I have had someone interested in buying prints of my artwork.
Please could someone advise me of the specification of print and paper required .
How much is a reasonable cost to pay for having a painting printed size 18" x 16" approx.
What is the mark up on selling a print ??
What percentage profit would a gallery expect on the sale of a print??
How do I ensure that I keep my copyright?
Is there anything else I need to know ??

LB

Hello Ylass! What I can offer here is simply my own experience, and not a professional reply;
Specification of Print and Paper required
This the classic answer; It depends upon whether you have your work printed on good quality coated paper or some other surface such as embossed paper or canvas. The weight of the paper should not really be below, say 70gsm, and ideally around 100gsm, though your size of 18" x 16" would probably be OK at 70gsm.
A digital image of your work should be as high a resolution as possible, and if you entrust your work with a reputable printer, they will do this anyway.
Cost of printing will be very dependent upon the size of the print run; a handful of prints will cost substantially more than a larger run, print for print. Also, the current general requirement for print quality is Giclee, which is run on an expensive piece of kit, so you should ask around and find your quality / cost ideal.
Mark up and Commission for gallery sales
This will be dependant upon the cost of your individual prints, but take into consideration your works time / value, print cost, storage, and the market where your work will be sold; do some research into the cost of similar work. Galleries will charge from around 30 - 50% Commisison, though the norm is usually around 35%.
Copyright Ensure that you make a Copyright symbol after your signature, though as the artist, the copyright remains yours.
I hope the above may help a little, and if there is anything else which comes to your mind, then come back to me.
Best wishes,
Steve Williams
RSC

Thankyou soooo much for your prompt and comprehensive reply :) Y lass Lynn

Hi, this is also a question I am interested in. I have recently had four of my prints made by a friend of a friend. This guy is a photographer and has a professional printer, you know the ones with something like 12 cartridges! He has very kindly printed four of my paintings and I have spend quite some time sat with him trying to colour match everything with numerous test prints for each painting. We obviously needed my originals for this process.

I previously scanned my paintings at home for him and cleaned up the background prior to emailing it. The problem I had was with my work being very much illustrative, the scanned image also scanned the texture of the paper I had done the painting on. This then printed out with the painting. Because I wanted my paintings printed on an A4 size but maintaining the correct size of my work which is around A5. This then placed the print in a box of textured paper that was originally scanned, leaving the extra A4 space clean white paper. So I have spend many hours cleaning up the background with PaintShop Pro which is similar to PhotoShop. I know complicated but that's just me! :-)

It was great to not be charged a setup fee which can be around £50-£70 per painting to be scanned prior to any prints being done. The prints as mentioned are done with excellent lightfast inks on a 250gsm Musco paper so very good quality! This can also make the prints more expensive.

I know it sounds like an excellent situation to be in, however the problem I have is his lack of commitment and speed. He is very unreliable and is never in any hurry to do anything, so for now I intend to get him to do as many prints as possible whilst I have his facilities.
Each A4 print costs £4.50 which is good compared to the price of the top notch paper he is using. However this can increase the sale price.

What I need to know is what kind of mark-up do artist looks for as an average for any prints they have done? Working out a price for them can be very tricky depending on where you will be selling your prints. For example Ebay is a good place for selling prints but you need to allow the charges for Ebay, PayPal and postage fees onto the cost of the print with a reasonable mark-up for yourself.
These fees can seriously knock down the profit you will make.
I've checked other ebay sellers and the average print price is around £10, where for me this would me very little profit on a sale with all the usual charges as mentioned above.

So would you seek a 100% mark-up or a lesser one say making £2-3 per print? Being greedy could render the prints unsaleable so I feel it's best to start high and if they don't sell bring down the price by a pound each time you relist them. This obviously knocks down the profit but a little profit is better than non and the prints sitting in the cupboard at home.
You need to get your work out there and hope you may become a little more well known as a online artist seller.

Anyway, I recommend only getting say four paintings Giclee printed at first with 10 of each print. See how they sell and then this gives you a bit of breathing space for testing the water first.

I am also very new to this part of our painting hobby and have yet to see how it pans out...fingers crossed it will be worth while.

I have also thought about going down the line of cards and other merchandise but I feel one step at a time, adding a little extra as i go along, not just that it costs quite a bit to get everything going in the first place!

Paul
www.devonartist.co.uk