Useful Sites For Artists

POSTCARDS500.COM

2007-02-01T06:18:00.000-08:00

Postcards500.com is a site serving artists buy producing postcards, cards, business cards and envelopes for artists from digital files of their work. Postcards500 is situated in the manhatten area.

PRO'S

Postcards500 can provide colour proofing of your digital files/transparency or slides before your work is printed, thus ensuring that the colors are correct. Postcards500 offers a sliding scale of prices that get cheaper the more you purchase ie. 500 4x6 postcards will cost you $176.00, that's 0.35 each, whereas 1000 4x6 postcards will cost only an extra ten dollars at $186.00, 0.18 each. This is a very easy to navigate site explaining everything the artist needs to know simply and clearly. They can also produce postcards to your size specifications.

CON'S

Postcards500 only accepts payment from Visa and Mastercard. There is a delivery charge on all orders, in the Manhatten area $20.00 for up 2,500 cards; this site doesn't actually tell us how much delivery will cost to other areas or countries.

SUMMARY

A simply laid out site that provides a useful and inexpensive service for artists who wish to promote their artwork by getting it printed on cards and a variety of other products.

http://POSTCARD500.com

Your Art Is Puzzling

2006-12-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

COMPOZAPUZZLE.COM

Compozapuzzle.com is a site that basicly sells blank puzzles. Compozapuzzle have been in business producing and selling preassembled puzzles since 1974. This site sells a product that could be useful for artists to use as a promotion tool, or even to be sold as a sideline revenue bass.

PRO'S

The puzzles at compozapuzzle can be directly airbrushed, acrylic painted or screenprinted , or, and this is perhaps the most useful thing for all of us, they can be put through a computer printer and have the art work from a digital file printed onto them. The puzzles are pretty cheap, for example a 5"x8" puzzle with 28 pieces is just $0.59, an absolute bargain in my view.

CON'S

This site doesn't have a page for artists to upload their digital files and then sell puzzles of your artwork through them, which I'm sure we would all like. But to be fair this isn't a site geared specificaly towards artists, it's a site geared towards selling 'blank' puzzles...ie D.I.Y.

SUMMARY

This an excellent alternative way for artists to promote their work by yet another means. This site is a basic easy to navigate site with very cheap products. In the infamous words of someone who's name escapes me "I'll buy that for a dollar!"(or less).

Selling Photo's to newspapers and magazines

2006-12-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

SCOOPT.COM

Now I can't say this next post is anything related to high art, BUT this is a blog for visual artists to find useful sites and useful sidelines for earning money. Particularly this post is for photographers or anyone one with a camera, most artists I've known have also possessed a camera as well as a set of brushes. This site, scoopt.com is a middle man for anyone who has taken a newsworthy photograph or a photograph that a newspaper or magazine might be interested in buying. Scoopt is run by a group of ex-journalists and photographers in an attempt to allow phtographers to sell their photo's to major publications.

PRO'S

Scoopt is free to join. Sending your picture to scoopt can be done in two ways, either upload it to their site or send it from your mobile phone(remember, it's not high art). Scoopt deals with contacting and negotiating a price for your photo for publication, you don't have to do anything except upload it. The picture is licensed(not sold)for three months but you still retain copyright of it, after which time you can sell the picture again or use it as you wish. An easy to navigate and understand site.

CON'S

Scoopt takes a huge 50% commission on your licensed photo. scoopt is concerned with newsworthy pictures of the paparazzi variety.

SUMMARY

Overall I have to say I like this site and the possibilities it holds for anyone with a camera so I chose to include it in this blog. I can't find too much wrong with it, but I haven't used their service either to exactly know enough about it. This site is good for anyone with a camera(even just a mobile phone camera), I'm not sure how many photo's of a 'non-famous person' variety would actually get sold on this site though, but they do mention that other pictures can be sold as stock photo's to various publications.

