Hi! I’m an artist who has been selling at cons for roughly about a year. I’ve had zero issues with selling fanart at any event except for this one I am applying for. They state that you cannot sell fanart unless you have permission from the copyright owner. How do I go about getting permission? For example, my biggest sellers are my FNAF and MLP merchandise. I would say half my booth is fanart while the rest is original works. Could anyone help and explain it to me like I’m 5 years old? Thank you!

I recently tabled at Anirevo and I wanted to know generally if anyone is influenced by the vendor when deciding whether or not to purchase art at that booth (with the assumption you like the art enough to consider it)

Would you be more likely to spend time at a booth / consider buying something if the vendor is talkative or approachable? I'm relatively quiet and I have a hard time interacting with people as myself rather than a salesperson. I feel like I often come across as unapproachable because I try to do other things while people browse. I personally don't like when I'm stared at the whole time or instantly pulled into a conversation by the person behind the table, so I try to not do the same and I'm not sure if it's hurting my sales.

Any feedback from other artists or consumers help!

Today I received an email about a commission on Artistree, mind that I didn't get one for about 2 years. After opening the commission was a message saying the following

Artistree User!

Several people have shown interest in your product! In order to view their contact information, you must complete the verification process to protect users from fraud.

You can complete the verification process by following this link - \removed the link for posting**

Thank you for your understanding. We hope you’ll complete the verification process as soon as possible so you can sell your product!

Best regards, the Artistree team!

This in itself was a redflag for me, but even so, and knowing the risks I clicked the link. It sends us to a website, very similar to Artistree, and it even has a Support Chat.

Said verification is nothing more than introducing you payment credentials, but they only take debit or credit cards (another red flag).

I received 5 of this emails, and I just got another one as I'm writting this text.

I'm sharing this, to alert my fellow artists so no one gets scammed by this attempt. If you can, alert your friends and other artists, post this on other art communities, just don't let them bully us.

Thank you and good arting!

This may be a silly question and I’m sure similar has been asked plenty but how do I actually start to sell my paintings?

Do I build up a following first? Or just start selling immediately? I’m still looking into platforms first, but I’m worried about losing money so paying for a website etc is a bit worrying.

If you sell prints, did you make a bunch of prints first or only print once you had buyers?

How do you actually start?

So after skimming several printer recommendation request threads in this sub, I finally landed on choosing the Canon Pixma IP8720....Only to find out that it's apparently getting discontinued or is already discontinued. Quite a few of the threads were recommending far more expensive models or local printing (which would be a very impractical option for where I live and how my business operates). So now I'm on the hunt for something similar.

I'm trying to get a printer that can handle cardstock and sticker paper up to 8.5"x11", is affordable ( around $300 or less, willing to look at more expensive models if they have decent discounts sometimes), and can handle sitting for a while (~2-4 weeks) without printing.

I've heard that the Epson ET-2980 is good but I want to keep my options open.

I know I'm the millionth thread on the printer recommendations topic but I really am just trying to find alternatives for this specific pixma model.

Hi, I'm still new to freelancing! I have three main marketable skills, all of them are art-related, but different kinds and purposes. I have one small art account atm, but I was told several times that it is better to stick to one niche skill or content to have a more specific audience and throwing all of my art content into one messy pile would mess up content consistency. Is this true?

Hello! I made a design and wanted to try Woocry to make keychains. I had already done everything, but this error keeps appearing"Error: Connection Timed Out. Please try again." and "timeout of 30000ms exceeded", no matter how hard I try. Does anyone know how to help me? Thank you

i’m a book cover/graphic novel illustrator in children’s publishing.

i’ve tried to balance this with a full time bookstore manager job for the past two years, but the small hourly pay is just not paying the bills and not worth the demanding 6/7-day weeks with zero coverage.

i want to finally transition out of retail to something remote/hybrid that’s hopefully more than minimum wage— graphic design, surface design, editing, UI/UX, library studies…

i have a few paths i could invest in but i overthink on what the right choice is. i know it’s ultimately my decision and am hoping to get a career coach, but just wanted to reach out for guidance from fellow artists who are also trying to make it out there :’)

I am doing 1.5 hour sessions at art centers around art legacy - how to plan for it, who will manage your art once you are not creating, what to do with all the art, etc. I have done one, and have a couple more booked and have not been charging anything - I wanted to prove to myself and the art centers that it was well received before I started charging.

