30+ Art Business Ideas That Can Make Money (2026)

Art business ideas show up in everyday objects, like the logo on your coffee mug, the pattern on your rug, or the print on your favorite band tee. Each of those designs started with an artist who found a way to sell their work.

The global arts market reached $583.42 billion in 2026 and is predicted to grow to nearly $740 billion by 2030. Artists and creatives of all kinds have plenty of room to build sustainable income streams, from digital prints to handmade ceramics.

This guide covers more than 30 profitable art business ideas for 2026, plus practical steps to translate your own art or design skills into a thriving business.

What is an art business?

An art business earns income by creating, selling, or distributing art.

Physical art businesses sell pieces like:

• Paintings
• Prints
• Ceramics

Digital art businesses sell files customers download or license, like:

• Printable wall art
• Printable wall downloads
• Design templates

Some art businesses sell services instead, such as commissioned illustrations or art lessons.

Running an art business is a form of creative entrepreneurship. It means turning your artistic skills into products people can buy and building a brand around your style.

How much can you make with an art business?

How much you can make with an art business varies widely. Here’s what it might look like, based on current market data and US earnings figures:

Art business market context

Global art sales reached an estimated $59.6 billion in 2025, up 4% from the year before. That figure covers sales of fine art and antiques through dealers and auction houses, across about 41.5 million transactions.

Many of the people making that art are self-employed. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 58% of US craft and fine artists work for themselves, and their earnings vary widely. Some charge a nominal fee while they build a reputation, and well-established artists may earn more than salaried ones. Many artists also hold another job, because relying only on income from selling art can be difficult.

Fine artists on payroll—including painters, sculptors, and illustrators—earned a median annual wage of $55,490 in May 2025. Across all craft and fine artists, the lowest-paid 10% earned less than $31,490 and the highest-paid 10% earned more than $131,810.

What does this mean for merchants?

You’ll boost your chances of higher income by:

• Choosing a niche with lower competition and clear customer need
• Packaging your art into repeatable products (prints, editions, licensing) rather than one-off pieces alone
• Using Shopify’s tools for direct-to-consumer sales and retention (email list, social commerce, upsells)
• Keeping costs down (materials, shipping, time) and optimizing pricing for margin

Recognize that six-figure incomes are possible—but they typically come from scale, premium pricing, and recurring revenue. You can also consider adding income streams like:

• Digital products. Sell printable art or templates with the free Digital Downloads app.
• Print on demand. A print-on-demand supplier prints and ships each order, so you don’t hold stock.
• Subscriptions. Offer a monthly print club or art subscription box with the Shopify Subscriptions app.
• In-person sales. Art fairs made up 35% of dealer turnover in 2025. Sell at fairs and markets with Shopify POS.

30+ art business ideas

1. Calligraphy
2. Furniture and décor restoration
3. Greeting cards
4. Embroidery
5. Knitting and crocheting
6. Specialty frames
7. Art handling
8. Wedding photography
9. Tote bags
10. Curated shop
11. Art consulting
12. Book illustration
13. Pet portraits
14. Digital illustration
15. Jewelry
16. Art lessons
17. Pottery
18. Candlemaking
19. Caricature artist
20. Wreath making
21. Art supply store
22. Rug making
23. Handmade paper
24. Custom books, dust jackets, and sleeves
25. Mural painting
26. Holiday decorations
27. Screen printing
28. Lampshades
29. VR and art experiences
30. AI art prompt packs
31. Art subscription boxes

As you consider different art business ideas, lean into your artistic skills and art industry knowledge. For example, if you’re a seasoned illustrator, it might be easier to launch a book illustration business than an embroidery business. But if embroidery is your passion, look for ways to tie your portfolio and skills into this venture.

Keep in mind that running a business goes beyond creating art. You’ll also need to create a brand identity, develop a marketing strategy, keep track of inventory, process payments, and more.

When it’s time to sell your first products, consider creating a social media profile and building a website. To help drive discovery of your products, you might also list your goods on platforms like Etsy and/or Amazon.

