In at the moment’s tech-centered age, there’s a thriving marketplace for digital artwork. Not like conventional artwork types, digital paintings will be simply reproduced and offered on-line, permitting artists to succeed in a world viewers and monetize their artistic abilities.
With the suitable technique, advertising, and platforms, artists can generate a gentle earnings stream by promoting digital artwork. Plus, the low overhead prices make it a pretty choice for these simply beginning to discover how to sell art online and make money.
On this weblog publish, we’ll look into methods on promote digital artwork, bodily and digital product choices, and one of the best on-line platforms for promoting artwork on-line. Let’s dive in!
Is promoting digital artwork worthwhile?
When you’re an artist obsessed with your craft, there’s no higher time to start out promoting digital artwork.
The rise of ecommerce has considerably expanded the marketplace for digital artworks, attracting a variety of collectors, buyers, and artwork fans. In 2022, digital artwork gross sales reached nearly $10.8 billion, a big rise in comparison with pre-pandemic gross sales figures.
Ecommerce has made it a lot simpler for artists to showcase and promote digital artwork. On-line marketplaces and platforms permit artists to faucet into a world viewers, breaking down geographical boundaries and enabling them to attach with potential consumers worldwide.
The rise of on-line platforms has additionally helped enhance demand for numerous codecs, from promoting digital downloads to bodily prints and even NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
Many artists promote artwork on-line by providing bodily merchandise or promoting digital recordsdata. Digital merchandise embrace graphics, fonts, images, fan artwork, and different digital property out there as digital downloads. You might additionally promote bodily merchandise like posters, stickers, or t-shirts, and have your paintings printed.
As well as, some artists revenue by licensing their digital artwork for numerous functions like ebook covers, album artwork, or promoting. Commissions from purchasers who need {custom} digital artwork is usually a good supply of earnings in your on-line enterprise.
Relating to gross sales, well-known artists with a longtime viewers command increased costs for his or her work. Constructing a fame and honing your creative expertise can take time, however it has a big effect in your gross sales quantity and the way a lot you may cost in your merchandise.
Digital artwork as bodily merchandise
As a digital artist, you would possibly already know that digital objects have a lower perceived value than bodily items. If you wish to set increased costs, it’s a good suggestion to promote your digital paintings as a bodily product.
When partnering with a print-on-demand (POD) supplier like Printful, you may supply house & dwelling objects, equipment, and even attire along with your artwork. As soon as your digital recordsdata are ready and uploaded, you may promote a number of copies with out the necessity for time-consuming manufacturing or adjustments to the unique paintings.
The way it works
Promoting digital artwork printed on bodily objects is a straightforward, simple course of.
First, create an account along with your chosen POD supplier. Then, decide the varieties of merchandise you need to promote (extra on that later!). Customise every product by choosing its dimension, materials, and shade. Printful additionally lets you add branding and labels to the merchandise.
Subsequent, put together and add your paintings. Examine the rules for file codecs, dimensions, and resolutions. Your digital recordsdata have to be in excessive decision to be appropriate for printing.
Guarantee that the standard of your paintings and the printed merchandise meets your requirements. Order pattern merchandise to check the colour accuracy and get an total really feel for the supplies.
When you’re completely satisfied along with your product, decide an internet market (for instance, an Etsy store) or open your individual on-line retailer. Both approach, you’ll must create product listings for every merchandise. Write compelling product descriptions and use high-quality pictures to indicate off your work.
Resolve in your pricing technique. Contemplate elements like your manufacturing prices, desired revenue margin, and what prospects are prepared to pay. Monitor your costs commonly and alter them because the demand in your artwork will increase.
To get your merchandise in entrance of consumers, you’ll must market your digital artwork on-line. There are a lot of advertising instruments on the market, however the secret is to advertise your artwork on platforms the place your viewers spends quite a lot of time. Whether or not you determine to publish on social media platforms or increase your product listings, be constant in your efforts to succeed in potential prospects.
So, what occurs when a buyer makes a purchase order? You’ll obtain notifications when an order is positioned, and you’ll observe the order’s progress. When you select Printful as your print-on-demand associate, you may have peace of thoughts realizing that manufacturing, packaging, and transport are all dealt with for you robotically.

