I Need to Find an Art Website to Sell Art on
How to sell your ain artwork
It should be said in the starting time line of this guide that selling art is non piece of cake. Whether through a gallery, through an online platform, or out of your own studio, making a sale of your own piece of work will exist challenging—but information technology can likewise be exciting.
I've been selling art for more than seven years, first as an independent curator showing art in any space I could find, then every bit the co-owner and director of Louis B. James Gallery, and now at the gallery yours mine & ours. The chief thing I've learned over the years is merely how much time and energy it can take to get someone to commit to acquiring an artwork. While this guide will give you a lay of the land for selling your own art, information technology's important to know that just every bit everyone's personality is different, each artist's experience selling their piece of work will too be different. So equally you experiment with different means to sell your artwork to unlike collectors, recall to be flexible, be yourself, and try to have some fun in the process.
— RJ Supa
Editor'south note: This guide is part of a serial on making a living.
Marketing yourself and your work
The question I'grand almost often asked by artists who desire to sell their own work is, "How do I get people to know that I brand art in the get-go place?" This is a good question, because the offset step in getting people to encounter (and eventually purchase) your work is by letting them know that there is work to exist seen.
Promoting yourself on social media
These days, the most obvious mode to let people know that yous make art is by promoting your practice on social media. Information technology's free to use, fairly easy to figure out, and can commencement getting your piece of work on people's radar immediately. I know lots of artists who had never shown in a gallery earlier, but who were able to generate business solely through their Instagram account.
Personally, I prefer to follow social media accounts that reflect an artist's unique personality, and which don't merely experience like a filigree of paintings. Taking a more casual approach to your social media posts volition also free you lot up to just be yous, and volition convalesce the fear that you demand to craft an paradigm on social media that isn't true to who you really are.
Beyond simply posting well-nigh your artwork, in that location are lots of ways to bring your social media audiences into the fold of your practise. I strongly believe that anything fine art-related tin can (and should) be posted, whether it'south a formal review of your work, an issue flier about an upcoming grouping show, or a candid snap from your senior crit.
Putting yourself [physically] out there
While social media is amazing for reaching a large audience quickly, another effective way to put your work on people's radar is to physically put yourself out there. This ways being as social as you can be, and always introducing yourself as an artist first and foremost—even if you're paying the bills by waiting tables, answering phones, or teaching four adjunct classes at your local customs college.
What it comes downwards to is that you are your own best marketer. Simply letting people know that you brand work will lead to questions well-nigh what it is, and where it tin be seen. In turn, this creates an opportunity to invite someone into your studio to come across what you lot make.
Editor's annotation: For more tips on promoting your own art, read A creative person's guide to thoughtful promotion.
Showcasing available works on your website
Having a website to showcase your work (specially your available work) is also a necessity. You don't need it to be fancy, only factual. Personally, when I've decided to seek out an artist's website, I'm gear up to get down to business organization. I want to see clearly labeled photographs of private works, an upwardly-to-date CV, any relevant printing, and a brief statement that sums upwards their exercise. In my stance, the best creative person websites are easy to scroll or click through, so an interested viewer can scan between artworks without difficulty.
Documenting your piece of work
If you lot don't have a expert camera and can't take great images of your work, observe someone who can. You must resist the temptation to but certificate your piece of work via your smartphone'south camera. If you can't afford a professional photographer for every piece you brand—and many artists can't—practice a merchandise. Inquire a photographer friend if she'll trade documentation of your work for a slice or 2. There are lots of creative ways to help yourself forth that don't have to cost a lot of coin.
If some of your works are difficult to photo, make sure there are plenty of detail shots available on your website and so the viewer can get a sense of the work'due south surface and overall composition. As well, include photographs from multiple angles. If your goal is to get people interested in your art through images, they need to exercise a good chore showcasing the work, in all of its nuanced glory.
One more annotation on documentation: always make certain each artwork has been photographed earlier it leaves your studio. Who knows what will happen to your career in 10 years, and what that one specific artwork will come to mean. Down the line, you may demand documentation of the piece for your first museum retrospective. Or, you may never see the work again considering the collector won't let information technology leave their house. Either way, y'all'll desire an paradigm on file for your catalog raisonné.
