How to Start and Maintain an art shop - tips

[AvidLebon]

If you'd like to be included in next month's update post tips in the Pricing thread, as part two on starting an art shop is already over, but discussion is still welcome.

Do you have any tips on how to start or maintain an art shop? We have a lot of artists in our group, some of them whom have never had an art shop, or have just started their first shop and are looking for guidance.

In our next update I'll be posting tips on how to start your own art shop, as well as things to spruce up your existing shop and get customers. If you have any tips or things that worked for you, please post them here. (I'd prefer member generated content rather than googled tutorials since it's s'pose to be a group thing.)

Your tips will be posted in our next announcement, and help your fellow gaians set up shop, or give tips they never thought of before. biggrin (Everyone whose tip is included will be given credit for the suggestion, of course.)  

[Lupas Deva]

When I'm browsing art shops I usually like to see a good example of their work in their first post. I'm lazy and don't like to search for obscure art links.

I like to know the prices and the length of time it should take up front.


With my own art shop I also post what I will and will not do in bolded red. That way I have less problems with customers being confused.

I do post my expected time limit but if I go over it I usually give them a slight discount or a little extra art. You want to keep your customers happy. Without customers you have no sales.

Be professional! By having a shop you can learn skills to help you in the Real world! If you do well enough you might also put it in your resume to help you get any future jobs!  

[Angel Bella Lovely]

Hmm a few tips...

Color themes, or at least being consistent with your font choices, always makes the shop prettier ^_^ Many a time I've left a shop without even bothering to read the first post because it's wholly-rainbow-font AHHH!!

And I also don't like clicking links to see the art, if you have so much art that putting in thumbnails for all of them is impractical, then have either your favorites, or your most recent, as thumbnails and the rest as links, but at least have a good example of your art to view.

And no weird macro thumbnails... having the thumb as a hand holding a rose when it's a full body picture is just.. strange.
 

[NeoSolar]

I don't know much about running things once a shop's actually set up, but I do know about the getting started stuff. biggrin
Um, I'm bored and can't sleep so this is gonna be long-winded, sorry. >>;

First: Deciding what to sell
What type of shop are you wanting to set up: one for pets, avatar art, OCs (original characters), animations, a combination, etc? (I'll use avatar art as an example here since I'm familiar with it). For avatar art there are further specialties you can choose: full-body, half-body, head shots, chibi; colored, black and white; sketch, signature, post style, profile, etc. You can choose to offer any and all of the above or just specialize in one or two, but you'll need to have at least one example of each type ready to show prospective customers, as well as know about how much time each of them will take you to complete since as Lupas said you need to be a professional and be able to finish in a reasonable amount of time.

Next: Pricing
You'll need to set a price for each type of art you offer in your store, and this can be a tough call. This forum is just for getting suggestions on pricing, so it may be a good place to start gathering ideas. Also, take a look around the Mini Shops and see what the going rates are for similar types of art, and art at similar skill levels to yourself. I would personally rather underprice than overprice and simply raise prices as demand increases, but whatever price you set make sure it seems fair to you and worth your time.

Then: Shop Skeleton
Deciding what info you want, and where you'll put it.
Use the first post just to have a banner for the shop with the shop's name on it, and an example image of what the store offers - these can both be on the banner or separate. Under that, you can put up any important store announcements such as if it's open or closed, and beneath that a small navigation menu if you want. Just remember, don't clutter!
Also needed are a post with the types, prices, and examples of art you're offering. And please, please listen to Bella and use thumbnails on the examples! gonk
Those two are the bare essentials, but I'd also recommend including a post with your open/closed slots that're available, and a form for patrons to fill out when they order. These usually have them fill in the type of art they want and the avatar they want drawn, but can have more info if you need it like reference images, themes, or their payment. Also, specify whether you want them to post it in the thread or PM them to you - if you want them to post it you may want to include something to catch your eye when skimming through posts later so you don't miss it, such as a certain image or bolded/bright text. Other optional posts can be saved for things like affiliate shops, contests, and anything else you think would help the shop. Just remember to list them according to importance; nobody wants to sift through posts about you or a list of past customers when they just want to know your art prices!

Finally: Prettification
As Bella pointed out, the visuals of the shop are important! I mean, why would a patron want to buy art from someone if that person doesn't have enough of an eye to set up their shop in a visually appealing way?
So, start with picking a theme for your shop. A color, a style, an image or interest of yours, or just something that sparks an idea. Ice cream, dark and spooky, orange and pink, guitars, whatever. Use that to generate a name for the shop, and base the color/image choice for the shop off of it as well. Bonus points if you can think of a theme that ties in with your art/style too. Just remember: keep it simple!! Stick to only two or three colors, one readable text style, and don't have any text or images that overwhelm; remember that they're just there to accent the shop and your art.

Examples:
I'm not promoting or anything, but we're artists; visuals are important. So, here's two example threads I came across.
This one's not an art shop, but it's got a simple, clean layout and the pink header text/color splashes are nice touches. The thumbnail gallery in the 4th post is kind of an example of what not to do though; while they give you a vague idea of the image they really don't show enough of the picture. The images from the 2nd & 3rd posts would've been much better examples even if they are a bit big.

This one is a shop, and has a nicely done layout. It only uses a couple of colors, has a very well done intro image with the store layout/mascot image, and keeps up the font from the intro and the mascot throughout the posts as small accents to tie in everything visually.  

[Catniss]

I admit, creating a brand new art shop is pretty difficult, what with having to worry about appearance, popularity, titles, and so on. And I also have to admit that I don't have a shop of my own because I won't be able to keep up with orders.
So right now I'm just basically going to give tips that include what I would like to see in a shop. . . .

Font should be pretty, neat, organzided, and somewhat proffesional looking - you don't want customers to think you're a dope/n00b.

Post an example of previous commisions; posting gaia-related material helps getting attention from customers. Also, posting a picture right there in shop refrains you from posting a link - people just hate having to idle just to look at some random example.

Make up a good name for your shop, something original - people just LOVE originallity, and something nifty.

Be sure to post prices for different forms of art, and an estimate of how long it would take to create art.

Make the prices REASONABLE. For example, 1,000,000 is ridiculous for a mere bust of an avvie.

If you have a deviantART, post a link to your profile - people might just get more than curious!!

That's all for now. I might post more later. mrgreen Good Luck!!  

[SheRaYuuKa]

wow...all people here very experienced!Thanks for sharing your tips here,,maybe I will be open my own art shop soon, 3nodding  

[sammea]

It's sarcastic but hey, it worked for me!  

[Masquanade]

sammea

It's sarcastic but hey, it worked for me!

I agree with the Sarcastic Guide. A lot of truths were spoken.

One big thing I would like to note on is to make your art as visible as possible, but not over whelming. Never hide you art behind links, because it is annoying. I fully promote using thumbnails for your samples, but if not- at least have some other art floating around your thread. The sooner and faster people see your art- the better. As such your samples should be really early on in your thread. I run a joint shop, but the first artist's art is in the third post. Your art is the money maker- show it as soon as you can. If they don't like your art- they're not going to want to read anything else in your thread.