If you were to purchase art..

[EnchantedAutumn]

I paint in a variety of mediums, mostly landscapes and nature related themes. I currently have a pretty decent selection of work, both on paper, canvas and digital. I have recently been thinking about marketing some of them.

I would love to know, from those of you who enjoy/purchase art, whether you have a particular preference when it comes to the medium?
I find that whilst the digital work is vibrant and easy to print (at more affordable prices), there seems to be less of a market for it unless working with a company online (redbubble, Ikea, etc).

Are you more inclined to notice original works on paper than reproduction prints? And if so, why?
Prints are more affordable yet are able to be reproduced, so lack the 'uniqueness' of a one-time purchase. I see quite a few print shops selling framed digital art, but do think the offline market is quite small.

Generally speaking, both a digitally painted landscape and an original watercolour might be equally wonderful and well made, but do they hold a similar value to the customer?

I only buy unframed prints, and the most I'd spend on one would be £40-50. I like having cheap prints I can swap in and out. I wouldn't want to spend hundreds on something I might get sick of looking at in a few years' time.

caveat- I am no art expert, or even vaguely aware of what is considered good or bad art.

I prefer an original, or limited edition print, but am not bothered if I like the piece. Depends on budget as well.

medium as well I don’t care.

i don’t buy pictures for the sake of having something to take up the walls. My favourite picture is a print I found walking past an art gallery, I was skint but liked it so much I found the £100 somehow. 30 years later I still enjoy looking at it and get a little happy glow when I see it. Worth every penny.

contrast with a “nice” watercolour rural scene, Ltd edition i got for my birthday. It’s nice, but meh 🤷‍♀️. Boring.

i like stuff that makes me feel better when I see it. I do have an appreciation for art which is quite dark and disturbing, but I’ve never bought any as while I think it’s amazing, I’m not sure I want that energy around me all day, iyswim.

I buy both prints and ‘proper art’.

I wouldn’t consider paying anything like the same price for each. The oil paintings (mostly, some watercolours) I own are unique, and I love the immediate connection to the artist.

As you say, you can buy prints in Ikea. They might be a nice thing to look at, but they won’t have the magic of an original.

Generally speaking, both a digitally painted landscape and an original watercolour might be equally wonderful and well made, but do they hold a similar value to the customer? Not to me, and I admit that it’s 90% complete ignorance on my part. I can see the work and the talent involved in producing a piece on canvas or paper, but I know nothing about how digital art works. I can’t see how much is down to the artist and how much is down to the computer, or how much work and creativity went into producing it.

The other 10% is partly a dislike of digital everything (I’m a Luddite) and partly because a painting just feels more special when you can see the brush strokes.

I am willing to spend much more money on "physical" art than digital or prints. Mostly because I see the time and effort taken for each vs the monetary value to the artist to be totally different for each.
A one off original, "physical" piece of art may take 15hrs of work and say £50 of materials to make. Say at £10 a hour (low, but ease of calculations here) so final price is £200 to a signal purchaser.
A digital or print may take the same number of hours, less physical media, and can be easily reproduced and bought my many purchasers, so say they sold it at £50 each. Selling 4 prints/copies makes the same as selling one physical bit of art, but if they then go on to sell 4 more copies, it's much more profitable.

I buy both physical originals and digital/prints, but my price points are totally different for both.

I have some original art pieces, and some prints. Bought purely because I loved the pieces.

Have you thought about approaching a greetings card maufacturer? They might be interested in using some of your work on their cards.

I think it depends - we've got nice watercolours of places we like by decent local artists, and we've got prints such as a hockney 'dog painting' we love and Audubon birds - not the sort of thing we could get originals of.

Prints and digital probably have to be higher inherent artistic quality to be as attractive as 'real' original media.

I like art and have purchased several oil paintings for my home (mostly seascapes). It’s not an investment or anything for me, I just buy what I like looking at. I have the odd print too but not keen on digital art except for the kids rooms maybe. I’m running out of space on my walls!

Come to think, I've a small oil seascape - the texture is important to the effect, prints of oils really do miss that third dimension.

I collect art and have done for 20+ years. I only buy original works (various media), unless the print is by an exceptional artist and a very limited run. I’m not interested in mass market prints. I mostly like originals because of the texture. I don’t find it is ever well reproduced, even with the amazing printing techniques nowadays.

I buy at auction, from galleries, antique markets, art shows and direct from the artists. I’m not bothered about getting ‘bored’ by my pieces as I buy what I love and am yet to get bored of anything in my collection. I’m also not bothered about them not matching my decor as I don’t collect them as interior design items (blue painting in a blue room or whatever). I do have a swap around every now again, moving things around the house/into storage but that’s mostly when something new comes in and I want to hang it.

