If you’re an aspiring artist and want to start making art pay as a career this is the article for you.
You may already carry out some of these tasks when trying to sell your art from home, but with that said I’m sure you can learn something from this article today.
When selling art from your home there are different ways of getting started, some will require a small investment while others are free.
My first tip is to know the type of artist you are and then find the marketplace that services that type of artist. After all, if the marketplace caters to artists who create original art and you produce reproductions then you wouldn’t do too well in that space.
By far the easiest way to start selling your artwork is by joining an online marketplace such as Etsy, Artfire, eBay or Artsy.
The pros of joining an online marketplace are your customers are already there, you just need to create the art they like and get in front of their eyes.
When selling on an online marketplace you are going to face stiff competition from other artists, so some tips to outsell them would be to create high-quality work for cheaper than you would originally charge to get some initial feedback.
Most online marketplaces will have a feedback system and as a new artist, you are going to find it difficult to sell your art without any feedback. My tip would be to lower your price initially just to get some feedback, it will help with your sales in the long term.
Marketplaces do take a % of your profits so when you have built an audience I recommend moving on to building your own website.
Once you have built up a following on the online marketplaces I would then suggest moving onto creating your own website so you get to keep more of your profits.
The reason why I don’t suggest starting with your own website is that it’s very difficult to draw traffic to a website, especially a new one. Building an audience on an online marketplace, getting your name out there and moving that audience over to your website is what I would recommend doing.
When it comes to building a website for your business there are many options available to you. WordPress, Wix and Shopify all have their pros and cons. If I were you I would play around with them to see which one you like best.
Whichever option you go for I would recommend paying for your own domain name so that your website looks more professional. Your website should also have e-commerce functionality so that it makes it easy for your visitors to buy from your website.
Social media is one of the quickest ways of getting your artwork out there. However consistent sales is another story.
If you are going to use social media to help sell your art then firstly create accounts on the most popular social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
One artist I have spoken too in the past has told me that Pinterest has been his best marketing channel to sell art from, it took him a lot of work but he now makes a full time living selling art from his home because he took the time to build his audience.
My advice would be to experiment and see what works best for the type of art that you produce. Facebook groups may be great for one type of artist whereas using Instagram to search hashtags for terms like: Art for the bathroom can show you a small niche of people looking for the art you sell.
Becoming a full time paid artist is difficult, but if you take the time to build your audience and create exposure for yourself and your work it is possible.
If you have sold art from your home in the past, what has been your go-to method, let me know in the comment section below.