As you start to build an audience, consider encouraging purchases directly from your site to forego third-party fees.

Here are 31 profitable art business ideas for inspiration:

1. Calligraphy

Modern calligraphers create everything from custom wedding invitations and greeting cards to personalized wall art and event signage.

Start by learning the basics through local workshops or online courses—no formal experience required. All you need are quality pens, nibs, and ink to begin practicing your lettering style.

Once you’ve built your portfolio, offer custom work through your own website or platforms like Etsy.

Income potential: While the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t report a salary for calligraphers, it cites a median annual pay of $49,120 for craft and fine artists.

At Carla Schall Designs, calligrapher Carla Schall’s studio, envelope addressing starts at $4 per envelope, and wedding projects have a $1,500 minimum that can also cover place cards or signage. At $4 each, addressing 150 invitations comes to $600.

2. Furniture and décor restoration

If you enjoy hands-on work and believe in giving old items new life, try furniture and décor restoration.

Find pieces at thrift stores, flea markets, or estate sales, then refinish, reupholster, or repaint them for resale. You can also take on client projects, repairing or refinishing sentimental items like antique chairs, lamps, or picture frames. Until you build your own clientele, consider partnering with interior designers and agencies.

While fine art restoration requires specialized training, you can teach yourself general furniture and décor restoration with the right tools, online videos, and practice.

Income potential: Earning potential varies based on the type and condition of the item. On average, restoration projects range from $400 to $1,200 per piece, with antique or custom work often commanding higher rates. On average, furniture refinishers earn $61,457 per year.

3. Greeting cards

If you have a knack for illustration, try applying your skills to handmade greeting cards. You could handpaint your cards or use printing methods like wood block and linocut to create sets and collections.

If you opt for printing, consider starting with linocut, a printmaking technique that involves carving your designs into linoleum (which is softer and easier to carve than wood). Then, roll your linoleum block in paint and transfer your image to your card. You can buy a linocut set online for around $30, then purchase additional linoleum blocks as you create more designs.

Income potential: Handmade or artisanal cards often sell for $5 to $10 a piece on marketplaces like Etsy and in boutique stores.

4. Embroidery

If you have a high attention to detail and strong fine motor skills, consider embroidering designs on textiles like pillowcases, tea towels, or sweatshirts.

You could also accept commissions for personalized products, like embroidered pet portraits or even branded merchandise for small companies.

Income potential: Custom embroidery pillows sell for between $8 to $100 on Etsy. Monthly income depends on the scale and output of your business.

5. Knitting and crocheting

If you have a penchant for textile and fiber arts, consider starting a knitting or crocheting business. Create scarves, gloves, hats, sweaters, vests, and more using patterns available online or through a craft store.

Experiment with different colors and yarn types, or dye your own yarn to create pieces in colorways no one else sells. As you become more advanced, you can write up your own designs and sell them as downloadable patterns. To sell PDF patterns from your own store, use the free Shopify Digital Products app, which sends buyers an access link after checkout. You can also list them on Ravelry, a knitting and crochet community with a built-in pattern store.

Income potential: Handmade knitted and crocheted items usually sell for $25 to $150 or more, depending on size and materials. With a digital pattern, you only need to write it once, and then each buyer downloads their own copy—making this a great source of passive income to bolster profits from your finished pieces.

6. Specialty frames

Make unique frames for photos and larger artwork using decoupage, fabric, even seashells, or by using any specialist skills you may have, e.g., woodworking or metalwork. Sell your products to consumers looking for special frames for everything from small family photographs to large oil paintings.

Income potential: The Gilded Coast Studio, a New Hampshire maker, lists its handmade gilded oyster-shell frame, which holds a five-inch by seven-inch photo, at a $200 suggested retail price on the wholesale marketplace Faire.

7. Art handling

Fine art is fragile and expensive, so artists, galleries, and museums hire professional art handlers to hang, store, and pack artworks. You can learn the trade from art handlers in your area, then work as an art-handling contractor.