@media (max-width:768px) {
.pf-btn-lg { top: 40px; line-height: 38px; min-width: 88px; font-size: 16px; }
}
Bodily product concepts
By this level, you’re well-equipped to start out promoting artwork on-line. However what merchandise do you have to promote? Is it higher to give attention to house decor objects, or do you have to design attire?
Learn on for our decide of bodily product concepts that attraction to artsy customers.
Posters and canvas
Posters and canvas prints are among the many hottest bodily product concepts for artists. They’re traditional wall artwork choices for digital work, illustrations, or images. Many individuals look to brighten their interiors with visually interesting, customized paintings, making these merchandise in excessive demand.
Posters are typically extra reasonably priced in comparison with unique artwork items or limited-edition prints. Plus, posters are light-weight and simple to ship, leading to decrease transport prices for purchasers. Canvas prints are additionally much less susceptible to wreck throughout transit, making them a handy selection for each sellers and consumers.
When utilizing a print-on-demand service, you don’t must put money into stock or fear about space for storing. Merchandise are produced solely after they’re ordered, decreasing overhead prices. Whereas particular person revenue margins fluctuate, posters and canvas prints supply good revenue margins for artists.
Most significantly, there’s no must sacrifice high quality over comfort. Printful provides high-quality prints good for reproducing an paintings or {photograph}.
Stickers
Stickers are very reasonably priced, making them a pretty impulse purchase for purchasers. The cheaper price level can encourage extra folks to purchase your digital artwork, even when they aren’t on the lookout for bigger, dearer objects like canvas prints.
Plus, stickers are small, light-weight, and simple to hold. They can be utilized to brighten laptops, water bottles, telephone instances, notebooks, automobile bumpers, and way more, showcasing your paintings on the go.
Stickers are a enjoyable, fashionable approach for people to specific themselves, so be sure you have one thing for everybody. Be happy to experiment along with your designs, from illustrations to small graphics and quotes.
Providing quite a lot of sticker designs can encourage folks to return to your on-line retailer. Some prospects get pleasure from gathering stickers and could also be extra inclined to make repeat purchases.
Lastly, stickers is usually a nice advertising device. By together with your branding or web site on the stickers, you may construct model recognition.
Playing cards
Totally different playing cards, together with greeting playing cards and postcards, add a private contact that different merchandise could not supply.
Playing cards are significantly in style throughout seasonal occasions and holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mom’s Day. Attempt to supply a spread of designs for numerous events, from birthdays to holiday-themed illustrations.
Greeting playing cards and postcards can even complement different stationary or wall artwork merchandise you promote. For instance, a buyer who purchases a poster of your paintings may be taken with shopping for an identical postcard to ship to a pal or a member of the family.
It’s additionally a good suggestion to supply customization choices like including a reputation or a private message on the cardboard.
Supply: Etsy
Customized t-shirts and hoodies
Custom t-shirts and custom hoodies are wonderful for artists to promote as bodily merchandise on-line. As on a regular basis clothes objects, prospects can simply combine t-shirts and hoodies into their day by day wardrobe. In flip, your artwork will get quite a lot of publicity and turns into a part of the wearer’s distinctive fashion.
What’s extra, clothes provides a big print space, and your paintings can be entrance and heart. It is a nice alternative to go all-in on totally different creative types and colours to create eye-catching designs.
When creating {custom} hoodies and t-shirts, remember that people need to categorical their persona, pursuits, and values by their outfits. As a digital artist, that is your likelihood to create designs that resonate with prospects, permitting them to put on paintings that displays their identification.
Personalization is a function that many consumers search for when purchasing on-line, so take into account providing customized attire objects, totally different shade selections, and a large dimension vary.
Supply: Etsy
Socks
Searching for a enjoyable product thought? Why not begin promoting socks along with your distinctive paintings?
Socks are sensible, on a regular basis objects, making it simple for purchasers to include your artwork into their day by day lives. They attraction to each fashion-forward people on the lookout for assertion items to these merely searching for snug, high quality socks with a novel twist.
Plus, they’re nice reward objects. Artist-designed socks is usually a enjoyable and memorable current for birthdays, holidays, or particular events.