Artists materials at discount prices

2006-12-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

DICKBLICK.COM

Dickblick is a store for buying artists materials at cheap prices without losing the quality of the product. Dickblick has over thirty actual stores(U.S.A)and has been in business since 1911. Their website is stocked full of a wide range of artists products to suit all needs, all products can be ordered online.

PRO'S

The price of the majority of goods on this site are cheap even though many are famous brand names. Dickblick can ship within the U.S or internationally and give a time frame for delivery on their shipping page. This has been a company in business for quite some time and prides itself on customer satisfacton and service. They have an extremely wide selection of goods to peruse. Dickblick offers frequent discounts and some goods at clearance prices. Also has lesson plans for teachers onsite.

CON'S

Shipping isn't free(boo)but if you buy goods over a certain value it is. Not much else bad to say about this site.

Using an online site to connect with 'real world dealers and Galleries'

2006-12-10T05:10:00.000-08:00

PROJEKT30.com

Projeckt 30 is a rather interesting site that seeks to connect online artists(fine artists&photographers)with 'bricks and morter' galleries the world over through online exhibitions voted on by the general public and an in-house jury. 30 artists are then picked and their information sent to galleries worldwide in the hope that the Artists will get representation from one of them. This is, im sure what most artists hope to acheive at some point in their career.

PRO'S

Projekt 30 has found something of a niche in the market as I dont know of another site doing this at present(sending actual work to galleries from an online source). Projekt 30 will provide an online web site for you to upload your work to(for a fee). If you choose the membership option then it is free to enter the exhibition competitions. Juried exhibitions are held every month. For any sales made through Projekt30 you keep all the profit, they take no commision, this is also true for any gallery that chooses to represent you. As the public also votes their is a chance for many artists to make their mark even if their art isnt the usual kind of work that art critics like.

CON's

To begin with a small criticism: It's not easy to navigate back to the homepage from some other parts of the site. Obviously this site will charge you for this service: $55 for 3 months, $95 for 6 months, or $160 for a year, which is a tad expensive, but then again it may pay off in the long run if you are picked up by a gallery. You cannot submit the same piece of work to another exhibition, there is a limit of 10 works that can be submitted to each exhibition/competition. a three month membership will in effect only give you 3 exhibition/competition chances and it's unclear exactly 'who' the in-house jury were and will be, frankly for all we know they could be the website owners mates from down the pub. Also, for perhaps obvious reasons, we have no idea what galleries they send out the final selected 30 artists to, also how many galleries? Also projekt30 says there will be no advertising or links back to their site if you host an online gallery on their site, it's true there are no advertisements but, in fact, there is a link back to their home page which is rather surprising as they dont seem to be able to put a link back to their home page anywhere else on their own pages!

SUMMARY

I like the idea of this site, but there seems to be too many unawswered questions as the to the 'bricks$morter' galleries involved and the 'in-house' jury. Also the fact that they lie about not having any back links on your own(hosted by them)web gallery doesnt bode well. All in all, good idea but needs to present more information and be accurate with its statements.

Putting your art work 'out there' through ATC's(Art Trading Cards)

2006-12-10T05:03:00.000-08:00

ARTCARDSWANTED.COM

ACEO's(Art Cards Editions&Originals otherwise known as ATC'S(Artists Trading Cards)were traditionally used to trade between artists but have become a collecting phenomena in their own right with non-artists. The official size of ACEO's is 2.5" x 3.5" (64 x 89 mm). artcardswanted.com is a site where people can trade cards or artists can create cards of their own art work for promotion purposes or for sale to art card collectors(either way it boils down to promotion). Art cards can be sold as a limited edition, open edition(no limit to the amount printed)or Originals(the actual blank card is painted by the artist as its own piece of art work. There are art card trading conventions all over the world. Many collectors/artists sell their cards on ebay.

