After You Convert Your Artwork - Part 2: What Next?

Now that you have converted your artwork to a digital format, it is time to find out what you can do with it! 

I like using my digital art and photography to design products, sell prints, and add to my stories and articles that I like to write and post.

Some of my artworks can be found on Etsy. I use the company Printify to upload the artwork and attach it to products that I can sell, from cups to clothing. This company interfaces with Etsy, so once I design something, I upload it to Printify, which is easy to link with my Etsy and Pattern (full website that they offer) store. I normally use Photoshop 2023 for my designs as well as utilizing some options available through Printify.

I sell prints and products on the Fine Art America website too. This really started out for my photography, then morphed into my experience learning how to paint. Some of the paintings, well, they leave a lot to be desired, but it is really for me to show my progression. I come from a family of artists and somehow the natural talent skipped me. When time permits, I will paint something, scan it, and then post it to my galleries, be it good or bad. They (whoever they are) say beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Now, that being said, let's move on to the next one...

Vocal-Media is a writer's website that not only promotes one's writing but also challenges writers to write about topics and compete for prize money. You might be wondering if I have won any prize money, unfortunately, not! It wasn't as though I didn't try, there are just so many great writers on that platform that it is incredibly competitive yet surprisingly rewarding. The website gives me motivation to write, even though lately I have not been able to sit at my desk and spend much time doing it. I hope to dedicate myself to writing in the next few months. Wish me luck, life just seems to get in the way! You can find my stories on Vocal-Media.

There are so many avenues for using your digital artwork and photography. You may or may not make money, but the satisfaction of creating something is extremely rewarding, at least for me it is. Check out my website and subscribe to follow. I will be posting updated content soon, and you won't want to miss out!

Stay Artsy!

How to Reproduce Your Art & Make it Digital - Part I: Scanning

Flatbed scanning of artwork

Need more room for all those paintings to hang on your wall? I'm in the same boat, so when I finish a painting, I do a 300-dpi scan of it to create a digital file. Home scanners are typically good at doing this, but if your artwork is large, you must find someone with a large-format flatbed scanner or take a high-resolution photograph that isn't blurry or doesn't bow on the sides. Practice makes perfect!

I try to stick with painting on canvas, boards, wood, and paper in 12x12 or smaller, and if your flatbed on your copier/scanner doesn't fit the entire artwork, you will need a program where you have several scans showing all the painting and then merge it. I use Photoshop, and it works great! 

If your artwork is larger and you can't make scans of all the artwork on your home printer/scanner, then there are alternative ways to do it. First, I would advise finding someone who has a business doing large format art scanning. They usually turn out great with the details of the colors in your painting. Normally, they will give you a digital copy of it by downloading it from their site or giving you some type of electronic copy. Sometimes they will make a small print so you can see how it looks printed on paper or canvas. I suggest contacting a local art club in the area for recommendations. If it can be done locally, they would know.

If you find no one locally or fail at getting a recommendation for someone who offers the above service, why not go to a company that offers printing services. They will have scanners and charge you for the scans. Ask if they have scanners that have good color profiles for artwork.

Last, if you have a good camera or cellular phone that takes high resolution photographs you can take a picture of your artwork. I would try and lay it flat with a tripod that holds your camera straight down and take the picture. Make sure there is no light glare on it. If you don't have a tripod, then put the picture facing you at your height, straight up, taking the picture making sure you get all sides in. Do not take the photograph where you will have to crop out a lot of the background around it because you will lose resolution and you don't want to do that!  When you go to reproduce it, it is better to have a high-resolution image that will reproduce a large, clear image, than one that is a low resolution and not clear. The more cropping you must do, the lower the resolution.

If you have a cellular phone with the most awesome picture capabilities that are being offered now, well, you can use it instead of a professional camera. I prefer a 35 mm camera, but that is me. If you are using your artwork for small projects, a cell phone would work just fine.

These are some things that I do for my artwork. Next in Part 2 we will discuss things you can do with your digital artwork once you have converted your artwork.