Tips on selling your artwork wholesale to stores
Chartworksart
my early adult years in a very stressful Hotel/Event Management career
and approx. 9 years ago I went out on a limb and quit my real job and
have been a freelance Illustrator since then. I began doing
Sportfishing Tournament art and individual private commissions. I was
lucky enough to have made a few well-placed business contacts in my
Event job. I got some of my first art jobs through them. I designed
artwork for the Private Club that I had resigned from. I also used the
computer/contract/professional skills and confidence that I had learned
at my previous job to keep me going. In event planning no request is
too big or too small. You have to be able to handle anything anyone
can ask you to figure out, no matter how big, or crazy.
My Parents have a Picture Framing business and that has also helped me
out. I meet all kinds of interesting people and learn a lot about art.
I was talking to a new artist in town the other day. She is a very
talented painter and we started talking about business. She was asking
where to go and what to do to get started selling her art in town. I
don't think that she had done much homework yet but had a friend that
was photographing her artwork for her and was going to give it to her
on a disc.
I told her that I do a considerable amount of my own printing and
packaging and that she didn't have to pay someone else to do most of
her computer and printing work. I said that I would show her a few
things. Then I realized a lot of other Artists could use the same
advice.
- You have to invest in your own business. I'm a firm believer in "You
have to spend money to make money". I didn't have much at the
beginning but if you're careful you don't need much.
Here are a few of the things I told her, maybe they can help you too:
- If you intend to make selling your artwork your business, buy these
books AND read them. "Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, Pricing and
Ethical Guidelines" it's full of good information on Legal rights and
Issues, Business Practices, Graphic Design/Illustration Trade
Practices, Contracts etc.
Each year there's a new "Artists and Graphic Designers Market" - It is
full of more useful information and is also a Directory of people who
buy art and what they pay, what they require etc. Very helpful.
- Buy your own large format printer. You can buy one that prints up to
13" x 19" for around $650.00. That includes a "duplexer" that allows
you to print double-sided pages. You'll need that to produce your own
catalogs. You can make a professional catalog on your own. Really.
I'll tell you how later. I have the HP cp1700. I've had it for years,
it's printed 1000's & 1000's of copies and still going strong. It paid
for itself in no time.
- Have Professional Business Cards. If you can't design your own Go to
www.overnightprints.com. There they walk you through doing the text
and uploading your images. They actually print them overnight too.
- Buy (or Borrow) a copy of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or higher. This is
very important. You'll also need a program to lay out labels, note
cards and catalogs. I use Microsoft Publisher. I know some people say
it's outdated but it works for me. It's also on the second disc of the
Microsoft Business Office set that most businesses have. You'll
probably know someone with a copy. Both of these are available on
E-bay. You can probably get them at a good price. Make sure that they
haven't been registered and come with the product ID/Code.
- Order bags to package your art in from www.clearbags.com. They are
really inexpensive and they look professional.
- Find a local Framer and see if you can get a deal on buying a box of
mats and foamcore backing. The come by the 32" x 40" sheet and you can
cut them yourself. You can also buy smaller mats in standard sizes
from www.clearbags.com. There are also a whole bunch of other online
sources.
- If you don't have access to a mat cutter, buy one.
- Now you can produce, mat, back and package your own prints.
You can always have someone print your larger prints. Save them for
your limited editions. Print open editions of everything in several
sizes. It gives people more to choose from. Now you can make money
selling your prints wholesale instead of giving everything to the guy
who does your printing.
It may seem like a lot of money at first. You should buy everything in
quantity to get discounts. REMEMBER You are going to need all those
supplies - You're going out there to be successful.
There are also good "Dummies" books for Photoshop and Publisher. I
used them. I also spent jillions of hours learning how to make those
programs do just what I wanted. I asked a lot of questions and read
the "Help" sections a time or twelve. You should too.
More tips and resources later.
All the Best to You - Marjorie
ilia
Is your help okay to reprint at Help 2 Succeed
(www.help-2-succeed.com)? Of course, I would certainly put your
information such as name, email & website and put a proper thank you!
Help 2 Succeed is precisely about what you are doing here - giving tips
and innovative ideas to help artists make a living (and quite the
9-5!). It's a community of artists helping artists.
Also, you are cordially invited to become a part of the Help 2 Succeed
community, get your free listing in the online art gallery and your
first FREE basic listing in THE Directory, too - both can be accessed
from the home page.
Have a great day!
ILIA
art & literary works > www.art-of-ilia.com
help 4 The Arts > www.help-2-succeed.com