Being exhibited in galleries and selling a work here and there is awesome, but for many of us it just doesn’t pay the bills. But there are so many things we could do to change that.

Selling prints of our work seems like the most obvious thing, yet so many of us are still not doing it. With places like Saatchi Art, White Wall, Fine Art America and others, where one only has to upload ones art and set the price, the amount of effort that has to be put into setting up an automated print production is almost zero.

But automation does have it’s price and there are caveats to having someone take care of everything for us; the margins on the sales are much lower than if we made the prints ourselves. 

But considering that buying a good A3 or god forbid A2 printer can set you back a couple hundred if not thousand euro, for someone starting out, print on demand or POD as the biz kids call it is a good alternative with no real barrier to entry.

So why aren’t we all opening up shop online?

I can understand the idea that a small A3 print is nothing like an original 2x2m abstract expressionist painting, the same as a post card of the Eiffel tower doesn’t even come close to actually having brunch in Champ de Mars, smearing delicious Tartare soft cheese with walnuts and cranberries on a freshly baked baguette.

Many companies that produce some form of tangible goods, usually tend to diversify their offering into segments: entry level, core package and premium.

I believe we artists should take note and try to implement such strategies into our own business. If for example you only make large portraits that take you a really long time to make, you probably also charge a good amount of money for them.

Now, considering this is your main thing, your core package if you will, maybe you could expand lower and add some sketch work or croquis as well as use all the studies you are probably doing and have done in the past to get to the level you are now, and make them into fine prints on canvas or giclée prints so that all the people who like your work but don’t really have the money to afford a portrait can still enjoy a physical copy instead of looking at your masterpieces on a 5 inch screen.

Or if all you do is computer drawings of fictional characters and your sketches are selling ok, maybe give acrylic or oil a try and make a bigger, physical painting here and there so that those of your fans that have some more cash to burn and really like your work, can enjoy a special edition one-off original.

I mean who wouldn’t want a big painting of their favourite game character, made by their favourite character designer?!

Our art should make people excited. So if you could give a lot more people the ability to enjoy your work and share with them the experiences you are able to create, by just altering your work flow or adding a different size or kind of work to your repertoire, wouldn’t you do it?