As a fine artist you are most likely used to working with materials and mediums in real life. But if you ever thought about selling your artwork online as a print or canvas wrap, learning how to digitize your pieces is crucial. That’s why we’re excited to collaborate with Stephanie Weaver, a long-time Gooten partner, to learn the best, budget-friendly ways to digitize your artwork!
Stephanie has been painting for over 20 years and what started as a creative outlet eventually became a full-fledged business powered by Gooten. When she first started selling her prints, she would have to go into a physical shop in order to scan canvases—a costly and laborious process. Over the years with the help of technology advancements, she has learned many tips and tricks on how to easily and more affordably digitize her artwork at home!
Getting Started
Before even picking up your paintbrush, Stephanie recommends first figuring out a few key items:
- Who is your audience? If you want to sell your artwork, you need to make sure it’s something your customers want to buy! Stephanie is very specific about what kinds of paintings she sells in her store to make sure it’s marketable enough for her audience. If your audience loves florals and natural landscapes, then painting cars or buildings may not be up their alley.
- What kind of print on demand product do you want to sell your print on? With over 130+ products in our catalog, there are a lot of options to choose from at Gooten! But deciding if you want to put your artwork on a throw pillow or framed print will help you determine the size of the canvas you will initially paint on. For example, if you plan on selling a 16 x 24 Economy Framed Print, then you can determine that the size of your canvas ratio should be 2 x 3.
How to Digitize Your Artwork
Once you’ve put the finishing touches on your beautiful, original artwork, it’s time to digitize it so that you can upload it to the Gooten Product Hub! Here are two options:
Option 1: Use a scanner
A scanner is perfect for those smaller pieces. While it is an investment to purchase a scanner, Stephanie believes that a scanner is the best at-home method to get high-resolution files of your artwork. She recommends the HP ENVY 6055.
Option 2: Take a photo
For larger pieces that won’t fit on a scanner, Stephanie recommends taking a photo of the artwork. If it fits in your budget, she highly encourages hiring a professional artwork photographer to ensure the best quality images, but it is definitely something you can do yourself—it may just take a bit longer!
Once you have a high-resolution file of your artwork, Stephanie suggests editing the image in Photoshop or Canva to ensure that it looks like the original piece.
The most important piece of advice Stephanie has for fellow artists is to “go ahead and get started!” It may seem hard at first, but the best way to learn is just to start doing. It used to take Stephanie two days to digitize one piece of artwork, now she can do 8 in one day!
Need some help to start selling your artwork? Join Stephanie’s free 4-Day Challenge to Create Passive Income Using Your Artwork