Supply: Etsy
Telephone instances
Prospects respect the chance to personalize their on a regular basis objects with paintings that resonates with their fashion, pursuits, or moods. A personalized telephone case can flip a standard accent into a private and creative assertion.
Over time, telephone instances have advanced into vogue equipment, and lots of change their instances regularly to match their outfits, moods, or seasons. As extremely seen objects, {custom} telephone instances typically spark conversations and may draw consideration to your artwork.
Supply: Etsy

@media (max-width:768px) {
.pf-btn-lg { top: 40px; line-height: 38px; min-width: 88px; font-size: 16px; }
}
Digital artwork as digital merchandise
Whether or not you create beautiful illustrations, vector graphics, or digital images, promoting your creations as digital merchandise is a good way to earn money on-line. Digital downloads are accessible to prospects worldwide, rising your potential buyer base and gross sales alternatives.
The way it works
Earlier than promoting your artwork, make it possible for your recordsdata are in the suitable format and backbone for digital distribution. Excessive-quality, high-resolution digital downloads are non-negotiables to offer one of the best expertise in your prospects.
There are a lot of on-line platforms to promote digital artwork. For starters, try some in style marketplaces like Artistic Market, Envato Components, and Freepik. If you have already got an Etsy store, you may as well promote digital recordsdata for artwork prints, design templates, or fonts.
Unsure which platform to go for? Right here’s a abstract of the preferred platforms that will help you decide essentially the most appropriate one in your on-line enterprise.
Creative Market is an internet market for a variety of digital merchandise, together with fonts, graphics, and illustrations. Envato Elements, alternatively, offers a subscription-based mannequin, granting prospects entry to an unlimited library of digital property, making it an excellent choice for artists searching for recurring earnings.
In case your specialty is creating high-quality vector graphics, you may change into a paid contributor on Freepik. The platform is a well-liked supply for digital downloads like graphics, vectors, and fonts.
Lastly, by no means underestimate the facility of your individual web site. If you have already got a devoted following, it’s a good suggestion to promote digital merchandise on to your viewers.
Digital product concepts:
Now that you realize the various alternatives for promoting digital artwork, let’s have a look at a number of the hottest digital merchandise to encourage you. From digital prints to fonts and {custom} icons, right here’s our decide of thrilling digital product concepts.
Downloadable artwork prints
Digital downloads typically come at a cheaper price level in comparison with bodily artwork prints, which makes them extra accessible to a broader, world viewers. Patrons can skip the transport and have on the spot entry to your digital artwork print instantly after buy. This manner, it’s simple to print the paintings at house or an area print store.
As a vendor, don’t overlook about copyright and mental property safety in your artwork. Clearly state your phrases of use and copyright info in your product itemizing.
Supply: Etsy
Coloring pages
When you suppose that coloring books are only for children, suppose once more! Coloring sheets for adults are nonetheless in excessive demand and luxuriate in sturdy gross sales on platforms like Etsy.
To assist your merchandise take off in a saturated market, search for a particular area of interest or a subject. For instance, you would supply holiday-themed coloring sheets in time for Halloween or Christmas.
Graphic design brushes, textures, and backgrounds
Procreate is a well-liked graphics editor app on the iPad. Whereas it provides some default options, many graphic designers are on the lookout for additional brushes and textures. In consequence, {custom} Procreate bundles are extremely sought-after within the artistic neighborhood.
Take a look at My Prints Collection—an Etsy vendor who made 1000’s of gross sales by providing bundles of textures, brushes, and stamps. Bundles are nice for consumers who respect the comfort of getting a various choice of instruments in a single buy.
For sellers, it’s additionally an opportunity to cross-promote totally different brush units and earn more money per order.
Supply: Etsy
Fonts and typefaces
Fonts are a vital device for graphic designers, internet designers, and creatives throughout numerous industries. There’s a relentless demand for recent, distinctive typefaces to boost design tasks. You may promote all varieties of fonts like script, serif, sans-serif, ornamental, and even experimental fonts as digital downloads.
For instance, Headfonts sells custom-made typefaces of their on-line retailer. Most premium fonts are priced at round $20, which is the usual worth for distinctive, high-quality typefaces.
Icons and vector graphics
Vector graphics and {custom} icons are in excessive demand throughout numerous industries, from internet design and app improvement to advertising.
