Selling Prints from your original artwork

Photo from https://bythepeoplee.com/pages/print-club

I think there is a mindset shift that needs to happen from creating and selling your original works to moving into a print based model.  The prints are actually a commodity - something you can produce many copies of without inputing new creative energy.  In my mind you have to think about the prints as a totally different entity. They are not your originals.  They will not have the same sheen as an oil or acrylic painting. The colours while accurate in the print will not be exactly the same lustrous quality of the original.

Once you change your mind about the product you can fully embrace the opportunity.  

Make sure these two things are in place in your practice. 
#1 Get really great images of all the originals. You want to leave your options open for a print side of your business in time.  
#2 Disclose at the time of purchase that the artist retains the rights to the copyright and reproduction of the image.  The client doesn't have the privilege to decide that, unless you sell them the copyrights at a might higher amount.  I have a statement on my certificate of authenticity to that effect. In my experience, no client has ever has a problem with me selling a smaller print reproduction of their original painting.  

The way I see it, there are few ways that prints are currently being marketed.

1) The print club model which is $12-$20 per month and you receive a 5x7 print of someone's artwork or a collective of artists share their work through the subscription. Nicely packaged, sometimes with bonuses like stickers or colouring sheets included.  Almost all have a note from the artist(s), some story to contextualize the art work. 

2) Fine art prints limited edition, limited window to purchase, like 24 hours or so.  These can be giclee - print on canvas, or paper prints.  Usually larger in size than the print club model.  One artists has multiple sizes, or print materials to choose from, however, his prints are limited to only this release date, sort of.  I say sort of, because he could re-release that same print but with some significant change, like the artist painting directly on the print and each piece of additional painting is different. 


In both cases, these models rely on the one-to-many principle.  You produce one item that you sell to many people. This works pretty well, like exceptionally well, when you have the audience already gathered. 


One case in point is Devon Rodriguez.  He is a New York based artists who is masterful at painting portraits in the New York subway tunnels.  He has now moved into travelling to popular destinations and capturing an iconic view in watercolour.  He produces a large watercolour print 18 x 24", I think, then her releases that print to his audience.  Here's where it gets interesting.  Devon has one of the largest social media followings, 9 Million followers on Instagram.  He sells his prints for $199 USD. He produced, at first 250, and when Nona (Grandma) said "do 500", he listened.  When he releases the print, they have been know to sell out in 7 minutes.  Let's do the math.  500 x $199 = $99,500. Now he does have printing costs, of course and I believe shipping is on top of the purchase price.  All sales are final.  

Here is Devon Instagram link if you'd like to follow him: Click here

Here's Devon with one of his recent prints.

​This model works, but I think the reason it works is because his work is consistent, and he has the following to support these print drops. (9.5 Million followers on Instagram, at the moment)


What I find interesting is the idea that this model could work at a smaller scale, depending on your audience and the product you are promoting.  

Here's another example.  Mark Maggiori.  An amazing painter, born in France, living in Arizona.  He creates spectacular, large, original paintings that mostly sell in an auction format in partnership with a gallery.  His originals have sold for 6 figures each.  $250,000 is not uncommon for one of his originals.  

Where the prints come in is twice a year he does a print drop.  These are prints of his original paintings in various sizes on various materials - paper, or giclee prints.  He has a time limited window to purchase prints and an open edition during that time limit.  Which mean he doesn't have a set number, he prints what is ordered, but once the sale closes, that determines the print number of copies.  

Here is Mark's instagram page: Click here

​Mark has 886,000 followers on Instagram at the moment. 

Mark signing one of his print runs in his LA printers location.

While these two artists have large followings on social media. I think the model would work nicely for smaller audience sized. 

My thought is: What's the smallest audience that would make this project viable?  If you could earn an additional $1000 per month from a print subscription would it be worth it to you?  If you had 144 people paying you for the subscription you'd earn ~$1000 after expenses.  

Monthly subscriptions programs seem to be working pretty well. What it looks like from the customer sided is that they pay $14- $19/month, with a $2 additional charge for International orders.  Each month they will be sent a limited edition print from the artist. 

From the artist side, the cost to produce/package/ship the print is about $12 depending how fancy you get with additional packaging materials. This leaves a $7 profit per subscription.  Doesn't seem like that much.  However if you have 100 people on the subscription plan that's now a $700 payday each month.  Pretty nice.  

Now expand that to 1000 people, now you are getting $7000 a month.  That's a viable income.  You will also save on printing costs as you will be printing a higher volume. 

Time wise you are likely going to spend about a week on this project, between ordering the prints, picking them up, or having them shipped, packaging and sending them out.  

The way I see it, for a weeks worth of work you would have a sustainable income that would allow you the freedom to create in your studio without the worry of the bills. 


Another twist to this, is collaborating with other artists who also contribute a print.  Artist A, includes their own art and a piece from Artist B.  Artist B is getting exposure to Artist A's people. Artist B then sends their art with a piece of Artist A's work, giving artist A exposure to Artist B's connection.  

This is where we start to leverage the communities that other people have built.  Growing together.  

Two notable print subscription are: Pocket____ art.  Click here to see their page

Here is another artist to check out with a print club: Click here

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Here are my thoughts on print clubs.  Go speak to your local printer and see what it would cost to print 5x7 quality prints.  My printer charges about 1.46 each, less if I print more.  You will need some tissue paper, stickers to seal the tissue, an envelope to ship in and some postage.  Pretty straight forward.  You should be able to keep costs down to $5-6 each. You set up a subscription plan on Square.  Do you have Square?  It's a secure credit card processing service that allows you to set up subscriptions.  Let me know if you are interested in learning more about how to use Square.  I'll be doing a simple video guiding you through all the many features that Square provides.  Message me at: [email protected]. if you would like me to share the video with you. 


Then it becomes a process of promotion to your list, followers, contacts and see if people are interested in joining your print club.  

The other suggestion would be to do a quarterly mail out if monthly seems like too much.  

Start small, test things out, understand your costs/profits, commit to a year to let it grow and see if it turns into something. 

Have fun.  

Most of all you will be getting your art into the hands of people who might become buyers for your original art work.  

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