How To Sell Art Online: The Complete Guide (2024) - Shopify (2024)

Making a living as a career artist is more than creating beautiful art. It involves understanding how to build an audience, how to price art products, and the unique requirements for shipping art. It means thinking like an entrepreneur.

Before ecommerce platforms, artists relied on third-party gallerists, agents, and retailers to distribute work. Today’s creator tools allow independent artists to own their distribution streams, creating and selling their art online—and on their own terms.

This shift has allowed gallerists and curators to represent more artists and expand into selling affordable art prints online to reach wider markets.

Whether you’re a creator or a curator looking to make money online by selling art, this step-by-step guide will teach you how to sell art online, with advice from successful gallerists and painters.

How to sell art online

1. Choose your business model
2. Decide what to sell: original art vs. reproductions
3. Photograph and scan your work
4. Find a printer to print your art
5. Build your brand as an artist
6. Set retail prices for your products
7. Build an ecommerce store to sell your art online
8. Discover more channels for selling art
9. Sell your art offline
10. Work with galleries to sell your art
11. License your art
12. Market your art brand
13. Package and ship your art
14. Understand plagiarism and copyright for artists

In the following sections, we’ll cover the basics of selling art online for beginners and seasoned artists alike. Explore topics for every level including working with printers and dealing with plagiarism.

No matter what type of art you’re into—original acrylic paintings, digital art prints, sculpture—this resource has actionable advice for every artist. Hear expert advice from Spoke Art gallerist Ken Harmon, Ferme à Papier owner Cat Seto, and artist Maria Qamar, a.k.a. Hatecopy. From learning how to sell paintings online to reproducing your work as merch, these experts will walk you through every step.

1. Choose your business model: Sell your own art or works by other artists

There are two ways to sell art online: create or curate. Cat built her career both ways, by creating and selling her own work and representing the work of others in her boutique. Which one is right for you?

Create and sell your own art

As an artist, you are the creator, producing original art, reproductions of originals, or digital artwork, and selling directly to your customers or indirectly through a gallery, retail partner, or agent.

It’s never been easier for artists to sell directly, with emerging creator tools popping up seemingly every day. If you’re learning how to sell paintings online, galleries can expose your work to new audiences. They may also have access to resources and professionals to help promote, exhibit, handle, and ship artwork.

Curate the works of other artists

If you’re not personally an artist but you have a great eye and a love of the art world, you can still get into the game of selling art as a curator.

Some artists may not be into marketing or figuring outhow to sell art online and instead rely on gallerists, curators, and retail partners to handle this aspect of the business. As a partner to artists, you make a percentage of the selling price in exchange for your business knowledge and service.

There are several ways to work with artists to sell their art online—be it selling originals or prints, or licensing works to be printed on merchandise or used in publication.

2. Decide what to sell: original art versus reproductions

The best way to sell your art online will depend on the nature of your art and your chosen medium. You may choose to sell your art, sell reproductions of that work, or both.

Fine artists using classic mediums and selling at high price points may choose to sell only originals, for example, while digital art, which can be reproduced without loss of quality, is great for prints and merch. However, most art created in 2D mediums have multiple options for generating unlimited sales on a single work.

Consider the following formats:

• Original art: Paintings, drawings, illustrations (Note: you can sell both the original art as well as prints of the same work)
• Limited- or open-edition prints: Framed, unframed, or prints on canvas)
• Digital art or digital downloads:Desktop wallpaper, templates, print-at-home art, etc.
• Custom art:Made to order from a customer request or commissioned by a business.
• Merchandise:Your art printed on hats, iPhone cases, mugs, t-shirts, enamel pins, greeting cards, stationery, etc.
• Repeat prints: On fabric, wrapping paper, or wallpaper
• Licensing: "Renting" work to other brands or publications (great for illustrators and photographers)
• Collaborations with brands: Limited collection sold through the partner brand’s store

How to sell paintings online

This guide will provide you with everything you need as an artist selling paintings online. With the exception of the section on printing your art, each step applies to online art sales for both original and reproductions.

