How to Start Making Sales Online as an Artist in 2024
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- I hope this video helps you in your art journey
If you would like to contribute to my cats food fund see link bellow 🦑✨
20% off Black Friday Sale
Runs till November 28th
inkwellillustration.etsy.com
Shipping Materials---------------------------------
4x8 bubble mailers amzn.to/47M6toJ
5x5x3 shipping boxes amzn.to/3SPW1be
12x9x2 shipping Boxes amzn.to/47zBgVK
14x3x3 rolled Print Long box amzn.to/3R8XR5R
Apparel Mailer amzn.to/40QwUaA
Packing Tape amzn.to/40PCmdN
Tissue Paper amzn.to/40NdS4B
Thermal Label Printer amzn.to/47n6jUS
Thermal Mailing Labels amzn.to/47HBDxf
Circle Thermal Stickers amzn.to/49WCjB0
Filming Equipment-------------------
Sony a6000 DSLR Camera amzn.to/3GfMQcB
Sigma 1.4 Lens amzn.to/47JsTXo
Elgato Wave 3 USB Microphone amzn.to/3MO3GTB
Elgato Capture Card amzn.to/3MO2oZ6
Elgato Key Light amzn.to/40PCVUO
Some of these are affiliate links. I do get a small % of the sales profit. This does not affect the price you pay whatsoever nor the products that I have recommended. These are all items I am actively using in my business
Chapters--------------------------
00:00 intro
01:03 Picking a platform
02:43 Why I use Etsy
05:08 Make cool stuff
05:29 How to get seen
05:36 SEO
06:51 Photography
08:16 What to avoid
10:41 Promotion and social media
12:55 When to have your shop open
14:20 Analytics
19:26 Questions from the community
19:31 Etsy Ads Q&A
21:58 Shipping and Packing Q&A
23:26 Fanart? Q&A
25:40 Etsy Bad Q&A
28:29 Shipping Costs Q&A
29:32 Tax Write-offs Q&A
30:39 Outro
Music by Streambeats
------Connect with Inkwell on Social Media--------
/ inkwell_illustrations
/ inkwell_illust
inkwellillustration.etsy.com 
Хобби
Truly the best marketing tactic is to show off your cat
A real cheat code!
its like getting real art advice from a professor that actually cares bc NO WHERE can I find authenticity like this
Will I ever open up my own online store? No. Did I watch this entire video like I will? Yes.
2. Make Cool Shit. SO TRUE. I just had an epiphany some year or so ago...and now I'm on track with things that I would not have been creating if I didn't have this hit me like a ton of bricks at 2am. And some of it seems so simple...like greeting cards...and bookmarks! Not everyone wants just a pretty print.
i see an inkwell vid and instantly click .As as a person selling prints and toys the knowledge you are dropping is a1
Ahhh thanks so much, hope it helps
so true
Lol I got an advertisement a quarter of the way in to ur video after u started talking about Etsy & the advertisement was to NOT open an easy 😂 just thought it was funny
As usual, thank you for being super transparent and honest. A lot of people are very unwilling to talk about money, especially artists, like it’s shameful to want to live off of your art or something as you’re lucky enough to do a “passion job”
I’m a tattoo artist and also sell some of my art, and I found all your advice really useful :)
(on a side note, I love your waistcoat and I need it in my life 🤣)
ps: regarding fan art, I must say when I was selling resin bookmarks decorated with characters from various franchises that I had drawn in a chibi style, the only ones who came after me were Terry Pratchett’s lawyers, as my bookmarks all featured ONE sentence from said character … and apparently I was not allowed to ^^’
14:24 Dustin, much respect for helping artists succeed in life. As an artist, let me state the obvious: art creation is fundamental - of course! Equally basic, though perhaps less obvious, is the fact art generation is a business. Making dollars takes skill and knowledge. Thanks for helping us get there.
I really appreciate these videos, they're very accessible and easy to digest. My friends tell me to sell my work, but when I sit down figure it out, my brain breaks.
Hope it helps, best of luck!
I've been selling my art online for a couple of years now but I never feel like I have the system DOWN, it still feels overwhelming after so much time haha. I appreciate your videos SO much; hearing another artist break down their experiences and what's worked vs not worked has made me feel a lot less intimidated. you've really inspired me and I'm looking forward to tackling 2024 with a fresh perspective! (also I found you through your RUclips videos but you've made me double a fan-I ADORE your art!!!)
Thank you and best of luck next year! Make all that bread
I appreciate what you said about Etsy I always second guess myself when I hear about someone quitting it and think I made a bad decision, but I’m still quite small and sales are minimal so I’m not ready to jump ship yet. Even when I do, I’d still want to keep it open.
