How To Sell Your Art (pt2)

On-line E-Tailers

Being an on-line E-tailer specialising in canvas art, we are regularly contacted by artists and designers interested in selling their art and images. Some are interested in selling one off pictures,whilst others are interested in selling the image rights of their art for re-production purposes. Depending on a deal you can make with an on-line E-tailer, this second option is often the most lucrative.

When approaching a company, act professional. Either email or call them to enquire weather they accept outside artwork. If you intend on emailing them, introduce yourself including a short bio about you and your art. Most say you should add in any training you have in art, but personally I don't look for training, some of the best artists I've met have none or little, there just naturally gifted or hard working! Always include a link to your on-line portfolio or website so the company can see your artwork, if they respond you can at least hope for some compliments or constructive criticism. Under no circumstances must you mention money in the original contact and if your art may be offensive in any way (e.g. nudes or political motivated art) mention this in the email before the link to your site. Some companies won't sell certain so as to not offend potential customers.

So what kind of deal might you expect to get? It all depends on the company involved, and the profit margins on the products and images. Some will offer to buy images out right for a fixed fee (e.g. £20 or $40) and they are then free to sell your image as many times as they can. You will of course not get paid until the first image has sold. The other option is percentage or fixed rate per canvas sold. For example, if you get a deal where you get £10 ($20) for the image up front, then a small amount per image sold you stand to make a lot more money. Some companies will offer a bonus payment or increased percentage if your art sells a set number of images. For example, sell 10 and get another £10 ($20). This is only an example and should not be taken as gospel, if a company decides to sell your artwork they'll come up with the payment and you'll need to agree with it. Don't set your sites too high as a beginner, if the company is selling canvas prints for £100 ($200) don't expect to be taking a massive percentage of this, they have a lot of overheads and there doing as much as they can to sell your work.

Selling on-line through an E-tailer has its advantages. Help improve your chances of selling your images by marketing your images on the E-tailers site. Through your own site, forums, communities, social book marking sites and even emails you can increase traffic and hopefully sales of your images. This will mean you receive more money, and so does the company selling your artwork. This then might result in an increase in the cut you receive from each sale. Work hard at marketing your artwork and you'll see more money coming in.The E-tailer should also be marketing their whole site and with new artists comes new ways for them to market their site. With both parties marketing the images you should both see a nice return.

Like real world galleries, have a look through the sites you intend on approaching before you approach them to see if they sell similar styles to your own or have a wide range of art without your 'niche' currently available.

Driving on-line traffic to your Art

Marketing websites is big business at the moment but its not as hard as you may think. Its all about getting the maximum possible viewers for the smallest outlay. After setting up an on-line portfolio you want to start doing some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to promote yourself. This will give Google (the largest search engine on the Internet) a better chance to see you, and see how relevant your images is to specific searches. The more relevant it thinks you are, the higher you will be placed in the search results.

The best places to start are social bookmarking

sites (Digg, Mixx and Stumble Upon all have an Image Upload) and you can always Stumble on your own site. Getting on these sites has a 2 fold effect, firstly it can help get some traffic to your site and secondly it helps you get some of the crucial back-links to your URL. Another great tip for anyone with images Is to make sure they are correctly tagged up (Alt tags - height and width description tag) This helps Google know what the

image is and helps you get a higher placing on Google images which is a potential gold mine.

If you have a unique style of process to your artwork, write some articles on it. The best thing about art is its much easier to create a fully interactive web 2.0 web site. This again helps with your SEO as Google is open to giving higher ranks in its search engine to sites which give a user interaction. Make some videos of you painting in your style and upload them to You-Tube. Add images, lots and lots (of correctly Alt tagged) images. Search around for some open source interactive flash add-on's so you can let your views get into your site, hopefully come back and most importantly, buy your work!