Income potential: Art handlers typically earn $13 to $28 per hour, or about $50,000 per year, depending on experience and the type of clients.

8. Wedding photography

The average American wedding cost $36,000 in 2026. With that kind of money on the table, brides and grooms want to make sure their wedding day photos are as perfect as the day itself.

If you’ve got photo skills and want to put them to work capturing people’s nuptials, try launching a photography business for weddings, engagements, and even marriage proposals. Keep in mind that wedding photography requires a lot of time on your feet, and you’ll need to have a reliable mode of transport to travel to different venues.

Help people discover your business by optimizing your website for local SEO, encouraging clients to write reviews on platforms like Yelp, and building a social media presence to show off your style to potential clients (who might follow you for inspiration as they plan their special day).

Income potential: Nationally, wedding photographers charge an average of $2,000 per event. However, that cost can vary greatly depending on location, experience, and package offerings. Luxury or destination wedding photographers can command significantly higher rates.

9. Tote bags

Try starting your own creative business selling tote bags. Buy bags made of canvas or recycled materials, then decorate them with stencils, embroidery, or handpainting. You can also take commissions from customers looking for specific designs.

If you’ve built a following for your design work, create customized tote bags for individuals or brands. And if you know how to sew, consider making your bags from scratch, which gives you more control over fabrics and design.

Income potential: Handmade and custom tote bags typically sell for a wide range, with an average of $20 to $80 each on platforms like Etsy, depending on materials and design complexity.

10. Curated shop

If you love perusing antique stores, estate sales, galleries, craft markets, or online marketplaces like eBay, consider building a webshop with curated goods. You could build your shop around anything, from vintage concert posters to antique paintings to a specific style of glassware.

To effectively position your offering in the market and differentiate from similar businesses, you’ll need a strong brand story that emphasizes your eye for design and knack for finding hidden treasures.

Income potential: Galleries and art and antique dealers sold an estimated $34.8 billion worth of work in 2025. Your margin on each piece is the gap between what you pay at estate sales, auctions, or markets and what you list it for, so track sourcing costs per item.

11. Art consulting

Art consultants sell their expertise to interior designers, homeowners, business owners, and investors who want to decorate their spaces or start collections. If you have an expertise in art world trends, consider setting up an art consulting business advising clients on which pieces to buy from galleries and auctions.

You might also set up a consulting business in which you connect artists directly with collectors and interior designers.

Income potential: Art advisers charge $150 to $500 per hour for one-off advice sessions and about 10% of the purchase price when they source and buy work for a client. Consultants working with corporate clients, galleries, or collectors make an average of $71,688 per year.

12. Book illustration

Books need illustrators for everything from cover art on a novel to the interior drawings in a children’s bedtime story. If you’re an artist with a knack for translating stories to images, you can work as an illustrator for authors, especially those who are self-publishing books. Start by creating a portfolio that shows your signature style.

Income potential: Over the past three years, children’s book illustrators on Reedsy have charged an average of $1,540 to $4,950 to illustrate a 24-page picture book. Covers are a separate source of work: Across more than 9,600 book cover design projects on Reedsy in 2025, the average price was $880.

13. Pet portraits

Dog and cat people might have their differences, but you can sell your services (photography, drawing, or painting) to both as a pet portrait artist.

Depending on your artistic style, you could make your work realistic or stylized. For example, you might paint a dog into an outdoor space, even if you’re working from an indoor photo. You can also place pets in a historical setting, or a scene inspired by a customer’s favorite film or game.

Keep in mind that fandom-themed portraits come with intellectual property limits. Only a copyright owner can create or authorize new versions of their work, according to the US Copyright Office—and trademarks protect names and logos, such as a franchise’s title. Shopify can remove content that infringes someone else’s rights under its Acceptable Use Policy. Unless you have a license from the rights holder, offer genre themes, like a knight’s armor or a space suit, rather than named characters, logos, or franchise titles.

Income potential: Custom pet portraits can sell for $50 to $500 or more, depending on size, medium, and level of detail.

