Why would an artist refuse to give their business card to another artist? Fear?

(I am an artist, serious enough to have cards/website etc. I went to a festival and was having a nice chat with a seller about art. When I asked for her card she refused saying "I don't give my cards to other artists." I was stunned, so I just said "Ok" and left.)

I'm now pretty confused about the encounter. I know people can't speak for this particular artist.... but is this a thing? What's the risk?

Long story short, I only have two options because my budget is tight and I can’t do both. I can only pick one. I’m torn between selling stickers or selling art prints and I have no idea which one will do best?

With art, I do have a particular style but I can also do well with drawings for stickers. I don’t have a niche though

I’ve heard people do exceptionally well selling stickers because they’re more ‘useful’ than art prints, and I think the younger crowd prefers them? My issue though is that the profit margins seem quite low? So I’d have to sell a lot to earn anything decent. The start up costs are also quite pricey (I can’t make them myself because I literally don’t have any room for printers and things). Art prints have a higher profit margin and are quite cheap to have made

I’ve been stuck on this for weeks. I love both prints and stickers, but realistically which one do you think would be better? Is it really possible to make good money from stickers? Are they becoming more popular? Or are art print still doing well? I understand both markets are oversaturated, but I believe the average person doesn’t necessarily care, like people will buy whatever catches their eye

What should I do? 😩

okay definitely a dumb question, but ..

this is for an exhibition application. when it says submit 5 works (5 pictures, one for each work) does it actually mean . submit 5 works 😭

the submission rules state: • Submit 5 images via email and states that there should be one image per work.

like obviously it should mean that but just a bit confused because id was assuming it’d say MAXIMUM 5 works. what is the purpose of there being no option to submit less than 5?

super new to this stuff and was just curious, thanks for any help!

I'm a sophomore currently thinking about switching majors, and as much as I long to major in my school's art program and specialize in animation, current events surrounding generative AI and the terrible treatment of animators in general has me worried about the practically of entering the art industry at this point in time, so I want to pivot to something else and get a day job after graduation to hold me over while I work on my art skills on the side. The only thing that's come to mind so far is to switch to English and get a job that involves writing/communication since writing is something I'm also good at and enjoy doing, but that seems like an equally unstable career path that's running into the same issues with generative AI eating up potential work.

Does anyone have any suppliers for spinning vinyl player keychains / CD players? I’m leaning more towards vinyls with the player backings: similar to cheebpaku’s arcane charms.

Thanks for the help!

I vended today for the very first time and broke even and made a little bit extra as profit. I didn't have that many items to sell just 3 print designs (2 small, 1 large), 6 phone charms designs, 1 keychain design and 12 sticker designs ranging from ($2-5). So do most artists when they first start vending break even or not? I have a lot of stock left over so I can sell all that at another event but I don't know if my first time is considered successful.

Hi everyone! Last year I upgraded to using those storage cub grid organizers to display my art and I’ve just been having some trouble on settling with a new set up lately.

I want to have a portion of the wall dedicated to stickers, as I just really don’t like those tiered sticker stands. I’d like to get a stick on adhesive hanger to put on the back of my stickers so I can hang them on a grid hook that customers can easily remove.

My problem is that most grid hooks I find seem to be made for the larger retail grid walls.

So far, last year I used little binder clips to hold my stuff to the cube. Those are great for prints but not so good for all of the small trinkets I have like stickers and keychains.

Can you drop any links to hanging accessories that have worked with your own grid cube displays?

Hi! I’m freshly joining the sub so I can talk to into the void and maybe someone will answer me. I’m just starting out and I feel a bit nervous about marketing myself as an artist. I’m enjoying myself and I want this to be a legit income stream. I’m simply looking for advice on how people got over the slight cringe factor of calling yourself an artist.

I saw phonestrap holder merch at a convention I was at a week ago. Those things you put into your phonecase and add a strap to it so you can carry your phone around. The merch was really cute and I wonder if anyone can help me figure out which supplier offers making those. I couldn't find any so far.

I used to use Inprnt but as with many others they stopped paying me. I'd be stuck with $700 taking months and many emails for them to send it to me. It was fine for the first couple years I used them but then they started doing that and having sales 24/7 which felt mega shady.

I'm wondering if anyone knows if it's gotten better or is it still taking over a month and several emails for them to process payments?

