Development of my digital art print shop on Etsy

Lola chihuahua modern print created in an hour and listed the same day

Since I began the digital painting journey back in the day of May of 2019-I have been simply drawing and painting and posting and hoping for the best with my art. Ok. Some people may find that satisfying but this July of 2022 it occurred to me that that was not enough. 3 months later I have completely re learned everything there is to be known about selling digital art online. Passive income is simply this:

Make a bunch of art

Open a shop on Etsy 

Let the money roll in. 

It’s so easy!

Stand by we will return after these messages!

22 easy steps for selling digital art (for passive income)

Idea (to create the item)

Creating (the art piece)

Uploading (the artwork)

Editing (the artwork)

Saving (the artwork)

Relearning (photoshop size ratios)

Saving (ratio templates)

Test printing (the samples)

Purchasing (the licensed mock-ups)

Creating (the mock-ups)

Saving (the mock-ups)

Designing (the shop)

Researching (the competition)

Searching (the proper keywords)

Memorizing (the proper meta words and descriptions)

Shooting (the videos)

Saving (the videos)

Pricing (the the items properly)

Listing (the products)

Uploading (the files)

Describing (the products)

Revising (the listings)

Sharing (the listed products on Pinterest and Instagram)

Repeat and start the process over again to list 100 different products as a goal to actually make sales because Etsy needs to trust in your product. (Yes you ONLY need to create each art piece listing once. Then your stock of 999 products of ONE design are set to auto pilot. THAT is ultimately passive income.) I haven’t even mentioned updating the listings and my website to stay new and fresh for the algorithm to rank me somewhere high up there for my target audience peeps to even consider buying my art. 3 months of some serious intense prep work. And I’m just getting started. Like I said it’s so easy. Only sell what you love. And they will stop by to buy your art!

 

Peeking panda and pets print series available in my new shop!

Peeking panda 12x18” print

Peeking Razzy 16x20” print

Peeking Clovis 20 x 20” print

 The initial decision to start selling my art as prints began only 3 months ago. I had a look at my work and was adding wildlife art along with the pet art. YouTube has taught me wonders. Since then it’s been quite a learning experience. The entire process for setting up a shop that sells digital downloads via etsy is a monumental task that does require not only creative art skills but also a technical skill. Did I mention business skills? Selecting the proper art pieces that actually look aesthetically appealing to a buyer is tricky. Relearning final file, templates and print size in photoshop as well as seo meta description and key words is something to memorize. What many people call passive income takes an enormous amount of solid and intense prep work. I am willing to do my due diligence because the the end result IS passive income. Above are the Mockup  designs that were purchased for commercial use so I have a license to use for my shop. They are absolutely lovely in my humble opinion!!! Modern and fresh interior design to display the fanciful and fun modern animal prints! I will have 15 peeking panda and pet prints available to purchase and download to your computer so you have the option to print from home or local print shop such as Walgreens-most affordable and good quality or a online professional high end shop such as finerworks. The largest print size is either a 20x20” or 16x20” or 12x18” depending on the frame you have. This is series one. New designs will be added as fast as a bunny!

Buy art because surrounding yourself with beauty is essential for life!

Affordable and enjoyable printables!

 

The scandi Norwegian version soon to be available for purchase in A4 size-plenty of  pet  options for this!

Pet printables series one size 11x14” available soon-series two will have size 16x20” as the largest printable size!

Making the step towards monetizing my art. I’ve been a pet photographer for years and transitioned to becoming a pet painter only 4 years into this and all the time I’ve been learning and taking my art to different levels such as traditional painting, YouTube channel, and Instagram Doggust challenges twice! It has occurred to me to maybe start monetizing my art but I was stuck for so long and never quite ready. I’ve spent a great deal of hours upon hours of learning my craft and style that I chose not to let the cute and fun art to go to waste. Painting each and every pet is a lengthy process. It’s a labor of love indeed. There is always the plan,subject,goal and then completing the final piece feeling pressure and doubt and so on for hours. Posting a piece on Instagram is good for the gallery. But it sinks to the bottom of the Instagram scroll pool. Stuck there in the digital world. Where it could possibly disappear forever. Idk how to explain properly but Instagram is a great instant gratification/dopamine hit for a moment. The gallery is neat and useful. But all the hours spent creating something from nothing needs to mean something more than a 2 second peek at a cute and unique piece of art. And that’s where Etsy wins. 

Printables. Digital downloads. Instant. Affordable. Art for the everyday person. I like to say pet prints are budget focused with an eye for maximum enjoyment. It’s a place to make a difference in your art. Selling you art online. Like not selling on eBay which is expensive(fees!)but super duper easy-I’ve been selling there for over ten years-or even the POD-print on demand-zazzle and red bubble which eats MOST of your royalty profits- And not yet selling from your actual website (I plan to sooooon!)which can be difficult and lengthy at first. It’s in between. Sure there are fees. But not for digital downloads. So that’s a win.  I do realize that. I’m ok with that. I’ll manage.

Pet photography brought plenty of joy but pet painting brings a whole different layer of art satisfaction!

I’m going to start with my original and unique pop up pet planners first. Then pet printables. And eventually offer custom pet portraits. So it’s a good mix of graphic design. Art prints. And original art. 

I’m following these steps I learned from a YouTuber and that is: improve on an existing product. Create something new. And then finally brand yourself. 

Pet art is timeless. It’s forever cute and classic. It will never go out of style. 

We loooove our pets and will do whatever it takes to make them oh so happy because they don’t judge. 

13 years blogging and growing strong!

Kenobi 2009

 Today is year 13 of blogging. My very first post was June 5 2009. As you can see through the years the art came in waves. From starting small with happy snaps and going to college for painting digitally with Painter X and photoshop to running and operating a part time pet photography biz-to currently obsessing about Procreate and it's level of painting sophistication. Besides showing off this photo of my dog from back then-I don't have much to add other than I'm busy with daily painting mostly digital using procreate but also teaching myself to be more disciplined with traditional art. Finishing off this post with a favorite quote by Vincent Van Gogh: 

If you hear a voice within you say: Do not paint. Then by all means, PAINT! And that voice will be silenced. 

Mountain Lion Cub 2022

Wildlife series in progress!

Tasmanian Devil Soft Pastels & Charcoal Block

 Starting off the wildlife series with a slightly melancholy Tazzie. They tend to fight a lot but this shy guy is a newbie and seems just unsure yet. Obsessed with soft/oil pastel and and charcoal block for depth and texture-also the big eyes are here to stay as I am super absolutely inspired by Margaret Keane's art. The animals need some depth and mood and intensity because all wild animals have to fight for their life every single day. Plan is to draw every day while working my way up to the top wildlife animals to draw/paint-such as the one and only most spectacular -- elephants. Joy! Committed to this journey toward becoming a full time animal artist very soon.