And you’re so right too about people feeling uncomfortable about putting their information into a random website where a lot of people already have an Etsy account.
Also right about the photos too, I really need to get around to updating my older listings and their pictures!! 🤦🏻♀️
Thank you for answering my question! ☺️
This was super comprehensive. Thank you!
In all seriousness you have answered some questions that were delaying my progress forward. Now I feel that I can overcome some more roadblocks to move things towards fruition, thanks to the knowledge you shared.
Thanks for taking the time to create this video, and for answering community questions. It is refreshing that you are providing such honest insight! You showcased some awesome product photography as well- very inspiring! Excellent video bookended with an adorable cat 😺A++ in my book.
Do you have any recommendations regarding best methods or techniques for drawing proportions better? Do you use any methods like the Loomis method or asaro planes for drawing heads and faces for example?
Love your videos! they are informative and so well edited. Thank you for doing them, they are fun to watch too :D!
I loved this video super informative and the q and a part was great thanks so much!
Dude. You're awesome! Most useful art video channel I've seen.
Sir, this video is like the ultimate Christmas present. I'm planning to open an Etsy store next year after wrapping up a big project and this gives me a lot of good ideas to think about and optimize until then. Much appreciated, keep shining on and making the world more wonderful.
Happy to help, and best of luck with your store!
Just brilliant!
Your channel is so fantastically informative 🥳
Excellent insight! Thanks for the tips!
Super informative video as usual! Been wanting to start my own online store, but it's such a daunting process especially for a newbie like myself. Excited to get the ball rolling!!
Best of luck with your store!
Inkwell while being underrated small channel in every vid is putting a lot of effort to explain every detail, what a goat
thanks so much!
Professor Inkwell on art business 😮
Thank you for making these videos! I've been stuck trying to decide what I want to do with my art for the past few years, and these have made feel much more confident in trying to put my work out there!
This was so helpful. Thank you so much!
Love how clear you are with everything. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Your advice is on point for me. Thx for sharing your successful experience
Bro thank you for being so transparent/truthful with all your info i truly appreciate it, you are the reason im gonna start trying to sell my art more seriously and go to conventions to sell🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿❤️
Thank you for creating this video! I am an artist who has only been selling my original art locally for a couple years now but now I am ready to take my art business seriously and expand it, I can’t thank you enough for all this advice and honesty about entrepreneurship and art in 2023/2024!
Best of luck to you! 🦑
Been following your work for years and I still can't believe I'm actually seeing you on youtube now. BIG BIG thanks! The info you put out is always helpful!
Thanks for sticking around! 🤣
Ohh this is a goldmine for beginners like me
I just started using Etsy. This is very helpful. Thank you for sharing!
More than one re4 being in this video is greatly appreciated
Along with the advice of course
I'm so glad I discovered your channel, your videos are amazing! I've been wishy washy about expanding from just doing comm work and to actually start sell physical merch as well. Your videos helped me to finally take the first steps necessary to attend my first artist alley as a seller in 2024. :) and once I figure out how shipping works I might open an online shop too :D
Thank you so much for this video! You’ve helped me get over my fear of online selling haha.
wow this was amazingly helpful. never thought of using the websites to gain revenue. you are a god send
Awesome video! thank you for the advice and all the information
Happy to help and best of luck!
This was wonderful and extremely helpful. You answered everything I KNEW I needed to figure out and a few things I hadn't thought of. Much appreciated!!! :)
I've just found your channel! Thank you for bringing your experiences to other artists and art lovers! You don't hide the hard work involved and it is inspiring.
This is one of the best videos on making sales as an artist and marketing I've seen. Thank you for being so honest and transparent. I've been struggling to market my stuff because it feels very unnatural to just push my art to people and I will definitely try to just stay cool about it. Thank you so much for advice and I'd definitely appreciate some more content on marketing if you still have something more to share. Maybe some tips on cool product photography, creating your own brand, etc. would be helpful. BTW I've been following you on instagram for several years and I had no idea you had a youtube channel AND you have really good advice here. Really lucky find!
Bro , your videos are the best . You are like the artist dad I never had who is teaching me and giving me tools to earn a living with my craft ❤ thanks 😊
Thanks Dustin, love your sense of humour and transparency! Looking forward to the next episode, if I would suggest a theme it would be sizes of prints and if they are numbered in batches with a authenticity paper or whatever! And framing or frames and how they decide the size of your prints.