Along with general-purpose icons, there are extra specialised markets that artists can faucet into. For instance, the healthcare, finance, and training sectors typically want inclusive, custom-made graphics.
The current improvement of augmented actuality (AR) and prolonged actuality (XR) apps additionally presents a necessity for brand spanking new sorts of vector graphics. As a digital artist, you’ll must carefully observe trade developments and the newest tech developments to achieve this area of interest.
Digital artwork as NFTs
Due to the rise of crypto, we’re at present experiencing an NFT (non-fungible token) increase. Many rising artists discover themselves asking if they need to promote digital artwork within the type of NFTs.
Beneath, we’ll information you thru the professionals and cons of promoting digital artwork as NFTs. However first, how are you going to begin promoting NFTs on-line?
Memo Akten, “Distributed Consciousness,” a set of 256 NFTs. Photograph: Juris Rozenbergs. Supply: RIXC
The way it works
NFTs are constructed on blockchain expertise, which offers a safe and clear solution to set up possession of digital artwork. This helps artists defend their mental property rights, and collectors can simply confirm the paintings’s authenticity.
In brief, NFTs permit artists to obtain direct compensation for his or her work. When NFT is offered or resold, the artist can obtain a portion of the proceeds by smart contracts, making certain ongoing royalties and truthful compensation.
NFTs will be designed to be scarce, with a restricted variety of editions or perhaps a single distinctive version. This creates a way of exclusivity, which might drive up the worth of an paintings.
For artists trying to promote NFTs, the OpenSea platform boasts one of many largest, most various person bases within the NFT house. On this platform, your paintings will be seen by an unlimited and world neighborhood of collectors, buyers, and artwork fans.
OpenSea permits creators to customise their listings with wealthy media, descriptions, and attributes. Moreover, it provides options comparable to auction-style listings and reserve costs, giving artists higher management over their gross sales.
Supply: OpenSea
Execs
For digital artists trying to defend their work from plagiarism, NFTs supply an excellent answer. Blockchain expertise offers a novel, verifiable proof of possession and authenticity. Artists can set phrases and situations, royalties, and restrictions for the way the NFT is used and resold.
Much like different types of digital artwork, NFTs allow artists to promote their work on to collectors with out the necessity for intermediaries like galleries or public sale homes. As well as, NFTs typically signify restricted version or one-of-a-kind paintings, doubtlessly resulting in increased earnings.
Artists can even earn royalties on the secondary market when their NFTs are resold. This offers a possible supply of ongoing earnings as the worth of the paintings goes up over time.
Lastly, the NFT house is understood for innovation in digital artwork types like generative artwork, digital actuality artwork, and interactive experiences. In case your artwork apply is in tune with the newest expertise, this can be a superb match for you.
Cons
Maybe the largest concern for a lot of artists is the extremely speculative, risky nature of the NFT market. As well as, the charges related to minting NFTs and conducting transactions can eat into your earnings, significantly when promoting lower-priced artworks.
When you’re unfamiliar with blockchain expertise and crypto, coping with NFTs will contain a big studying curve. Navigating the assorted platforms and processes will be advanced and can take a while to grasp.
On high of that, the authorized and copyright implications of NFTs are nonetheless evolving. Some digital artists face challenges in understanding and asserting their rights on this new digital panorama.
Lastly, the speedy rise of crypto expertise has created strain for some artists to create NFTs purely for monetary acquire. This has led to an elevated give attention to market developments. In flip, NFTs alienate a extra conventional viewers who place a premium on private, creative expression.

@media (max-width:768px) {
.pf-btn-lg { top: 40px; line-height: 38px; min-width: 88px; font-size: 16px; }
}
Prepared to start out promoting your digital artwork?
Whether or not you’re trying to create posters, promote digital downloads, or delve into the thrilling world of NFTs, we hope this information has geared up you with information on promote digital artwork on-line.
Printful’s integration with ecommerce platforms simplifies the method, letting you give attention to what you do greatest: creating digital artwork.
To get began, discover totally different product choices, decide an appropriate on-line platform, and adapt to the evolving artwork market. Most significantly, hold your ardour in your craft burning brilliant.
So, are you able to embark on this journey and promote artwork on-line? Better of luck and completely satisfied promoting!