# Art prints/selling art/photographing art - NO IDEA where to begin....please help



## Georgio (Oct 1, 2013)

Art prints/selling art/photographing art -NO IDEA where to begin....PLEASE HELP

Hello all,

I'm new to artistforum.com. I picked up painting again a little over a year ago and I'd really like to look into selling some of my pieces. I've named them, signed them, dated them, and copyright stamped each of them. Now is where I've hit somewhat of a road block and the information I'm finding on Google searches isn't all that helpful, which is why I joined this site. Here's what I need help with. Any advice or a point in the right direction would be very much appreciated.

1.) Making prints - Most of my paintings are done on canvas with acrylic paints, while others are done with chalk on paper. Before I sell the originals I'd like to get some high quality prints made. Any suggestions on where to do this and how to do this? Do they scan the actual canvas or do I need to take a picture with a nice camera and send that instead? I want to be able to print these out on different materials besides paper as well, like cardstock and other thicker paper boards. Some of my art is done on small 12 by 12 pieces of paper and others are done on very large canvas's. 

2.) Photographing and selling online - I found a pretty good software for inventory and keeping track of my work, but I also want to sell my pieces from a website. I've designed online stores via wordpress myself, but I have no idea how to make my pieces look vibrant and fresh online. Basically I don't want to lose much quality from the way it looks online compared to offline. I'm pretty good with Photoshop, so I could always edit it there, but I'd like to start looking into buying a nice camera to photograph my art. So, my question is what kind of camera would you recommend for this? I don't want to spend an entire paycheck on a camera either. It would be nice if the printing company I use could just give me a digital copy I could use online if they're the ones that scan it themselves, but I'm not sure it works that way. Even if they do have those capabilities I'd really like to photograph some of my work hanging above furniture. 

Again, any help or advice with making prints, photographing art, and presenting my work online would be very greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


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## Blue Angel (Aug 4, 2013)

First let me say that I am primarily a pencil artist. I also do colored pencils but. all my art is on Bristol board. I have a local print shop with a large scanner and they scan in all my stuff after I spray a fixative on the piece.

I would think that high resolution photography would suffice for creating a digital file for prints. I have tried this myself but, had no success.(cheap camera) I think that you must use quality equipment in a very controlled environment with excellent lighting to really get a good capture.

On thing I have done is to create my own website using GoDaddy. Then, I utilized social media such as facebook to link to my site. I have been very pleased with the results. I have been working on my display set up for festivals, etc. You must just "get your stuff out there".

I suggest visiting some "mom and pop" print shops. I tried the chain type places and could not get what I wanted. I found an old, established shop that is primarily a sign shop and they have a large scanner. I try to be very flexible with them as far as how long I have to wait for prints, etc. The more business I have done with them, the better our relationship has become. They will scan a piece, tweak it for color/resolution, run off a few artist proofs for me to look at, and then complete my order on the stock I want to pay for. black and white is of course, cheaper than color. I usually get 25 prints initially and plan on a limited edition run of 75-150 depending on the piece. That way I am not out all that money if the piece doesn't sell at first.


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## Georgio (Oct 1, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback Blue Angel. Much appreciated. I live in central FL, so I guess I'll start looking around here for some mom and pop print shops.


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