PRO'S

This is an excellent way for artists to promote their work in a field growing in popularity every year. This site offers a free gallery set up of your art work. simple upload of digital files of your art work. Statistics available to see which art work is viewed the most. you can receive payments with paypal. You can create your own limited edition cards limiting the amount printed.

CON's

There is one major flaw in my view with this site. Although the set up is free and hosting your gallery of cards on their site is free and they charge no commission on your sales, you must actually buy your cards first before you can sell them. Either the cards are sent to you and you deal with the sales or they store your cards(ie. keep the digital file on their drives and then print out cards as required)and then mail them. Essentially then they make their money from printing the cards and the artist paying them up-front. To be honest this site is a good idea but lets face it, none of us like paying out for something we are not sure we can sell/and how many. I'm not sure why this site doesnt take the same route as other sites such as thumbtackpress.com, cafepress.com, art.com(refer to previous posts)by charging a base price for the printing/production etc and letting the artist tag their own mark-up price on the artwork.

SUMMARY

Good way to promote your artwork in a growing field but would be much nicer if we didn't have to pay up front. Give us a mark-up option!

Getting your artwork on an ipod

2006-12-10T04:58:00.000-08:00

gelaskins.com

This is a new site that produces protective ipod skins with the art work of new artists. The skins are applied to the ipod making the ipod look ten times better. This site uses artists with mostly a contempory look. Images of your art work can be submitted for their perusal before they decide to use your artwork.

PROS

This site is new so there are not many artists using this site at the moment. The site is simple to navigate. ipods are very popular as we all know, getting your work out there on other peoples ipods is a great way to get your art recognised and at the same time earn a modest commission.

CONS

This is a small site at the moment so not as many people as you might like will visit this site but on the plus side they have started an affiliate program so many more people will be likely to visit it in the future. In the begining they only had work from current artists but more recently they have added work of some famous artists as the images are past the copyright laws date(as the artists are dead eg. hokusai), obviously this is bad for new up and coming artists who have to compete with the more famous images/artists.

SUMMARY

Good idea for a product, it doesn't look like ipods will go away for some time so this could be a good source of commision and promotion for an artist for some time to come.

Famous British Art Buyers free online gallery

2006-12-10T04:52:00.000-08:00

SAATCHI-GALLERY

The Saatchi gallery is the brain child of one Charles Saatchi, advertising mogul and prolific art collector in the U.K. Charles Saatchi is accredited with helping start the 'brit art' movement and giving it a well needed boost. He made many new British artists famous, including Damien Hurst. His new site contains information about new exhibitions and has a section for artists to upload and display an online portfolio of their work for free.

PRO'S

It's free! Charles Saatchi is looked up to by the arts world, if he purchases a new artists work the art world takes notice. This is a good avenue for artists to display their work on a reputed site. Will certainly have art dealers using this site to find new work.

CON'S

The artists section can be a little slow on the upload, but recently seems to have speeded up. Other than that I wouldn't really want to venture any criticism for a site that helps artists display their work and lets buyers contact them directly.

SUMMARY

Great place to display and sell your art work. Does for free what many other sites charge for in one way or another.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

How to promote you website to multiple search engines

2006-12-10T04:45:00.000-08:00

SELFPROMOTION.COMhttp://selfpromotion.com

Selfpromotion.com is a site for website owners to use in promoting their site to the major and not so major search engines. The sight is run by a single person. The sight uses a relatively simple piece of software that logs which sites you have submitted to and which have been accepted or refused.

PRO'S

The service is free to use but you can also choose to give a donation if you wish. The site has a no nonsense approach. Sites that you have submitted to or not submitted to are placed in a log you can easily view. Makes it simple to perform a process that would otherwise be very time consuming.

CON'S

The software wasn't as user friendly as I had hoped, but then again I'm practically computer illiterate. I found it a little difficult to navigate between the various options and was confused for a while because I wasn't sure if my site had been submitted. Takes a little while to get the hang of it, but like I said, that might just be me.