How to sell prints online

You’ll also find all the information required to sell prints online. This guide will walk you through the steps to make money selling art online by reproducing original artwork to sell over and over again. Pay particular attention to the section on printing your art, as well as how to leverage print on demand products to start making online sales through your digital art in just a few clicks.

Selling other types of art reproductions

Indigenous artist Patrick Hunter creates price-accessible reproductions of his work on goods like greeting cards and apparel.

Some mediums, like sculpture, are more difficult to reproduce or use for merchandise applications. But for those impossible to scan and print, there are still ways to generate additional income from a single design. For example, clay works may use the same mold to generate similar pieces, and 3D designs can be created over and over with a 3D printer.

Reproductions of art prints: open edition versus limited edition

Reproducing art on t-shirts or mugs, or as art prints means that a single work can bear fruit indefinitely—or for a limited time. There are two ways to approach selling your art as prints: open edition or limited edition.

What is open edition?

Open edition means printing and selling an unlimited number of products (reproductions or prints of an original work). With this option, you can continue to profit from a single piece of art indefinitely while there is still demand for it. However, the unlimited availability of your pieces may devalue your work overall.

What is limited edition?

Limited edition means printing only a certain number of prints before they are gone. These are often numbered and signed by the artist to add value and authenticity. The limited availability adds value to the art, meaning you can sell prints at higher price points.

Spoke often opts for the limited edition strategy. “We work really hard to find things that are very special to sell. Things that are special should be treated like they’re special,” Ken says.

To help minimize reselling, Spoke will limit quantities of certain prints per customer. “Making sure that the real fans are actually the ones who are able to get the things that we sell is always a priority,” Ken says.

3. Photograph and scan your work

Photographing and representing your products clearly and accurately is important for any online small business. Without the ability to feel a product, potential customers need to get the best sense of what they’re buying through clear and detailed images.

Selling art online is no exception. “If you have a bad image of your work or the image doesn’t represent the work accurately, you’re going to have a harder time selling it,” says Ken. Or, you’ll be stuck dealing with unhappy customers and processing returns.

Photographing art to sell

Product photography for art is a little trickier than other products, and a basic light setup may still cause glare or color irregularities. Consider hiring a professional to shoot larger works or art with any three-dimensional or glossy elements.

If you’re selling merch or other products that feature your art, the general rules of product photography apply. Take clear shots from multiple angles as well as zoomed-in shots to show texture and detail. Lifestyle photos (your product in a scene) are great for your homepage and social media and help to show scale.

Print-on-demand services often provide mockup images you can use on your product pages in lieu of or in addition to photography.

Scanning art to sell

For 2D works, Ken recommends scanning as an affordable and effective alternative to photography. “The most cost effective way to do that is to get a desktop scanner and scan the work in parts and stitch it together digitally,” he says. “If you’ve got a piece with a high-gloss coating or a resin, that’s a little tricker, but for the majority of works on canvas or paper, it’s pretty easy.” In the case of more challenging scans, galleries and other printing services can help.

In both cases, you’ll want the final product to represent your work as closely as possible so you can use it in your portfolio or sell the work as prints or digital art.

🎨 Learn more:

• DIY Guide to the Perfect Product Photography Setup
• The Complete Guide to Ecommerce Photography

4. Find a printer to print your art

Understanding how to sell your prints of your artwork comes down to getting very friendly with a printer, whether that’s your at-home inkjet or a company that handles the task for you. There are multiple options, from DIY to completely hands off, to help you sell art prints and other merchandise to your audience.

DIY printing

It’s possible to start selling your own artwork by creating quality prints yourself with high-quality paper, ink, and an at-home office printer. As a new artist, this method can keep costs low, but may be unsustainable as you scale over time.

“In the beginning, I would print, package, and deliver by hand every single poster that was ordered,” says Maria. “At some point the volume became so much that I couldn’t make time to draw. I was spending all of my days delivering and in transit.”

