Art for art's sake
Although my first reason to generate images with AI was motivated by my desire to illustrate my own stories, it was soon so much fun that I also started creating for the sake of creating. It only costs money, so it would be nice if it also brings in money. Unfortunately I'm not entrepreneurial: I don't scrape together my money to have all my creations printed and then sell them on a market. Fortunately, the internet offers a solution. There they invented 'printing on demand': printing something only when it has been purchased.
Playing shop
Thanks to the internet, we can also build websites to sell your goods. We can play shop: welcome customers to our store online, have orders placed, forward them after payment to a Print on Demand supplier and have them shipped directly to the customer. But wait a minute: I don't feel like that; I'm way too busy creating to include all this customer contact. I prefer to look for a gallery that will sell my works for me. These also exist, although they are more often called 'marketplaces' on the internet.
Sell in the Netherlands
I have already found an online gallery for sales in the Netherlands: Werk aan de Muur. That organization is making great strides with advertising on TV and is expanding to neighboring countries under the name Art Heroes, so that an ever-larger audience can see - and buy - the works. There is only one drawback: you are one of the many artists who offer works through this platform. The chance that people find you spontaneously is not that great. That's why I'm looking around for more sales channels.
While poking around, it turned out that there are a number of criteria on which the different platforms distinguish themselves:
- artist puts works on their own website or in the gallery of the platform
- production in the Netherlands or close enough to keep shipping costs low
- production on other continents for wide range
- art on the wall, on clothing, or on accessories
- artist has to pay to show stuff on platform
- payment method: is Paypal required, or a credit card
Worldwide
The interest in Print on Demand is worldwide, which means that there are also many reviews to be found. Based on that, here's a list of providers I want to research (in no particular order):
- RedBubble
- Zazzle.com
- Fine Art America
- Printful
- Printify
- Sellfy
- CafePress
- Society 6
- Gelato
- Spreadshirt
- (Tee)Spring
- AI art shop
In the table below you will find what the different platforms say about themselves on their own website.
| Platform | Need your own website | Present in NL | Production locations | Type of products | Subscription fee or margin | Payment system |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RedBubble | no | yes | Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America | wall art, apparel, bed-and-bath, accessories | 18% - 43% van de winst | Paypal (in Europa buiten UK) |
| Zazzle | no | probably | unclear | idem | free | Paypal, creditcards |
| Fine Art America | no | yes | United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Netherlands, Australia | idem | standard: free premium: €30/year | Paypal |
| Printful | yes | no | US, Canada, Brasil, UK, Spain, Latvia, Japan, Australia | idem | free | arrange yourself |
| Printify | yes | yes | Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | idem | standard: free, premium: $29/maand | credit card, Printify balance |
| Sellfy | no | ? | US, Canada, UK, Europe (unclear where) | idem + ebooks, videos, audio & music | Starts at $19/month | Paypal (incl. iDeal), creditcards, Apple Pay, Google pay. |
| CafePress | no | no | Australia, Canada, UK | wall art, apparel, bed-and-bath, accessories | free | credit cards, PayPal, and CafeCash |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
The small print
This list is not finished yet, but research takes so much time that I'm going to dedicate another episode to it next week. Then I also have time to draw conclusions from it.
Depending on the production location, not everything is sold in Europe at the print-on-demand websites that sell a lot of different things, so for example clothing, but no gadgets. Or it will be sold to you, but with much higher shipping costs and longer delivery times.
The platforms where you can buy a lot of different stuff offer fewer choices in types of wall art than Werk aan de Muur/ Art Heroes; for example on canvas and poster, but not on acrylic, metal and other materials.
At Fine Arts America they offer you the option to generate designs with AI!
Next week
I'm giving myself a week to complete the list above, so see you then!
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