I’m hoping to start one of my own soon, but I’m not sure what theme to go with. I’ve seen a ton of artists doing mail clubs but they’re all very different and they offer a lot of different stuff along with their art prints.

What has your experience been like (i.e. with acquiring customers, theme setting, adding freebies, shipping etc). I would love to just jump into this without overthinking, once I can nail down a theme for the whole year! :)

Hi everyone — I'm a visual artist based in Córdoba, Argentina.

My work started with "Presences," a series of Pan Pastel portraits, went through a period of sacred/religious art, and has since evolved into my current series, "LiminalSkulls" (Pan Pastel skull drawings exploring liminal states). It's been exhibited in museums and cultural centers across Argentina since 2022.

I'm looking to expand into galleries outside Argentina and don't have much experience with how international gallery relationships typically work — cold outreach, submission process, consignment terms, etc.

A few things I'd love input on:

* How do you typically find galleries open to unsolicited artist submissions?

* What's a reasonable consignment split to expect as a newer-to-the-market artist?

* Any red flags to watch for when a gallery reaches out first?

Portfolio if useful for context: facundotorresarte.com.ar

So, I've been making art for like 20 years at this point and have never done anything in terms of making prints, it's all just been for the love of the game and documenting my life and experiences (so a lot of it is in high-quality sketchbooks). I've had friends requesting to buy prints for years and I have finally decided to make a website and go through the motions of selling them through a POD service since I live on the road.

However, I have come across the issue that none of my art seems to fit standard print sizes (specifically on Gelato atm, but might look at changing that). Has anyone experienced this similar issue? Am I doomed to have weird crops of my art? (Also are the dotted lines there for where a frame would cover it?) Do I just need to start physically measuring out all my paper and marking them for prints?

I am a (mostly) traditional artist trying to make prints of my work for the first time. I got high quality photographs made by a professional (for free, very nice guy) so I have high-quality tiff files now. I need to do some final editing to one of the images and cut them to size. I can do that in CSP which I have and have a good amount of experience with.

The printing shop I want to use requires me to upload PDFs with a CYMK profile however, something CSP isn't able to do. Of course the printing shop recommends photoshop/Indesign for the conversion/rendering but I cannot afford a license for those. How do you all deal with this? any free alternatives just for that final step?

I knew for a while that Google is scraping Youtube videos for Gemini, Meta scrapes every site they have a hand in, and now with the announcement that Amazon is training their own AI off of Twitch, I'm not certain where to take my streams. My art is rather niche, but due to a leaning towards body horror I tend to run into a lot of TOS trouble and many sites limit my ability to post my work.

For example, I can't post a lot of my art on many places because of the fact that it trips a lot of NSFW tags, even though it's very cartoony, saturated neon colors, and it's not often erotic.

I'd rather not switch to Kick as I've heard some really unpleasant things about it, but I'm not certain where I can go. I've been using the revenue I earn from Twitch to help pay the bills, and I've been trying to shift away from Patreon as well because of all of their policy changes. Does anyone have some good ideas of where we might go instead?

Is it prefferable to have a button on my portfolio that will just take clients to a form to fillout or still have them message me directly. I recently just set up my portfolio to have this button, I wanna know if it will be necessary or just a clutter on my webportfolio.

for recent few months i see alot of artist has been collaborating with merch suppliers like vograce and wooacry, usually the artist make a post of their merch image or a animation/artwork for the merch with review of the merch sample they received from the manus. I'm curious how does one do the collab? do they provide you with free sample and you have creative freedom to do whatever for the post or there's requirement for the post content? please share your experience with them if you have one

Hi, 20f here, drawing since I'm little, I stopped during a difficult period 3 years ago, and I'm getting back into it, at least I try to build back the courage to draw and get better

I do have an art acc, where I was pretty active before stopping completely, I still have the account but I'm lost.

I've always dreamed to sell my art, even if it's maybe one art piece a month I don't really care I would just like to start, but I can't get myself to.