US based artist, wanted to get into manufacturing some art products like keychains and such to start up my business this year but looks like it will be impossible. 54% tariffs from china?? i cannot afford that. all the manufacturers i look at are from China.

what can I do to make products from my business? what are other anticipating to do? Right now I make stickers and buttons from home. am I just stuck to that now and won't be able to produce any higher value items? would it be cheaper to have one of my friends based outside that doesn't have a significantly higher tariff of the US to order and then ship to me?

Hey everyone, first-time poster here—though I’ve been reading through discussions for a while. There’s great insight in this subreddit.

My question is pretty open-ended, and I understand that the specifics vary by practice, but I’m looking for general advice on getting my artwork out of the digital realm and into the real world. Humbly, I believe I’ve developed a consistent and original voice in photography. Aside from my closest circles, I haven’t sold any pieces or seriously marketed my work.

I know setting up my own exhibition is a great start, but let’s get more precise:

What steps have you taken to put your art out there? What do you wish you’d done earlier, or what mistakes would you avoid if you could go back?

And regarding art galleries: do you typically reach out to them, or should they be the ones to contact you? How do you make that happen?

Not sure if this is the right place but I'm tired of only getting single digit likes on my art, so far the most traffic is on DA and that sites no longer tops.

So I'm wondering what else I can do?

I'm not so good at socializing and I'm not sure how to combine that with my art.

I thought about drawing fanart but doing that for self promotion causes me conflict. Any adive.

Want to eventually create a Kofi page for tips and stuff when I do art streams, but I'm wondering how to do that without risking my real name being exposed and my employer becoming aware of my art.

I don't really do really extreme stuff, but some may take issue and so I want to be safe.

Any advice.

I'm totally put off by how a lot of these galleries treat artists and just not going to do art anymore. A local gallery accepted my work for a group show. I cleared the size dimensions and everything with the staff in writing before I printed the work and put together the frames. Then just a couple hours before the opening I was sent an email saying my shit was too big and they just didn't have room for the pieces and I could come pick them up and to have a nice day. They took zero responsibility for having told me previously that the sizing was fine and didn't offer an apology. We are becoming a nation of people who don't take accountability for anything.

I told them I took that to mean that my work wasn't viewed as on par with the other artists and I said it was unprofessional that they waited 'till the f*cking last minute to tell me so I wouldn't even have time to change out everything. I said I wanted my entry fees refunded and I would not be showing here again if this is how they treat people. But it's their space, I guess. If I wanna be shitty to people who enter my home, I guess I have the right to do that.

I have read about galleries breaking pieces, writing vague contracts to screw artists out of money, and poor communication like this. I would like to think that established artists who show in big time galleries don't have to deal with this, but I suppose I will never know.

Every Saturday let's share the things that are going well in our art businesses.

It might be some positive interactions with customers or social media, it might be your first or your hundredth sale, or it might just be that you're proud of how much you got done that week. Let's spread some positivity and excitement about our amazing art businesses!

(Originally posted to r/artistlounge but here is a better fit)

If this isn’t allowed feel free to remove. I only recently started being a client for digital artists and I am now thinking “where has this been all my life?”

I have always been curious about buying digital art but was never allowed to buy any (unfortunately family members who did not believe in paying for digital art and would say “why pay for something that doesn’t do anything? It’s a picture. It doesn’t move,” I used to do art trades as a teen but I felt a bit like a fish out of water doing them.

I decided to support an artist who is really awesome and I’m so glad I did. Being a client and supporting artists has really helped my mental health and maladaptive daydreaming. Having a beautiful piece of art of what you’re picturing in your head is just, wow. I just hope the artists enjoy drawing them as much as I love to receive them!

Sorry if this was slightly cheesy. I just want to thank everyone for the awesome work they do!

Hi, I do some fantasy oil paintings in my free time. I never really thought of selling my paintings ad such but always wanted to do something either with the book world or the fantasy game world. I dont know where to start and if it is even possible. I do mainly fantasy/surreal oil paintings as that is the medium i enjoy the most. Maybe im not even good enough. If anyone did any of this please any pointers will be helpful

Hi all, I am an amateur artist that wants to get into selling art but am baffled by the logistics. I have been making hand-carved stamps and showed a new friend, who proposed something on behalf of her organization. They are throwing an event to try and sell native plants and want several activity booths to encourage attendance. She proposed that I set up a booth at the event and stamp different textiles for people - whether they're merch for her org or items people bring themselves. I still need to figure out the pricing and material costs - they're a nonprofit so I want to keep them low. I have a general idea of how to run the event: I'll make additional stamp designs in advance, bring them all, have samples hung as examples, and use a glass panel for the paint/ink which I'll scrape clean between stamps... but there are other logistics I'm certain I'm forgetting or just don't know how to handle. I'll need a cleaning station for the stamps themselves, for example, and I'm presuming the event will take place outdoors. Any advice/input at all would be amazing.

