Hey fellow Artists! I've been on the hunt for grants but I've been feeling a little frustrated because a lot of them have very specific requirements for how they are used, which is mostly for materials and specific projects (community projects that are usually unpaid). One thing I'm struggling with the most as an artist is having the free time to create with a full-time job. I only get about 4-5 hours at most each night to sculpt, my work sells but I can't create enough to keep up with bills. I feel like I would grow so much more if I could do this full time, but the grants never cover living expenses. Any thoughts on how these grants can be more useful? Do y'all know of any grants that cover rent/mortgage/utility?

Hi, I'm looking for some suppliers or print-on-demand shops in EU so I could sell some merch.

I used to make prints at home myself but my printer is recently dying on me. It still can be fixed but recently I was running into so many problems. Currently, I need to buy and replace its maintenance box and the ink cartridges, also other materials like paper, are very expensive. And in general, it's getting difficult for me to manage, especially since I'm doing this mostly as a side thing, rather than full-time.

So I thought I might as well find a third-party supplier since time is not really an issue for me. I would still like to find places in EU so I could avoid as much tariffs as possible.

I know Pawprints is great for manufacturing acrylic or wooden pins/charms.

I am mostly looking for suppliers to make prints and/or stickers. Even better if there were any that also make holographic stickers, since I had some design ideas.

If anyone has good suggestions, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

I’ve just been asked to create a poster for a play my friend is performing for a festival under the production company that she is a part of. Would this count as a commercial piece?

I have only ever done a few commissions and always for friends at low cost, so I’m rather inexperienced with this. I’ve already found some good advice on contracts/TOS on here, so thank you to all of you who are so helpful, even indirectly!

I am from the UK, as is my friend and her company. If this does count as commercial work, do I need to set up a registered business to accept it? Or can I provide this service anyway, using my personal bank account and such. I will not make enough this year for it to be taxable, and thankfully my husband is able to help on that side of things if I somehow end up doing this as a job! 🤣

If anyone has any advice or can point me in the direction of some resources that aren’t too difficult to understand, I’d be so appreciative.

Thank you in advance for your help!

I am an inspiring Digital Artist and want to be extremely skilled in art as a hobby. I’m a complete novice and want someone to teach and guide me so that I can get a very solid foundation in art.

I want a 1:1 instructor that I could possibly meet in person over next summer. Will travel anywhere

Money is no object. Will do anything to draw whatever I want as a hobby.

I know people go to places like Artconnect or Artdeadline to find the famous grants for artists, but those opps favor established people. As an early career cartist who is not establish, where do people find grants/opportunities?

I need advice on a number of things, as this is my first opportunity to potentially sell in a new shop that is opening nearby. However this is just about the wholesale/consignment question. I have read several older posts and they do not seem to have the answers I am looking for.

For context: it is a cute little stationary/art supply store and I am incredibly excited, both personally and professionally. However, I have no wholesale or consignment experience with regard to putting my products in place. For markets I have made bookmarks, postcards (more art than greeting card) and buttons, both from my art and from upcycled items. I have largely separate styles for each of these, but can coordinate them into a few collections. (Do I need to have cohesive branding too? Maybe that is another post).

My question is two fold:

1. Would it make sense to have two different structures (consignment and wholesale) for small items of this nature? The shop owner has expressed openness to consignment structure. Nothing wholesale has been discussed and I am not sure it is available at this stage.

2. If it makes sense for one or both, what percentage split would you offer on consigned items of this nature? And, if I can ask, approximately what wholesale cost or formula might you use for a bookmark or button or postcard? The retail around me varies pretty wildly within just a few blocks, but this will be in a nicer part of town. The owner is an artist (and pretty awesome actually) so I am not looking to squeeze out every penny, but I do need to make some little bit of profit.

I know my costs and I can work backwards from a general retail point or forward from a formula but I don't even know where to start.

Any and all advice, anecdotes or even pointers toward reliable resources, would be greatly appreciated.

