ONLINE WALL ART POSTERS

Giclée is often used for limited edition prints of fine art. As long as a high-resolution image file of the artwork exists, either through a photograph or scanner, the artist can produce a giclee print to display or sell their work.

These prints are popular with consumers and artists today because they are long-lasting. Giclée prints can last 100 years or more if you care for them properly. They are also very accurate to the original artwork, making them ideal for reproductions and displaying digital pieces.

Posters are paper prints. A printmaker applies an image to a large piece of paper to display, usually for marketing purposes.

Though colorful posters didn’t become commonplace until the middle of the 20th century, posters have been around for a long time. In 1477, in England, one of the earliest printmakers, William Caxton, printed one of the first known posters. It was to advertise a handbook for the priests of Salisbury.

Posters come from various printmaking techniques, including the lithographic press, screen printing, and digital printing. Today, most come from digital tools. They advertise movies, musical performances, books, and more.

Linocuts are sometimes called “modern woodcuts.” Rather than using wood, these prints rely on linoleum sheets. The artist uses a knife or chisel to carve into a linoleum sheet, creating a mirror image of what they’re ultimately trying to create.

This technique has a few advantages to woodcuts. For one, linoleum lacks grain, meaning the artist can create a broader range of effects than they can with wood. It also is relatively easy to work with, allowing the artist to create large decorative prints.

It’s so easy to work with that, for many years, the art industry looked down on linocuts. Yet, when Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse began using them in the 1950s, views on linocuts changed.

Lithography is a printmaking method Invented in 1798 by Alois Senefelder, and is considered one of the most challenging printmaking methods. Lithography involves drawing directly onto stone or metal using a grease-based medium. Then, the artist treats the stone with a chemical solution, ensuring the image will attract printing ink. The solution ensures blank areas will repel the ink while attracting water.

After that, the artist uses a solvent to fix the image. Then, they dampen the surface with water and apply an oil-based ink. The ink adheres to the image, ensuring it is the only thing that comes through when the stone presses onto the dampened paper placed in the lithographic press.

Initially, lithographers reserved this technique for musical scores and maps, but some fine art prints also come from lithography. Modern commercial lithography uses a similar method. However, rather than stones and oil-based inks, it relies on plastic pieces and polymer coatings.

Monotype prints, or monotyping, is a printmaking process where paint or ink is applied directly to a non-porous surface (often copper, acrylic, or glass), and then transferred onto paper via pressure, such as with a printing press, a brayer, or even by hand.

The resulting print is unique, and cannot be recreated exactly, hence the name “monotype”. Sometimes, there is enough ink remaining on the metal to create a second ghost impression. It tends to be far less valuable than the original work.

You’ll find monotypes mixed with lithographs in some of James Rosenquist’s works, such as The Kabuki Brushes and Crosshatch and Mutation. Monotypes are also dominant in some of Edgar Degas’s creations.

A screen print uses an ink-blocking stencil set on a screen. Printmakers apply ink to the screen, with it selectively passing through the screen to create the final image.

Screen printing is a common commercial practice. It gained immense popularity in the 1960s and 1970s as a staple of the pop art movement. One of its greatest contributors is Andy Warhol, who used it to make the famous Campbell’s Soup and Marilyn Monroe portfolios.

Today, screen printing is still common in the garment industry. Many logo hats, hoodies, and t-shirts rely on silk screen printers.

Woodcutting is one of the oldest printmaking techniques. It’s a simple form of relief print in which an artist carves an image into wood that’s then covered in ink. Finally, the artist presses it to a surface, leaving an image behind.

This technique originated in China and migrated to the west in the 13th Century. Albrecht Durer, a 15th Century German artist, initially popularized it. Later, expressionist artists in the late 1800s, such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil Nolde, revived the technique.

Frame Your Posters

There are various reasons an artist might make prints. Prints offer a new medium for artists to use as a creative outlet. They also may encourage collaboration within a print workshop that an artist may find appealing. In addition, artists can use prints to document their creative process.

No, a print is not just a copy. In fine art, printmaking often involves working with a print shop full of highly skilled technicians. Though they’re making a reproduction, it’s usually a limited amount set for sale through a gallery or publisher.

Compared to traditional methods, digital prints allow for fast turnaround and the ability to personalize each version of a project with ease. However, the handmade nature of traditional prints usually means they’re worth more.

There are many types of art prints that an artist can use to create their work. Each offers a unique style and appearance, ensuring an individual’s creativity can be expressed. For instance, an artist might want to play with tone and textures in a collagraph or prefer the clean lines of a linocut. Regardless of what they’re looking for, there’s a traditional printmaking technique that offers the right tone for their art.

Finding the right tone through a printmaking technique allows the artist to communicate their message more clearly. These messages do their part to shift and change the world. And, as we’ve pointed out, art’s messages wouldn’t reach the masses were it not for the art of printing.

Many artists graduate from formal art programs adept in color theory, brush techniques, and composition—but don’t know the first thing about business.

How can artists sell art and paintings online? How will they market themselves? Making a living as a career artist means understanding how to build an audience, how to price art products, and the unique requirements for shipping art. It means thinking like an entrepreneur.

Before ecommerce platforms, artists relied on third party gallerists, agents, and retailers to distribute work. The creator tools and sales channels of today were nonexistent. Now, independent artists can own their distribution streams, creating and selling their art online—and on their own terms.

For gallerists and curators, the shift in how we buy and sell in the past two decades has allowed these businesses to represent more artists and expand into selling affordable art prints online to reach larger audiences worldwide.

Whether you’re a creator or a curator looking to make money online selling art such as painting, this step-by-step guide is for you. No matter what type of art you’re into—original acrylic paintings, digital art prints, sculpture—this resource has actionable advice for every artist.

In the following sections, we’ll cover the basics of selling art online for beginners and seasoned artists alike. Explore topics for every level including working with printers and dealing with plagiarism.

We consulted successful artists, curators, and gallerists for their advice on everything you need to know to sell your art online. In this guide to selling your own artwork, their anecdotes will be woven into practical and actionable advice for any creative entrepreneur. Let’s meet our experts.

Cat Seto is an artist and author, and founder of Ferme à Papier, a San Francisco–based boutique representing unique goods from independent designers. Her stationery has appeared in multiple publications and landed her partnerships with brands like Anthropologie and Gap.

Best known by her artist moniker Hatecopy, Maria Qamar quit her advertising career to focus on art when her pop art paintings began to catch fire on Instagram. Now she works full time on her art, selling her own paintings in multiple formats, from art prints to books to printed merch.

Ken Harman is the man behind the art empire that includes Spoke Art, Hashimoto Contemporary, and publishing company Paragon Books. Together, these businesses represent many global artists through physical galleries, online shops, and pop-up exhibitions.

There are two ways to sell art online: create or curate. Cat built her career on both by creating and selling her own work and representing the work of others in her boutique. Which one is right for you?