This is so informative! Instant subscribe
That's some really great info! Thanks so much
Thank you for making these! Please share more about how to do this!
Great information! Thank you!
Your videos have the curious quality of being really motivational to me. It's wonderful. Thanks for that 👌
I also recommend them to others regularly, your basic info is well laid out but you also have nice discussions for more experienced artists (like the social media vid). Props, man, please keep making these!
That’s really great to hear, thanks for watching!
Lifestyle photos of my art definitely helped
Thanks for this info. This is exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks for the transparency and good advice.
Thanks for watching
I love what your doing man thanks for sharing all this information. Your artwork is incredible as well. Your an inspiration to us all, keep up the good work 🙏🏼
Thank you so much!
Really enjoying the transparency in your videos. I'm blown away by how well you're doing (financially, of course. Your art is obviously fantastic.) I guess I just assumed that trying to make an actual living off art was a pipe dream. Great video with much-needed insight.
10/10 as expected. Keep em rolling Dustin 💛
Thanks BB 💙💙💙
Thank you ❤❤❤
thank you!
Thank you for this video! This was very informative! As a marketing person, who is also an artist, this has become my favourite channel :)
Happy to hear! Thank you for watching!
This video was so helpful, I had to get a pad and pen. Super helpful for old newbies like me asking what’s an SEO 😳
The self roasting!! What camera? XD Also, who is that gorgeous orange baby?? What a cutie! Thanks for doing this video and going into so much detail about stuff, not legal advice. I appreciate the honesty about selling online.
I do the same with closing my shop November 😂 I don't like dealing with angry ppl, when they didn't shop early 😅
Thank you for these videos. Starting is daunting but to create a community for the business end of art is making it less so. Also, yes I was thinking about you slowly swiveling away from the camera near the end lol
Thanks for watching! And best of luck
I only really recently discovered your content and OMG I love it so much~ You have no idea how much you've helped with sharing everything so raw. I really appreciate the data and your considerations on mindset. You dig really deep into your thought processes and I really appreciate that - hope we can con together sooon
😊✨
When I tell you that I learned a TON from this video.... I am understating it..... holy crap.
That’s great to hear, hope it helps
Absoloutely amazing video Dustin! I've consumed a lot of vidoes about making money and a lot of them are either completely generalised and lack transparency or are normally aiming to artists who are not within my area of expertise.
It is incredibly refreshing to see a artist not only break down all of the complete transparencies of their income but also a artist who doesn't make 'cute' or 'contempory'. It's shocking how difficult it is to find videos like this done by fantasy artists.
I was beginning to wonder if the only way to make money as a artist online is either making cute stuff or make videos as some sort of 'art guru'.
Thank you so much for making this video its honestly been incredibly helpful, this year has been incredibly tough for artist with all that AI drama flinging around and just sucking up artist's inspiration and motivation but seeing another artist out there suceeding despite this. Is incredibly motivational!
Thank you.
Thanks so much for watching hope it helps!
This is the most detailed, in depth, behind the scenes video I've seen
No dreams, no bullshit, just straight facts, I love it, this is what I need
Not "make $10,000 in 3 weeks with this amazing platform" I'm tired of the lies
ALL HAIL TRUTH
Thumbs up’d for the great tips, but sub’d for the chonky marmalade demon cat 🥰
Thank you! Awesome video. Very helpful. Lmboo at you saying, "Hey buy my sh%t"
Thank you I needed this, very informative and comforting to go over logistics! I’m going to try my best this summer to make art and hopefully start a shop! 😊 I’ll do my best, I hope everyone else also gets the courage to start as well.
Best of luck! You got this!
Thank you for your information, it is very interesting.
Thanks for the information.
This was very helpful, thankyou :)
Thanks for watching!
whoa hey man! i think you are suuuuper good eh? tysm!
Ai art is a killer for sure! But think about the consumers that are left after the "cheapo's" switched to Ai? The premium consumers are who is left!
Think about buying value brand jelly vs farm-to-table jelly? All online artists will need to retarget their audience/fans as the more premium consumers of art who remain. Raise the bar for print quality, in-person events, art placement, and similar thought processes for your ideal consumer.
It sounds odd if you're still on your art journey, but Ai is actually paving the way for a premium art market where humans will pay a PREMIUM to have art made by a human. Just like your $60 hand-poured candles.
This is actually the most reasonable/realistic take on the whole 'AI IS KILLING ART' debacle-- mostly because art was already being hugely devalued by mass production in the first place. Not sure why small time artists think AI would be the nail in the coffin given the consumer most likely to buy good art already can see that AI art kind of sucks-- they'd rather have something thoughtfully illustrated or created.