SUMMARY

You cant criticise a free service in my view especially when it when it takes a complicated task and makes it simple for all the less technically minded of us. Very useful for Artists wishing to submit their website to multiple search engines. Gives for free what other sites charge for.

Where to sell your photos for a fair price

2006-12-10T04:44:00.000-08:00

PHOTOGRAPHERSDIRECT.COM

Photographers direct is an online stock photo site for digital photographers and traditional photographers. Unlike some other stock photography sites photographers direct allows you to be in direct contact with the buyer to negotiate your own price depending on the use of the image. 'Photographers direct' link buyers and sellers together.

PRO'S

Anyone can submit their images to this site for free and their images will be placed in their online search engine. This site also has a membership feature, if you sign up for this you will be given your own portfolio page and will receive emails about buyers looking for specific kinds of images which you can then upload to them for their approval. The paid membership option means you also do not have to pay any commision on any images you sell.

CON'S

Photographers direct can take a while to reply to your email for possible submissions the first time. Also their specs for submission eg.size/definition the first time can be frustrating, for example I submitted images and stripped them down so the file size would be small(so obviously the quality wouldnt look so good)only to be told I wouldn't be accepted as the quality was too low, so I had to repeat the whole process all over again. If you choose the non subscription option you will have to pay 10% commision if you sell it as the image was found through them.

SUMMARY

A good site with the ideal of selling photos at a fair price, not like some other sites that sell your images for a dolaar each. The commision they take is also low for the photographic industry.

Earning money from your work by other means

2006-12-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

CAFE PRESS

Cafepress.com is a site that can help Artists make money from their designs/illustrations/paintings. It is useful as a sideline revenue and a promotional tool for artists. Simply sign up to get your own free shop and upload your digital images and place them onto the items of your choice. You decide how much mark up to put on each piece while they take the base profit for the item. Payments are sent by check when they reach a certain amount which can be decided by you, but not less than $25.

PRO'S

This service is free and fairly simple to use once you get the hang of uploading images and become familiar with the general website layout. It is possible to upgrade the shop through a payment option making the shop look more proffessional and attractive to customers. Any image without any copyright infringement can be used. Once you have designed your shop it can be a useful source of passive income and requires little to no time attending to it, unless you choose to promote it online yourself. You can also choose your own shop name, perhaps using you own name as an artist to give yourself a branding presence in the marketplace. Cafepress promote various pieces of work on other relavent websites. Also has its own internal search engine.

CON'S

Cafepress doesnt have a webpage view statistics analyser, so you will have no idea if any of your promotion work online is bearing any fruit unless you get an increase in sales. There is no way to add text onto a T-Shirt or other item unless you produce it yourself and upload it. The basic shop(free)looks simple and unattractive. There are so many people trying to use this site to sell items that your product can get lost like a needle in a haystack. Cafepress does not pay your commision with paypal but instead by check.

SUMMARY

A good site for artists to use getting their art printed on various kinds of products to sell or themselves buy.

Getting high exposure for your work

2006-12-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

ART.COM(GALLERY)

Art.com is a site mainly for selling prints/posters and frames of art work. The main section sells work by already established artists, whereas the 'original art/photography' section allows new artists to set up a free gallery with up to 16 images, also has a paying option for up to 96 image uploads. Art.com makes prints of your work on demand for sale. Art.com was recently bought out by allposters.com.

PRO'S

Has a free gallery for new artists/photographers. Obviously the fact that they have the web site ART.com means that a lot of traffic will go through this site. If someone wants to buy an original piece of your work they can contact you directly and art.com doesn't take a commision.

CON'S

The free gallery is limited to just 16 images. Art.com only offers you 10% of the sales price of your images in poster or print form which seems a bit stingy in my view bearing in mind how long you probably took to create it. So many different known/unknown artists with work on this site that obviously the more popular established artists images will sell more than yours.

SUMMARY

A good site for exposure but not such a good site for earning commision.

