I've been skulking around this forum for a couple of months--mostly picking up super useful tips on doing better renders--but I've yet to see a topic, or tutorial, on selling ones images. I'm sure there are some folks doing this successfully and would like to see something on marketing methods and techniques. Alternatively, links to sites that address selling artwork would also be useful. TIA!

Yup...I think that's a great idea. I just had a couple of prints done here: http://gicleeart.com/ They came out beautifully, and the prices are reasonable. I put one of them up for auction on Ebay. I dunno if it's ok to do shameless plug stuff here, or I'd post the URL.

It's not a taboo topic at all. Both Renderosity and 3DCommune have been looking into artists selling prints of their artwork, the problem here is getting a good deal for the artist AND the customer and guaranteeing that the end result is satisfactory and that shipping doesn't cripple sales because of increased costs. Selling electronic media images (computer file) is another thing altogether and unlikely to be accepted by the majority of customers who frequent this and other places. On that note though, there are several people here who have sold images through a RL gallery or from their websites so it does happen.

When people buy images on E-Bay, for example, they usually want pen-and-ink or pencil drawings, high-quality prints, or paintings (acrylic, oil). They may also buy CDs containing large collections of computer-generated images, but that may not be a good return on your labor. I think E-Bay clients are most receptive to hard-copy materials, but they don't want something that could be easily printed on an ink-jet printer, nor do they want to buy intangibles such as isolated jpegs or tiff files as downloads. One way clients will buy computer-generated images as downloads is for website design, splash pages, flash animations or similar elements for a commercial site.

I had mine printed on high end watercolor paper, using a six color RGB Giclee/Iris printer. THe prints (saved one for myself) are gorgeous! I wouldn't have bothered putting it up for sale there if it hadn't been. I think it'll be more cost effective to offer the smaller size though. Those are much easier to find standard frames for. I figured I'd try this as an experiment. I've had one bid already, so we'll see how it goes I guess.

Good Luck Purr3D! I hadn't followed the progress of R'osity/3DCommune prints for awhile but it would seem squeeze any profit from the aritst to involve TWO middlemen: the site + the printer. Have they thought of just trying (R'osity/3DCommune) to negotiate a price break from a select printer for referrals without actually "getting into the business" and perhaps take a SMALL piece of the action for referred sales? Before this turns into a technical discussion, I'd like to again turn your focus to MARKETING.

There are some printers, like the one I just used, that also act as distributers. So, you could potentially go through them, and they would ship directly to the customer, saving $ on shipping too. I haven't really looked into that yet, but it seems like it might be a good idea.

I can't speak for 'rosity though I dare say one of their mods will pop in, but the idea at 3DC was to arrange a deal with a printer where all the art that was for sale would go through them - sort of a bulk deal, thereby getting a small to medium discount. This would be passed on to the customer and vendor with a small percentage to 3DC for the brokerage work. This hasn't gone much further over there at the moment for a variety of reasons, not least of which was upgrading the site ware and server, but it's still something that's being kicked around. The initial problems though are in what sizes are offered, trying to cut shipping costs - which is the real killer - and deciding what would be a fair price to charge for images to allow for decent profits for the vendor while not hammering the customer too hard and still allowing for the print and shipping costs. Brokering like that is quite a logistical challenge. I'm not clear on how far ahead 3dc were with this concept but suffice to say it's shelved at the moment and won't probably be tabled again until new year. The other side of things that caused some discussion was the rather interesting clauses built into the TOS of a lot of graphic sales and printers where they claim and retain rights to the image, take a considerable rake for printing and distribution. Sooner or later a good deal will be found for online brokering of image sales but for now it's actually cheaper for all concerned for it to be done on a personal one-to-one basis. Also there's the transference of significantly large files between vendor and printer so that an image can be printed. Rendering for print can result in some pretty huge files depending on the size of the print. Who knows what's around the corner though?

Go ahead and give the URL to your auction Purr.. I'm sure some of us are curious about how you'll do.

Has anyone here used kinkos? I know they print up to 50+ inches wide at $8 square foot from computer files.

The URL is: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1492007041 I haven't used Kinko's yet. I had called them, and they didn't have paper heavy enough at the sizes I wanted. Copy Cop had a heavier paper, and they came out very nice, but not really professional quality, and they didn't have any good paper over 11x17. Also, they only do CYMK. Since getting the six color RGB prints; I'm spoiled for anything less >^_~ It's worth the money. Usually, the more prints you have done, the less money it is per print.

What I would really like is an inexpensive digital to unmounted canvas print to use as an underpainting for an acrylic or oil painting. This could be extremely poor pixilated quality since it would be painted over. I know several years ago I read about such a service but have since lost the reference.

Office Depot sells 8 1/2 X 11 inch canvas that works in my printer, if you don't mind a size that small? At least you won't have to worry about the ink changing color!

I'd think it would be cheaper to print it out at home onto a transparency film and project it onto the canvas, if you just wanted that. Otherwise it's going to cost way too much.

Attached Link: http://www.comic-con.org/pages/2001new.html

I had to go look at the Ebay link... that's such a great image... I even said so when I first saw it in the gallery here! Good luck! I hope it sells well for you, but since it's already at $15.00 I'd say you're off to a good start! :)

Going back to the Marketing angle. Please remember in most people's mind the concept of value is often (not always) associated with rarity. Moderately succesful artist can often sell a limited edition run of prints, particularly if on a special media or specially framed, at quite good prices. This allows the sale price to be high enough to cover the costs of distribution while at the same time allowing the customers to feel that they have something special or particular for their money. While it may be true that the more you print, the cheaper it gets, it is also true that to do so often devalues the work. Exclusivity is a powerful attraction for buyers. Let's face it, artwork of any kind is very firmly a luxury purchase. I think artists would be more succesful if they approached their marketing with that in mind.

To follow up on my comment about an underpainting - they're done using a pixilation wirejet - that puts winsor-newton oils on double primed #70 felix canvas. 10 cents an inch for full color 7 cents for monotone. Another 5 hours work painting over and you're done. When you consider the cost saves you a good weeks labor plus materials - it's well worth it if you have buyers (I don't). IT means you can sell an oil for around $200 instead of around $500. And you can ouput a lot more work. About the idea of "rarity" and also "utility" - there is so much media around the 8x10 size that it is invisible, and devalued by the consumer. Larger works have more decor utility and for the typical consumer are worthy of more investment. What i'm working on is making a series of smaller pictures that can be hung as a group. Small size gives me cheaper accessible digital output, series grouping gives the utility of a larger work.... now to find a way to cut framing costs....