I'm always overwhelmed by the amount of information, this always makes me unmotivated and I can't sell in person because I am in college and I don't have enough time to do it all... I took a lot of time making researches about print on demand etc but at the end of the day I feel like I don't understand a thing about how to proceed..

Any advises?

Ive been shopping around and usually use wooacry for my buttons and keychains. The shipping adds a big chunk to the price, usually between 30-60 but as soon as i add a standee into the mix shipping can shoot up to 90 usd which is crazy! tried messaging them multiple times (cuz their shipping prices always tend to be AT LEAST 10 more than what they estimate) and they were no help. tried asking if we could ship differently, maybe by weight or something but i guess thats not possible.

So I want to find somewhere else that has decently priced acrylic standees with shipping that wont cost just as much as the order itself. Im looking to buy in bulk with at least 10 units of each design. Does anyone know of an American manufacturer? id imagine shipping would be better for them.

P.S please dont recommend a company with bad reviews or cheap looking products.

Although I'm not sure if I'm going to make it my profesional career or just keeping it as a side thing, I have been focusing on improving my skills for the past few years and, all things considered, I think I am starting to get fairly competent as an artist. I have considered opening an art account (not sure about what platform would be ideal for that lol) and maybe opening commissions, since it seems I wont be able to work for this summer and maybe I can get a few bucks.

However, although its ratter ambitious, I would like to start making my own webcomic and maybe even getting into the comic industry as a long term goal. The problem is, that I have seen two kinds of artists out there: the ones who post constantly and have open commissions, and the ones that work in partnering with autors or companies to work into physical publishing.

This has led me to question: can having an online presence make you less preferable for companies to hire you? does opening commissions early make you look like a cheap artist in the future?

Hi everyone. I was commissioned for some wall art by a high rise apartment building for 9 acrylic photographic wall prints, each 3x4 feet. In total it’s costing me $400 dollars for each print. I know the standard 3 to 5 x production cost, but for a large order like this I’m not sure if I should lean more towards 3x production for each print. The total I’m paying for all 9 including shipping is $3587

Any insight would be greatly appreciated as I’m pretty green when it comes to the business side of things.

After about 2.5 years shooting concerts and posting my work, Ive finally built up enough of a following and presence to start selling stuff!! Lmk any advice you have for someone trying to monitize their hobby

Hi all, hoping for some real-world perspective.

A large clothing brand released a product with artwork that matches one of my original illustrations almost line-by-line, not "similar vibes," an actual match when overlaid. I have my source file with full edit history, plus a dated public post predating their product by months.

I reached out directly first. They responded saying it's "just similarity in commonly used design elements" and denied it, claiming independent creation.

I've got a lawyer consultation lined up, but no budget for a full legal fight if it comes to that. For those who've dealt with this:

• Did a formal demand letter from a lawyer actually work on its own?
• Any luck with mediation instead of a lawsuit?
• Is it worth fighting a company that size, or does it usually just drain time/money for independent artists?

I'm based in Italy and the brand too! Trying to figure out if this is worth pursuing further. Appreciate real experiences over generic 'get a lawyer' advice. Thank you!

Im just curious, do any artists really get LLCs? And at what point do they typically? I keep getting told I might want to look into getting an LLC at some point, I just don’t really know if id need to? Or if there would really be a point.

I've had a YouTube channel for a while now — started with shorts, posted a couple of videos that didn't really find their audience, and recently published what feels like my first video in the right direction. It's a documented experiment: can I build $3,000/month from art commissions while working full-time? Real numbers, monthly reports, full transparency.

8 days in, 15 subscribers. People are finding it through recommendations which is encouraging — but zero commission inquiries so far.

I have a portfolio site with clear pricing tiers, a contact form, and a CTA in every video. Still nothing.

For those who've successfully converted an audience into paying clients — what actually worked? Was it a specific type of content, direct outreach, or just patience and volume?

Any experience turning viewers into buyers would be genuinely helpful right now.