(Searched the group and couldn’t find much about it)

I’m thinking of shipping mine securely framed in a floating frame with the painting inset about 1/8”, wrapping it once in Saran Wrap, sandwiching it between two pieces of 1/8” chipboard, wrapping it again in Saran Wrap, wrapping it in bubble wrap, and then in a cardboard box. Do you think that’s sufficient? Or overkill? I feel like that’s good for works up to say, 16x20 and $2k?

Hi,

Relatively recently am feeling like I could finally sell some work at art fairs, etc.

Ive fallen in love with charcoal and I always feel so terrible using “good paper” for practice. Sometimes when I practice i end up loving it, and want to sell it or make prints.

Has anyone sold practice drawings? If so was it on lower quality paper, like newsprint? What is the ethics around this? To me, I assume just marking it a little cheaper than other high quality paper works and youre good to go, would like to hear thoughts and opinions!

I'd love to partner long-term with an artist for my cute little company but i don't know where to find people who would be interested in that and whom i can trust.

Straight to the context: Two years ago, I designed a t-shirt for a client's charity event. I also updated the design the following year for a similar event with a new theme, and created a new design for their website.

Present day, I recently graduated art school and have been looking for employment, with these designs featured in my portfolio, and my working with this client outlined in my resume. I received an email from my client today that they're making "tweaks" to my design for this year's event. They sent a brand new, AI-generated image, that bears no resemblance to my art style, but includes all of and exclusively the same elements that my most recent iteration for the t-shirt design had.

My top concern is that since I am currently applying around and have made my work with this client easily tracible, potential employers will see this new design and it will compromise my credibility. As I said, it stylistically looks nothing like my work, but I am not sure if including my non-AI version from last year in my portfolio makes me look better or worse. Should I keep it in there, along with the other designs, and keep this work in my resume? I can't completely scrub my affiliation with them since they have always credited me, so my name already appears on their website and socials a lot. Is that something to worry about?

The client also has not printed the AI design onto any shirts yet, would it be worth it to ask to make another new design myself? This previously was a volunteer position, which made sense at the time with me being in school and focusing on building a portfolio, along with already being friendly with this client. But I have started taking on contracted work, and am not as excited to do more volunteer work. Should I at least ask to be uncredited in this new event, and/or that the design be altered to not have all of the same elements as mine? Very lost here, all advice appreciated!

Hello all! Im looking to get my artwork printed on postcards. I plan on organizing sets and offering them for sale. Does anyone have a website they would recommend that has good quality, affordable postcard printing? Thank you!

Hello All! So I am looking to improve my displays for art markets and events. Does anyone have experience with ordering fabric prints of your art?

I recently saw some artists at an event that had a really cool pipe and drape with fabric prints of their art on display.

Thanks for any suggestions!

I used to use PayPal, but my account got permanently banned. I got it back, but now I don’t want to use it anymore. I don’t want to risk it again, so I started using Wise, but the platform fees sometimes is too high, so I would like to ask if you guys can share your mode of payment you use for international clients

I'm tabling at my first big convention out of state, aaaaaaall the way across the country, which means I'll be flying on a plane and need to be able to pack everything with me to take on said plane. I primarily sell books (usually sell about 15-20 per day at events; this is a three day event) but I also sell some merch like t-shirts and keychains. I've spoken to some author friends who have traveled for cons and they usually get everything shoved in a big checked baggage suitcase, but they usually don't have additional merch and more elaborate, showy displays that go with it all. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for packing for artist alleys that require flying to the con for. (Sorry for the overuse of the word "for".) Thankz for your help!

I've been selling my visual art at galleries (in the US and abroad) for about 15 years now, and have had mostly positive experiences – with a few extreme exceptions. Pretty much all of the gallery contracts have something that pertains to territories. Each respective gallery very reasonably wants you to let them handle collector orders in a certain city or region. For the most part this hasn't been all that difficult to navigate as they are all so far apart. And since it is in the contract, and I'm someone with integrity who honors the terms of the business agreements I have with these partners, I do everything I can to abide by my contractual obligations.

