15 Places to Sell Your Work Online
As a freelance Illustrator or Designer, it’s a good idea to seek out alternate income streams as a way to supplement your earnings from your commissioned work. One of the easiest ways to do that is to repurpose your work by selling prints, T-Shirts, postcards, and many other products.
As the internet grows, there are more and more opportunities to profit from your work and connect with your fellow artists.
Here’s a list of 15 sites to explore if you’re interested in selling your work online. Each one has its own unique set of features, and some of them even make an effort to invite a community of artists. Enjoy!
(UPDATE: You can now also read 4 More Places to Sell Your Work Online and answer the question How Do You Make Money as an Artist?)
Is there a site that you’d like to add to the list? Feel free to share it in the comments section of this post.
>> Tweet This Post >>
Related Posts:
- 4 More Places to Sell Your Work Online
- How Do You Make Money as an Artist?
- 9 Free Online Portfolio Sites
- 15 Illustration Blogs You Should Know About
- 68 Useful and Inspiring Illustration Resources
Stay up-to-date with future Illustration resources via email, Facebook, and Twitter.
Thanks for the list! There is a really terrific site called Storenvy, where you can setup your own nice looking storefront similar to etsy, but free.
They also print shirts. I think it is great.
http://storenvy.com
and here’s my store:
http://whostolemybike.storenvy.com
Thanks for adding to the list! I’ll have to check that one out. Cheers!
Thank you for the great information, nice to know that in some cases, I have not missed anything. Also, many of the sites were new to me….
Great post .. don’t forget Society6.com
Thanks! Nice addition.
all nice spots to sell..
but none sell it with these products..custom printed window shades, and seamless wallpaper…
http://www.orangepiel.com
Artybuzz.com who are in this list actually do print seamless wallpaper…some examples of their work can be seen here – http://www.artybuzz.com/help/products/feature-wallpaper.php
Ah, great links– thanks Thomas!
I’ve seen links for print options built into DeviantArt.. haven’t seen the quality or results first hand though~
and maybe http://www.inprnt.com/?
Thanks for the great links!
From my experience trying to sell prints of my Artwork has been a very hit and miss affair… Prospective Art buyers seem reluctant to part with their money on prints from Artists who aren’t an established name in the illustration industry. The only time they’d be willing to buy a print is when it’s a personalise portrait of themselves, and even then they’d be reluctant to spend much money on it?
Personally I have my doubts about these online sites. I’ve had an online gallery on ‘Imagekind” since October 2006 and in all that time I haven’t made a solitary bean…
Think Thumbtack Press are a bit choosey of who they let on their site? – I’ve been trying to get on there for the last three years now, all to no avail.
But hey, don’t let me deter anyone from going on any of these sites? The reason why I’ve earned diddly squat could be just down to the fact that my Artwork isn’t up to scratch?… : /
Thank you for sharing all your great resources!
I teach & can’t wait in the fall semester to share
your amazing site with the design students
… thank you again …linda
Thanks Linda!
Another great place for designer , specially those who work with the web industry a lot is http://www.graphicriver.net
Thank you so much for sharing these links! I’ve been looking for additional ways to promote my work, which I hope to have more of since I am earning my graphic design degree now and have learned a lot of new skills.
I have used Zazzle, Cafepress and RedBubble, and I have had the most success with Zazzle because I’ve actually gotten paid! Check out my work here:
http://www.zazzle.com/reasontolive*/
Thank you Thomas. Here is another one. http://www.boundlessgallery.com
Thanks for adding to the list, Peter!
I do quite well out of the T-shirts I sell on Mysoti http://www.mysoti.com/mysoti/designer/fishgun but I know some people are skeptical of these sites and their ability to provide income of any kind. There are two questions that need to be asked here:
1> How big is the site you are selling your work on? how many unique visitors does it get in a month? Use some of the online analysis tools like Alexa.com and compete.com to check this out.
2> What promotion are you doing yourself? You can’t expect to simply upload your artwork and then forget about it. you need to let people know it’s there. Use Twitter, Facebook, comment on blogs and forums to raise your profile. Or start your own blog and host ads for your own work there. If you sell tees, post your designs on Rumplo.com or Emptees.com to get feedbakc and make extensive use of their forums too.
Another site with a twist is http://art-on-demand.com. Become a member and upload high resolution 16X9 images for purchase. Customers download and display the images on their HDTVs and digital picture frames. It is new so get involved early.
CartoonStock.com is the top marketplace for single panel cartoons – either political or just generic humor. Worth a look for all cartoonists…
Linking to your craft business store(s) from other sites will help you rank higher in the search engines. It’s great to have multiple shops, but you need incoming links to get your pages showing up in search engine results. Try putting up a free profile at http://www.craftsu.com where you can link to your other sites with keywords you want to show up high in the search results.
GREAT list, thank you!
Thank you for unselfishly sharing all these sites! I’d like to add one to the list which is great for selling patterns and decor prints.
It is kimdesigns.com You have to contact Kim and upload your prints to be a part of the illustration gallery.
Best, Maureen
GREAT list, I will check them all out and get back to you.
This is very useful. Thanks!
Just trying my luck with http://graphicriver.net
Thomas, Thank you for sharing all these great finds!
