Author Topic: I want to help my Dad -- Artist POD site?  (Read 3223 times)

JRIS

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I want to help my Dad -- Artist POD site?
« on: April 10, 2019, 01:22:17 PM »
This may ramble so bear with me please and I thank you in advance for any suggestions. I will try to be brief.

My Dad is an artist. He paints in oils and draws in colored pencils. His niche is classic automobiles. He is extremely talented, formally trained, been going at it since college.

He will turn 70 this summer. He and my Mom are semi-retired, but well underfunded from a retirement income perspective. They have become accustomed to the "starving artist" existence over the course of their lives so their expenses are thankfully manageable.

We've had the same conversation about "building a website" for about 20 years now with zero progress. He sells a couple oils per year at a few thousand bucks a pop and maybe ten colored pencil prints per year for a few hundred dollars each. In his mind, it brings in a couple of bucks, in my mind, I'm frustrated that he isn't a household name (someone like Tom Fritz if you're familiar with auto artists) and is commissioned for huge bucks. He is really exceptional.

My thought was to get a POD (print on demand) site up and running on fineartamerica.com in conjunction with "promoting" his brand/name on instagram. We could go over to a vistaprint type site and bang out 500 biz cards so he could give them out as he goes to his normal auto shows during the summer and promote in person as well.

I guess my fundamental questions are: Does anyone in the MMM community have experience doing a POD type site side-hustle selling artwork? How annoying/time consuming would it be to make the high end photo images? Can I do a good enough job with my personal DSLR camera? Does my idea of promoting through instagram have legs? Does my Dad's lack of technology skills make this an ill-fated effort? How much should I involve myself?

Again, apologies for the rambling, but I've been thinking about this topic for a long time and it both frustrates and excites me. Again, any input is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

frugaldrummer

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Re: I want to help my Dad -- Artist POD site?
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2019, 12:19:47 PM »
By sheer coincidence I just happened to listen to a couple of podcasts on this very subject. The podcast is called FIRE Drill and the episodes were How I grew my Etsy shop to 39,000 sales and How to grow your etsy shop to a full time business. While I understand this is not your father's ambition, both women interviewed happened to be in graphic design and I think many of the practical discussions might be applicable to your father.

Goldielocks

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Re: I want to help my Dad -- Artist POD site?
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2019, 01:58:31 PM »
I have relatives that are making a success, slowly, as artists.  One has taken over primary income earner and the other is a SAHP... because of the artwork.

For the POD site, I would set up your own webpage, plus use one of the larger ones because you will get no traffic at first.   Rent a good camera and light box / equipment for a couple of days. 


The primary goal is to build a reputation and get commissions for oils.  You use your website for that, go to local artist shows or even car shows and promote your commissions to the public, while selling the prints, calendars and POD at a low-ish price.  According to my relatives, once people have seen you and your work a couple of years in a row at these things, the commissions come in.. it takes 3 years to get good traction, hopefully your Dad is already part way there in recognition.

I can imagine that many car afficiandos would love a custom oil of their personal "baby".  They make great anniversary, retirement and birthday gifts, too.

ministashy

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Re: I want to help my Dad -- Artist POD site?
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2019, 07:42:52 AM »
A bit of a belated reply, but I'm an artist that uses Redbubble, which is another (more merchandise-oriented) POD site.  My work is digital, so I don't have much experience taking product photos, but it is my understanding that a good camera and a homemade light box/some extra photography lights are really all you need to take good product photos.  For actual print reproductions, though, you may want to look into professional scanning and the like at a local print shop, the kind that does giclee prints and the like--it's a bit expensive, but especially for fine art prints, you want a really high DPI and the quality difference can be pretty noticeable at larger sizes (unless you're a *really* good photographer who knows what they're doing).

The other thing to consider is promoting the work once it's up--handing out business cards at car shows is a good start, but these days it's all about the social media, which may not be a time investment you or your father wants to make.  Putting up new work consistently on Facebook, Instagram, or elsewhere, letting people know which shows you're going to be at, promoting your cool new prints or products, etc ... it's definitely a hustle.  Though since it sounds like your father has an established client base, it may be easier to start a mailing list--that would get you most of the way there without having to navigate multiple social media accounts.  From there, advertising at the car shows (and offering limited commission slots versus directing them towards the POD for open edition prints) might work.

Hope this helps!

 

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