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Question regarding Selling Original Art


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Hi there!
I'm looking into the idea of selling some of my original art that I've drawn in real life. Selling the drawings for maybe 50 to 100L, as I am aware that it seems people buying art, as in hand drawn and inked sketches are kind of a niche area in the virtual world.

What I was wondering is, what is the best way to sell these drawings. Should I make them on an object and sell that? Or should I save it as a texture file?
I know that I will be setting the object to no copy or transfer, in order to protect the work in limited way (but like anything on the internet, if someone wants to steal work, its hard to stop them), but I was looking for any further advice folks could give that have been doing this for some time, along with maybe their own experiences.

So any advice or comments is appreciated! Thank you!

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On 2/6/2020 at 3:35 PM, foxfirestorm said:


I'm looking into the idea of selling some of my original art that I've drawn in real life.

Should I make them on an object and sell that? Or should I save it as a texture file?
 

so you don't sell original art, but reproductions of your art :)

How you sell it, texture or on a object doesnt really make a huge difference i think, or do both for customers that want their own frame for it.
You'll have to find a way to protect it, only change/limit permissions won't stop any theft.

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Since art and what people will pay for it (And why) will vary, you may find that you will make more money selling the frames, rather than the art itself.
Everyone needs frames, especially more unique designs - but art is so subjective. In  my experience I have found that when I originally started out with selling an art piece as a whole, it didn't really sell until it had mod and copy on it.
The reason was; People liked the object that I had made it on, and not the artwork itself, and in many cases people were putting their own on it.

Yeah it sucks because we all think our art is 'cool' and what's not to like right?
You could still put your artwork on it as default (as I do on many of those type of products) but I have found that I should make an asset that supports artwork that others may want to put on it, and so make the asset to accommodate flexibility.

Of course, there is no hard set rule, you can do what you like, just giving you some food for thought. Also if you are an established or well-known artist already, you will have success selling specific paintings vs an artist that is unknown and throwing up random artwork seeing what sells or not...

I would like to err on allowing the end user 'functional' artwork, which means if they want to change the picture they could... that should net more sales just from flexibility alone.

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On 2/6/2020 at 2:35 PM, foxfirestorm said:

What I was wondering is, what is the best way to sell these drawings. Should I make them on an object and sell that? Or should I save it as a texture file?

You have to upload it as a texture to get it inworld. There is no way around it.

The convention is to put your art texture on a prim and offer that for sale. Or framed, which is just a fancier way of doing it. But conventions are just conventions and sometimes it might suit your art, your self or your customers to do it differently.

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stick your art in a frame.  Typically people, including me, buy framed art to mount on our walls, art that complements our furnishings, same as we do in RL

try to match the frame to the art, so it comes as a coherent piece.  As any RL picture framer can tell us, there is art in choosing a frame for a picture.  This said, make the frame Modify so that people can re-texture the frame if they want    

just so that you know what your competition is when selling only textures.  If I want just a texture  then google/bing gives me 1000s and 1000s of free-to-use art textures which I can upload to SL for 10L

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On 2/14/2020 at 3:16 AM, Zzevir said:

I have limited knowledge of sales and stuff. But do you plan to sale on the MP or in world? 

Maybe both? I am still chewing on the idea.

 

22 hours ago, entity0x said:

Since art and what people will pay for it (And why) will vary, you may find that you will make more money selling the frames, rather than the art itself.
Everyone needs frames, especially more unique designs - but art is so subjective. In  my experience I have found that when I originally started out with selling an art piece as a whole, it didn't really sell until it had mod and copy on it.
The reason was; People liked the object that I had made it on, and not the artwork itself, and in many cases people were putting their own on it.

Yeah it sucks because we all think our art is 'cool' and what's not to like right?
You could still put your artwork on it as default (as I do on many of those type of products) but I have found that I should make an asset that supports artwork that others may want to put on it, and so make the asset to accommodate flexibility.

Of course, there is no hard set rule, you can do what you like, just giving you some food for thought. Also if you are an established or well-known artist already, you will have success selling specific paintings vs an artist that is unknown and throwing up random artwork seeing what sells or not...

I would like to err on allowing the end user 'functional' artwork, which means if they want to change the picture they could... that should net more sales just from flexibility alone.