I am currently a member of two of your mentioned places: http://imagekind.com and http://nuzart.com
Both similar but different at the same time, since Imagekind is ideal to sell your works in the U.S., while nuzart.com is a fantastic alternative if you want to sell throughout Europe, where I’ve already sold some of my works…lucky me!!
great post…just been accepted as a contributing artist on OrangePiel.com…didn’t know them before reading this :))
Just joined Society6 and I wanted to know what everyone thinks about it?
Any advice?
thank you for sharing ! will take a closer look for sure! best wishes, gosha
I just want to add http://dreamstime.com and http://istockphoto.com
Great list, need to check out some of them.
Btw, i´m surprised you have deviantArt not listed here: http://shop.deviantart.com/
You need to have an account there and a print subscription, which should pay off sooner or later, i´ve set off nearly 100 prints so far and am not one of the artists that have 1 million pageviews…
Cheers,
fant
I’ve noticed other artists using Big Cartel [http://bigcartel.com]. Looks like you can integrate it into your own website if you use a paid account but probably only worth it if you’re making consistent monthly sales…
Thanks Kevin. I’ll check that out.
If it falls into the Urban & Street niche check out this new site from PimpArtworks – http://www.pimpartworks.com
If the art falls into the Urban & Street niche. Check out PimpArtworks.
They offer a free profile pages and social networking – http://www.pimpartworks.com
Thanks for the list.
For selling art, I use http://fineartamerica.com. They recently introduced an improved web customizations. For example, see http://jim-plaxco.artistwebsites.com/
I’m also on Zazzle for calendars but am less than happy with their interface and support.
I have an account on Deviantart but feel that they are somewhat “overpriced.”
thank you for this post!
i am trying my luck wit INPRNT.com now..
Thanks so much for reposting it (and finding it too.)
http://www.artboutique.com.au << Exhibit & Sell Any type of Art Online, Free Memberships on Offer. Join Now and get Famous!!!
Also Whale and Pine although they are selective in their artists.
http://www.craftsu.com is a free site to promote handmade art or craft from. There’s a Cafepress store plugin to add your store items if you have them. There’s also a way to add a Paypal buy button to any other photo you upload. The only thing is that the site is a social network, like Facebook, so you have to join (but it’s free membership.)
I didn’t see Big Cartel mentioned here. It’s a site new to me, but seems really art print friendly (art prints can/do get lost in places like Etsy). I just recently signed up and hope to get my shop set up there soon.
http://bigcartel.com/
Thanks for the tip. I’m going to try RedBubble, since they don’t require a monthly fee, handle all the printing, and offer greeting cards.
Update: I’m also trying deviantArt, which isn’t on your list.
The criteria I’m looking for is someplace that will produce the prints for me, have a free membership option (so I can try it out without spending money), and have a variety of products (mostly I want greeting cards).
So, I’ve loaded up some of my work, trying to put a variety of different types of work up to see what people like. No sales yet, which isn’t really surprising.
DeviantArt has LOTS of users and LOTS of groups. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of amateurs with very low-quality stuff. Especially kids, it looks like. Not that I want to be all snobby and say that only “real” artists should post, but all that low-quality stuff dilutes the site’s offerings and makes it more difficult for any buyers to find the good stuff. That said, there’s also a lot of good stuff on there too.
There are so many groups on deviantArt that I find it doubtful joining and submitting to any one will get me a significant increase in the number of views.
DeviantArt’s website is slow, buggy, and difficult to navigate. And I think their tech support only works regular business hours. There’s a bug right now in the “edit prints” section that is preventing me from changing what products I’m offering. So, I rally can’t finish loading my gallery until that gets fixed.
With so many people on deviantArt, I think there’s the potential to really get seen. Unfortunately, that potential is drowned out by the sheer number of people trying to get seen. I’m not sure how you actually get noticed.
Now for RedBubble. I like the interface and it’s reasonably easy to navigate. It could be better. But not bad. Especially compared to deviantArt.
The content is much better on RedBubble. There seems to be a fairly low percentage of sub-par work, which is nice. Unfortunately for me, it seems like most of the work that’s on there is VERY “arty”. Lots of photomanipulation, fractals, and abstract art. Although there are cartoons and children’s illustrations (my genre), there aren’t as many as the more “arty” works. There aren’t any groups on the site dedicated to illustration at all. So, I’m worried that the buyers that look at RedBubble may not be interested in my type of work.
I also wonder if RedBubble may have too high a ratio of artists to buyers to really bring in good sales.
I am disappointed that neither site offers greeting cards that include interior text.
It occurs to me that if your goal is to display your work in order to fish for compliments and boost your ego, both sites are WONDERFUL. However, if your goal is to sell things, I don’t think they are nearly as effective.
Of course, all these observations are after using both sites for a week or less. So, my opinion may change with time. I just thought I’d share.
Hi,
Pamit Cards retails greeting cards online from freelance designers and artists.
http://www.pamitcards.ca
Thanks,
Pamit Cards
excellent points altogether, you simply won brand new reader. What might you recommend about your put up that you simply made a few days in the past? Any positive?
Thanks for the post..I will check that out..I like it..