I've tried looking through past posts and haven't found a discussion on this.

I do colored pencil drawings. I am doing my first shows for my artwork this fall. I have been stressing out about getting good scans and then good prints/reproductions done that I can matte and sell inexpensively. Then today I thought, do I even need to bother? I am new to selling my drawings (not new to art shows). As everyone knows, it is a decent chunk of change up front for scans, printing, mattes, packaging, etc. Should I just take my framed originals to these first three shows and see how they sell, if there is even any interest, before I invest the money in repros?

I feel like I'm rambling. Any advice and thoughts are very appreciated. Thanks!

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  • Okay, I'm doing prints. My first show went well and I did sell four originals (three to one person). But my most popular piece was also my most expensive, go figure. I know I would have sold prints of that piece for sure. So now I have another question. Do I need to mat the prints? I am going to do mostly 11x14 prints with some 8X10s. Looking up the cost for prints, mats, backing board, and bags is enough to cause an anxiety attack. I'm thinking about selling unmatted prints. Is this good, bad, stupid, acceptable? I've seen artists selling prints both ways at shows before.

  • Thanks for all the input! I am going to stick with originals for my first couple of shows and see how it goes. I'll get my large pieces scanned for reproductions in the future. I'm so busy trying to produce enough work to fill my booth and making frames, I can't imagine trying to deal with small prints as well right now.

    Thanks again!

  • I've been selling matted reproductions and notecards. I have recently have added coasters and some reproductions on aluminum (mostly because for my work they make sense.) The matted reproductions don't sell that well. If I'm lucky, I maybe sell 2 at a show. I only have matted reproductions of paintings that have sold and not full size. Everything on my walls are originals. However, the note cards, coasters and to some extent the metal reproductions have done very well. I've raised my prices on my notecards and they have sold VERY well this year. For notecards you don't need as high resolution images so I've shot most of them myself. However, I am also a graphic designer so I have some experience with image/color manipulation, layout and printing.

    My worry is that these sales may be taking away from sales of my originals since I have sold few of those this year. I think it all depends on the type of shows you're doing. I have a couple of shows where I will not be bringing any reproductions.

    • Realize that if you sell notecards/reproductions that you will have people asking if you have that drawing in this size. Or if you have a reproduction or card of this one. You will have people that spend 20 mins searching through your cards and laying them out and asking which three go well together. You will also have people wonder if all the work on the walls are original, especially if many of the other 2d artists have mostly reproductions. All of these may happen if you only have originals, but the return on the time spent selling is more.

      • Getting people spending 20 minutes in your booth is a great thing. People are always attracted to a crowd. I almost always sell an original when my booth gets crowded.

        My sales of originals have increased since I started selling prints.

        • I didn't mean any of those things were bad.

  • I was next to a lady this past weekend who did not have any reproductions. She had no problems selling her original framed pastels. Her price point was between $200 and $1500. 

  • I sell both and it works very well for me. I started doing shows with just originals and this is my first year selling prints. We have all had those shows where people weren't buying higher priced items, so for these shows prints have really saved me. My booth walls are all originals ranging from $300 to $2,000 and then I have a print bin. One thing I've noticed is people that like my work either b-line it to the print bin or ignore it all together. I believe those who buy prints can't afford an original, so why not make a little money off them too? 

    If you do decide to eventually sell prints, I believe it's important to keep them minimal so the originals are the main focus in your booth.

  • It all depends on what you want to do. If your booth is full of small reproductions that is what people will focus on. It also depends on the show. If it is a show full of reproductions selling your originals will be harder. So think about what your profit on an original is then think about how much time and money it is to sell as much of the small pieces. Does that work for you? Which would you rather do? Aiming at the better quality events and specifically at the "only originals" shows, may make up your mind for you.

  • Hi, I just finished a show over the 4th of July weekend and sold both prints and originals.  The prints and notecards pretty much helped my cover the cost of attending the show.  I was lucky to sell a handful of original pieces as well.  I also do colored pencil work, as well as watercolor, acrylic and ink.

    I guess it depends on what kind of reproductions you are thinking of selling.  I scan my pieces and sell them as notecards,matted prints and bookmarks (see attached pics).  These of course are just inkjet prints but printed at a high resolution.  One thing I consider is that not everyone can afford the original but would still like to take something home that is your art.

    I sell the matted prints as a 5x7 image in a 8x10 mat in a clear poly envelope.  The notecards are sold in clear envelopes also (helps keep the fingerprints off them).  The bookmarks are in a 5mil thick pouch that is then heat laminated.

    I mainly do native american shows and all the items I sell as reproductions do very well.  I even sell them (wholesale) to shops across the country the specialize in native american fine art.  I have my products for sale at the Heard Museum Bookstore in Phoenix, AZ as well as the Gift Shop at the National Museum of the Native American in Washington, D.C.

    Hope this helps,

    Dalton

    www.daltonbjamesart.com

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