Online selling research

It is important for an artist to decide whether to sell their art online, and if so, which website is the best one to suit their needs. There are a lot of different types of online selling, so in order to choose the right one for me, I am going to conduct research into a few of these types of online selling sites.

Online art galleries are websites where you can discover new art as well as selling your own. An example of an online art gallery is SaatchiArt. When an artist sells their art through this site, they recieve 70% of the sale price for their original works, and 70% of the net profit for Saatchi prints. The "Saatchi Art Sales Agreement" between the seller and the site is non-exclusive and the site has no membership or competition submission fees. 

SaatchiArt delivers art globally and offers global and domestic shipping at a discounted rate. On top of that, SaatchiArt pays for the marketing for your artwork. The site itself has extensive search options for artwork and advertises new art on the homepage, in a professional and easy to navigate layout. As the site gets a high amount of traffic, it is no wonder SaatchiArt is such a popular option.

Print on demand websites offer small quantities of prints for customised items. One example of a print on demand service is RedBubble. This site doesn't charge artists sales fees or commissions, but takes a base price from each product you sell depending on service and manufacturing fees. The profit margin for the artist on their products is fully adjustable, which is different from traditional online selling sites.

RedBubble delivers products globally and offers global and domestic shipping at the standard rate. The company's printing partners manufacture specific products and service particular parts of the world, so RedBubble ensures that products you order are printed in the most convenient location for you. This makes sure their shipping services remain fast and affordable.

Crowdfunding is the monetary funding of a project by a large group of people. Patreon is an example of a crowdfunding site. This site doesn't charge you to start a Patreon page, so the money you make from other people's monthly pledges is all yours. Unlike most online selling sites, Patreon is not specifically for artists, but all creators to make money from what they create.

Even if creators don't reach their monetary goal, they will still get paid the money that patrons have chosen to pledge.Patrons can opt to choose to pay their favourite creators monthly or every time they create new content. This system is especially attractive for YouTubers, but not so much for artists. 

After researching this small selection of selling sites, I have decided to use the print on demand service that RedBubble offers. This site is the best for my current needs as a professional illustrator, although this could change later on in my career and it is good to know that I have the freedom to switch between sites however I like. This research not only encouraged me to use a print on demand service, but it helped me to know about some of the other types of online selling available to artists. 

Website review workshop

For this workshop, we were tasked with choosing two illustrator's websites and reviewing them to learn what could be applied or avoided when creating sites to promote ourselves as illustrators.


The first site I chose to review belongs to concept artist, illustrator and art director Giles Ketting. This site has a modern and compact aesthetic, with artwork placed close to each other above a dark background. The typography used for the site title and page headings is a round yet professional style of font which leaves plenty of background space on either side of the title.

I was attracted to this website by the unique simplicity of the featured page, along with the medieval period paintings on full display at the top of the page. These images immediately engaged me and I was encouraged to look closer at these pieces by their positioning on the site. The pages are clearly categorised, making the site easy to navigate. There are the right amount of images on the site, and all are crisp and clear. These things makes the site feel professional.

Gilles Ketting provides writing with some of his blog entries that explain the process behind certain artworks. This writing tells me that he is a competent artist and writer. They have links to a wide array of gallery and social media sites. The site itself shows a range of projects on different themes.

The imagery that this artist uses conveys a consistent language of work. As a client, this would make me feel confident in my decision to commission this artist based on the style of a handful of his paintings.

• compact artwork with a clean, dark background
• strong images at a large resolution
• professional typefaces
• page categorisation
• professional writing style

The second site I chose to review belongs to the creature and concept artist Andrew Baker. This site has a clear and showcased design, with thumbnail images spread out against a white background. The typography used for the site title and page headings is a round yet straight style of font which leaves plenty of background space on either side of the title.

I was attracted to this website by the thumbnail composition of the index page. These images immediately engaged me as they were clearly labelled. The pages are categorised, making the site easy to navigate. While small, there are the right amount of images on the site, and most are clear. These things makes the site feel somewhat professional.

Andrew Baker provides writing with all of his blog entries that explain the process behind certain creature and concept designs. This writing tells me that he is a proficient writer and designer. They have links to an IMDB page with credits for the movies he has designed creatures for, but no links to social media. The site itself shows a range of projects from different films.

The imagery that this artist uses conveys a consistent language of work. As a client, this would make me feel confident in my decision to commission this artist based on the style of his creature designs.

• light background
• strong images
• unique typefaces
• page categorisation
• professional writing style

Oliver Randall is currently an Illustration student at the University of Gloucestershire and has a love for experiencing and creating stories. As an artist, he prefers traditional illustration over digital methods, and likes to engross himself in the deep history of many stories, such as Halo, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings.

This workshop was useful in finding characteristics of other artist's sites and finding ways to adapt them with my own practice when creating my site. By reviewing these sites, I have learned how to critically analyse and research an artist by their website, and this will be useful when taking inspiration from how other artists present themselves, for future promotional activities.

Christmas workshop

For the Christmas workshop, we were given a group task to create seasonal items for a specific shop. Each group would then work towards two outcomes - both of which including reference to the company within the visuals that were to be produced. My group was given the company "CRUSH," a local juice bar specialising in healthy fruit juices, the feel of which had to be reproduced using contemporary typefaces, modern colours and simple, bold imagery.

The first task was to create a seasonal GIF for the company. These are the elements that were referenced and created for our GIF, which represented summery drinks with a Christmas twist.

The second task was to make a pop-up Christmas card in the style of the company. These are the processes my group went through to create the final card design, which includes traditional and digital versions of the card. The card took elements from the seasonal GIF and implemented them into a pop-up advertisement for a drink from "CRUSH," in a scene that mixes summer with winter.

