Selling Prints.
How do some of you guys feel about attempting to sell prints of some of the posts (original illustrations, drawings, photos) on the blog? Not that anyone will buy anything, but would be rather nice to have the potential as such. Paul and I have capable printers. And we may have a connection for larger stuff with someone who may or may not exist... Lets have a vote.
I vote Yes.
5 comments:
If we were to start selling prints, I think it would be much more realistic to use a service such as deviantART Prints. Obviously we're not going to be looking at a huge demand, so it wouldn't be crazy to do it ourselves- but just in terms of logistics, an external service would be forty times easier. Also, services offer products we can't (large prints, multiple small prints, canvas, glossy, matte, calendars, etc)
DeviantART is particularly easy to manage- you submit your work like normal, and simply click 'yes' when it asks you if you'd like to sell it. You then set how much profit you'd like to make and bam, it's on the marketplace.
I think the bigger question that comes out of this is marketing- I know it doesn't hurt to simply start selling prints, and I think it's a cool idea. But with the book coming up maybe we should think about trying to get people to read the blog. Start spreading the word a bit more, start tracking statistics, maybe add some google ads somewhere- maybe even get a domain name. I think we're pretty close to having a 'product' that people would want to read...if we just polish things up a bit more, we may have something on our hands.
I agree with Paul, but I'm afraid once you start having a 'product' for others, PID becomes something it isn't. Right now it seems like an open forum, where as if it becomes about polished products for sale...I'm all for evolving. (But what does it take to be a partner and not just a "contributer.")
Remember the first post?
"This is basically a blog, so we can post when we are bored as shit in the summer on the sidewalk. Lets use it to post Art and Design related BS. Work we like, dont like, our own work, etc. Even though we talk to each other every day, we still need another distraction. Maybe we can create a following of distracted people, and lead them through the dessert of design freedom."
I don't know if there was an addendum to this concept, hence my "contributer" status. I was also MIA for a year.
I see your point Ernie. I do not want to transform the blog into a product so much. Its more like I want to extend its reach for eventual exposure for each of the artists involved with us. You hear success stories everyday about blogs and their readership.
I think this blog has the muscle to be one of those. The idea for selling prints comes from looking at some of these works, some of Laz's recent poster like pieces of art- I can see some people wanting to own a print out of these. And I also feel like it would encourage us to post more refined work alongside our WIPs, doodles, rough sketches and opinions.
Without the motivation of school or with the confines of work some of us are not motivated or free to create great work or work that pleases us, which is what the blog is for. And I believe that if we begin to expand our reach and create an outlet to sell our work, something most of us have never had it will motivate more work, and since there are no pressures or deadlines, the work will come from a better place. Now we are not the first to do something like this, and I am not looking to become a full on business powerhouse- But I do want to expand the blog, and give this tool more uses. It will still be an open forum, and the decision to sell their work as a print is solely up to the artist.
Another thing I just realized is that most of us are in the business of selling our services if not as graphic designers (like more than half the members) than as an animator or cartoonist/illustrator.
Selling our work or being "published" can be a nice boost for our careers.
But again, though I do want to promote the blog, I am not ready to productize it, not yet anyway. Its too important to me for it to lose its original spirit.
:-)
I agree with Ernie on this one, and just about everyone who's given an opinion on this topic. I think that the wonderful thing about this blog is it's sense of freedom. It lacks constraints or commercial sensibilities, which gives it a very different energy, and keeps it kinetic to a point. This is not to say that (As Shal stated) we should not try and widen our scope or visibility. I think that everyone involved on this blog has a lot to offer and a lot to say, and this should be seen by more than just the posters.
Right now, we're picking up a pretty interesting momentum, and each one of us is becoming progressively involved. If this continues, our work is bound to polish on it's own. I look back at some of our work from last year and there are leaps and bounds that have been made in such a small time, and thats just going to continue.
Paul, I totally agree.. before we start doing prints, I think we need to get a viewer base. Look into other alternatives for marketing and really going on a blitz with getting the blog out there. We should all start doing email blasts, myspace blasts, and like you said, possibly some ads. Even look into contacting some other art blogs and see if they'd be interested in plugging us?
There's a world of possibility with this.. i think we just need to push it now.
So everyone has made a good point. I don't think selling posters or making books of our stuff is going to result in our blog becoming "a product". I see it as, like Shal said, a way to get people to notice us, a promotional tool to attract people to the blog and to our work.
I think first, we should see how our book does (if anyone besides ourselves buys it), as well as see how many much traffic we can get to visit our blog. I think we should start doing posters a little later. I honestly have nothing I want to make a poster out of. Maybe we can set up another "challenge", and that challenge can produce specific art to put on a poster.
I just think we should focus on one thing at a time. I am YAY for the poster, but again, I think it should be at a later time. We should focus on finishing the book, as well as getting more traffic on the blog. :-) That's my two cents.
Post a Comment