Selling art straight through your website
The easiest manner to make your piece of work available to potential buyers on your website is by putting up a simple statement like: "For inquiries on purchasing an artwork, please contact me at [your email address]." For this purpose specifically, always brand certain your contact data is clear, up to engagement, and like shooting fish in a barrel to find on your site. If someone finds you online and becomes interested in purchasing a work, don't add friction to the process by burying your email accost.
If you want to get fancy, you lot may choose to sell your piece of work through an online store. This is a bit more hard to set, and if yous plan to let customers pay for works right through your website, you'll end up giving away a percentage of your profit to payment processors like PayPal or Square. However, enabling website visitors to make purchases without directly emailing yous does have its benefits. For one, detailing your available works and their prices in an online store allows interested buyers to easily run into which of your works are for auction, and get a sense of your prices without the awkwardness of emailing to inquire. Either mode, as you design your website, be certain to separate your store from the documentation of your work, then your website doesn't feel like a digital garage sale.
Having an online shop dedicated to selling cheaper items (such as editions, prints, zines, pins, t-shirts, or posters) tin can also assistance to get your name out in the world. A lot more people can buy a $5 zine than a $500 painting, after all.
Editor'southward note: For more tips on what an artist's website can be, read an essay on the topic by Laurel Schwulst.
How to price your art
In the art world, pricing is set with a very flexible formula of exhibition history, previous sales, size of work, and your costs. Nonetheless, it helps to know that at that place is really no right or wrong way to price your piece of work.
As a general rule of thumb for making sales as an emerging artist, keep the works in your online store inexpensive. People are going to be much more inclined to spend $l on a 10-by-x-inch drawing than on a $1,000, 40-by-40-inch painting, peculiarly without having seen information technology in person first.
Every bit you and your piece of work evolve from undergrad to grad school and beyond, your prices should increase slowly. In one case you're out of school—or if yous never attended schoolhouse—you are a working artist, and your prices tin can reflect this. The more y'all exhibit and the more people purchase, the more you can increase your prices, just again, do this very gradually.
As you begin to make more sales, be prepared to be flexible. For example, if you have 10 forty-by-twoscore-inch paintings for sale at $1,000 each, and someone wants to buy two, offering a substantial disbelieve (perhaps $one,500 for both) can help seal the deal. Even as a gallerist, I tell each artist I work with that there will be a guaranteed 10% discount for collectors buying one piece of work, a 15% discount for those interested in ownership ii works, and a 20% discount for collectors interested in purchasing three or more. And, even this formula is flexible depending on the collector and the work.
Finally, consider your costs—including the cost of your time. If each new drawing costs you $20 to make because of materials, and takes a couple days of your time to produce, then a $fifty cost point clearly doesn't make sense.
It can exist tricky to decide on prices, and so talk to your friends, ask art dealers or professors y'all know for their tips, and just talk to others who have made sales themselves. Another adept fashion to get a sense for how your work should be priced is by directly researching the prices of other artists whose piece of work and experience levels are comparable to yours. You can do this by browsing available works on their website (if their site lists prices), or when you're at their gallery evidence, ask to see the price list. Attempt to discover out how these artists appear to be doing with sales, and use that equally a foundation to plan your ain pricing.
On selling your piece of work with an advisor'southward assist
Fine art advisors tin can work for an individual, a family, or a corporation to assist them build an art collection. Oftentimes this happens when a collector is too busy to meet many shows, do studio visits, or search for new artists on their own. If this is the instance, collectors may seek out a trusted adept to advise and educate them, and to help them find up-and-coming artists to piece of work with. Banks, hotels, hospitals, and restaurants are among a number of businesses that oft piece of work with advisors to collect artwork by ownership directly from artists.
If y'all're hoping to work with an art advisor, the most of import thing you demand to do is make your work as discoverable as possible. This is where the right hashtag on social media can be a real benefaction. On more than 1 occasion, I've searched Instagram for a specific client or advisor using the #abstractpainting #sculpture #outdoorscultpure, etc tags. So know that if you lot build it, and properly characterization/promote it, they will come. Additionally, when you lot're out in the world at openings and other art events, you're likely to encounter fine art advisors, every bit going to these types of events is a big part of their job. If you run across an art counselor, having a business card on hand with simple contact information (name, telephone, e-mail, website) will allow them to chop-chop search your site and see if any of your work might brand sense for their clients.
