Making prints and selling them in shops/cafes

[RoyMi6]

Hi guys,

Plenty of information out there but wondering if anyone has any specific points to watch out for when making prints.

My girlfriend is building up her portfolio, and confidence, with her drawing.

This week she approached some shops with a folder of her originals and asked about their interest in hanging and selling prints of these.

Every single shop was interested but in varying degree - some wanting a 15% cut and happy to put up one they liked, some wanting no commision at all and one wanting 6 prints to be put up across two of the owners cafes!

At the moment she sells her work through Redbubble. This is fine and works great for customers but it's not so cost effective when you want to do what she's looking to do.

I was suggesting she needs to come up with some standard sizes so she can get them printed via online printers (like vistaprint) then buy cheap, but nice, frames to fit. Or vice versa i.e. find most cost effective frames and print to size.

So is there anything I should be watching out for? Illustrator seems to allow me to select specific size then add "bleeding" to the canvas. This will allow us to keep it consistent across all the images hopefully but another other ideas would be appreciated. Although well versed in web design, print is not my strong point.

Also, has anyone had any experiance with this kind of selling? We both realise it's not a lucrative market or anything, it was more just a confidence building exercise for her, but any advice regarding this would be appreciated as well.

Needless to say I think she's pretty bloody tallented

 

[D.P.]

I would get some standard sizes, not just for prints but makes framing easier. Otherwise there is to much to say. Get them in the shops and see what happens, but don't expect a ton of sales.

 

[Nexus]

Only thing I'd add, especially if she is doing artwork, is that many people like to buy something which is a a one off piece when it comes to such things. Rather than buying a printed copy, I would imagine it might also allow you to command a slightly higher price for the work to. Especially so if you can get it into an arty cafe which prides itself on displaying regular artwork.

 

[D.P.]

Yeah, if yu make prints then you will devalue the original so have to work out the economics. If you do make prints then a good idea to limit them, e.g. A set of only 10.

 

[RoyMi6]

Cool, good to just have some reassurance really as it's new for both of us!

Aye, idea was only 10 prints at £100 each with the original available on request at £200.

Numbers to be finalised but this seemed to go down well with all the people she talked to.

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

For your prices either the prints are too expensive or the original is too cheap, or a bit of both.

 

[James J]

Red bubble is really poor for selling artwork. Try fineartamerica instead.