If you are an artist in a fix of whether selling handmade paintings online will make you money or not, I have a simple answer to it.
Yes!
You can make money by selling your handmade paintings on digital platforms.
We house more than 250 artists under us and have successfully managed to sell custom handmade paintings online.
In this fast-paced world, you can sell anything online, and art, especially, has an abundance of opportunities.
But this new territory can be intimidating, and if you don’t know how to go about it, it may not turn out to be as expected.
Most importantly, the art industry is very competitive and has room only for the best.
We are one of the best places to buy custom paintings, and we are here to help you.
For starters, to be able to sell your handmade painting online, you need to ace the following factors:
- The quality of artwork.
- The quality of raw materials used to create your artwork.
- The effectiveness of your marketing strategies.
- The pricing of your art.
In this blog, we will cover in-depth research on what the market looks like and how you can get started with traffic, drive sales, and earn a profit.
Table of contents
How To Sell Art Online?
I am here to take you through a step-by-step guide on how to sell your artwork online.
We have set up PortraitFlip, and it has been up and running for 5 years.
This blog is a chance for budding artists to make their mark.
There is a big demand for handmade paintings online and from various parts of the world.
But how do we go about setting everything up in such a digitally competitive space?
Let’s understand!
Choosing a Medium
Your first step towards creating an online business is to choose a niche.
As I mentioned earlier, the handmade painting industry is vast; you need to identify your strength and play with it.
If you are an expert in oil painting medium, we would suggest you focus only on it. But the idea is to dwell deeper and find a sub-niche in the oil painting medium.
For instance, you can create anime art or concept art in oil medium.
It’s never been easier for handmade artists to sell directly, especially with the advent of digital art.
But it is your creativity that is going to help you here.
Choosing a medium and a niche becomes a very important part of your journey towards selling paintings online.
Registration
The next most important step is to get your business registered.
Now, it can be anything, depending on the nature of your business.
If you want to be identical to the business in terms of ownership and liability, you can go for a Sole Proprietorship.
The next best option is an LLC, where you are a different entity from your company.
If you plan on expanding and getting people on board later in the stage, you should go for LLC.
However, if you plan to handle everything by yourself, Sole Proprietorship is your go-to!
You can easily get this done online.
Once the registration is taken care of, we can move on to the next step of finalizing where you will sell your art!
Platforms
Where would you want to sell your art? The digital space is filled with options, making selling incredibly easy for everyone.
However, determining a channel needs a strategy because you need to know which platform will bring maximum sales for your type of art.
Direct
This is a widely opted option by most of artists, but it also takes a lot of management.
Direct channels include creating a website or an online store to sell your products.
But it comes with a lot of intricacies like optimizing your website for SERPs, running ads to reach your audience and maintaining the overall experience of the website.
If you have a resource or time to make this work out, this would be the best option to create a brand name and sell without paying any third party.
However, if you just want to concentrate on creating artwork, we have other options for you, too.
Third-Party Platforms
There are a lot of third-party platforms that will take a percentage of your sales but make you available to their large set of audiences.
You can create a seller account on Upwork, Amazon, and Etsy to sell your paintings.
Etsy is known to be one of the best platforms for selling handmade paintings.
The best idea is to start selling on Etsy, and once you create a customer base, you can go ahead and start directly selling your handmade paintings.
The third best platform to sell your paintings is:
Social Media
Social media is a boon and most of the platforms are encouraging small businesses to use the platform to sell.
Instagram and Facebook Marketing place, and Pinterest are some great options to sell your artwork.
It is also a wonderful place to understand what your audience is interested in.
Running ads on these platforms is comparatively cheaper, and you can start creating your own fan following.
The opportunities are endless, and all it demands is for your products to be displayed well.
I would personally suggest you work with Etsy and start by creating an online presence through social media.
Once you have a smooth income flowing, you can move ahead with a website setup.
After this comes the next crucial step!
Pricing Your Artwork
Pricing is a strategy that you need to bring your a-game with.
It requires careful consideration and depends highly on where and how you are selling your handmade paintings.
Although your motive is to bring customers, your parallel motive should also remain to be profitable.
Here are some metrics that you can consider before setting your price point.
- Cost of your Raw Material: Make sure you buy you raw material in bulk from wholesaler outlets, so you save money there. Create a general outline of how much it costs and the quantity that you can produce in the given cost price.
- Cost of your Efforts: Check out the industry standards and compare the pricing your fellow artists are charging for each commission. Quantify your efforts into a number of hours and give your efforts a monetary equivalent.
- Competitive Research: You need to look at your competitors and get a comprehensive idea of the price they are selling at. All you have to do is start with amount that is less than that. This becomes your unique selling proposition. Of course, you can increase the price when the demand is high. But make sure you do no reduce the price to a level where you do not get enough profit.
- Other Factors to Consider: Pricing of your handmade painting is also the main element that is going to bring money to you. Consider other overhead expenses like Marketing, Shipping and Operations. Your earnings should be flexible enough to incorporate all of this and still make a profit.
Is There a Market for Handmade Paintings?
We have been in this industry for the past 5 years, and it looks like there is a vast opportunity.
People love to buy paintings because it does not only add to their décor but also reflect their personality.
Be it baby portraits, family portraits or even some abstract piece of art, paintings are appreciated.
Selling handmade paintings is like selling emotions, and just because of their high emotional quotient, handmade paintings sell like hotcakes in the market.
So, it would not be wrong to say that there is a market for handmade paintings. All you need to do is find the right audience.
How Does PortraitFlip Sell Handmade Paintings?
We are mostly into custom art, and our paintings are very customer-centric.
Unlike the traditional method, we start with a plan of directly selling handmade paintings. It was difficult initially, but things started to fall into place after a couple of years.
We did try selling on Etsy and social media, but our business model does not fit well with third-party platforms.
As of today, we sell all our paintings through our website
If you are an individual artist who is planning to set out, this may not be the best option for you.
The reason why we push you to use third-party platforms is that direct selling has been difficult for us, too.
What is PortraitFlip’s Bestselling Handmade Painting?
Our best seller’s handmade painting remains an Oil Painting of a Family.
There is a demand for Couple Paintings and other thematic portraits as and when festivals like Valentine’s or maybe Children’s Day come around.
But for most of the year, our Family Paintings in Oil Medium have remained customer favorite.
There is more to explore in the market because the industry is never-ending with its niches.
So, be sure about your niche and your handmade painting theme before you dive into selling it.
To Conclude
To conclude, if you are an expert in handmade painting and you can put your time and effort into providing the best quality with the best customer service, you can definitely make money selling handmade paintings online.
Create what you love, and you shall be compensated!
Most importantly, keep exploring the market.
Had we not started with our passion, we would have never known that there was a huge demand for custom paintings.
Start with what you have, but start!
Here’s to never giving up.
A Word from the Author
I have been an artist myself for the past 7 years. Although my art is writing.
So, if you have reached here, thank you so much for reading my article.
I hope this helps you set up your own small-scale business in the industry.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to leave it in the comment section below.
Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and YouTube for more art-related content.
Cheers!