14. Digital illustration

As a digital illustrator, your customers could be everyone from ecommerce brands to local restaurants. Businesses use digital art for website landing pages, branded merchandise, menu illustrations, and more. Consider selling your digital art services as a freelancer, and look for clients on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork.

Income potential: Digital illustrators earn an average of $344 per day, depending on complexity, usage rights, and client type. More experienced illustrators working with brands can earn $54,000 or more per year.

15. Jewelry

Handmade jewelry covers a wide range of techniques and materials. You can start a jewelry business selling wire-wrapped, beaded, 3D-printed, or clay pieces. Choose the style and price point that fit the customers you want to reach.

Income potential: Handmade jewelry can sell for anything between $25 to $200 or more per piece, depending on materials, craftsmanship, and brand positioning.

16. Art lessons

If you’re an accomplished artist, try selling your technical know-how through virtual or in-person lessons. For in-person classes, consider hosting in your home or studio space (if you have one), or in community centers or libraries. To generate demand, create an SEO-optimized website, advertise in your local paper, and ask host venues to include your class in newsletters or on social media.

For lessons students can take at their own pace, record video tutorials or put together PDF guides and sell them from your store with the free Shopify Digital Products app. You can attach files or links to a product and set download limits, and buyers get an access link after checkout.

Whether you’re selling online or in-person lessons, consider marketing your offerings using video content or blog posts. These formats give prospective customers a taste of your expertise and style. Make sure to clearly communicate what your paid lessons include that your free content doesn’t, so visitors have a reason to buy.

Income potential: Art teachers and instructors typically charge $27 to $59 per hour, depending on their experience, medium, and location.

17. Pottery

If you’ve mastered throwing pots, plates, cups, or bowls on a wheel, consider selling the items you make.

When it comes to selling dishes, mugs, or other pieces meant to hold food, be sure to check your glazes first. Some can leach lead into food, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets limits on how much lead ceramic foodware can release, with the strictest limits for cups, mugs, and pitchers.

Don’t have access to a pottery wheel or kiln? Pick up air-dry, epoxy, or polymer clay and paint from your local art supply store. Once you have your supplies, create decorative and sellable pieces like jewelry holders, candlesticks, or Christmas tree ornaments.

Income potential: The average wage for a potter in the US is $22 per hour. KJ Pottery, a Spokane, Washington studio that sells handmade dinnerware from its Shopify store, prices individual pieces from $28 for a small bowl to $44 for a mug and $50 for a dinner plate. It also sells place-setting bundles, up to a full eight-place dinnerware set for $1,760, so a single order can cover many pieces at once.

18. Candlemaking

Get wax, wicks, and molds, and you can start making candles. Experiment with fragrances and essential oils, and give your candles a signature look with marbling, pressed-flower decoration, or sculptural molds you design yourself.

Income potential: P.F. Candle Co. prices its standard 7.2-ounce soy candles at $24 and its 12.5-ounce candles at $38. Founder Kristen Pumphrey started pouring candles on her kitchen stovetop and grew the brand to three retail stores, adding diffusers and incense after retailers asked for them.

19. Caricature artist

Caricature artists might evoke images of packed tourist hubs, but if you have a knack for drawing, try starting an online caricature art business. Develop a pricing system for portraits of varying sizes and complexity.

For example, you might charge more for an 8 inch by 10 inch drawing of a customer against a detailed background (like a cityscape) than a five inch by seven inch drawing of a customer against a single-color backdrop.

Income potential: Online caricature studio Photolamus prices single-person caricatures from $21.99 for a black-and-white portrait to $80.99 for a color drawing with a city background, and up to $119.99 for detailed full-body scenes. If you sold 20 portraits a month at $50 each, you could earn $1,000 a month before materials, platform fees, and taxes.

20. Wreath making

To make holiday wreaths, you’ll need wire frames, twine, and real or artificial evergreen branches. Also consider making wreaths from materials like seashells, thistle, dried flowers, and pinecones to appeal to customers looking for year-round home décor.

