Daily Paintworks Review and Features - Sell Original Art

One of the things I like doing here is posting about free portfolio sites and online artist communities where artists can sell original art. I know some of these aren’t that great. Personally, I often post a few of my artworks, my website link, and never visit again. I just don’t have the time to continually visit every website.

 

 

I generally stick with 2-5 sites for promoting art. At the moment, these are Artstack, Pinterest, Fine Art America, Facebook and my own blog.

But, I am always on the lookout for helpful sites and opportunities for artists. I have been hearing great things about Daily Paintworks – hence I decided to post about them. Some of you probably have already heard of this website for selling 2-D art, and some may be members. But, for those who have not heard of Daily Paintworks – here is what this site is all about.

First off, the Daily Paint works membership does cost $12.95 monthly, so you will have to decide if this is a worthy investment for you. The way I think about it is this – if you can sell even one painting a month, then that fee will be paid for. On the other hand, if you do not have the time to continually upload artwork and interact with the community, then it may be best not joining.

The monthly fee actually keeps the art on the site at a high quality. I’ve browsed through the site myself, and can vouch that they are. Free sites are often filled with sub-par art, and may not be so popular among buyers.

With that out of the way, lets talk about some of the site features.

 

Is the DailyPaintworks easy to navigate for art buyers?

One of the first things I look for when reviewing a portfolio site is whether its easy to navigate, especially for buyers. The design here is clean.The navigation on the left has artworks categorized to match the searching habits of different buyers. Art buyers can search by:

1. Genre - still life, landscape, floral, abstract, nature, seascape, etc.
2. Media – oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel, gouache, charcoal, etc.
3. Size – Small, medium or large
4. Color – 7 colors - Sometimes buyers search for something to match their decor

I particularly like the new “Show Priced Art Only” button at the top. This makes it easy for buyers to see all recent paintings marked as for sale. Buyers can also search all artworks, or only by their favorite artists.

Daily Paintworks features new original artworks every day on its main page.

Only natural 2-D media is accepted from members – acrylic, oils, watercolor, charcoal, pen & ink, colored pencil, mixed media, graphite and more.

Hovering over a thumbnail image displays the title, date published, media and size. A tiny heart icon sits at the bottom left corner, so viewers can add the painting to their favorites.

Visit Mary Schiros Daily Paintworks portfolio here.

Notice that out of 98 paintings she has displayed at Daily Paint works, 25 have been sold! Here is what Mary has to say about her experience with Daily Paintworks:

I found Dailypaint Works in 2012 while surfing the web and signed up at first just to get the daily email of new art.  I paint almost daily and was curious to see what others were doing daily.  It did not take long for me to decide to join and the inspiration and feed back from both artists and buyers has been wonderful.  The site is more than just a web site to list your work, it offers information, learning, and there is an open communication between members I haven't found else where.  I also think the auctions are a great place to start because it builds a client base and you can see from bidding what buyers are interested in.  You do not have to list daily, but it helps, and gives me at least that much more incentive to keep painting.

 

Clicking on a thumbnail will reveal a popup with an enlarged view (as displayed above), along with additional details about the piece. One can mouse-over the image to reveal even finer details of the painting. This view also lists the artist name, title of the artwork, price, media and size. An optional buy button is included next. Below this are social sharing icons for Facebook and Pinterest, and even an Email this to a Friend icon. Buyers may leave a comment or contact the artist directly from this view!

The front page automatically displays new artworks. Your art will be displayed there immediately after posting.

There, you can also check what has already been sold.

I just checked this page, and noticed that 2 paintings near the top were sold to buyers (signified by the red dot).

They were only posted today!

 

 

 

Daily Paintwork Galleries

The personal galleries of Daily Paintworks members are also well structured and organized. The artist’s name appears at the top, along with links to their website, blog, and an Email Me icon. Space below this is for including profile image and artist bio. Below the bio is the main gallery, a view of 100 thumbnail images. Incidentally, there is no limit on image uploads for Daily Paintworks members. All images can easily be arranged, and the search functions allow buyers to easily find what they are looking for.

Artworks can be searched by genre, media, size, color and via a search box.

 

Integration with Blogs for Posting Artworks

This is a feature I find really interesting, and can be a real time saver for some people. Artists can connect their blog RSS feed to Daily Paintworks to pull in images from posts, along with descriptions, titles, size, media, keywords and buy links (from Etsy, Ebay or Paypal).

 

Daily Paintworks Auction

Artists can auction art directly on Daily Paintworks. There is no cost to list artworks via Daily Paintworks auctions, and the first three re-listings are free, with 50 cents for each additional re-listing. Artists are only charged a 3% commission on the winning bid from a DPW auction. Incidentally, this is the only commission charge throughout the DailyPaintworks website.

 

Daily Paintworks Challenge

The DPW Challenge involves a regular painting challenge for Daily Paint Works members and others.

There are no deadlines, and artists can even submit more than once to a particular challenge.

 

Art Tracking

Daily Paintworks has a very useful art tracking system. These are some of the things artists may track:

1. When images were uploaded
2. Buy type
3. Buy URL
4. Sold or Unsold?
5. Prices
6. Keywords
7. Description
8. Media
9. Traffic – tracks views, buy button clicks, etc.

 

The red dots are proof that some art buyers do frequent Daily Paintworks, in search of original art. If you are thinking about joining, my advice would be to browse through some of the art and artists who are selling to see the genres of art that typically sell at Daily Paintworks. Also pay attention to price range of sold pieces. Depending on the art you create, this site may be a worthy addition to your art marketing regimen.

Here is the link to the Daily Paintworks main page: DailyPaintworks.com

If you are a Daily Paintworks member, you are welcome to comment about your experience with this site. Also, please include your portfolio link so we can visit. :)