How to sell prints of my artwork
How To Make Money Selling Prints (Graphic Designer’s Guide)
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how's it going everybody i get a lot of
comments on here and instagram about how
to get started selling prints as a
designer so i thought i'd finally make a
guide for you all let's get into it so
the first things first is you got to
make sure you have your artwork set up
properly so this is a collab i actually
did with another artist named archfiend
the ideal size is something like this
four to five ratio which is good because
it's also the portrait size for
instagram to set this up you're going to
want to have your thing in image size
and make sure you're around 300 dpi for
the best print quality and for your
inches 16 by 20. with this resolution
and everything you're good to print at 8
by 10 16 by 20 and even 24 by 30.
another important thing is you want to
make sure you have a clean edge like
this or at least some kind of bleed that
way when the printer cuts it there's
nothing important getting cut off or
when someone frames your poster
important information doesn't get messed
up and then having proper margins helps
too i would recommend at least maybe
like half an inch or 150 pixels or so
other than that just do some print tests
and make sure everything looks good in
size because stuff always looks
different when you print it versus on
screen to make sure if you have any copy
that it's all legible and everything
looks good for the final export i
usually save as either a tiff or a pdf
now your artwork is set up the next step
is printing when it comes to the
printing process you have a few options
and i'll explain some of them and the
current steps that i use the first
option is pretty straightforward it's
having your own printer to use you are
going to use this strategy though
however you'll probably be limited to
8x10 because most consumer printers
don't go much larger than that unless
you're going to buy a big very expensive
printer i don't really recommend
printing at home unless you can afford a
really nice large printer and you think
you're going to be printing a lot of
volume to make up for the upfront cost
and the cost of all the ink there are
some exceptions out of this rule however
someone like poster journal on instagram
they just have black ink over different
colored paper so the costs seem pretty
low and everything can be replicated
easily when you're creating all kinds of
different designs and different colors
and layers it's a lot harder to judge
the cost and print that stuff for a low
margin so this will come down to
individual situations so think about it
if this will work for you the most
common strategy and what most people
would use if you're not doing print on
demand would be to use a local print
shop or some kind of online printing
service i used a friend's local print
shop in the past and it was really good
because they have great quality control
and the employees there know a lot about
printing so they'll make sure your files
are set up properly you will rarely have
any issues employees will know a lot
more about the technical specs paper
stock and all that good stuff check out
online your local print shops see what
their prices are call them up if you
like this strategy it can work pretty
well because you can actually go in
there do some test prints develop a
relationship with them and do a lot more
limited edition stuff if this isn't a
viable option for you like most people
and maybe you don't live in a city that
has a quality print shop then there are
some online options a few of the options
you can check out are up printing fedex
staples poster print factory and the
costco photo center there are tons of
other options online and more to look up
but these are some of the ones i would
recommend some of these sites also
reward for printing in bulk so if you
want to print an entire collection of 10
20 50 100 this will work well and you'll
get a discount the more you order so if
you want to front your entire inventory
up front this will be a good option the
last option i mentioned and the best one
i think is actually costco after not
being able to print with one of my local
print shops anymore this is the option i
go with and i've really been liking it
there is a little bit of upfront cost to
costco because you have to pay the 50 or
so membership fee a year i discovered
costco as a good alternative a few years
ago and i've been using them off and on
for now though it's pretty much my main
resource and i think their print quality
is actually amazing they don't have the
in-person photo centers in the store
anymore unfortunately however you can
still order online always works out well
and they ship the prints in very safe
and protected packaging my current
process is waiting till about three to
five maybe even 10 orders come in and
then i'll order a batch at once that way
i'm not fronting all my upfront costs
and i'm only getting the amount of sales
i have at any given time this does
increase the processing time a little
bit for your customers however it makes
sure you're never in the red as well as
it doesn't make a lot of waste for the
environment on any prints that don't
sell if you are going to use costco i
recommend printing at the four to five
ratio these are also all in inches for
anyone that may be using a different
system of measurement also when printing
with costco i recommend choosing the
luster finish which is a nice semi matte