Income potential: Creekside Farms, a family-run wreath maker in Greenfield, California, sells handmade herb and floral wreaths from its Shopify store for $69.95 to $109.95, depending on size and materials. Beyond Christmas, it sells collections for spring, summer, Halloween, weddings, and sympathy gifts, plus a seasonal wreath subscription that ships one wreath each season for $369.95.

21. Art supply store

Try selling art supplies online through a dropshipping model. Analyze your competition to make sure you’re selling in-demand products, and if you’re an artist yourself, consider curating your store to sell the products you know and love.

Income potential: US hobby, toy, and game stores sold $3.3 billion in December 2025, up 16% from December 2024. Your margin depends on the gap between your supplier’s wholesale price and your retail price, plus shipping and fees. Before you list a product, check its cost against current prices for the same item at other online art supply stores.

22. Rug making

If you’re interested in home décor, consider making rugs. There are various methods available to you, each requiring a different level of skill and investment:

• Braided. Make braided rugs with natural fibers (like wool, cotton, or jute), synthetic fibers (like nylon or polyester), or even reclaimed fabric n(like old t-shirts or sheets).
• Tufted. Rug tufting involves threading loops of yarn into a fabric like burlap or linen to create intricate designs; buy a tufting gun and a frame to stretch your underlying fabric. Starter kits run around $200 to $300.
• Woven. For weaving, you’ll need a loom (available for purchase online), and yarn (durable cotton, wool, and linen yarns are popular options).

Choose a rug style that works for you. “You obviously don’t want to come out with something that is too different from who you are,” says Jacob Winter, founder of design-focused rug brand Mush Studios. “I don’t think we would ever come out with a traditional rectangular rug and call it a day. We understand that people come to us for something that’s a little bit more exciting or a little bit out of the box. We want that. So we’re just gonna continuously push for that and just make everything as otherworldly as possible.”

Once you’ve found your style, sell your rugs online, offer them through local boutiques, or develop relationships with interior design professionals to place your work directly in customers’ homes.

Income potential: Handmade rugs typically sell for $100 to $1,000 or more, depending on size, materials, and technique.

23. Handmade paper

To make paper by hand, you’ll need a papermaking kit with a mould and deckle (the screened frame that forms each sheet). For your base material, use scrap paper, newspaper, or premade pulp made for papermaking. Blend the scraps with water into a pulp, pull a layer of pulp onto the screen, press out the water, and let the sheet dry.

Once you’ve settled on a process, add pressed flowers, stenciled designs, or stamps to give your paper a signature look.

Income potential: Porridge Papers sells handmade cotton paper from $13 for a pack of 25 small sheets and single 8.5-inch by 11-inch sheets of recycled paper from $3.05. The mill also makes custom paper for businesses, including beer labels embedded with spent grain for a brewery and plantable seed-paper tags.

24. Custom books, dust jackets, and sleeves

Handmade book accessories include protective sleeves for hardcovers, paperbacks, and e-readers. Source fabrics that match different themes or genres, or add your own embroidery or screen-printed designs to plain fabric.

Income potential: Charlie & Fox sells fabric dust jackets for $32 and padded book sleeves from $38 on its Shopify store. Alongside its own genre designs, such as Dark Academia and Romantasy, the brand sells officially licensed collections for book series like Fourth Wing and Sarah J. Maas’s novels.

25. Mural painting

Murals can adorn everything from exterior walls to restaurant interiors to children’s bedrooms. You’ll need a portfolio of past work to launch your mural painting art business, so consider volunteering for community murals if you need a few more projects under your belt.

Income potential: Public mural programs publish what they pay artists. Salt Lake City’s 2026 North Temple Mural Program sets its commissions using what it calls an industry-standard rate of $20 to $25 per square foot, according to the program’s application guidelines.

26. Holiday decorations

If your house is always in the holiday spirit (whether that’s Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or Halloween), consider starting a holiday decoration business. Use your crafting skills to create ornaments, tree toppers, figurines, stockings, and table centerpieces. Keep in mind that consumers will likely buy your products around the holiday season, so time your marketing efforts accordingly.

