What is print on demand?
How does it work for artists?
Print on demand basically allows artists to make their art available on a wide range of products, such as posters, giclee prints, t-shirts, calendars, and much more. The artist uploads their art to the website, and they take care of the ordering, production, and customer service. The item is only printed after someone makes an order, hence the phrase print on demand.
There are millions of artists around the world making good use of online print on demand services. We are featuring some of the best ones below. There are others, but featuring art at too many print on demand websites may be counterproductive in some regards. Actually, it is recommended to choose only one for your main selling and promoting. Other accounts can simply be used to make others aware of you as an artist.
Best Websites to Sell Art Prints Online – Print on Demand 2012
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Fine Art America POD
Fine Art America is a print on demand website in that they offer framed prints of artworks. Visual artists participate by adding their profile, artist statement, and any art that they want to sell as prints. It is a very effective for artists, but please be aware that this website is absolutely huge, and the competition is fierce.
The best way to succeed here is to participate in the many art groups regularly. Submit your art to them to be featured. Participate in the art contests that these groups often have. When others vote on your art, they have a chance to visit your Fine Art America profile, where they can easily view newer photographs, drawings, paintings, etc.
Artists have the choice of selling greeting cards with artworks printed on them, which can be sold for much cheaper than regular prints. The main benefit of greeting cards is that others promote your art without any effort from you.
If you would like a tutorial on how to setup your Fine Art America profile, please visit:
Print on Demand at Fine Art America -
Imagekind Review
At Imagekind, artists can get high quality giclee prints of their artworks. They have a good reputation regards to customer service and the quality of their product.
But, if you do decide to work with them, please recognize that Imagekind does not promote your art for you. There have even been complaints at their forum about the search function not working properly. Also, artists have to earn over $50 to be paid by them… and that’s only paid after 45 days!
So, if you do decide to use Imagekind as your print on demand service, make sure you have the means of promoting your prints yourself. This can be done through friends, an art website, email list of art buyer contacts, and social networking on Facebook and Google Plus. -
Redbubble Print on Demand
Like most print on demand websites for artists, Redbubble offers framed prints of art. These are available in various sizes. Members can also choose to have their images applied to a host of other products, such as cards, stickers, t-shirts, posters, and calendars.
The setup here is very similar to Fine Art America, especially how the groups function. To be successful, it is recommended to join a few groups here as well. Promote your Redbubble profile on your own artist website, along with social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Take a look at some incredible art photography on Redbubble!
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Cafepress Products
Cafepress offers a wide range of products that artists can use to reach a wider audience with their art. Artworks can be transferred to art prints, wall decals, clothing for all ages, calendars, mugs, wallets, keychains, iPod cases, and much more! They are print on demand in that the images are only printed on items after the customer orders.
The negative of Cafepress is that free members can only include 80 individual items, and just one from each type of product. Even though this can be limiting, Cafepress can be a good way of displaying your art to that particular community.
Do you have any good print on demand websites to add to this list. If you feel we have left any out that should be included, please let us know by commenting.
We will add the best print in demand services of 2012 that you recommend to this list!
I like Spoonflower, they print on fabric.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spoonflower.com
@bhymer
ReplyDeleteThanks bhymer!
Although it's not really in the print on demand category we are discussing, it seems like a great idea for those who want to transfer their art to fabric, for a quilt, for example.
You left out Saatchi Online.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteWe are planning on a separate review of them soon...
You forgot to mention the website www.art-prints-on-demand.com, a leading European print maker in partnership with a framer in New Jersey (Rizzo Fine Arts).
ReplyDeleteYou didn't mention Zazzle.com which is a huge USA print on demand company with more favorable terms for artists than CafePress.com. The two go head to head and each offer a huge variety of products without totally overlapping each other.
ReplyDelete@Debra
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning Zazzle! We have been thinking about reviewing them for awhile now... hopefully will soon.
I noticed that with redbubble you can only ulpload a very limited resolution image for clothing, wich is important if you want to upload a fineart image in this sense, I think zazzle is better.
ReplyDeleteSaatchionline?
ReplyDeletePeecho (www.peecho.com) has great customer service and lets you print your photos/artwork as posters, canvases, postcards and other cool stuff. They're based in Amsterdam and worth a look.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget TheUntappedSource.com! Higher quality artwork, and the guys who run this place are actually artists and have been involved in printing/reproductions for years! Good site for serious/professional level artists.
ReplyDeletelet me know about satchionline
ReplyDeleteSociety6.com does not only framed and unframed art prints, but also will put your art on stretched canvases, iPhone/iPad/iPod skins and cases (also for the Samsung Galaxy and PC/Mac laptops), t-shirts, hoodies, onesies, v-neck t-shirts, tank tops, rugs, tote bags, stationery, shower curtains and coffee mugs.
ReplyDeleteThis list must contain http://www.artprintondemand.com.au/ , it also offer wide range of art poster to buy and frame online.
ReplyDeleteI have to make a comment about CafePress. For several years I was a premium member with a shop I paid for. I sold mugs of my webcomic. I left CafePress when they changed the way they paid. They said they were now converting artist earnings into "CafeCash" automatically. This could be used to shop on CafePress. So, they weren't going to pay me the earnings now!?! Robbery! As if that weren't enough they took $25 of the earnings because I hadn't met some payment threshhold (that wasn't a part of the service when I opened the store and I received no notification of). I can't give a negative enough review of CafePress. This isn't the way to treat the POD community. Sharks.
ReplyDeleteBy contrast, I've been very happy with RedBubble despite their higher prices. Their customer service is stellar, their payment system feels very transparent, the way they treat the buying customers is great. Their interface is uncomplicated. I've even enjoyed the community aspect of their site. And I've sold far more on RedBubble than I have the other sites I use: TeePublic, Society6, DesignByHumans.
www.DeadPocket.com