If an advisor offers to help sell your work, make sure yous empathise the terms upwardly front. Many advisors get paid by their clients (the collector), simply some will accept a percentage of the auction (more often than not betwixt ten%—twenty%). All of this is industry standard, just it's necessary that yous sympathize this before your piece of work is offered for auction. Y'all never want to be in a identify where a collector is trying to move forward with purchasing your piece of work, and you're yet trying to negotiate the fiscal aspects of the deal.
On working with galleries
When working directly with a gallery, know that you'll have to split the profits from any sales. Generally, the gallery will accept about 50% of a work'due south auction price. While it may seem crazy to give away half of your coin, galleries will be able to get your work out to a larger audience than y'all'll be able to reach on your own. They may likewise exist able to sell a drawing that you lot would have sold out of your studio for $200 for $2,000, since they know their clients' interests best, and tin help lend brownie to your practice.
When yous get the chance to piece of work with a gallery for a grouping show, art fair, or via the gallery's online store, make certain y'all get all the details of the human relationship in writing. Inquire them for a consignment agreement that covers the price that they'll list your piece of work for sale at, the length of fourth dimension they'll have your work on consignment, the terms of sale, and how whatsoever potential discounts will be shared. If a piece of work is sold past a gallery, you should also expect to receive a form with the buyer's information and then you can keep it on record in your own files. Cheque out "documentation" below (in the pricing section) to further explore what should be on whatever consignment agreement or invoice.
Editor's note: For more on this subject, consult the guide, How to work with galleries and collectors as an emerging artist.
On commissions, loans, and gift-giving
Commissions
If you're ever asked to a do a committee (for case, a portrait of a collector'south canis familiaris, a sculpture in a particular location, or a performance for a collector's wedding, etc), the first affair to exercise is to make sure the terms are written downward and agreed to. You'll also desire to brand sure that once the work is started, in that location can be no refund on the down payment, and that one time the work is completed, the work cannot be returned if the collector doesn't like it.
Once a contract for a committee is signed, you should always require a 50% down payment of the final sale toll. In my opinion, this is not-negotiable. In the terms sheet, information technology should also be stated that if the committee is canceled, inverse, etc, the down payment is non-refundable. And while it's possible to modify the scope of the commission while it's in progress, make sure your contract notes that any changes could result in charging the collector extra money to cover your time and any boosted expenses.
Loans
Often, art shows tin take place in hotel rooms, java shops, bank lobbies, or at friends' houses. In these instances, there might non exist a huge opportunity for sales, since it's more of a curatorial undertaking. But who knows what can happen! Whenever you loan out your piece of work—whether it's for a coincidental evidence at a friend'southward pop-upwardly shop, or for something more established—make sure you lot get or provide a consignment agreement. This agreement should ever item the length of the loan, and (should a sales opportunity ascend) the details of how a transaction can work. For instance, will the friend who's hosting a show in his living room take a percentage of the sale if their roommate buys your piece of work?
Gifts
You tin can gift your piece of work to anyone you want, even institutions (although at that place's no guarantee that they'll take it). Oftentimes, nonprofits, cultural institutions, or friends will seek out artists to donate works for their fundraisers and benefits. This is a great style to get your name and work seen past a larger collector base and raise money for a cause you care well-nigh. And, you can write off the value of the work when you lot do your taxes. If y'all make a gift of your work for 1 of these occasions, e'er endeavour to negotiate a ticket or two to the event, equally these are unremarkably a neat opportunity to network.
With anything that's leaving the studio, y'all'll desire to have a proper paper trail and documentation (remember: high-quality photographs) of the slice or pieces. And, fifty-fifty with gifts, yous'll want to keep records of the transaction. Your career will be in a different identify in five, 10, or fifteen years and the more than information y'all have at your disposal nigh who has your works, the amend.
Selling your fine art through online platforms
In addition to creating your own online store, in that location are many other ways to sell your art online. From Artsy to Etsy, Paddle 8 to Deviant Fine art, in that location are a plethora of platforms that can help showcase your piece of work to a wider community.
