Archive for March, 2011

Buyers Test-Drive Artwork in Virtual Rooms

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

As much as artists would like to think that buyers chose their work based on the art alone, in most cases the buyer is also influenced by the setting in which the art will be hung.   I have heard stories of buyers using colour swatches from their living room couch and paint chips of their wall colour to help them decide what piece of art would be suitable for their room.  Buyers also want to know if the size of the artwork will “fit” properly in the space they have available.  Context matters.

Often artists will let a buyer test drive a painting by letting them hang it in their home for a period of time before making a buying decision.  However when you are selling online, this option is less practical.   Another option that is being used on art websites is to show the prospective buyer on their computer screen what the art would look like hanging in a variety of settings, be it a living room, bedroom or office.  The buyer would chose the artwork they are interested in and a sample room to “hang” it in.  The user is then able to drag the artwork to the desired position on the wall.  It’s probably better if you see for yourself.   Click  here to hang this Klimt print (above) in one of the rooms available at OverstockArt.com.

Generally the rooms you can chose from are not exactly what you have in your own home.  The furniture is different.  The wall colour is different, the lighting is different.  So to overcome this, some sites like OverstockArt.com allow a visitor to upload a picture of their own room!  Then the buyer has a much better appreciation for how the artwork would look in its desired location.  This is an impressive application.   It gives the purchaser more confidence that they are making the right decision to purchase the piece.

You will find this technique of allowing buyers to see the art in a virtual setting used on E-bay,  reproduction houses, and individual artist sites.  This is one way artists can distinguish themselves online and engage the customer in a different way.  Just imagine having your art in these pictures.

Left:  A Claude Monet hung virtually in my office.

Posted in Artist Websites, Marketing Communications, Your Art Offerings | 4 Comments »

Extend the Revenue Flow From Your Paintings

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Most artists consider the revenue from the sale of an original work ends there.  In other words, once the product is sold you have received as much revenue as you will ever get for it.  Illustrator Lisa Rotenberg takes a very difference view.  She continues to derive royalty income from works that are sold and long gone. She considers a painting  just raw material that can yield a source of income indefinitely.  

 
Her approach to generating on-going royalties is to register her work with online firms that sell stock illustrations.  These online firms generally sell images to organizations, vs individuals, who want to include them in print advertising, displays, websites, brochures, greeting cards and so on.  Charges for the use of these images vary, depending on the application, the number of countries where the image will be used, the duration of use, and the industry. For example a painting of an orchid, for use in a movie circulated on 1 continent cost $849 on one site. A painting of a bird’s nest, used for product packaging for 5 years in 1 country would cost $1,213.   Sales revenue is often shared equally between the artist and the marketing company.  Examples of these companies are Stock Illustrations,  Illustration Works, and Illustration Source.  Lisa has been selling her illustrations this way since 2002.

Because customers of these services are often looking for something specific, Lisa will add many relevant tags to the illustrations so that her work will be found in the search facility of the sites.  If fact, she will often create art for a particularly popular keyword, such as “Christmas” or ”twitter” (see illustration on right), and sets of illustrations for keywords groups such as the “alphabet” or “zodiac signs”.  

In addition Lisa gets commissons when people use her images in greeting cards (see Greeting Card Universe) and in gift-ware (see Cafe Press).

According to Lisa, you continue to have rights to sell the image after the painting is sold.  One customer said he did not want to see an image of his work showing up anywhere else.  Lisa accepted the request provided that he pay double for the original painting.  He agreed.  In this case Lisa acknowledged this limitation on the back of the original work.

Fine art painters can use a similar approach and generate a revenue stream by offering their works on sites that print giclees from a digital image.

P.S.  Lisa also sells coffee and uses her art on the packaging.  See www.rocketfuelcoffee.com.

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Posted in Marketing Venues, Your Art Offerings | 3 Comments »