Video Games Range Launched - More Retro Art

We've got another new canvas art range for you, fresh from the predominately right sided brains of our resident Artists. This time it's all about classic video games & the amazing CGI invention, the pixel. The range will develop as usual with new Art and designs being added "as and when", but to kick it all off, we've focused on some of the more iconic pixilated hero's that have graced the screens of our arcade machines, TVs and monitors. If you remember the original Atari games consoles, the old skool Namco Arcade machines & the first wave of Nintendo machines to come out of Japan in the late 80's, then this range could be for you. The range has got 80's nostalgia written all over it, after all, these were the icons for a generation. The first wave of kids that would find enjoyment in sitting in front of a screen of hours, playing away contentedly, decades before the Internet was invented and we are now all at it!

The range of canvas designs is not strictly 80's by any stretch, it is moving into the early 1990's with Art like the heavily pixilated"Tetris" design. A Bold spectrum of block colours stretched over a extra long canvas, ideal for injecting a bit of colour into a contemporary room, the length would be well suited to sitting above a sofa in any living space.

In terms of classic video games, the range wouldn't be complete without the original and the best: PacMan himeself. People always seem to forget that it wasn't just Pac-Man, the other pixilated monsters that he did battle with were just as iconic. Which is why we have not just focused on him, and designed ranges on them all - check the "Pac-Man Family" for example. Simplistic, stripped down, and minimal, it seems to make a bigger statement than most designs. Less is more after all. If you are feeling a bit more adventurous, the "Pac-Man Quad" is another option, especially if you like the idea of spreading the art across a few canvases. My personal favourite of the Pac-Man range is this original design which has been produced for us called "Pinky Pac-Man" It's even more minimal, but the simple pink / blue colours just seem to do it for me..

Namco Arcade is a bit of pixataied block colour again, based on a graphic actually taken off an old Namco Arcade machine, Circa 1988. It's been re-drawn and re-designed, and produced on this square box canvas.

To round it off and take us into the 1990's, the range wouldn't be complete without the the Nintendo creation, Mario. This was one of the most successful video game characters ever made, with games still been made today. We have honoured his creation with a serious of carefully sculpted block pixilated designs which do his little pixilated figure justice. There are a few of these designs, we are feeling the Mario Quad, if you are bold enough to split him over a series of four canvases, this could be the one you've been looking for.

So, that's it for now, as I promosied, more designs will follow, probably in 2009 now. If you can't wait until then, and you have to tell us that you need an iconic video game characture on canvas, just let us know, and we'll try and make your wish come true. We're not Jimmy Saville & we are not Father Christmas, but we can knock up a design or two - now that's something that you can believe in(!) You can subscribe to this news blog to stay on top of the art that we are putting out, as usual, get in touch if you need any bespoke work doing.

New Interior Design 09 Art Range

"Timeless" 2009 Interior Design Canvas Art Range

Following the success of the bespoke range of art for the 2008 range Invidia, we have decided to do more range designs tailor made for our Interior Trends predictions.

Timeless is essentially a move on from the hugely successful Invidia 08. You always see it - in fashion and interiors, wherever there are seasons with very successfully trends, you can guarantee that next season will sport a 'move on' from last years top dog. Where Invidia was defined by it's Opulence and OTT nature, the Black on Black with hints of gold and metallics has been replaced by a more subtle Black on white with subtle highlight colours. Over the top Gold stately frames & mirrors have moved on to more discerning chromes, silvers & metallics. Timeless focuses on Baroque style motifs, which are similar to the simple Invidia Vintage Wallpaper designs, but can now be much more complex and focus on detail. The black and white makes a simple, bold statement, and is possibly more commercial in nature than its black on black predecessor.

Black and White is fantastic to work with, there are so many options open to you. I wouldn't say that you can't get it wrong, but Monochrome is somewhat easier to work with in the interior context. Colour-wise, it's not just black and whites here, you want to be looking at some very deep shades of blues or purples for subtle infused colour. Darker shades of grey, like dark slate greys also work well. In terms of accessories and highlights, you should be looking at some metallics. Chrome light switches, even candle stick holders ( Invidia 08 Style) and plug sockets act to highlight the subdued tones of black and whites. Remember, unlike Invidia, you are looking at silvers, not Golds.

