What to Sell as an Artist
As an artist or creative professional, there are a number of different options for what you can sell in your business to make a profit. And for long-term success in your art business, you’ll need to develop a strategy for what solutions you offer to your ideal clients.
The best way to ensure you have a solid business plan that brings in income and is fun and fulfilling to you is to consider where you can overlap these 3 things:
What you enjoy creating
What you’re skilled at creating
What consumers or other businesses actually need & want
To help you brainstorm where that overlap is for you, in this post we’ll explore several options for what you can sell as an artist in your creative business.
HEADS UP! This is a very thorough (ahem, long) post.
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Products for Art Businesses
The most straightforward route is to create products that you can sell to consumers. Within art business products, you have 2 options: physical products and digital products.
Physical Products
Physical products include things like art prints, home goods, paintings, sculptures, and other things that someone could actually touch. You can sell these in person with your own brick and mortar store, selling wholesale and having other stores sell your products, or at events like craft fairs.
You can also sell physical products online through marketplaces like Etsy, through your own e-commerce store on your website, or by using print on demand services like Redbubble.
There are both pros and cons to basing your art business off of physical products:
PHYSICAL PRODUCT PROS
Customers are often willing to pay more for something tangible
It’s exciting to see your art come to life in a physical form!
It can be easier to stand out and differentiate yourself with unique physical products as opposed to digital
PHYSICAL PRODUCT CONS
High COGS (cost of goods sold) - this means you make LESS profit per sale unless you charge a much higher rate
Shipping is more complicated/expensive, especially for fragile items
Unless using a print on demand service, you’ll have to handle printing, which may involve additional fees and shipping charges, cutting into your profit margins
You may have to keep and store inventory in your home or studio
Examples of physical products for different types of artists include:
Letterers/illustrators: Mugs, cards, apparel, or other home goods with your designs printed on them
Photographers: Prints of your photos
Potters: mugs, bowls, vases
Digital Products
Digital products include things like designed templates, digital art prints, stock photography, or resources for other artists like Procreate or Photoshop brushes, online courses, digital worksheets and guides.
You can sell digital products online through your own website, or through an online marketplace like Etsy or Creative Market.
DIGITAL PRODUCT PROS
Much lower COGS, meaning you can have a much greater profit margin
Don’t have to deal with shipping and handling
No inventory taking up space in your home/studio
Can generate passive income
DIGITAL PRODUCT CONS
Have to play more of a customer support role to troubleshoot customers accessing and using files
Some customers may not be willing to pay as much for intangible art, or art they have to print out themselves
Examples of digital products for different types of artists include:
Letterers/illustrators: Printable greeting cards, Procreate brushes, lettering worksheets, Procreate/Illustrator templates, social media graphic templates, Powerpoint/presentation templates
Photographers: Stock photos, Lightroom presets
Interior designers: Decorating “cheatsheets” with color palettes and textures
Art Licensing
Another income stream I’d loosely include in digital products is art licensing. This is where you have a catalog of designs or illustrations and “rent” them out to companies to use on products or in campaigns for a specific length of time or in a specific capacity.
Art licensing can be an amazing source of “passive” income (i.e. income that’s generated without you having to actively work on something), but also tends to be more of a long-term play. For instance, you may license artwork for use, but then not see actual income from it for a year.
Examples of art licensing include:
Licensing an illustration for Target to print on gift cards
Licensing lettering for Michael’s to print on home decor like signs and pillows
Licensing a surface pattern design for a company to print on kids’ clothes
Licensing a digital illustration for Hallmark to print on greeting cards
Services for Art Businesses
Your art business can also bring in income through more of a freelancer or agency model, where you take commissioned work from clients. In this scenario, every project you take on is unique and tailored to your client’s needs.
Examples of services for different types of artists include:
Letterers/graphic designers: developing custom artwork for a company’s marketing campaign, or logo/branding work
Photographers: shooting a wedding or doing engagement photos
Interior designers: designing a room of someone’s house
SERVICE OFFERINGS PROS
Can usually charge a much higher price compared to products, since these are custom offerings for each client
More flexibility in expanding your offering as you grow your business
Low COGS (cost of goods sold), meaning greater profit margin
SERVICE OFFERINGS CONS
Not as easily scalable, since each service package is unique and requires your time
Working with clients can be a challenge and requires additional skills in customer service and communication
Cannot generate passive income
As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when it comes to the offerings for your business. It’s essential to find the perfect combination of:
The work you enjoy doing
The work you’re good at doing
A solution that people actually want/need
Finding that overlap requires a bit of soul searching on your end, as well as market research to determine what goods or services are actually in demand.
(Still not sure where to start? You may be interested in my 1:1 coaching, where I guide creative business owners through developing a profitable business plan)
Taking the First Step
Trying to figure out the first step to start your art business can be overwhelming, but the most important thing is to just START.
You can only figure out what works and what doesn’t by trying things out, gathering feedback and insights, and making smart adjustments.
It’s also helpful to have someone in your corner who can tell you what to prioritize, what to keep doing, and what to let go of—that’s where business coaching comes in.
If you want help getting your art business off the ground, take a look at my 1:1 coaching program.