Some sites require that your work is already shown through a gallery or fair (like Artsy), while others (like Paddle 8) are generally looking for works by artists with name recognition so they tin can more than easily market it to their audiences.
As you lot weigh your options, know that each platform will accept its own cost and/or commission model, and so do your research and become a sense of the pros/cons of each site. These days, it seems like almost every online retailer is dipping its toe into the art world, so as you exercise your research, yous might likewise want to check out the options on not-traditional platforms like Ebay and Amazon. Finding the correct online platform is near choosing the infinite that fits the needs of y'all and your work, and most recognizing where it'll be the easiest to discover people who like (and who want to buy) your fine art.
While they aren't sales platforms, online creative person registries are some other blazon of platform that can aid atomic number 82 collectors to you. White Columns has, arguably, the best-known registry. Y'all usually have to apply and be approved to be a role of a registry, simply many fine art world people apply these lists to notice new works, and they've been a practiced launching ground for a number of great artists. Personally, I've discovered artists on these sites who I've and so gone on to represent at the gallery.
On getting paid
1 you've done all the cocky-promotion, studio visits, and emailing back and along and you've finally made a auction (!), the next stride is getting your money. Information technology should go without saying that yous should never turn over an artwork without having received payment in full. Once a bank check has cleared, then yous should go the slice wrapped and ready to become. Of course, yous can also request payment via Venmo, PayPal, or whatever works best for y'all. That's the easy role! Before this happens, though, be sure to have all the following in place when closing a sale.
Documentation of sale & invoice
For your records, whatever time yous brand a auction y'all'll want to generate an invoice that clearly details what was purchased, how much was paid, whether or non at that place was a discount, and the terms of the sale. It's always a skillful thought to put "no refunds, no returns" on the invoice, and to stipulate how much the slice was valued at versus how much it sold for (for example, if the retail value was $1,000, but it was bought for $600, noting the forty% discount ensures that the documented value of the piece of work remains at $one,000).
In your invoice, yous should also include a copyright section. This is because if the collector e'er decides to publish an image of your work or exhibit it in a show, you'll want to exist given proper credit. The copyright section can be as simple every bit detailing the piece of work'due south title, creation date, and your proper name. However, if you want to be sure an image of your work doesn't cease up on a tote bag or t-shirt without your explicit permission (and without giving you a cut of the profits!), yous'll also want to include a statement of rights. A piddling online sleuthing tin assistance you discover some canned linguistic communication that feels like the right corporeality of copyright protection for you and your artwork.
It'southward also a good thought to include a brief sentence or 2 about beingness able to infringe back the work for a futurity exhibition or retrospective.
Finally, many galleries include "the correct of showtime refusal" on their invoices. This protects you and your artwork and allows the seller—in this case, you—to buy back the work if it always gets to the point where the collector wants to sell.
Before you close out the sale, both parties should sign a copy of the invoice for your personal records.
In summary…
Overall, selling artwork is about developing skillful communication skills and being patient. Putting yourself out there as an artist is the first step. Spending fourth dimension at galleries, open up studios, and other related events will help to plant you as a member of the customs and lead to introductions, studio visits, and somewhen, sales.
One concluding thing to keep in mind: even if no 1 is buying your fine art now, in that location'due south no reason they won't be in a yr, or even in a calendar month or 2. Keep making connections, and keep your community informed about all that'due south going on with you lot and your practise. Let people know that your work is for sale, and where/how they tin collect it. And equally you go on to develop your deal-sealing skills, ask questions, don't be afraid to f*ck up, and be flexible. Every collector, artist, friend, art gallery, contained curator or art advisor will work differently based on their own individual needs, and the best way to work with them is to be upfront and transparent about your own needs.
Now get back to the studio and start networking!
Nearly the Author
RJ Supa
Gallerist, Curator, Visual artist
RJ Supa is the co-owner and director of yours mine & ours gallery in New York. Previously he owned and ran Louis B. James gallery for five years. He is as well an independent curator and artist, and has exhibited and performed internationally at such spaces every bit Salon 94, Cuevas Tilleard, New Release, the Kunshtalle in Baden-Baden, Germany and Steirischer Herbst in Graz, Austria. His work was most recently reviewed in The New Yorker for a group exhibition, titled Mother's Firm.
Source: https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-sell-your-own-artwork/
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