To quote us as verbatim, "Timeless is the ultimate contrast both visually & metaphorically. A bold, brash & often bizarre clash of Baroque elegance & contemporary whites and blacks, Timeless is the ultimate bold statement. The intense combination of heavily contrasting colour works well in big rooms with high roofs & plenty of light -preferably natural sunlight to set off the natural wood flooring. "

"Timeless" will give you the chance to mix the weird and wonderful Kitsch & clash it with the ultra modern. (Think 20's Vintage wallpapers with Plasma screens) And why the hell not after all? The more modern and technologically advanced we get, the more eclectic I like to go. After all, you can't have everything modern in a room, or your living area will start to look like the control room on the Starship Enterprise. Mix and match is the way forward, be bold and daring, trust your instincts. You could get down the local car boot, get on the Internet on auction sites, or even better - go along to a local auction house where you will be presented the opportunity to walk away with some real, classic vintage accessories for your abode.

Then, you can mix and match some carefully selected and bespoke, canvas art. On the art route, you could opt for bold art to work with the contrasting background, or even art that actually is the background... Think sections of wallpaper, enlarged and printed on canvas.. The sky is the limit here.

That's about it, if you want more, you can check the full articles on Timeless '09 or have a nosey at our new Timeless bespoke art range. As usual, hit us up if you are interested in any bespoke work, and feel free to subscribe here for loads more news from WHoArtNow.

Fresh New Abstract & Digital Modern Art.

A new selection of Abstract Art is up on the site, and there is plenty of it too. This is the culmination of six months or so of designs that we have decided to launch all at once. The new art we are putting out is pushing forward our interpretations of this new wave of art which is emerging in this increasingly digital age that we now live in. Plasma Screens, Cordless speakers, a miniature computer in your pocket. It's all getting a bit futuristic in the world these days, so we are trying to following suit with our art.

Quadrigeminal Yarn is based on vintage Japanese textiles, it is a digital, almost neon depiction of an ancient piece of hand woven artwork. Predominantly cerise in colour, I love the Aqua blue corner with hints of subtle oranges and yellows, it makes for an interesting abstract creation.


There are some interesting canvas configurations too, Novel Nonagon is only the second ever Nine piece canvas art which sits along with the original Warhol influenced flowers we did in 2006. It is as described, a bit of a "bizarre abstract selection of shapes with deep, moody colours." The colours are deep and somber, almost like Playdoe.... I like the tiny hints of green, and the navy contrasting with the pink backgrounds.

On the topic of new configurations, you've got to check the Incandescent canvas set, it's the first layout we've ever done, and I must say I am already a fan. The small one measures a total of 36"x36" and is made up of 1 @ 24" x 24", 1 @ 10"x10", 2 @ 24"x 10". A cheeky little digital rendition of an Art Version of "Bright Like Neon Lights", it will brighten up any abode, looking for that whole digital look that is becoming increasingly popular.

There is also the brand new Cascading sets -"Cascading Zest" Limes, citrus, zesty colours make up the digital design, which is another first for WHoArtNow. Watch this space people, more to come down the line.

Other art highlights for me are "indistinct & illuminated", on a similar setup to the popular Glooming Hue canvases - one tall thin along a rectangular canvas. It is rich, bold, dripping with opulence. It has a gold, yellow tones, with a hint of green - all on a black backdrop - powerful stuff indeed. The "Ribbon" sets are interesting too - Check the 3 part Trichotomic Ribbon set, if vibrant streams of colours are your thing, these series of designs might be worth a look. There is a nice blue version called Aqua Ribbons too.

So that is about it for the now, I won't go into too much detail, but if you are interested, there a 40 or 50 new designs on the site, so don't be shy - check them out. More art to follow soon as usual, just watch this space..