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Any thoughts on selling art as digital images for others to print?
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Message
Posted
Hi Folks.
I wondered if anyone has any experience, good or bad, in selling your art digitally, as a downloadable image for others to print?
There's an artist I follow on social media and I was perusing his etsy shop, and noticed some 'small' paintings are offered as digital downloads, with the intention that buyers print (and presumably frame) it themselves (with the caveat of 'for personal use and not for redistribution').
This approach is quite certainly not going to be to everyone's liking, I'm sure, but it just got me thinking whether they've done that to ;
1) spread the word on their existence (perhaps intending to lead to further purchases or commissions of one-off pieces) and
2) be a way of making a few extra quid, repeatedly, for the same piece.
I am aware that there's no doubt several things they would consider as being out of their control, such as paper, colour, framing etc, but the idea (and the reasons behind it) intrigued me when I saw it on the shop.
Any comments, thoughts or experiences shared, are all very welcome. Thank you in advance.
Posted
I haven’t any first-hand experience here Gerry, and isn’t something that I’d personally get involved with.
You would presumably have to send a hi-res digital image to each buyer, which could potentially lead to multiple prints being made…
All a bit too risky for me, albeit it is another avenue for potential sales!
Posted
Unflatteringly, no one has ever asked me for this..... if they did, I'd put a copyright notice on it; though these days that might not be a problem for someone to remove. How much, I wonder, is this artist asking for their work - and is there really much of a problem in doing this with someone's paintings anyway? We can presumably all print off a jpeg: I have made digital copies of some of my drawings, for no particular reason other than that they were deteriorating on the paper I'd used for them ... I got quite reasonable results even from my rather standard inkjet printer. If I had a laser printer still, results should be even better.
A high-res image might be more desirable - but again: given the right equipment we could probably achieve that ourselves, from a passably good file. In short - I don't think this is going to be quite the money-spinner it was intended to be; the very scrupulous might refrain from making copies from a copyrighted work, but my general experience of the human race is that scruples are in rather short supply.
Posted
I purchased a high resolution photograph at one time. Payed £20 for it. The problem with artwork is that it appears differently on a screen to what the actual art work (its colours) really looks like. I purchased an artists canvas prints. Because I am aware of the artist work I could tell what was sent to me was incorrect. The printer sent another copy which I was then satisfied with. You must take into account that images on screen are illuminated from behind. Reproduction of art is a professional area. However artist do sell original art over the internet, but personally I would have to actually see the painting first before being disappointed by matching up what is in my hand with what appears on a monitor screen, then seeing a difference.
Posted
I agree it's risky, because you never really know either how many prints buyers make or whether they've sold them on.
There's got to be a certain amount of trust to that, if you are thinking that they won't be sold on, and I would say the artist would have to have an amount of realistic expectation in buyers behaviour.
If it were me buying, and making a reasonable investment, I would want to see the real item to know whether the colours are what I want....but I'm guessing in the case of what I found, they're so cheap that they will appeal to buyers who perhaps are willing to accept the likelihood of the finished article not matching their screen copy.
I'm beginning to think it might be more of a "word-spreading", "get-yourself-known" exercise than a money making venture.
This post has been removed as it violates our forum rules and guidelines.
Posted
I agree it's risky, because you never really know either how many prints buyers make or whether they've sold them on.
There's got to be a certain amount of trust to that, if you are thinking that they won't be sold on, and I would say the artist would have to have an amount of realistic expectation in buyers behaviour.
Posted
If it were me buying, and making a reasonable investment, I would want to see the real item to know whether the colours are what I want....but I'm guessing in the case of what I found, they're so cheap that they will appeal to buyers who perhaps are willing to accept the risk of the finished article not matching their screen copy.
I'm beginning to think it might be more of a "word-spreading", "get-yourself-known" exercise than a money making venture.
Posted
If it were me buying, and making a reasonable investment, I would want to see the real item to know whether the colours are what I want....but I'm guessing in the case of what I found, they're so cheap that they will appeal to buyers who perhaps are willing to accept the risk of the finished article not matching their screen copy.
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