This method is usually limited to selling art prints on paper, but some specialty home printers may allow you to print on canvas paper or fabric designed specifically for this purpose.

Using a printing company

A local or online printing company can reproduce your work en masse and can even offer bulk discounts if you are printing many of the same piece. This can be the best way to sell art online if you have a small catalog and high sales volume of those pieces.

With this method, you’ll still be responsible for packaging and shipping the prints you sell online. These companies can often produce high-quality prints due to more advanced printers.

Print on demand services

Print on demand is the most hands-off and versatile option and the easiest way to sell art online—especially if you plan to sell your work printed on merch like t-shirts or caps.

Print-on-demand services generally integrate with your online store. When an order is placed, the integration triggers that piece to be printed and shipped directly to the customer. This is a great option for selling art on a budget, as there is no need to invest in equipment or inventory.

When the number of orders exceeded her capacity to print and ship work herself, Maria upgraded to using a print-on-demand company. “All I have to do is upload and let it do the work for me,” she says. “Now I can focus on actually creating the artwork and connecting with people.”

Print-on-demand products don’t just stop at paper prints. Your art can be printed on a number of items to sell, from phone cases to stickers.

💡 Tip: Request samples from the print-on-demand provider so you can inspect the colors and quality of the print. This is especially important if items will be sent directly to your customers.

5. Build your brand as an artist

As an artist learning how to sell your artwork, your brand may evolve as a natural extension of your art. Your chosen style and medium will define you as an artist and you will naturally attract fans and buyers based on this alone. However, there are many decisions you will need to consciously make when you start to think of yourself as a business as well as an artist.

Because art is a personal and sometimes emotional purchase, your brand story as an artist could factor into someone’s decision to buy. And other business assets like packaging and site design should mirror or complement the visual aesthetic of the work itself.

Your branding exercise should answer the following:

• Do you create and sell art under your own name, a pseudonym, or a brand name?
• How will you approach brand storytelling? How much of your personal story will you tell?
• Do you have a mission, values, or a cause that you want to communicate through your brand?
• Outside of the art itself, what is the visual direction of your brand identity? What’s the tone of your communication?
• What branding assets do you need? Even without design skills or the budget to hire a graphic designer, you can generate a logo with a logo maker and execute branding design with free and simple tools.

The answer to these questions will help you build a set of brand guidelines that will form the foundation for website design, marketing materials, etc. If you eventually scale your business, these guidelines will help you maintain brand consistency as you delegate tasks to staff or other partners.

Your brand story can surface in multiple places including your social media content, inserts in your packaging, and on an About page on your website, like this one from Australian artist Sarah Migliacco.

Many artists build fan bases based on their online personas or personal brands that are closely tied to their art. Tatiana Cardona, also known as Female Alchemy, has chosen to put her face at the center of her social media strategy.

🎨 Learn more:

• How to Start Your Own Brand From Scratch in 7 Steps
• What is a Personal Brand? 7 Steps to Building the Business of You

6. Set retail prices for your products

How do you sell your art online—and actually make money doing it? Making a living as a working artist is possible if you know how to value and price your work. Pricing art is challenging because it doesn’t necessarily fit neatly into typical pricing strategies.

Pricing original art

Running any business that will be sustainable in the long term involves being profitable at some point. To achieve this, you will need to price your art accordingly. If you’re just beginning to experiment with selling paintings onlineand don’t have a widely known name, you can start with a simple formula to price your original art:

Your cost to sell and market the piece + material costs + other expenses + your markup (profit) = retail price

For this method, it’s helpful to factor in the time you spent creating the art. It is typical for artists to undervalue their time and work, especially at the beginning.

Where the formula above fails is that the value of art is subjective and not necessarily dependent on concrete details like material cost or labor hours. Famous and successful artists can fetch exponentially more for a piece that has roughly the same creation costs as that of a new artist. Check the market to compare your pricing to similar artists at similar levels and adjust accordingly.

