Would you like to make extra income from the art you have already created and sold? In this post, I will show you some options you have to increase your income stream selling wearable art.

Increase your Income Stream Selling Wearable Art

The “starving artist” myth no longer exists.

Artists have many opportunities to generate income from their artistic skills.

You do not have to rely on a sale from your original art to generate income anymore.

This is good news for artists that take a long time to complete a project like me.

Most of my drawings take between 4-8 weeks to complete. If I only generated income from my original drawings I would not be able to have an art business as a career.

The only way I am able to be successful is by creating different income streams that relate to art.

There are many opportunities to create different income streams as an artist. I will be covering all of the options you have available in future posts, but for today I would like to focus on wearable art.

 

What is Wearable Art?

Wikipedia defines wearable art as:

Wearable art, also known as Artwear or “art to wear”, refers individually designed pieces of (usually) handmade clothing or jewelry created as fine or expressive art.

Wearable art is one way many artists generate extra income from their art.

In the past artists would have to print their own products or have them printed by a printing service.

Today, artists can sell prints of their artwork on merchandise with no upfront cost using POD services.

A POD site (Print on Demand site) is a process whereby individual copies of text or artwork are printed to order, typically using digital technology.

Companies have discovered the benefits of providing a POD service for artists.

They no longer have to hire artists to create designs for their products.

Instead the company offers a platform where anyone can upload digital images of their art and then print the image on merchandise they have available for sale. Because it is a Print on Demand service, the company will not print anything until there is a sale. There is no risk for the company.

Artists can also benefit from this evolution and generate extra income from their art with no risk.

You have the opportunity to some extra money as long as you are good at promoting your products online

If you are interested in generating extra income from your art, you might want to consider working with a POD service.

Popular POD Sites

Here are a few popular POD sites used by artists. There are many more to choose from but this list will give you a good idea of what is available.

Zazzle – has been around since 1999 and has become very popular with artists. They provide high-quality prints on a large variety of products like shirts, sweatshirts, iPhone cases, bags, mugs, water bottles, stamps and hundreds of more items.

Zazzle also allows you to set the royalty rates you will be receiving. The royalty rate you decide will affect the selling price of the product.

Society6 – is another popular POD site for the creative minds. Thousands of artists have uploaded original artwork to put on everything from fine art prints, canvas prints, metal prints, throws and tote bags.

Society6 will take the orders, print the product and ship the product to the customer.

Another positive to Society6 is that you control the rights to your work.

RedBubble – works a little different that the previous sites I have mentioned. They offer similar products but the main difference is they allow you to set the retail price. They have a set price for the manufacturing cost. You decide how much money you would like to earn from each sale. They will add your amount to the manufacturing cost to determine the retail price.

For example if the manufacture cost of a mug is $8.00 and you would like to earn $5.00 per mug the retail cost would be $13.00.

Fine Art America  – was launched in 2006 and is very popular with artists and photographers. They started by just offering Fine Art Prints,  Canvas Prints, Metal Prints and Greeting Cards but have recently started offering other merchandise like iPhone covers, pillows, mugs and more.

Fine art Marketing is similar to RedBubble in the sense that they allow the artist to determine how much money they would like to make per item.

How to Generate Extra Income Selling Wearable Art

There will be a certain amount of work involved for every income stream you create. Selling wearable art is no different. The work will start after you have uploaded your image to the POD site of your choice.

Your job will be to drive traffic to your listings. Do not be fooled by businesses telling you that you will have a ton of traffic seeing your products.

You have to put everything in perspective.

Yes, a site might generate a large amount of traffic.

But how many artists are uploading images on the site?

How many products are listed?

How is the company at marketing?

Do not make the same mistakes many artists make.

They upload their artwork and expect sales to be rolling in.

I don’t know if it is because they feel uncomfortable promoting their art, they do not know how to promote their art or if they think it is the sites job to promote their art.

Whatever the reason is, if they do not market their product, their listings will not be seen.

Schedule time to promote your art and your wearable art.

Where to Promote Wearable Art

How many times have you heard me say, “The internet has made it possible to sell art too people around the world”?

The internet has made it possible to sell art too people around the worldClick To Tweet

It is a great time to be an artist or entrepreneur.

Art Marketing Strategies:

Art Blog – If you want to build a large audience and build an online presence you will need to have an artist blog.

Why Artists Who Blog are Successful Selling Art Online

How to be a Successful Blogger  – Artist Blogging Tips

Best Content Marketing Strategy for Visual Artists

Social Media – Social media makes it possible for you to get your message across in real-time. Keep your audience up-to-date with new artwork, events and news about your art business.

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan – Sell Art Online

9 Social Media Marketing Tips for Artists Selling Art Online

How to Sell on Pinterest Tips for Artists

Make it easy for people to share your content with Social Warfare

Email Marketing – Your email list will be your most valuable asset. They will be the people who will be more willing to purchase from you. Start building your email list today.

Ultimate Email Marketing Guide for Selling Art Online

Conclusion:

It is possible for you to generate money from your artist skills.

Increase your income by thinking of different ways you can generate extra income.

Increase your income stream selling wearable art.

You might also be interested in:

How Artists Can Increase Search Engine Rankings in 10 Months

Sell Art Online Checkoff List – What You Need to Succeed

How to Promote Your Art Online with YouTube

7 Instagram Tips for Visual Artists Selling Art Online

How to Stay Creative and Productive as an Artist

 

Grow Your Online Art Business:

eBooks by Dave Nevue

Art Marketing Video Courses by Dave Nevue

Art Marketing Resource – All of the tools I use and recommend for my online art business.

Graphite Drawings by Dave Nevue

Purchase Prints and Greeting Cards