Turning Art Into Products
If you are an artist creating two-dimensional art, you might be wondering if there is a place for you in the wholesale world. Listen up all you painters, graphic designers, and photographers — the answer is yes!
Everywhere you look, there are art-based products, and many of them are sold in galleries, boutiques, and home décor shops. The possibilities are endless, so let’s look at some right now.
The most obvious is turning your art into paper products, including greeting cards, calendars, and prints. You might already be doing this and selling your items at art fairs or on your website. Now with a small amount of effort, such as enhanced packaging, these could be the start of your wholesale line.
What other paper items can you add to your portfolio? Have you thought about gift tags, bottle tags, coasters, notecards, place cards, postcards, and even stickers?
Or instead of selling your finished notecards, what about selling a notecard kit? You draw the outline of your designs and then print them on nice heavyweight paper.
Put several in an attractive box and include some watercolor paint, a brush, and some envelopes. Let the buyer paint and create the finished notecards that she can send to friends or even frame.
In fact, art kits are big business, and they are enjoyed by both children and adults. Rachel Austen, a graphic designer in Portland, Oregon, developed a modern line of paint-by-number kits and sells them under the Elle Cree brand.
She makes large and small kits, with designs on either canvas or paper board. Usually, she only sells kits with her own designs. However, she made an exception when Mary Engelbreit asked if she could create paint-by-number kits for her art!
Speaking of Engelbreit, she is a wonderful example of an artist who has turned her art into countless products. Her website is chockful of ideas — ranging from home décor products to pet collars and bandanas.
She sells kits for cross-stitch and her personally designed washi tape to add her touch to any creations. From towels, to ornaments, to mugs and magnets, you can see how artists can infuse a myriad of products with their designs and artwork.
On a smaller but highly successful scale, a talented Atlanta-based artist, Jazzy Elise, is turning her large-scale contemporary art into both framed and unframed prints in several sizes for the wholesale market. In addition, she has made wonderful journals and framed round clocks. She has taken her collection of stylized products to wholesale trade shows and sold them to stores, museums, and hotel gift shops.
Speaking of paper products, do not forget about books. Do you have a unique and interesting artistic style? If so, the world might be interested in learning about it.
Check out the coloring books from Bobbie Goods. This artist’s style is so delightfully nostalgic and sweet. She has published a book showing how to draw her super cute illustrations. In addition to books, she sells stickers, prints, cards, and art bags.
Or maybe you excel at an art form and want to share your technique with the world. Take the example of David Zinn, a Michigan artist who had been making art on paper for 20 years.
One sunny day, he grabbed a box of chalk, headed to the sidewalk, and it changed his life. Now you can purchase his book, The Chalk Art Handbook, and learn the secrets of his fantastic, but temporary art. He also sells prints and a calendar if you want to own a permanent image of his fun chalk creations.
Many of you might be familiar with the work of artist Houston Llew. He uses glass enamel to make designs and paintings on copper tiles. He calls them Spiritiles and adds meaningful wording on the sides of each piece.
His work is unique, extremely popular, and sold at galleries and gift shops around the world. In fact, Llew is so successful at wholesaling his work, he does not sell retail at all!
Do not overlook turning your art into puzzles, particularly if you make intricate designs or engaging scenes. These can be wood or paper, two-dimensional, or even three-dimensional, and geared to specific age groups as well. Shops are always looking for new products that can be fun for children and teenagers because they need gifts for all ages.
Naturally, there are a host of fabric items that can feature your art. Today there are effortless ways to print tea towels, aprons, placemats, napkins, tablecloths, and even oven mitts. You can coordinate kitchen items with ceramic ware, mugs, and tea canisters. Just look around your kitchen and envision your art on every object!
Of course, I cannot skip over art to wear items. Naturally, there are T-shirts. But in addition, remember you can print your art on almost every type of fabric from silk scarves to canvas jackets. There are artists making unique shirts, tights, and socks, so virtually every item in your wardrobe can be a surface for your art.
Almost any type of art, craft, or photography can be made into products. Photographers are putting their work on fabric banners that can decorate a home. Woodworkers are making kits with small ornaments that children can paint for the holidays.
With sites like Spoonflower, artists are creating their own custom-designed fabric and making their fabric into products like pillows and napkins or even simply selling the fabric by the yard.
Print on demand services like Printify and Printful have made it possible to make a limited run of products and test them in the marketplace. There is a wide variety of apparel and footwear, small items like phone cases and cosmetic bags, and large home décor items like bean bag chairs. You can do a trial run and test these items out on your own website or at your next art event with a small investment.
The same is true with printing a book on Amazon KDP. You retain all the rights to the book, and a small run can give you products you can test-market with your current customers. If they are well-received, these products can become new income streams for your business.
I am closing with two artists who have made successful careers by turning their artwork into wholesale products. The first is John Derian, a decoupage artist in New York City. He has turned thousands of glass objects, such as plates, trays, and paperweights, into objects d’art with his incredible decoupage work.
His pieces range from the botanical to the abstract, and they are collected by thousands of fans. He opened his studio in 1989 and now lists hundreds of retailers in the United States and abroad as customers.
Kent Stetson is a Rhode Island artist who painted traditional works on canvas. While he met some success with his paintings, he wanted more, so one day he had the inspiration to take apart a finished painting and cut it up.
Then he took that decorated material and sewed it into a lady’s handbag. Voila, Kent Stetson Handbags was born, and now they are sold in upscale galleries and boutiques across the country.
In some of the examples mentioned, business success came from making a unique product. However, in the most successful instances, it was the artist’s distinctive style that made their products outstanding in the marketplace!
Diane Sulg is executive director of CRAFT and founder and co-chair of American Craft Week (ACW). She is a handmade advocate who provides valuable information in her one-day seminars titled “All About Wholesale” at wholesale shows throughout the United States. Diane is the former owner of Maddi’s Gallery, in Charlotte and Huntersville, North Carolina.