💡 Tip: You can work with gallerists, who are experts at valuing and pricing art, to set a price that makes sense for you, the gallery, and the market. Note that the gallery will take a cut of the retail price when selling paintings online and IRL.

Pricing art prints to sell

Selling art prints or other types of reproduction can follow a more simple pricing formula:

The cost of printing + your cost to sell and market the print + other expenses + your markup (profit) = retail price

Your markup may be on a scale depending on whether you sell open- or limited-edition prints. Other expenses may include office supplies, software or app fees, professional services, studio rent, and more.

“Knowing what your products stand for and what you aren’t willing to compromise are key components in driving decisions about pricing,” says Cat. For her, printing on sustainable paper was a must-have, even though it would drive up material costs and ultimately the retail price. Communicating these decisions to the customer is important, especially if your prices are higher than average.

🎨 Learn more:

• How to Price Your Product: What You Need to Know About Pricing Before You Launch
• The Price Is Right: 14 Strategies for Finding the Ideal Price for Your Products
• Product Pricing: Set Prices For Wholesale and Retail

7. Build an ecommerce store to sell your art online

The best way to sell your art online is through your own website. You’ve already done a lot of the work if you’ve established brand guidelines, pricing, and business model (originals, prints, or merch)—this part is simply assembly.

Critical pages

Every ecommerce store should have a few key pages that customers expect to see when browsing. These include a homepage, contact page, About page, collection pages, and product pages. Some lesser known but important pages to consider are terms and conditions, FAQ, privacy policy, and shipping policy pages.

For artists, a gallery or portfolio page may also be useful if you plan to license your work, sell through galleries, offer custom art, or attract brand partnerships.

Store design and themes

When setting up your online art store, choose a Shopify theme that lets your art breathe—large images and lots of white/negative space. Themes are like templates that you build upon, layering in your own images and copy, and tweaking colors and layout to suit your business.

While Shopify themes are designed to be customized easily with no code, you can adjust your theme even further by hiring a Shopify Expert to help you with design or development work.

🎨 Learn more:

• Best Ecommerce Website Designs: 27 Exceptional Sites
• How Do You Pick the Best Theme For Your Online Store? Take Our Quiz

Apps for art stores

The Shopify App Store is packed with apps that plug directly into your online store to solve specific pain points, add unique features, and help you run your store more effortlessly—allowing you to focus on the creative aspects of the business.

App suggestions to help sell your art online:

• Print-on-demand apps. If you sell your artwork as prints and merch, apps like Creativehub, Printful, or Printify can sync with your store.
• Gallery apps. An app like POWRful Photo Gallery can be used to create a portfolio or catalog of your work to share with galleries or brands looking to partner with you.
• Social marketing apps. Keep site content fresh with an app like Instafeed that pulls Instagram images into a gallery on your site.
• Product page apps. If you’re offering a specific piece of artwork with overlapping options (size, frame or no frame, paper type, etc.), use an app like Bold Product Options to layer item variants.

🎨 Learn more:

• The 20+ Best Free Shopify Apps for Your Store
• 150+ Best Content Creator Platforms

8. Discover more online channels for selling art

What’s the best place to sell your art online? Aside from your own online store, it’s where your ideal customer is already hanging out. If you have amassed a following on a particular social media channel, for example, that might be a great place to start.

Having an omnichannel strategy is important for protecting your independence as a creator.Your own online shopallows you to own the look and feel of your space as well as the audience you build. But layering on other channels can help you access additional markets and build your personal brand as an artist.

Where to sell your art online:

• A standalone ecommerce siteallows you to sell online using an ecommerce platform like Shopify.
• Online marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, or eBay can plug directly into your online store, allowing you to sync sales and reach wider audiences.
• Other art-specific marketplaces help you show up where art lovers congregate (Society 6, Artfinder, Saatchi Art, Fine Art America, etc.).
• Social selling channels like Facebook and Instagram that integrate with your Shopify store. Sell on TikTok and run TikTok ads to drive fans to your store.
• Wholesale or consign to other online boutiques and galleries. You can browse wholesale markets to find compatible retailers that want to sell your art.
• Collaborations with other artists who sell artwork online. Get exposure to their audiences by producing collab work to sell and promote on both your site and theirs.