This post is for newbies or early artists who have a hard time "justifying" the price of their original artwork. Particularly artists who want to see themselves as professionals and not just hobby artists. Also, this post is mostly irrelevant for digital artists because there is no "original" piece like the way a painting or drawing might have an original physical piece.

I go to craft fairs and group art shows for emerging artists and quite often I see artists selling original work for less than $30-$50. Given, some of the artwork looks pretty bad but quite often there is a talented artist who just doesn't recognize their own value.

It hurts to see talented early artists devaluing not just their own artwork but also the artwork of all the other similar artists who might be around them.

And here's the TLDR to all of this. There are no professional artists who would sell their ORIGINAL work for less than the price of a print or canvas print.

If you are one of those artists who is still unsure and struggling to figure out how or why anyone should pay more than $30-$50+ for your work, all you need to do to "justify" (a mental hack) a price increase on your original pieces is to start offering your paintings as a print. If you sell prints for $20-$50 which is barely breaking even with todays material costs, your original works should obviously be priced higher.

High end professionals use this strategy in a variety of ways such as limited prints, original signed copies (digital artists might use this), or offering super expensive materials for tiered pricing of prints. Plus their brand helps.

I do not know if this is a good place to post this so I apologize if it is not. But as stated above, I have an investor I meant through my day job as a painting instructor and have befriended. A couple weeks ago I shared with him my plans on starting an art business and he offered to invest, met with him to discuss business plans and it was all professional. I asked him if he’d like a return on the investment or anything of that nature and he simply told me that he doesn’t that this will be seed money for me to use. He told me that he just wants to put good energy out in the world because someone helped him in the past in a similar way. He has also helped other people with their businesses. He’s sending me a check for $1000 in the next couple of days, and I’m not sure if I should get in writing that he will not ask for a return in investment?

Hi everyone, I’m currently applying to residencies and most ask for a link to your portfolio. I don’t currently have a website but I’m interested in having one for these purposes. I’ve read mixed reviews about wix/squarespace and would honestly like some advice on which site would be best for something like this. Not limited to wix/squarespace, those are just the common ones i found online.

This post will be made in the first week of every month. Share what you are currently working on, or what your goals for the week, month or year are at the moment. This is here as your place to focus your ideas and hone your future visions.

If you posted in a previous thread like this, feel free to write about your progress or any goals you have already hit!

I look forward to seeing what you have all been up to!

I'm a new artist meaning my content won't be good so it would just me trying to showcase my art journey, and I'm not popular in other sites either. So I think the most ideal place for me is the kind of community where even the less popular artist could get noticed easily and does not mind when I advertise myself to other site I use.

What would be a best art community in Reddit for that?

Edit: I do digital art using Clip Studio Paint in Windows 11, but as a new artist I mostly do sketches for now and is working myself up to full illustration, so it's more closer to me showing my art journey if that make sense. I use brushes that looks like a pencil for my sketches, but as time goes on I would like to eventually do color and shading and better lineart of full drawing. I'm also into anime and furries, so I may do some anime and furry art too if I feel I learned enough, but for now I'm just learning about shapes and body parts, learning about how human body works is pretty important in art afterall. I'm not all that into horror so don't think I'll do that, but as someone who watch anime I don't mind mild amount of blood, though I think "most" of my art won't have blood in them even in the future, if anything I would like to make comedy style art in the future but currently I'm not at the skill-level required to start making comedy. Hope this is enough information, let me know if you need more.

I've had a good following and good clients in the past, but it completely came crashing down cause I bit off more than I could chew and became mentally paralyzed. I'm still refunding my clients to this day because I only work minimum wage and I have to save enough to refund each client.

Doing art is the best way I know how to make money so I want to try again, but I don't know how to go about it.

Artists with ADHD, how do you work? Does anyone have any tips and tricks to navigating this type of work?