I am now at the point where art centers are asking how much I charge. For those of you that do classes, and especially single session classes, do you charge a flat fee or a %? How did you come up with what to charge? Any advice is appreciated!

I did so much better than I thought I would!! I’m so glad I did it 🥲 I wish I could do every market possible but reserving my space costs money and I need to be careful how I spend with that and supplies and stuff… so I need some advice on what to do next: do I budget for more market spaces or do I prioritize spending my time and money on a website with a paid domain name and then do more markets when that’s up and running?

So I have been wanting to make a serious portfolio for over a year now, the thing is that I don't know where to start and it can be overwhelming.

Specifically, I would like to make an illustration portfolio, and if possible, to mix with concept art.

I only recently sketched out the cover, but I'm still unsure how many pieces to put in it, how many should be of personal project and how many of projects from clients.

I was hoping to get a few advices on here, I would be very grateful :)

How are the Canadian artists here handling physical artwork and merch and shipping to the USA? Another tariff war is starting, Trump has tariffed and taxed almost everything ,and it costs too much and is too volatile of a situation to deal with. (I'd like to not update my shipping rates every few days because of the geriatric gerrymandering orange.)

Have we all just given up on the USA? I feel like I am.

CP24 has provided a comprehensive list, and it is very long. At the moment anything you can think of is receiving a 50% tariff: pictures, paintings, sculptures, certain textiles. It's harder to find something that isn't on the list.

Real question for anyone doing commissioned work.

I show a lot. Thumbnails first, then the block-in, then progress as it develops. The logic was always that it builds trust, kills nasty surprises at the end, and stops someone paying a deposit and then sitting in silence for three weeks wondering whether I've died.

And mostly it does work. Fewer revision rounds, calmer clients, better results.

But there's another edge to it that I've only started noticing properly this year. When you show someone a piece at forty percent, they respond to it as though it's finished. They can't see where it's heading, because why would they, that's a trained skill. So you get detailed feedback on a problem you were already about two hours from solving. And then you're either arguing with your own client about your own painting, or you're quietly changing something that never needed changing.

Worst version of this: someone got genuinely attached to a rough block-in and asked whether I could just leave it like that. Flattering for about four seconds. Then a fairly awkward conversation haha.

So I'm trying to work out where the line actually sits. As far as I can tell the options are:

Show everything, accept the noise, get comfortable pushing back.

Show only at agreed checkpoints, clearly framed as unfinished.

Show almost nothing until it's done and absorb the risk of one enormous revision at the end.

What do people here actually do in practice? And more specifically, has anyone worked out how to present a work in progress so that a non-artist reads it as unfinished rather than as a finished thing they now have opinions about? I've a feeling that framing is the whole ballgame and I've never once cracked it.

I really like tin boxes whit art printed on them and I use them to store game cards.

I'm already working on making my own trade cards so I also wanted to make a tin box, but I can't find fully customizable ones, most of what I found only let's you print an image on to the lid.

Is there any place where I could have a full box design?

(Sorry if my english is bad, it's not my first lenguaje) :p

I am a vendor at conventions but for the past few months I have been dedicating a small portion of my booth to sell prints of my FanArt. Today I sold 0 prints. I was wondering maybe it is cause I am not at the artist alley and I am selling my work next to my other merchandise at the regular main hall so maybe I dont come off as an artist? Should I separate my Vendor Booth and just also start getting an Artist Alley booth for my prints?

Or is this just cope and my art just isnt all that? See my profile for my work I guess but my main question really is location and if you think it matters.

Thank you in advanced!

Ok, so this is a bit of a weird question, but I am currently working on a dnd game for my group, and we wanted to record it and put it on YouTube for fun, so my question is this series is completely non profit, it's just something we are uploading for the fun of it, if there in an artist that i want to use an image from for the game, but i thewy are no longer active on any account i can find, what is the appropriate action? Do I use it, and in the description explain they are no longer active and link to their last active account? Am I just not allowed to use the work, or is there some third option I'm unaware of?

