya is another artist present on Painturdreams. A California-based fina artist with a passion for painting, photography and digital art. Krista Maya has several categories of artworks, which can be purchased directly from Weebly. More resources:
- Sell Art Online – A list of the best sites to sell or promote your art
- 15 Ways to Sell Your Art Online
- 5 Reasons Why 2012 is the Year to Put your Art Online by Dreama Tolle Perry
Featured images:
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://www.weebly.com/
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://www.deviantart.com/
Bianca Banova, Media & communications graduate writing for Wazala – the ecommerce solution for blogs and social media.
Thank for the info I love weebly~