and turning off the autocorrect in their
settings so it doesn't mess with the
colors you took so long to perfect once
you got your prints all set up the next
step is setting up your website there
are many options for setting up an
online store anything from xyro
squarespace shopify and so on if you
already have an existing portfolio with
someone like squarespace i recommend
just adding on the ecommerce
functionality that way all your stuff is
in one place and it's very easy to
navigate you don't have to design a
whole new website if you are starting
fresh though i think a really good
affordable option is big cartel big
cartel is a pretty cool site builder
that lets you set up e-commerce sites
and it works pretty well for selling
prints or art i use the 10 plan it
pretty much gives me everything i need i
don't think i'll ever need more than 50
products at once has all the basic
tracking features payment processing and
anything you may need for that some tips
for selling online also is i would make
sure to always check the shipping prices
in different areas and price accordingly
i also recommend shipping free to the
country that you live in because it's
far cheaper and it's something to reward
your local customers with also when
setting up a site like big cartel or
anything else make sure you can maximize
what type of payment processing you take
so if it takes paypal strike card apple
pay all that i turn all those on so you
maximize your conversion and make the
user experience easiest for the
customers lastly if you can afford a
custom domain i would do that and i
would check out a site like hostgator to
buy one i'll link that in the
description the last step to selling
your prints is one that usually people
have the most trouble with and that's
shipping it can be quite confusing so i
want to help guide you through this for
purchasing your actual printing labels i
recommend this website called pirate
ship this isn't sponsor or anything i
just think they have amazing customer
service the website works well and they
actually have the most competitive
pricing for shipping i've ever seen it's
also cool because they allow you to ship
through usps ups fedex international and
they also allow you to print the labels
from your home so you don't have to wait
in line at the post office this service
is also really helpful because it allows
you to choose the correct postage for
the best price as well as have the
correct packaging for whatever you're
shipping and make sure you have all the
international paperwork you need if
you're shipping overseas when it comes
to the actual shipping materials i've
tried a bunch of different things and i
want to let you know which ones i
recommend for all the different sizes
and everything you may need i will link
everything in the description below so
you can check that stuff out and buy it
if it interests you for printing i
recommend some kind of laser printer if
you already have one or if you don't
buying a laser or thermal label printer
if you already have an inkjet printer
that's fine too it's not cheaper to buy
this than using one you already have in
the long run a laser printer or label
printer is a lot cheaper each thing you
print i use this fairly cheap pansen
laser printer i think it was like 80
bucks i already needed it for something
else and you get a lot of prints out of
each toner cartridge for the labels if
you want to cut down costs you can just
use normal paper and tape them to the
packaging that you're using with clear
tape or for a fairly cheap price you can
buy these cool labels that have two on
an eight and a half by eleven piece of
paper you can just print the label right
on there peel that off and stick it to
your packaging before you ship it out
the larger size prints something like
16x20 or 24x30 i like to use tubes it
seems to be the most cost efficient and
these sizes work well when rolling them
up i found these basic brown ones on
amazon they're thick enough to protect
the poster they're lightweight and they
also don't cost that much to ship a
quick tip when you seal the tubes make
sure to tape the top and bottom with
some clear tape that way in case it pops
off during shipping nothing gets damaged
or the prints don't fall out for the
smaller print sizes like 8x10 i like
just shipping them in these normal
envelopes and make sure i reinforce it
with some kind of scrap cardboard or you
can buy these corrugated cardboard
little sheets for pretty cheap you want
to be extra careful you can buy those
fragile or do not bend stickers online
for the actual prints themselves i like
to sign each one so i found these cool
pencils they're the stablio like
archival grade museum pencils these
pencils are awesome because they write
on anything glass matte paper glossy
photo paper whatever it may be when
putting stuff into the tubes i basically
just roll it up in either that clear
parchment paper or i bought this big
sheet of brown craft paper it's a big
tube just roll it up in that to help
protect the outside layer stick it in
the tube and you're good to go for the
eight by tens i'll also place two pieces
of paper in between like that before i
put the cardboard just to give it
another little protective layer i hope
this was helpful to you and i'm excited
to see you guys set up some of your
print stores all the stuff i mentioned
was linked in the description and if you
want to learn some more stuff you can
check out this playlist here that's it
for now peace