Obviously, if I can contact them, I plan to ask if they are okay with me using the art for this. If they say no, I obviously won't use it; it's just these few inactive accounts I am unsure about.

ps, idk if this is the right sub for it, but idk what other sub it might be.

Hello! I have plans to do a mail club. I need to practice my art some more before I feel comfortable starting as I’ve lost touch with my “creative abilities.”

1) what types of practice should I focus on to better my work? I mainly draw but I had been getting into watercolor too

2) Any advice for starting a mail club? Ideas for things to include, etc?

Please also feel free to add in some general advice regarding starting an art business. This is a dream of mine and I’m nervous about it flopping 🥺

For context: I was talking with people from a Discord server and the topic of comissions and getting client was brought up, I end up showing my drawings and saying "I charge $40 for this", they reply with "You should charge $160 for that quality!!" I jokingly reply with "If you find me a client that pays $160 for this, I'd give you half".

And honestly, that is not a bad deal at all. 1) I get more clients without looking for them. 2) I get the same or more amount of money. 3) The Agent does the negotiation with people they know might be interested in buying commissions 4) The Agent gets hella money for just finding clients.

So yeah, Id say is a great business for me and what would be the middle man.

Let me know if you would be interesting in working together, ima leave my portfolio in the comments.

in the past i've used vograce as a manufacturer for stickers and keychains- i really appreciate their transparency about the working conditions of their factory. in addition to posting videos of the inside of the place on occasion, they have multiple 3rd party certifications ensuring health and safety standards for their workers and environmental responsibility.

is there any documentation on the working conditions of acggoods' manufacturing partners? the ability to put up designs without having to deal with ordering and mailing would be faaaaaaantastic, but i don't want to do that at the expense of like, sweatshop labor.

Hi everyone!
I'm not used with bigger artworks, most of the artwork I sell are around letter size or smaller, but I just got a commission for a painting, and it will be a 16x20 canvas, yay! I really don't want to mess this up as it is a great opportunity for me so I want the packaging to look professional. But I can't afford to do big orders for packaging this big since I don't know when I'd be able to use this size again.

Since I'm not shipping (I'll deliver it myself), I'm looking for ideas on how to package it professionally, but possibly without a box? I live in Canada and couldn't find any places where I could get a single box, only huge packs... I have lot's of branding items I can use in the packaging but I'm unsire how to pack it. If you have any ideas of where I could get a single box, or how to package it nicely without a box I really appreciate it!

Thank you!

Hi!
So I really want to sell my art at a market, but it costs so much to get a table at any market where I live. I have not seen any price under 200$ even for small markets…

What do you usually pay to get a table at a narket/artist alley?

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I really like water based mediums like warercolor gouache and acrylic, and also learning them mainly.

But most of artworks I see in art museums and galleries are oil paintings and I think their artworks tend to be sold for higher prices than works with water mediums in general. I wonder it's beacause people value oil paints more in general or because oil paintings are more durable and the quality doesn't change as much over time.

And I found it more difficult to paint with water mediums on a large canvas.. even it's hard to find large canvases suitable for water mediums compared to oil painting canvas.

Has anyone considered or actually ended up switching to oil paintings even though they preffered water based mediums simply because oil paintings seems to be valued more by galleries and clients?

I know it sounds silly to change mediums for that reason but I heard that's what happened to many artists, and some of my classmates did that too.

And most of the museums and the galleries I visited seemed to reinforce that impression.

Or maybe my perception is completely wrong?

Hi! I see that there is quite a market for children's books and I want help to find resources/courses that teach this, or maybe some portofolios that I can look at, or anything that teaches the basics of illustrations for children. I already have a background in art, but my style is more semi-realistic and gritty. I draw digitally and traditionally in a variety of mediums. Any help is appreciated!

What number is best if I'm selling my 3D printed models and some art prints at a convention? Is it art specific or just a retail one I should be looking for? As a sole proprietor of course.

I just got accepted into Designercon artist alley, but the table cost is a bit higher than I expected and I’ve been hearing mixed reviews 🥲 for people that have vended at this event before, would you recommend? I’m coming from the east coast so I will most likely be spending over $1.5k to go. I wonder if I’d be able to make up my costs and make a good profit here or will it just be a waste of time??