I am always thinking about what I am drawing and trying to sell, be it something original or whether to make a reprint of a drawing in postcard, card or print form as well s the original piece.
This year I have focused on the Art for All and Introduction to Art range and it is interesting when trying to look at what I have sold since 2017, what has done well and what is doing well now and should get more time allocated (not that I plan my work time that efficiently or effectively).
Posts this week have emphasised how may things I have going on concurrently and I need to make sure I don’t overload myself.
The table below is that summary;
Let’s start with no. Sold – clearly the best seller in quantity has been the A6 postcard series which now represents part of the ‘Introduction to Art’ range as part of my philosophy of Art for All,
I have taken more commissions for this size where cost is a factor for clients. The 239 sales at £5 each adds up to just under £1200 of sales – a significant success then.
So let’s look at other elements of the Introduction to Art range. Printed postcards and cards are based on other sized pieces, normally A4 or A3. At least a third of those original pieces have sold too.
Bookmarks, tried before and currently proving very popular 39 sold at £3 each (£117 of sales) – at present this is a range that I keep topping up and keep the display by the shop entrance where they catch peoples eye.
Panorama pieces at £10 using paper I was gifted – of 14 drawn to date 12 have sold (£120 of sales). The latest miniatures have sold a few too.
So, is the idea of an Introduction to Art range a good idea and way to address less demand current toy for larger pieces? Yes. Cards sales continue to do well and I have now sold approx 10500 cards in total.
Clothing and hats
Always meant initially as a way to make me stand out as an artist locally. I have been drawing on various outfits since 2018. To date these have just been for my personal use. I have drawn 2 commissioned woodworker aprons quite early on. I still hold the idea of drawing on smaller items of clothing as a possibility and now having shown with the New Zealand trouser pairs that we have worked out the colour fixing and washing care of items that is now a possibility to try and some point.
Hats – to be honest of course it was a surprise that they sold to others, let alone get commissions for hats as the pith helmet is not a commonly worn item these days and has colonial links that make some people uncomfortable. As a drawing surface they have proved successful and I thought the ones in the shop were now stuck as they meant a larger investment, then on Saturday a girl of about 8/9 bought her own from savings (fancy dress hat at £45). I will add some more hats but they may well sit around for a long while – other hat styles might be worth trying.
Wooden items
Boxes from ring box to large ones have been an on and off success. The chests sell more easily, again lower cost, although I have raised price on these as know value my time and effort and involved more. The trays idea with Martin Curtis worked, just haven’t done that for a while at present.
Wooden items will co tibie and offer a good way to show how art comes in many forms.
Paper based pieces
The traditional way to sell original art and A4 pieces in mounts / 16” x 12” frames have done very well with 57 sales. Early examples sold for £100, these days they are priced at £150 or more if very detailed. This represents then sales income of between £5700 and £8500 on this size alone.I never thought that my work would sell this well and although some pieces can take a long time to sell, I just nee to be patient.
Canvas pieces
Small easel canvases have done well at different times. The larger canvases, I have only done a few represent a much larger investment at £500 each, I have sold one at this size so far, so not a main focus.
In conclusion
In total I have now sold over £16000 in original art sales. Which is very pleasing indeed and will remain a backbone to my sales but cards and prints will always be the higher sellers.
For example 10,500 cards, even if all bought 3 for £5 represent 3500 card sets at £17,500. Print sales of just over 500 prints at mainly £25 each represents £12,500.
In total not bad for a retired geography teacher seeing if his work would sell.