Need Ideas on How to Market Daughter's art

[nursewriter]

My 16 year old is quite a talented artist. Her specialty is the Anime and Manga style of illustrations.

Is there a way for her to market her talents online so that she can earn money and build a reputation?

Is there a market for custom illustrations? I want to see her using her talent and start making some cash.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks
Lucinda

[Matt Jutras]

Hi Lucinda,

I would suggest Etsy :: Your place to buy and sell all things handmade

Very reliable site...more aimed at arts and crafts but there are a TON of artists on there as well.

Good luck!

[priyankeshu]

CafePress: Custom & funny t-shirts plus unique gifts < can also be considered. But the best thing would be to find forums where people might be interested in getting that thing done.

[nursewriter]

Originally Posted by sevryn999

If she's really good, create customized caricatures for people

I had mentioned the caricatures to her. I guess the best thing would be to set her up with a web site to market her services?

I also checked out Etsy....this may be an option also. Just seems like a lot of the artwork goes for way too cheap on there.

Here is a sample of what she can do.....I am proud of her

[TommyBussey]

I feel like there would definitely be a market for your daughter. I know it was mentioned before about doing custom caricatures, but I think she should focus on just doing custom anime and manga (caricatures could just be one of her "categories").

I believe you should start with some keyword research and market analysis. Find out what people are searching for in the realm of anime art.

From there you can buy a keyword related domain name. And set her up a slick website. I would suggest looking at other sites within the niche and doing something similar. Especially if a site has been around for awhile (because they're obviously doing something right).

From there you begin the marketing process.

Good luck! Tell your daughter she is very talented (not that I know anything at all about anime, buuut it looks like all the professional stuff I see, so I think she's got it )

- Tommy

[CDarklock]

Is your daughter interested in being the artist for a web comic?

Because I'm interested in finding one. Have been for a couple years. PM me.

[Louise Evans]

She could join Deviant Art and sell prints deviantART: where ART meets application!

[JAIDEEP2959]

You can sell those arts on Ebay which is the largest marketplace of the world.

You can set up auctions for the arts.

As you make sales, you get more feedbacks and good reputation.

[Sumit Menon]

Originally Posted by nursewriter

I had mentioned the caricatures to her. I guess the best thing would be to set her up with a web site to market her services?

I also checked out Etsy....this may be an option also. Just seems like a lot of the artwork goes for way too cheap on there.

Here is a sample of what she can do.....I am proud of her

Wow.. I'm 16 and I wish I could do that! I don't watch Animes but that's so awesome...

I wouldm alsom suggest starting a blog and selling custom T-Shirts And Mugs as priyankeshu suggested. That could act as a portfolio too...

Sumit.

[ecovergeeks]

I would suggest you learns how to illustrate and then start drawing and illustrating things, that placing the images on stock photo websites.

just an idea, some people earn thousands doing this. there will be a little learning curve using the software though

Thanks
Andy

[Chris-]

Some good suggestions already, here's some more . . .

Zazzle, many people are saying they prefer it to CafePress.

ImageKind, a good place to sell high-quality giclee prints (free for one gallery)

Find a company selling limited edition prints or greetings cards similar to her work and approach them. They always need new art, and it doesn't cost you anything to work with them. Make sure you understand the royalty agreement before you give them the artwork . . . I got cheated out of many years of royalties as a best-selling greetings card artist because I didn't know enough to get that kind of thing in writing.

Do a squidoo lens about her art.

All those options are free.

Put up her own website and sell from there. That option costs a little.

For most of those options, getting the products available is the easy bit . . . getting traffic that will BUY is the challenge. Ask here (or look at existing info) for how to do that . . . what I mean is, you put your stuff on all the above places, that doesn't mean you'll ever actually SELL anything . . . you have to get people to look at the artwork, and ideally find people who will actually buy it. So you might have to do things like article marketing, comments on blogs, reciprocal links, etc. And it's still a challenge . . . art is NOT easy to sell online, but it IS possible, so do all the above, take action, and keep learning!

A comment on Ebay . . . general art has a sell-through percentage about 5% last time I checked, so that means you have to list it an average of 20 times before you sell one thing. So keep that in mind . . . don't list it 10 times and think you've failed . . . unless you've listed it about 40 or 50 times, you really don't know if it will sell at all. Also keep the sell-through in mind when you consider selling price . . . if you sell for less than your total listing fees, you're making a loss, although, it might be worth making a loss, or only breaking even for a while to gain popularity, then you can increase your prices.

Also, have you tried selling offline . . . "fine art graphics" is a legitimate category now, with makor galleries dedicated to it (I am thinking of one which was there a few years ago in Cork Street, London, not sure if it's still there)? Find suitable galleries and talk to them. Again, it's NOT easy, but worth the effort if you can make it work. And/or do your own exhibitions in libraries, and other such places.

one could even get Limited edition giclees printed oneself (plenty of companies doing this, UK was considerably cheaper than US, when I researched it a few years ago), and walk round suitable high-street galleries and show them. Note, big "fine art" galleries usually sell originals, high-street galleries usually sell Limited edition giclees these days, BUT to make it as a respected fine artist, critics will count it against you if you sell Limited Edition prints, so keep that in mind!