Cat sells direct to customers and works on custom projects for clients and brands, in addition to her wholesale business. “If I had tried to balance all of these from the onset,” she says. “I believe I would have been overwhelmed.”

9. Sell your art offline: gallery exhibitions, pop-ups, and events

Because Maria works frequently in traditional mediums, much of the impact of the texture and scale of her work gets lost digitally. “It’s actual physical work, so when we do exhibits, you can walk into a gallery and see that I’m a real person who has technical skills and can do paintings and large scale installations,” she says.

Artists can also connect with fans and find new audiences by selling art offline. You can use in-person experiences to drive people back to your online store.

Consider the following when selling your own artwork IRL:

• Partner with a gallery to exhibit work and generate buzz.
• Look into local art markets, art fairs, and events, and set up a one-time or semi-permanent booth.
• Consign or wholesale with art, gift, or lifestyle retail stores, or set up a small pop-up within an existing store.
• Open your studio to the public when you launch your website, or keep consistent weekly open-studio hours to invite fans into your process.
• Run a pop-up shop (partner with other artists to reduce costs).
• “Lend” or consign work for décor to emerging retail businesses like cafés in exchange for the exposure.

Advances in technology like 3D and AR for online stores and the trend toward digital experiences may mark big changes for the art world in the future. It’s important to follow consumer trends while you learn how to sell your art and grow your business.

10. Work with galleries to sell your art

You can work with galleries to sell your art on your behalf if you are not interested in handling the business side of art, or as an additional channel to complement your own efforts. This partnership can give you access to new audiences, including serious art buyers and art collectors.

Here are a few dos and don’ts when working with galleries:

✅ DO check out the gallery’s social media accounts. “If you have more followers than that gallery does or that gallery doesn’t have a lot of followers, that may give you pause,” says Ken. A gallery should be able to give you a wider exposure than you can get yourself.

❌ DON’T approach a gallery via social media (unless they specifically ask for it). “While social media is a major focus for us, that’s just not a very professional way to come across if you’re an artist,” says Ken.

✅ DO your research and contact only those galleries who represent work in line with your own style. “You can’t sell street art to somebody who collects impressionism,” says Ken.

❌ DON’T sacrifice quality for quantity. “It’s frustrating when an artist who's hoping to catch our attention tags us and 20 other galleries all in the same post.” Select the top few galleries that you want to work with most and send individual outreach to each.

✅ DO your homework. “Find the name of the director or the curator for the gallery,” says Ken. “Being able to personalize an email is a great first step in that process.”

11. License your art

Aside from selling physical art—both original and reproductions—there’s another way to make money as an artist: licensing. Licensing your art involves selling permission for a brand, business, institution, agency, stock photography site, or person to use a digital version of your image for a specific use case and timeframe.

Licensing contracts vary and may include unlimited use rights or the right to use a digital art image indefinitely, though usually there are limitations in place to protect the artist. Understand what you’re signing before entering into any legal agreement, and be sure you still retain ownership over your image.

💡Tip: Consult a contract lawyer for help in negotiating the terms of your licencing agreements. This is especially important as you gain more cachet or the value of your art increases.

12. Market your art brand

Many artists like Maria started on social media, growing a following first before launching a store and monetizing their work. The channel where you’ve gained the most traction in the beginning is a natural place to spend your energy and marketing dollars first.

Artist Adam Spychala uses Instagram—a platform where he has over 100,000 followers—to promote his work and his print shop.