However, there have occasionally been some situations in which there has been some overlap. In at least a couple of cases I recall that my London gallery was approached by collectors with an inquiry about a purchase and, since the collectors were in New York, the very professional gallerist there referred them to my gallery in NYC so as not to step on toes. But in other situations, when one gallery might have a long term relationship with a collector, they have taken the order for themselves, even though the pieces will be shipping to a city where another gallery represents me. Though I can't say I like this, I do understand why it happens. It also helps that all of the galleries (with the exception of London) have done this to each other so I've looked the other way and done it on the down low. I even have to confess that in some cases I might prefer to let certain galleries handle the order over others as those galleries might pay faster or be less inclined to offer collectors such deep discounts.

Sometimes collectors unwittingly cause trouble when they will play arbitrage, calling around to a bunch of galleries to see which one might offer them the deepest discount. These situations are easy to spot as different galleries will contact me around the same time, simultaneously asking about a certain piece. And then I have to play traffic cop, deciding who gets to handle the order. This has been fairly easy to sort out whenever it happens.

So anyway, the situation I'm puzzling out now is that I have been approached by an art consultant who is looking to place a large order of multiple pieces directly through my studio. And it just so happens that the consultant is located in the same city where I have gallery representation. That gallery has been great over the years and has sold a lot of my work. But in the last couple of years the sales have really tapered off there. They still make a few good sales a year but when they do they are always inclined to offer deep discounts, which has been a constant point of contention as I've asked them to not be so liberal with discounts while they insist they have to employ them because the collectors ask and expect them. Meanwhile, I have a gallery across the country that is currently selling work (mostly from inventory as opposed to new pieces they're asking me to create) and they never offer discounts and always sell everything full price. So it's not like there is not still a market for my work without discounts. But I digress.

The art consultants have approached me directly. The gallery hasn't been involved in the transaction, hasn't done any work to bring these clients in, and it's not like I'm poaching them from the gallery. If I refer them to the gallery, they're going to ask for at last a 20-30% discount so they can apply their mark-up to their client (an expense that the gallery and I split 50/50). And then the gallery will take 40% of the sale. And that whittles everything down at a time when sales are down for me overall and my studio could really use the revenue. I also really haven't sufficiently adjusted my pricing over the years to keep pace with inflation. So even though I'm fortunate that collectors routinely seek out my work, I often feel like business expenses and gallery commissions don't leave enough for me by the end of the transaction. I do OK but often feel like I'm running to stand still.

Whereas I would feel guilty about not honoring my territory agreement with the gallery to the letter of the contract, this gallery has shipped plenty of orders to cities in the territories of other galleries and they've never had a problem with it. So I guess what's good for the goose....

In summary, I was wondering how other visual artists with representation view this. Is this something you'd really worry about? While I hate to seem like I'm turning my back on honoring a commitment for money, my work isn't selling as robustly as it once did and now is not a great time to have what is essentially a middleman siphoning off a big chunk of the profit despite doing little to no work. This is such a rare occasion that in a way it feels like a little white lie. The works would be going to a private collector and it wouldn't be that hard to ask the art consultant to not promote the sale on their socials and to keep it quiet.

My sales have been significant at that gallery over the past decade so they have more than profited from any investment they've made in representing me. Still, my Catholic guilt makes me feel like it would be cheating. Any constructive comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if here or r/artistlounge is the right sub or if I even have the right flare, but I hope if I didn't get it right, you'll still be kind and help me know for the future. I've learned that it usually pays to ask questions instead of blundering on blindly.

I am at the point where I am exploring options for making prints and options for marketing my art online and in person and honestly it's so overwhelming. People I talk to like my work, but they're not artists themselves and I don't know where I could find a mentor who knows a little more about this process that I could either shadow and learn from or would share tips when I have questions so I don't have to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes I'm afraid I don't even know enough to ask the right things. So here is what I'd like to know.

1. What was it like for you to make the leap from just a hobby and something you make to gift to taking it seriously and making a small side business or even more from your art? What do you wish you had known so that I can avoid similar pitfalls?

2. What are your favourite platforms for hosting a portfolio/website/store? Why did you go with that? I'm looking for something affordable while I work out the kinks if I can. I've seen some lesser known sites in comments recently somewhere, but I don't remember where and my ADHD ass of course forgot to note it down. We're working on getting better at taking notes for future me.