Hope that helps! If you need any details on what I've said, feel free to Personal-Message me!


Chris

[JohnMcCabe]

Here's a quick idea...

From the sample you posted, your daughter is seriously talented. Anime' and Manga are hot right now.

Could she take generic fashion photos and create illustrations? The market would be boutique owners, fashion designers, even retail stores oriented to your daughter's age group. That might bring some steady cash.

On the side, she could create art for t-shirts, going the Zazzle/Cafe Press route.

[Danton Morgan]

Two art sites that I don't think have been mentioned yet...

FineArtAmerica.com

RedBubble.com

My apologies if they've already been cited in this thread.

- Danton

[Jagged]

My girlfriends 17 yr old daughter is very much into anime / manga. It's an extremely hot topic...



Thinking about this....after watching our 17 yr old "attempt" to draw it herself...never really getting it right...saying "I wish I knew how to draw this" & knowing many of her friends are the same way....maybe a "How To Draw Anime / Manga Styles" series of ebooks or print books. Break it down into:

• Basics of drawing anime
• How to draw female anime figures
• How to draw male anime figures
• How to draw animal anime
• How to draw anime action scenes

Our 17 yr old anime artist wannabe watches a lot of anime / manga on YouTube, which in itself is hot right now....
Maybe a series of "How To" Video's....showing her actually sketching out charactors step by step...show them just enough to leave them wanting more....monitize the video's with links to your ebook series or print books. Could make short video series on each topic above....

In my opinion....a website would be a must!! Naturally to promote the "how to series" but also to offer her own sketches...
Twitter / Facebook / MySpace could com into play heavily for promotions & building a loyal customer base...

With a minimal investment...mostly time....she could do very well with this....she is extremely talented.

Best of luck...let us know how she makes out with this...

Ken

PS: I should hook our daughter with yours & colaborate on making an anime series of stories. Our daughter is extremely gifted in writing storylines for anime / manga...but lacks in the artistic skills...I bet there's money to be made there....creating their own anime charactors & series.

[nursewriter]

These ideas are great. She has told me time and time again that she wants to be a freelance artist but she doesn't know where to start.

I especially like the idea of the how to books aimed at the younger audience. She already has a few Youtube videos that shows her drawing some of her figures but they are high speed and have no voice overs so it's really not tutorial.

I am going to discuss a few of these options with her. We have been discussing her need for a part time job but why flip burgers when you have talent?

[avenuegirl]

That is really nice work.

Just a thought - if she can think into longer term she could find someone to work a story around her characters, and create a childrens book of some kind, and perhaps push on into the future with selling the character line in clothing, dolls, etc.

I could totally see that image on bed sheets, as a doll, printed on trinket boxes, lunchboxes, backpacks.

Is she naming them?

[Mmfh]

Originally Posted by Louise Evans

She could join Deviant Art and sell prints deviantART: where ART meets application!

That's exactly what I was going to say. My two kids are very talented like their Mom and Grandma. I bought them both a membership in Deviant Art for last Christmas and they think its the best thing they have going.

I pay I think about $5 a month but I think that its a really cheap way to encourage my kids to do something they are very good at.

Setting her up with a great site and than linking out of deviant art to her site might be very good!

Mm

PS; You should be proud of her, she is very talented!

[garyv]

I've been paying out good money for similar work to designers here:

http://99designs.com/

May want to check it out.

Edit - Actually I just logged on over there and Sega is holding some sort of anime design contest, winner to receive $480. Here's the link, but you have to be signed in to view the contest: http://99designs.com/contests/30691

[nursewriter]

Originally Posted by avenuegirl

That is really nice work.

Just a thought - if she can think into longer term she could find someone to work a story around her characters, and create a childrens book of some kind, and perhaps push on into the future with selling the character line in clothing, dolls, etc.

I could totally see that image on bed sheets, as a doll, printed on trinket boxes, lunchboxes, backpacks.

Is she naming them?

I am pretty sure she has a name for all of her characters. That is a fantastic idea. She is a pretty good writer also. I just need to get her to believe in herself enough to push ahead.

She tends to be overly critical of herself and her talent. I don't think she even realizes the type of money that can be made in this market.

[getsmartt]

Just a FYI...make sure that any art she is selling is of original characters, selling pictures of characters in Anime/Manga Books/Movies/TV Shows and profiting from them is a violation of the copyright on those characters.

[nursewriter]

Originally Posted by getsmartt

Just a FYI...make sure that any art she is selling is of original characters, selling pictures of characters in Anime/Manga Books/Movies/TV Shows and profiting from them is a violation of the copyright on those characters.

Some of the characters she has drawn are from current video games and such ....but she has developed characters that are all her own and named them. The character below is her own creation....His name is Reikar.