There are several ways to market your art and drive traffic to your sales channels. Try these marketing strategies for your brand:

• Paid ads. Run ad campaigns on platforms like Google or Facebook.
• Invest in organic social content by posting consistently and engaging with fans and art communities frequently.
• Run contests or offer exclusive discounts. Use these to help build your email list.
• Use influencer marketing. Reach out to creators and press when you launch your site or a new collection.
• Apply SEO. Learn about ecommerce SEO to help improve your store’s discoverability on search engines.
• Try offline marketing. Participate in art shows and markets or work with a gallery to expand your reach to new, larger audiences.
• Use content marketing. Leverage your expertise to create content around art, tutorials, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, etc., either through a blog, TikTok account, YouTube channel, or podcast.

Artist Segun Caezar takes fans behind the scenes with content that demonstrates his process of creating his paintings.

🎨 Learn more:

• 21 Real Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website
• TikTok Marketing: Creating a Successful Strategy in 2023

13. Package and ship your art

As art is visual, you should pay attention to the smallest details, down to how your art is packaged and shipped. Art that arrives undamaged is the bare minimum—give your customers an experience that matches the quality and care you put into your work.

As art can be fragile, follow these guidelines for ensuring your work arrives safe and sound.

DIY shipping for art

If you are shipping original art, or elect to ship prints and canvases yourself, rather than through a print and fulfillment company, take extra precaution with your packing. Larger prints and posters are best shipped in cardboard mailing tubes, and smaller prints in rigid cardboard mailing envelopes.

Use glassine (a water and grease-resistant paper) or clear cellophane sleeves to protect prints within the packaging. Custom branded packaging like tissue paper or poly envelopes that feature your branding or art can spark delight with customers and improve their experience with your brand.

Many ecommerce platforms integrate with shipping providers and shipping apps to help you find the best shipping rates for each market and package. Determine if you will offer free shipping and roll the shipping cost into the retail price or charge a flat fee to keep shipping transparent.

Shipping expensive and oversized original artwork

Framed works and canvases require additional precautions. Packaging supply shops offer packing and shipping materials like cardboard corners and specialty box sizes designed specifically for art.

If you’re shipping original work to a gallery or art collector, there are ways to cut costs. “Sometimes what we do is unstretch a canvas, roll it in a tube, and ship it that way, which dramatically lowers the freight costs," says Ken. "Then we can have the canvas stretched locally.”

Shipping art direct with print on demand

The easiest way to sell artwork online is to outsource all of the printing, fulfillment, and shipping to a print-on-demand partner. They are able to access great shipping rates due to volume and partnerships with carriers.

Shipping insurance for fine art

Insurance is important when shipping original works, as a lost or damaged package can’t be replaced. Many standard carriers offer fairly basic insurance on most packages, and if you sell your art you should look into the specific extra coverage costs and limitations of each carrier’s insurance offerings.

For expensive works,look into using a private freight company or a carrier that specializes in art handling, despite the higher costs.

🎨 Learn more:

14. Understand plagiarism and copyright for artists

Both Maria and Ken say copycats and plagiarism are just an unfortunate reality of doing business. Maria took legal action only once, before shifting her perspective.

Maria takes Hatecopy’s copycats as an indication that she’s onto something.“It’s a sign that I’m inspiring others and that what I’m doing is right, because they wouldn’t copy me otherwise,” she says, “I’m not offended or bothered by it anymore.”

For galleries that represent multiple artists and sell art online, copycat websites are a consistent problem. “It’s part of the way the world works, unfortunately. We do our best, but it happens,” says Ken.

While copycats may be a reality, artists and businesses have legal recourse and should seek the advice of a copyright lawyer to help protect intellectual property before infringement happens.

Today’s the day to start selling art online

For many emerging artists, the best way to learn how to sell your art online is to just get started with what you have at your disposal. Cat started her art business from a spare bedroom. Whether it’s a basem*nt or a kitchen table, it can work as your launch pad.

Thinking of yourself as an entrepreneur right from the get-go will be crucial to your path to becoming a successful artist. You may stumble as a creative to learn the business aspects, but they will ultimately help you grow and scale your business selling paintings online. “You could know everything about business and you could know everything about art,” says Maria, “but it’s the combination of both that really makes a successful brand.”

Feature illustration by Pete Ryan