This joint task tested the communication between the two groups on what the visual style of the company should be in both the seasonal GIF and the Christmas card. As both of the final products ended up in similar styles, I believe this was a successful workshop. I learnt how important communication between teams, creating unique designs, and working towards brief deadlines are during this workshop, which are important teachings to take into any professional art environment.

Online presence

An online presence is important for any creative to have in the modern day because the internet seems to be running our lives, so we have to keep up with the latest ways to communicate and share ideas with other creatives across the world. This has benefits for self-promotion because there are many easy-to-use avenues to promote yourself through as an illustrator. I have chosen to use a few different sites to manage my online presence in the most relevant way possible.

The most obvious way of having an online presence is through a blog or a website that promotes yourself. I have created a site that shows my portfolio of work in an aesthetic that is appropriate to my practice. By having a site, I can quickly update it with new art pieces or projects and have it remain public, which is crucial for artists like me who are short on time.

Social media can be a great hub to promote yourself and there are popular sites where your work could potentially be seen by hundreds of your friends and family, or even potential clients. One of these social media sites that I use is Twitter. The character limit allows for clear and concise project updates or posting latest art images directly to my feed. Another popular site that I use is Facebook. This site allows for more free-form posting and is where a lot of illustrators have personal pages set up for their illustration practices - this is not essential and is not something I wish to replicate.

These are just a few examples of the potential for me to have a large online presence, meaning it is easy to create a large promotional network for me to advertise my artwork. This efficiency in self-promotion is beneficial to any illustrator, as it makes it simple to get your work seen by people who aren't necessarily in the art industry themselves - creating a larger potential audience for the artist.

Module Evaluation

This module has taught me how important it is to promote myself as a professional illustrator, as well as how to develop my personal promotional strategy and build a portfolio to properly display my artwork to potential clients. I have learned how to design and create business cards and other promotional materials, and maintain an online presence to expand my sphere of influence.

By researching into how other artist promote themselves and experiencing practice briefs as a group and alone, I have gained insight into how professional illustrators should work, and how to make a name for yourself in the art industry. This is important to understand because it is not easy to be a successful artist if you don't promote yourself so others can see you, as well as making yourself an illustrator that needs to be seen.

However, I am not entirely satisfied with the quality and quantity of work that I selected for my professional portfolio, and this could be put down to needing to attend more personal tutorials to better reflect on feedback and criticisms during each stage of development. I believe this would have improved my work because I could have then changed around and added illustrations to my portfolio with guidance from the tutors - leading to a more effective and presentable collection of work.

Overall, I am pleased with the amount of important aspects I have learned to being a professional illustrator, as well as being satisfied with the research I have conducted into self-promotion through an online presence and promotional materials. Although, I am displeased with the final outcome of my portfolio of work and my lack of interaction with the tutors. It is important for me to recognise these things because it shows me what I believed went well and how I can improve myself as a professional in the future.

Personal Promotional Strategy

When promoting myself as a professional illustrator, I will use various methods to advertise my work and myself as an artist. This would range from online exposure to real world interaction with people who may be interested. These methods include promoting my work on a dedicated website, using physical promotional items, and attending specialised art events to network with other artists.


One of the most effective methods of self-promotion would be through my blog site and social media. By having an online presence, it makes getting your work out there easy and can lead to feedback and communication with clients. It is easy to see if people like your work on social media and so you can understand what works and what doesn't when promoting your art.


I will also use my promotional items to give potential clients a preview of the work I offer, as well as something to take with them and remember me by as an illustrator. This will be done through the use of free business cards, stickers and prints. These items are effective at catching attention and giving a lasting impression as they are physical materials with my information on them.


Another method of promoting my work is through illustration fairs or art events where I can not only network with other artists, but advertise my own practice to potential clients through discussion or showing them my portfolio. This method is more intimate and challenging for me, but it might lead to more favourable results than through other methods.


Overall, I believe my personal promotional strategy will help me to promote my image as a professional illustrator and assist me in getting work or clients after university. This would make it easier for me to improve my illustrative work and have further outreach into various creative fields.

Future projects/plans

After university, I plan to undertake several personal projects that will help me pursue my own interests in illustration with the freedom to be an illustrator on my own terms. These initial projects will help further my artistic career by increasing my portfolio of work, and demonstrating my ability to undertake projects of my own at a professional level.


The first of these projects is to expand the subject of my Final Major Project into full-length graphic novels, as part of a larger series exploring the world of my current narrative. I aim for these novels to be self-published and an expansion on what I have already done as my FMP. The series will be a science-fiction comic series exploring an alien invasion of Earth, set in the 24th Century.


The next project I plan to undertake is to rewrite and illustrate the series as fiction novels, which I hope to be externally published and available to the public. I am looking forward to researching and developing the universe of the narrative in order to create a novel series that will stand out in an already over-saturated market, while enjoying the freedom of writing and illustrating.


When I am not working on my own artwork, my plan is to be a freelance illustrator and promote my online image to get work and commissions. This will help me reach a larger audience and gauge more interest for my art and my projects. By becoming freelance, I can take jobs that suit me and negotiate prices and other specifics with clients over the internet.


With this is mind, I believe that I will have enough space to explore and develop my skills in a less restrictive environment, as well as create things that I have always wanted to make in my own time. This is crucial for any illustrator as having a space of your own and time enough to explore your own interests is often a commodity in the current artistic climate. By pursuing these projects, I believe that I will have the start I need to become the creative mind that I have always wanted to be.