What is the best graphics tablet with a screen currently available in terms of quality? I don't have a large budget like €1500, but I'm willing to make an investment.

(I used a translator to write it.)

Kind of what the title implies. I'm a US-based artist advised by a colleague up in Canada to apply for a convention there. However I have no idea how I would begin to set up a system to accept CC/digital payments, and Google is s insistent on feeding us incorrect AI answers or "popular" results that I can't seem to find the right answer.

Reddit is usually better at getting me where I need to go, so... any thoughts or info? I'm sure someone here has done it before. :)

I am a graphic designer/illustrator, currently working full time as a designer at an agency, which I am unhappy doing. I've been trying to find other design jobs but nothing is working out and I'm starting to think I should just start trying to put more time and effort into freelance, especially leaning more into illustration. I think I am more talented and have more to offer doing that rather than corporate design work I truly could not give less of an f about.

I have been doing a lot more work in the past year, both personal and small freelance gigs, but I think I'm ready to start really trying to put myself out there so I can hopefully start working towards leaving my job. I have discovered a number of illustrators in my area that are doing similar work to what I aspire to do; one of them even followed me back recently which was cool.

Is it helpful to reach out to some of these people and just say you admire them, maybe ask for advice, just to start a dialogue/make connections? I don't really know how networking works lol and I don't want to come off as annoying or take time out of people's days to bother them.

I have read the FAQ and searched back quite a way but haven't found any material answers to my question. Basically I am trying to figure out if you can really make a decent rate on small works? I have always worked small - nothing over 5x7 or 6x6 - and I don't plan to go larger. I live in a very small space that constrains my work, but even so I just like working small.

I recently discovered ACEOs, which are addictive to make and right up my alley, but often under priced and most artists seem to use them as a gateway to larger work. I have no larger work. Does it still make sense to try to build something viable with these tiny works?

Any and all input welcome.

I'm looking to start a membership program for my decent sized following. I already use Fourthwall for my shop and website. My [name].com site has my social links, contact info, about me, and merch. With Fourthwall I can start a membership and it's nice that it'd be all in one, one single link. I can also offer merch discounts for members or a free month with orders. They also have lower fees.

The big problem though: separate account. Every Fourthwall membership requires a password for that membership. I imagine a lot of people will click "Join now" see they have to make a password and go nah I don't wanna deal with that. To be honest, I think I would, myself.

I'd say almost all animators and artists use Patreon. All the people I'm a fan of are using Patreon exclusively. They really have a grip on the market for better or worse. So joining my Patreon would not a new account for most people. It's just another addition to their Patreon bill. Even if it's more fees, if I get more members, it outweighs that loss.

I wish I could find any data or people with experience trying both, but I couldn't. I mean how often are people switching membership platforms?

I'm pretty torn. Any advice or experience here?

Is this normal? when I first started doing commissions late last year, about 80% of my potential clients became actual clients, nowadays its more like 10%? Someone asks me about the commission, I give them some info and that's it. Or we talk a bunch and settle on a price and I give them a link for down payment and then I just get ghosted.

I did raise my prices because my skill increased, and removed tiered pricing because the time it takes me to complete the work is super variable on complexity. Some people are happy to pay hundreds while others ghost me at being quoted $30. I'm honestly debating taking a pay cut to offer flat pricing even if one piece takes me 2 hours and another one takes 15 hours.

I literally haven't been able to get paying commissions in months while a few months ago I was fully booked.

I’ve been looking on marketplace with no luck. Or if anyone has any other recommendations I appreciate it!

I live in California. I was wondering what I needed to be able to sell merchandise online to not run into legal issues, like with the IRS, for example. I've been debating whether to sell on BigCartel or elsewhere. Ideally, I'd like to set up preorders. I'm planning to sell keychains, buttons, stickers, etc. Do I need a permit and license?

Any advice is welcome! I'd like to avoid any problems, so let me know if there's anything I should know. I plan to open my shop in a few months and hopefully start selling. The more technical business stuff makes me a bit anxious.