 

3 hours ago, Mollymews said:

stick your art in a frame.  Typically people, including me, buy framed art to mount on our walls, art that complements our furnishings, same as we do in RL

try to match the frame to the art, so it comes as a coherent piece.  As any RL picture framer can tell us, there is art in choosing a frame for a picture.  This said, make the frame Modify so that people can re-texture the frame if they want    

just so that you know what your competition is when selling only textures.  If I want just a texture  then google/bing gives me 1000s and 1000s of free-to-use art textures which I can upload to SL for 10L

These both were extremely helpful and gives me something to think about. I am working on becoming a graphic artists RL, so I know I'm pretty much a no-body and I love to draw in RL, so I just wanted to bring something in that I do fairly often. The idea of picture frames didn't even come to mind, so I'll have to give that some great consideration.

 

4 hours ago, Vanoralynna said:

I have bought art with the frames in sl for home  make sure signature and watermark for protecting art.  People need art to match things.

Will do!

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On 2/6/2020 at 2:35 PM, foxfirestorm said:

What I was wondering is, what is the best way to sell these drawings. Should I make them on an object and sell that?

I'd put it in frames if I were you, look up full perm ones if you can't do the mesh itself, don't just put them on a prim that's too bland, most people want something ready made they can just put up.
Depending on your art you might wanna add specular and normal maps, if you don't know what these are, learn, they can be a selling point.
Make sure you do some eye catching advertising for them, remember, less is more.
Use social media, a lot of people use different websites, you have to cater to all of them, don't make such a Facebook say and expect anyone that doesn't have an account there to make one just to follow you.
Best way to sell them is on the MP I'd say, at least for a start, you'll be hard pressed to get an in world store going for a start.
Work on a nice portfolio because you start trying to advertise it, have about 20 pieces ready I'd say.
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been my experience that people buy textures more than frames. Frames are cheap and they often want frames to match the decor of a room. I sell photos in both framed and textures and the textures sell more. My photos and frames (I made my own) are no trans/copy/mod

Mod because people need to resize to fit the wall they have.

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5 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

note that if you sell a texture as full perm you are basically giving your art to "the world" which may be what you intend to.  So watch your permissions   @foxfirestorm

I agree. With my finished photos they are only copy and mod. If there were a way I would only make them mod.  I don't think you can do that. 

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1 hour ago, Doris Johnsky said:

I agree. With my finished photos they are only copy and mod. If there were a way I would only make them mod.  I don't think you can do that. 

 

well realistically anyone can open the texture and take a high quality screenshot and "have" your art. This isn't new news. Just something that people need to be aware of.   They can of course do the same thing in a frame :D. 

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  • 1 month later...

Buying a texture, or a one-prim modifiable object with the texture on it, uses up one prim of a parcel's total prim allocation.

Buying an object that consists of a one-prime canvas with the actual art, and a one-prim frame, uses up two prims of a parcel's total prim allocation.  Buy just one of these, and meh, it's only an extra prim.  Buy a bunch of these, and you quickly consume your total prim allocation due to the framed art having double the prims.

So I rarely buy framed art, unless it's outstanding.

As to screenies of art:  Regardless of the ethics of such behavior, the ability to do this does affect prices.  Why should a buyer pay L$1000 for something they could take a screenshot of and then upload for only L$10?  Again, leaving ethics outside of the conversation, this is why you should make sure any images on the MP have a watermark -- the L$1000 is worth it for a watermark-free copy.  And it needs to be original, good quality art.  There's little incentive to pay L$1000 for a photo of American Gothic, when one can simply go to the Art Institute of Chicago's website, snap a screenshot, crop it, and upload it to SL for L$10.

If you have original artwork, while there would be interest in that in SL, you might have better luck selling it by contacting real-world galleries in your city.  Sure, Covid-19 is going to put a damper on showings for a while, but I'm certain galleries will be back in full swing once the crisis is over, and have virtual offerings in the mean time.  Don't settle for a dime or two's worth of Lindenbucks if your work is high quality.  Get more in the real world.

 

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I create art on my computer from pictures taken in SL. I add the textures to either a flat prim box, to represent a picture painted on a canvas without a frame, or to mesh frames that I create. I display these in galleries in world and offer them for sale. I figure 90% of my sales come from people I have personally invited to visit my galleries. There are just to many galleries out there to hope that customers will just wander in. I have given up on trying to find places with high traffic and thus higher numbers of walk ins. The higher rents for these locations never are supported by any increase in sales. I do not need high traffic if I am handing out LMs to interested people. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

What about doing commissions? Sell custom artwork (for much more than 50 to 100L) and sell it as a texture and they can put it on whatever frame or thing they want?

 

I have a feeling you'd make more with custom art vs. work you've already done, you know?

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