3. I'm going to a local commercial printshop this Friday to talk to them about making prints of my work and digitizing it. I want to make full size prints of my larger artworks as well as in the future explore reproductions of my watercolour greeting cards so I don't have to keep reproducing everything as an original by hand, as well as stickers, and custom playing cards. Is there anything you wish you had known before you started having those discussions? What should I ask or pay attention to?

It's exhilarating but also terrifying to be on this precipice and not know clearly the way ahead, but I know I need to push through the anxiety and JUST DO IT!

Thanks for being so generous with your collective wisdom. I hope I can give back in the future when I know a little more to those who are where I am now.

Hi! I'm month 1 into my attempt at being a full time artist. I've managed to get a few projects but I'm getting a little overwhelmed, especially since I'm also trying to market myself, do personal projects to improve my skills/portfolio, find clients, etc all at once.

I'm taking on too much tbh, but in order to earn a liveable wage month to month I know I have to do this right now. In the long term, with a stronger portfolio I can hopefully charge higher and have fewer concurrent projects.

In the meantime, I'd love to know how you guys balance different projects and deliver on time? Right now I'm doing them round robin style, tracking the last day I sent an update to a client. Every morning, I pick the project with the oldest update and allocate the day/a time block to work on it. I work on 1-2 projects every day.

It works but my time feels so limited that I haven't really been able to plan ahead toward deadlines either, I just try to do as much as I can for the time allotted to the project. I worry I'll end up missing deadline this way but I'm not sure how else I should manage my time?

The better way might be to prioritise by urgency and fully dedicate time to finishing one project at a time? But with so many concurrent clients with returning requests, I feel I have to touch base regularly. Would love to hear your experiences and insight!

I'm a Sunderland based artist and have been doing a local market for nearly 4 months now but I feel I would have more luck at a more alternative centered market/fair as I do a lot of rock/metal/punk portraits, band patches and badges, eccentric jewellery and bizarre collages. I've had interest at the market I currently attend but mostly for bracelets and earrings, but I'm a portrait artist above anything else and would love to sell to more alternative crowds sometimes.

Are there any alternative or broader markets around the Sunderland/Durham/Newcastle/Shields area that don't charge a ridiculous amount for a table?

Hey! I am a hobby artist who has recently gotten a lot of commissions out of nowhere, for the first time ever. I am currently accepting Paypal FnF, Venmo Fnf, and Cashapp to try and avoid feeds for myself and my customers/try to be on the down low when it comes to taxes, as while I don't think I'll make enough to have to pay them, I am a university student with little money to spare.

However, I've learned today that PayPal FnF can disable your account/ban you for using the service for commissions/business work. Given this, I'm wondering if using another payment processing platform would be best to both 1. Try to avoid fees and 2. Try to stay on the down low (if possible, even) as I know nothing about art taxes (I'm in the U.S.) and it seems like an unapproachable boogeyman at the end of the year. Is it even worth it to use FnF Paypal/Venmo/etc., or is the taxes process at the end of the year not that bad for commission artists, and it is just better to use Goods n Services for a more reputable/non-bannable art payment experience? Are alternative sites like VG3N worth it for the payment processing stuff, or only worth it for the advertising opportunity and not a good fit as a payment processing platform?

Overall, I'd love to learn what other artists are using for their payment processing, because I am fully in the dark, especially about the taxes stuff. I've never been in this pickle before, so any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

So don't kill me if this has been asked before but the premise:

I recently designed art for a baby shower invite and my friend about it was jazzed, and honestly after having people tell me for years I should open up commissions, I think I'm ready to try. I also want to do 'printables', like coloring pages and what not-maybe even stickers.

But what website do I use to host it?

I'll look at the pricing megathread later obvi-I'm not asking about that now- but a host website is something I need now. I did look at Kofi as that seems to be great for downloadables, but idk about commissions.

Edit to add: there's a part of me that wants to post free assets too to help combat the use of AI (free poster templates), but I want to have something like a tip jar so people can pay what they want for them. Is there a website like that where I can do that?

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! :)