According to the National Retail Federation, 91% of US adults celebrate holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa each winter. Survey data revealed that while 63% of respondents wait until Thanksgiving weekend to buy, they browse and make plans earlier. So, start marketing your end-of-year holiday items in October, even if it feels early.

Income potential: The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts that US retail sales in November and December 2026 will reach $1.01 trillion, up 4.2% from 2025. To keep selling after the winter rush, add custom and themed décor for other occasions, like Halloween, Valentine’s Day, or weddings, so your store has products to list year-round.

27. Screen printing

Sell your designs on custom T-shirts, mugs, and posters. If you’d rather focus on design, outsource production to a print-on-demand service, which prints, packs, and ships each order to your customer, so you don’t have to buy or store inventory. If you want to handle the whole printing process yourself, buy your own screen printing equipment.

Income potential: The global print-on-demand market reached $13.1 billion in 2026 and is projected to grow 23.6% a year through 2033. Musical duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids started their merchandise business with $50: They ordered 15 iron-on printed T-shirts and reinvested the profit after they sold out.

28. Lampshades

Make your own lampshades from a kit, or buy plain shades and add upholstered, printed, embroidered, woven, felted, or hand-painted designs. Sell your work to homeowners, or to interior designers through a trade program.

Income potential: Sorella Glenn, a lampshade studio run by sisters Katy and Gracen, sells shades handmade in the US from its Shopify store. Prices start at $118 for its Bali shades and $178 for its patterned pleated shades, while a fully custom shade costs $348. The studio also runs a trade program for interior designers.

29. VR and AR art experiences

If you love experimenting with new tech, consider creating virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR) art. These immersive experiences let viewers step inside your artwork. Whether that’s exploring a 3D gallery, interacting with digital sculptures, or using AR filters to transform their surroundings.

You can sell your creations as digital downloads, offer virtual exhibition access, or collaborate with brands looking for interactive installations.

As VR headsets and AR apps become more mainstream, the demand for innovative digital art experiences grows. Now is a great time to blend creativity with cutting-edge tech.

Income potential: VR and AR artists typically earn $1,000 to $15,000 or more per project, depending on the complexity and technology.

30. AI art prompt packs

AI art tools like Midjourney and DALL-E create images from written prompts, and the wording of a prompt shapes the style of the result. AI art prompt packs are curated sets of detailed prompts that help users generate specific styles, themes, or moods, like “vintage travel posters” or “minimalist botanical prints.”

To sell your packs from your own store, save each one as a PDF and attach it to a product with the free Shopify Digital Products app.

You can also offer packs for different niches, or create subscription bundles with regular updates. Whether you write prompts for beginners or professional designers, this business lets you earn from your knowledge of AI tools without producing the final art yourself.

Income potential: AI art prompt packs typically sell for $10 to $50 per set with premium bundles or niche prompt libraries priced at $100 or more.

31. Art subscription boxes

An art subscription box curates a themed package filled with art materials, prints, or small handmade items to subscribers on a regular schedule. This might include supplies from other brands, or feature work by independent artists.

Choose a specific audience to build each box around, like watercolor artists, printmakers, or kids trying art for the first time.

To take recurring orders, install the free Shopify Subscriptions app. You can set up auto-billed plans that renew weekly, monthly, or yearly, offer subscription discounts, and let customers pause, skip, or cancel from their account. For features like box curation or bundle builders, browse the subscription apps in the Shopify App Store.

Income potential: Let’s Make Art charges $38.25 a month for its watercolor subscription box, which includes supplies for four painting projects plus step-by-step instructions. At that price, 100 subscribers would bring in $3,825 a month before supplies, packaging, and shipping.

How to start an art business

• Understand your target audience
• Pick a pricing strategy
• Establish an online presence
• Develop an effective marketing strategy
• Engage your community
• Provide top-notch customer service

Once you’ve chosen a creative business idea, make sure your products and services are both high quality and consistent. Consider these tips to help your art business succeed:

Understand your target audience

Defining your target market will help you focus your marketing strategies to reach a dedicated audience. To identify the target audience for your art business, ask yourself:

• Where would my art look at home?
• What purpose might my art serve (i.e., is it a gift or a design choice)?
• Who can afford my artwork?

