Have you ever sold (or donated) "Art Prints"

[G Mantero]

I have a series of feral cat portraits that I'd like to donate to Alley Cat Allies or some such organization.....and then I have some portraits that I'd like to print/mat/frame/sell.

So tell me, is there any interest as far as you know? Would you be interested in prints of cats and kittens that you didn't 'know'?



See the attached for a sample of what I'm talking about.

P.S. I totally have to post here more often. There are so many people here that I don't know!!!!! I've been slacking [blush]

[roger_ele]

Welcome back - I am fairly here, so I am one of the folks that you speak of ... Hi!

To answer your question, there is a market for photos / photo-art / art of animals - but when they are not "known" by the buyer they need to be over the top in impact / feeling / graphic appeal and they need to strike the viewer as being different than what they are used to seeing - it is not whether you get a warm fuzzy feeling when you look at your photo, but if the wow feeling comes with it also!

I don't think your sample is at the wow stage - but some of your other photos certainly might be - regarding the sample photo; I think the white stuff on the right pulls you eye because of it's size, sharpness and contrast, being a wonderful back seat driver I can imagine that a more sucessful angle might also be from ground level around to the left where the cats head would be framed by the white fluf with the cat in focus and the white out of focus to also give seperation and a compositional / grahic design element. Believe me I understand that you were watching the expression of the cat - doing that and being involved in the subject emotionaly and retaining enough perspective to catch the moment / lighting / angle with the most impact is not easy - but that is the challenge. Don't give up!

Good Luck, Roger

[jeaniesa]

Interesting question. I probably would not be interested in photos of cats other than the ones I own. But, my aunt probably would be. (And she would probably purchase such a picture to give to me as a present. )

When I looked at the picture you attached, the first thing that came to my mind was a greeting card. You know the ones with the cute B&W images of animals doing silly things or with cute/silly expressions. I think that's the "wow" factor that Roger mentioned.

In this particular photo, the white fuzz distracts me from really seeing the cat. Having not seen your other photos, I can't comment on them, but I would bet you've probably got some good ones. If I were you, I'd pursue the greeting card route and see what opportunities exist in that market. I haven't done that myself, so don't know if it's any easier than selling your own prints. (It's possible you could make/distribute your own greeting cards to local stores. I know there are people in my local area that do that - I don't know how widely they distribute their cards though - or how profitable it is.)

Another thing you might want to try is selling a few of your prints on eBay and see if there is a response there. It might give you a feeling for whether or not there is a market. Check out this article on how to sell artwork on eBay.

Good luck!!

Jeanie

[Axe555]

I've had a version of the pic at the link up for sale at renderosity for a while now and haven't sold any, but I haven't pushed it either. I think selling artwork is a hard market as there are alot of very talented people doing it already. Nothing ventured nothing gained though.

The pic was rendered in Vue d'esprit 4, btw.

http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez...5&ByArtist=Yes

Rich

[G Mantero]

Good suggestions, all--thanks!!

Like I said, I'm hoping to donate my portraits from the feral cats series (see the gallery) to Alley Cat Allies or a rescue organization.....but hey, selling some of my own wouldn't hurt a bit!

I truly do appreciate the honest feedback. This is not one of my best, but it's dear to my heart because this kitten has been through so much trauma before she came to us, it's a wonder she sleeps at all...

Again, thanks to all who stopped in and responded. I suspect that this is something lots of people would have an interest in, if they only knew where to start.

I'm off to read the Ebay article now