That said, there is a market for mass market prints but it is probably extremely hard to break into as a small artist/producer. You’re going up against massive people like IKEA and all the online poster people.

I buy original art in various media and have done for over 25 years.
If you are looking to sell, you may find a good introduction route is to join an active local art group or art society.
I would suggest you visit some local exhibitions to suss out the calibre and variety of its members’ output as these groups vary considerably in both scope and talent of its artists. There is often a waiting list to join the ‘better’ ones.
Another starting point I would recommend is to visit other artists at work, easily done through ‘Artweeks’ and ‘Open Studios’, to see what local competition you have and to consider taking part.
Overall, I would recommend joining a group with other artists, not least for camaraderie and support, but also as a jumping off point in a low key way.

I'm far from an art collector! My mum is an artist, mainly oil, but also water colour and pastels- although she doesn't realise how good she is!

I have bought a few prints, but they were limited edition and connected to a place I was visiting. I didn't know the artist at all but liked the prints. I would spend more on an oil or water colour I liked, over a mass produced print. TBH-I wouldn't notice if it was on paper or canvas!

I have some original works that I love - one is in oils and the texture is so important to it that the prints just couldn't compare. Likewise textile art.

With watercolours or other media the texture isn't as crucial so I am happy with buying prints.

I have a lovely print that was originally charcoal and another that was pastels.

Another collector here - if I like the artist then it wouldn’t matter overmuch to me what the medium is - as long as the piece was reasonably consistent with the style of the artist or was recognizably by their hand. It sounds to me that you are producing artworks to sell in a fairly scattergun way because you enjoy the process. If I asked you ‘what is your art communicating?’ , what would the answer be?

We have some original art - it’s a real mix of media and looks depending on what we liked and some is reminders of places we love

I create all my artwork digitally now. I tend to create one off pieces which are personalised based on the customer- so a picture of a landscape they have sent me. I find it really hard to build a customer base though. Everyone, so far, has been very polite and kind about my artwork but j feel like I can’t charge a lot as it’s a print. This has meant that it’s now a side business as I couldn’t afford to live off it sadly.

I much prefer originals. I have a number of canvases that I have bought and brought back from overseas. On the rare occasion that I buy a print (for cost reasons rather than preference), I like it to have been signed at least by the artist as that feels slightly less mass production.

I only buy original and non-digital art. I would rather save up for an original painting than buy a print, or a ‘hand finished’ piece of work.

The Own Art interest free was a bonus and I bought several pieces using that scheme.

Im less bothered about cost than whether I like a work and have a mix of local and international artists ranging from £50 to £5,000. The higher end tends to be the international artists.

I’m an artist and I don’t believe digital art to be art. I would be happy to spend whatever I could afford on an original piece on canvas

I much prefer the texture you get with an original, but would have a print somewhere like a bathroom. I would also buy a print if I loved the art but couldn't otherwise afford the original. Digital art doesn't appeal.

Thank you all, this is so helpful as I begin my journey to share what I have created!
Most of my work is in traditional media, and I have considered creating small, limited edition prints from some of the originals.
My older, digital work has a very different feel and is more suited to illustrative use, which I have occasionally sold to card companies and a few book covers.

The audience/customer is quite different in each case. It is really interesting to hear how people feel about this, some great points made, thank you!

I buy a lot of art at all price points (£20 on gumtree up to £10k from favourite artist). My personal preference is for oil because I love the texture. I prefer work on canvas. I don’t like work that framed with glass (apart from woodcut or linocut prints) because it feels cheap.

I think there is a market for “interior design” commissions if you want to make money. A lot or artists look down their noses at them. I would happily commission e.g. a seascape with the right colour palette and size for my dining room rather than sod another year looking for something that already exists.

A friend has recently had a lot of success with book covers, greeting cards, coasters and jigsaws and prefers to be able to do that separately from her originals. I think she had an agent.

No idea what this means, I hope that doesn't offend.

There is nothing 'scattergun' about my work, which is generally landscape and nature inspired/semi abstract.
I have explored this theme in watercolour, mixed media and ipad painting for over 15 years. They all fit decently into a coherent portfolio, and whilst the media vary, the work is consistent.

I have sold some of the digital work in the past and would like to branch out further now that I have more free time at home. I have a relatively new instagram account sharing my recent (original) paintings, which I hope to grow.

I mostly buy original or hand finished prints. I know it’s not logical but I can’t justify spending anything like similar money on digital work .