AI is mostly a problem in the AAA space, not indie publishing/merchandise. Just ends up feeling like fearmongering after a while; so I think you're on point here haha
Good shit!
this is a fantastic video, so much amazing information ❤❤
😊✨
Do you have a video specifically about the magic fish bag? I like the idea of creating actual products like that. Dont know where to begin though.
Super helpful man thanks. Also, I for one forgive you for not looking at the camera 😂 the advice was great!
Thanks for the great information. You made me laugh with your head not facing the camera, at first I just thought you preferred the left side of your face. LOL. Anyway, appreciate you making these videos
🤣🤣🤣🙏
Actual step 1: Be popular
The major social media algorithms are completely screwed in 2023 and I doubt things will improve next year. It's all in favor of corporate advertising now. How can you even build a customer base if nobody can see your work? The info you've shared is only relevant to people who have a decent following of fans who are willing to spend money. Honestly, that's the easy part. The hard part is getting noticed to begin with. If already established artists are complaining about a huge drop in social media engagement, what hope do beginning artists even have? This isn't 2010 where you all you had to do is "post good work and leave nice comments" to gain followers.
Your right about it not being 2010 however in regards to everything else I respectfully disagree, these types of platforms benefit from you selling more, it’s not like a traditional social media. The more you sell the more these companies make the majority of there profits don’t come from ads, there is no incentive to gamify it to the same level as like instagram or other social medias. The majority of this video is about how to get seen in the current environment, so I suspect you didn’t watch much of my video. I know quite a few people who are pulling much larger numbers than me on their stores with little to no popularity other places. Either way best of luck to you.
I’m just here for the cats 😌
Classic 🐈🐈⬛
I hope to learn more on marketing and seo
Thank you for this video! I’m hoping to open up a shop in 2024 so I have some decisions to make. I opened up my commissions on Black Friday and got five sales as well! But it would be nice to sell the work I’ve already done.
This was super useful and actually understandable (a lot of vids I've watched about this stuff are 🤯). I really need to just bite the bullet and get my (cool) shit out there 😁
You got this!
22:41 oh on packing- any time you get a box or bubble mailer in the mail SAVE IT!!! You can reuse it after taking off your personal info. It saves you money and it gives it more use before the end of its life.
Tfw you've had an etsy for like a decade and never thought to put the search terms in the title like 'cute gothic' or whatever 🤡
Now that's a hot tip!
we need a Room tour
Very curious to know where you get your printed shipping boxes like your studio ghibli box set? Cost benefit to having something printed and looking good versus the boxes that you have locked in the description.
Oh boy I'm still in the process of making my own shop but I've been sort of procrastinating it because I'd rather put work into my next print which I know will sell at the next con where as I'm pretty sure I will make less than 10 sales online. I already bought packaging materials, read up on shipping info etc but I haven't put it all together yet and I also don't know how I'm going to start promoting it.
Best of luck
6:32 oh but I would say to put alt text either on the image id the site allows it or in the description
That was super helpful. I don't know if it's me, you give harry potter vibes 😂 Anyway enjoyed the video. Loved it!
What really turned me off Etsy is inability of customers to leave a review about the quality of their product as soon as it arrives at their doorstep. That was super weird. It might've been because of the shipping time I put down, but man, what the hell? And I make more money selling directly, and my client can spend less money if I sell directly. But I suppose earning under 10k per month makes a difference vs 20$ once in three months. Thank you for the tips, makes me wish I had a dedicated person for marketing!
From my understanding I think the review thing is so a customer can’t like blackmail you with a bad review before the item shows up, but yes it’s very annoying.
Great video! I'm confused about one thing. You said early on in the vid, that you have one product that you have an outside printer and shpper do. And that you handle all of the shipping on all of your other products...
How does that work exactly? If you are collecting shipping costs through etsy and then mailing the products off yourself?
how do you keep track of all that and do you have a shipping label printer or something?
I hope this question makes sense. lol!
Thanks again
I need to hire a photographer, I absolutely suck at product photos
i heard from someone else's video that when you "open your store" for the first time, that this shouldn't be the first time people hear about it. i'd like to hear your thoughts on how / where to market yourself for this purpose and any other ideas. perhaps what you did or what you would do. I didn't know etsy has a monthly fee for just having a listing up, and my income budget is small at the moment, so I want to earn more than what i would pay etsy monthly. advice?
Perfect timing, I'm working on online shop on my website right now! You've convinced me to add etsy to the mix 💕 Do you think it'd be okay to have slightly higher prices on etsy to compensate for the fees there?