Use the answers to find your niche. Let’s say you start an art business selling handmade jewelry, and since you live in a beach town, you decide tourists are your target market. You might create jewelry with materials that evoke your specific area, like seashells and sea glass.

Pick a pricing strategy

Pricing your art means covering your costs, earning a profit, and staying in line with what similar work sells for. Start by calculating your base price:

(Number of hours worked x hourly rate) + cost of materials = base price

Include every cost in your materials figure, including packaging, transaction fees, and shipping, so your profit reflects what you take home.

Next, choose your profit margin, the share of the selling price you keep as profit. Then use this formula:

Base price / (1 − desired profit margin) = final selling price

For example, if your base price is $100 and you want a 40% profit margin:

$100 / (1 − 0.4) = $166.67

You’d list the item at around $165 to $170, depending on your market.

Research what similar artists and brands in your niche charge to check your price against the market. If your work involves specialized skills, like intricate weaving, hand-poured resin, or original illustration, factor the extra hours into your base price. In your product descriptions, explain what goes into each piece: the materials, the meaning behind the design, or your experience as an artist.

Establish an online presence

Your website design is where shoppers see your work, so give each piece a detailed product description and high-resolution product photos taken from several angles.

You can also sell directly on social media through Shopify’s social commerce sales channels. Each one connects to your Shopify store:

• Facebook and Instagram by Meta. Sync your products to your Facebook and Instagram shops, and tag them in posts and stories.
• TikTok Shop. Promote your products in shoppable videos and livestreams.

This is exactly what Mush Studios founder Jacob Winter did. “The feedback from my TikTok videos was amazing,” he says. “The form of rug making was so new at the time that everyone was just like, What is this guy doing in this garage on Long Island? Like, it basically was making a painting, but with yarn and a huge machine gun tattooing into the fabric. Once I saw that people were actually interested, it obviously got me super excited. So I decided to continually make videos, and within that first year we generated 23 million views.”

To reach more shoppers, list your work on marketplaces like Etsy. Be sure to check each marketplace’s seller fees so you can factor them into your prices.

Best platforms to sell art online

Choosing the right platform can make a big difference in how your work is discovered and how much profit you keep. Each platform caters to different audiences and offers varying levels of branding control, customization, and fees.

Here are some of the top options for artists and creators:

Develop an effective marketing strategy

Invest time into developing a clear brand identity. Make conscious choices about color palette, typography, brand voice, and more, then use those elements across your marketing materials (print ad, email newsletter, social media).

Consider aligning those branding elements with the style of your work. To maintain consistency, create brand guidelines that define these elements and use it to design an online presence that reflects your identity.

Use social media marketing, and share educational content about your chosen medium. Consider posting about your personal artistic journey, which helps viewers build a personal connection with your art.

Engage your community

Partner with local artists and makers in other areas of the art world, and promote each other’s work to your audiences. You might split a booth at a market, swap features in your email newsletters, or collaborate on a limited-edition product that you both sell.

Sell in person at pop-up shops, gallery events, and craft fairs, too. At any of these venues, take payments with Shopify POS: It syncs with your Shopify admin, so sales from your booth show up alongside your online orders, and your inventory updates across your online store and other sales channels.

Provide top-notch customer service

Answer shopper questions quickly, before they leave your store. With the free Shopify Inbox app, shoppers can chat with you directly from your online store. You can reply live, set business hours and welcome messages, and send product recommendations, discount codes, and order updates in the chat. Inbox also includes an optional AI agent that answers questions using your product catalog, policies, and store content.

Offer add-ons that set your work apart, like personalization, handwritten notes, or help with framing and installation. Plan your packaging and delivery, too: Consider using protective wrapping, a printed care card, or a certificate of authenticity for original pieces.