Print And Sell Giclee's Through one Site

2006-12-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

FINERWORKS.COM

Finerworks is a site that makes Giclee prints from your digital images(artwork/photos). Finerworks is well advertised on google and comes up third on the right hand side google ads when you type in 'giclee prints' in a google search. Finerworks provides giclee prints on various formats and sizes to suit specific needs. Finerworks can print and sell your work(if you choose)on their online gallery(free sign up)

PRO'S

There is no minimum order requirement(well except for '1' obviously)and the more you order the cheaper it gets. Finerworks has an online gallery which can display and sell any images you choose to upload. Paypal or check payment system. Also will give you a webpage displaying your work free of charge with the option of placing a link to your own website. Also has an answers page for the less technically minded of us so you can get a good quality print. Has a easy to understand 'media comparisons' page(that's kinds of paper and canvas to us)which makes it east to compare different types of work on different media. Has a questions and answers forum. Well laid out, easy navigation.

CON'S

The home page is a little slow on the upload......apart from that I really cant see much wrong with this site.

SUMMARY

A good site with easy practical applications for visual artists. Lots of information for artists to compare different kinds of materials and printing methods, presented in an easy to understand way.

Selling art work through a popular online gallery

2006-12-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

YESSY(online gallery)

Yessy is an online gallery aimed at all kinds of artists, painters, sulpters, photographers and so on. Yessy is a well advertised site online, with prominent ads on google and other top ranking search engines. If you type in 'buy/sell artwork you will find Yessy comes at the top of each Google search. Yessy has a free 14 day trial, after which you can choose to pay $59 dollars for the years subscription. One of the most popular online galleries at the moment. An average artist on Yessy gets about two thousand hits per month.

PRO'S

Yessy is well advertised across the internet. The site has an escrow system so payments must be reveived by the site before the seller sends the piece of artwork, after the work is received the funds are released to the seller. Can accept most major credit cards as payments. The buyer can choose to contact the seller directly and arrange the sale themselves if they choose to do so. No limit on the amount of artwork that can be uploaded. Different pages are allowed for different types of work should you not want to bunch different styles together.

CON'S

If the buyer chooses to use Yessys payment system then the seller will be charged 10% of the sale price. The buyer can send the work back and ask for a refund after a certain amount of days. A U.S bank account or a credit card are needed to open a Yessy account, Yessy does not accept Paypal nor pay with it. If your artwork involves nudity you are asked to class it as such and the image will not show up on a normal search unless the buyer clicks on the option to show that kind of work(your name and the piece of arts name will show up on a general search though).

SUMMARY

Yessy is a very popular online gallery at the moment so it gives a good chance to artists looking for wider exposure online. A reputable site with a wide range of artists showing and seling their work.

Selling prints of your work 'easily'.

2006-12-09T04:38:00.000-08:00

THUMBTACKPRESS.COM

Thumbtack press sells prints of your artwork. They are selective in which artists they choose to go on their database.'Thumbtack Press uses a state-of-the-art 8 color archival ink jet process on a heavy bright white stock. The final print is trimmed to size and protected in an acid-free polyurethane cover before shipment in a board-backed, water resistant envelope.'

PRO'S

Thumbtack press handles all the sales side of the business. All you have to do is upload a good quality digital image of your work. Thumbtack press pays you 50% of the sale price(sale price ranges from $14.99 - $44.99). They will pay an extra 10% if the person buying your print also purchases a frame with it. There are not thousands and thousands on artists on this site.

CON'S

Thumbtack press does not sell limited editions of your work, and apart from originals, limited edition prints are by far more popular than 'unlimited' prints and command a higher price. Thumb tack press does not have a strong online presence as far as I can see and are yet to become firmly established in the art prints market place.

SUMMARY

All in all a good and fair site. Receiving Fifty percent of the profit when selling prints using a middle man is way above the industry standard. Also nice to see they don't just accept any old artist.