Best of luck and that super normal to do on Etsy!
@@Inkwell Thank you! ^^
R U still finding vivia print to be consistent in quality for POD art prints?
Fanart is definitely hard...when I had my shop my Ghibli things were always fine but Mojang and Bandai Namco both came after me *immediately*. I had common block textures as buttons for Minecraft (I hand-painted them in Photoshop, I didn't just rip the texture, but it still looked very similar so, fair) and then I had a button that had 3 stylized skulls with heart eyes that said "I think you're pretty Nito" as Nito from Dark Souls and Bandai Namco was NOT having it lol.
Oh no, I have some Elden Ring/Dark Souls stuff :/ Did you put it up on etsy with the actual character name?
@@felixoesinghausoh yeah they hate anything fall art related... I had pot boi emotes and didn't even use Elden Ring anywhere and they still hit me.
I have a newbie question: when it comes to sales (both your online shop and in person at conventions) how do you handle and mitigate false chargebacks? Additionally, do you have examples a return policy that are both amicable for the customer and reasonable for sellers?
(I’ve rewatched all your videos and I’m doing as deep of research as I can but these kinds of details are few and far between to find. Thanks your your patience and understanding)
For me I’ve only ever had one false charge back out of thousands of sales so I don’t really worry about it, however if it did become a issue you would have to take it up with your bank or Etsy in my case depending on the platform, some websites cover you in these cases and fight it on your behalf.And as far as returns, I don’t accept returns but I do replace anything broken or damaged no extra cost, maybe that’s just me being very confident in my products but I’ve never had an issue, if you sell a lot of clothing that could be a different story when sizing comes in to play, I would say make sure there is nothing they can point to that wasn’t clear in your listing and if you do what to accept returns I would make them pay the shipping cost, assuming it’s not something you messed up on .
Great video dude, im thinking about opening a print shop. I was confused on one part though...esty converts the painting into a print and ships it for you? Or do you have to print and ship it yourself? I saw you rolling up prints and putting them into a box along with other items but idk if that was for a bundle deal or something.
Etsy is not a drop shipper , you have to get your prints and ship them your self, or integrate with another company that will do that for you.
@@Inkwell thanks for the reply I did a quick search and saw the printful integration, but also saw reddit threads complaining about it and I now understand why you do it yourself lol
Hi! How did you first get into the convention scene, given the (already high and) rising costs of vendor spaces, and what are your methods for keeping track of dates for shows? We're an artist duo that has been looking to get into the art convention scene, and we've been doing our best to scope out as many shows as we can, recording dates and looking at costs. While we agree it takes big money to make big money, we're not certain as how we can feasibly afford the costs for all of these shows given they all want their money by months in advance.
So I started with one/ two cons a year while maintaining a day job, I peeped for my first con almost a year in advance, there are also definitely cheaper shows out there, I would say start as local as you can!
@@Inkwell That's realistic. I appreciate your quick and honest response! Do you have any personal recommendations for entry-level art shows out there that may be more affordable to break into? We're out of Upstate New York, and there aren't that many shows out here, though we're willing to travel.
@@rootbearfloat2757 that where I use to be located, upstate NY is hard and the city I would stay away from. My first show ever was conneticon, which has gone down hill in recent years but is still really easy to get into, but maybe look at animeboston if you can get in, its cheep and an amazing show, also maybe look in the DC area there are a bunch of decent shows out there, anime next, otakon, magfest, I’m sure there are more smaller ones but my info on that would be very dated at this point
appreciate all the info man! Another question about Etsy, have you never dealt with ppl stealing your work and reselling it on etsy? I hear that is a common thing that happens to Etsy sellers who are doing well.
I have had to deal with it a few times, normally I just blast them on social media and ironically it normally just ends up being a free promo for me that results in extra sales on my behalf, till Etsy takes them down.
oh wow ok, glad it always works out for you lol@@Inkwell
It's so refreshing hearing Etsy advice from an actual artist. I want to make tshirts and the VAAAAAST majority of the how-to Etsy or print on demand videos on RUclips are cynical how-to-game-the-system guides aimed at people making low effort Canva/AI graphics to make a quick buck. I respect that business sense is important even for artists, but holy heck did it get depressing when so much of it was aimed at low effort crap and encouraging more of that stuff to flood to market. I think it also makes the shopping experience worse for the customer, just pages and pages of people using the same Canva graphics with the same popular slogans and AI sludge.
I don't know if there's any hope to not be drowned out by AI art shirts because it doesn't matter to most customers, but I guess time will tell.