So refreshing to find someone telling the truth, instead of all these clickbait scammers promising thousands just to get views. Thanks for the tips and the honesty. 😊
The fact is that it doesn't matter how good your art is or any other products you sell on etsy, until you start running ads you will not see major profit. Or you have to have a huge online following. In short, the secret of being successful on etsy or Amazon or any other platform (nowadays, when markets are saturated) IS running ads AND running them successfully. Unfortunately, the actual talented artists don't make any serious money online, but only those who are skilled at marketing and more technical aspects are the ones who succeed..
Nothing new. Think about music over the decades. Plenty of great bands and musicians who never made it big, plenty of crap that was super successful ( if you use money/earnings or fame as your measure of success) due to great marketing. Now and then we get bands/musicians who are talented and are good at marketing themselves or at least realise it’s necessity in the pursuit of success and find someone to assist them in doing it, those are the ones that both sides of the aisle ( creative artist types and technical marketing types) acknowledge as the greats. Without talent they wouldn’t last and without marketing they would never be found.
@@innes_82 In the 70s and 80s the music industry had a different culture, they were looking for the most talented musicians around. Then in the 90s new media science proved that you could make money with zero talented persons if you just had great marketing. in the 90s we used to say "why are the talented musicians replaced with zero talent on radio?" because it was not the way it used to be. And that goes for all genres in the 70s and 80s, even those you didn't like personally, you just had to admit they were talented.
Finally someone who is REALISTIC and HONEST! I hate those clickbait “I made $5k on Etsy in one month” bs. So I subscribed immediately. Very valuable content, thanks! ❤
Yea and they actually made $5k from the amount of view for youtube video itself or getting commission from you for paying the subscription fee for their suggestion tools. lol
Thank you for posting REALISTIC results. Everybody else on YT pretends you can make thousands per month easily, but it requires hard work and perseverance and it seems that most people don't want to do any hard work.
Yes and a lot of people want fast results. An online business is no different than a brick and mortar business, in the sense that you probably need months or years to become profitable.
You know that most of them alter the html of the Etsy dashboard with the inspect feature of the browser to make it seem like they made more sales. It's super easy to do. This video is rare.
I work in the art industry although am not an artist.. the thing with art is collectors want art created by a human. Art is more than just a pretty design, there is a story, craft and a journey that goes into creating a piece. AI art is cool but lacks that soul which makes art precious.
@@LioraNehama if you want to be successful with art pick up a paintbrush, pencil etc something that requires talent. AI art is suitable for creating content for websites, apps, marketing emails etc. it just isn't selling because nobody is interested in "Art" created from text or image prompts.
I'm remastering it, slowly studying drawing by brushes, but prefer to do it digital in Photoshop. Main usage - I'm making event flyers and this work is paid good, but the topic was about selling AI art on etsy and stocks
@@LioraNehama Oh nice one how amazing is photoshop now! yes sorry I got off topic, just wanted to share that AI art doesn't sell and the reasons why (I work for the second biggest online gallery in the world).
At least you made a very insightful video out of it and didn't make a thumbnail image with a four figure dollar amount for it. Your honesty and openness is really appreciated and I wish you success wihile continuing this!
I will be forever grateful to you, you changed my whole life and I will continue to preach on your behalf for the whole world to hear you saved me from huge financial debt with just a small investment, thank you *JENNY PAMOGAS CANAYA* .
*JENNY PAMOGAS CANAYA* is my portfolio coach, I found her on Bloomberg where she was featured, I looked up her name on the internet. Fortunately, I came across her site and reached out to her, you can verify her yourself.
Traditional art videos are always about sharing knowledge, motivation, creativity, etc... while most AI art videos are just about making money. I think is says a lot about the AI art community.
lol, you illustrate how little you know about the AI community. I don't like the word art because it's not Art imo. But you are wrong to think that the AI community isn't sharing knowledge. You only see AI video about money because that's what's youtube is giving you. I watcvh several AI video each week and I only had one of this kind recommanded from TH-cam and since I ignored it, it never came back.
You are right, Ethan. I agree about the use of the word "art". I'm not an artist, I'm just an enthusiastic prompt peasant. Most of the people really involved in creating AI images create/consume tutorials (and there are tons of those) or showcase their images in a music or themed video.
@@ethan-fel AI communities, like all other tech communities, are quite enthusiastic about sharing tips and tricks, and that's great! But... if you look at the ACTUAL use cases of AI art that exist at large, it's mostly only two things: making money, and passing off AI art as yours (EG on Instagram and such). And it's very funny coming from some people who complain about artists being greedy for wanting to keep their commissions or whatever.
I make money selling my art, but it is a lot more involved than just making art and suddenly making money. It's business, branding, tax law, market research, seasonal rotation, event scheduling, economics, crafting, labeling, packaging, customer relations, communication and many more skills. It may seem as simple as having fun making art and then selling a product, but there is a lot that goes on in the background to make the customer happy with their purchase and have an enjoyable interaction. I made many business mistakes when I started, and I learned and improved my business with each event. Customers don't want original art? Sell fine art prints. Millennials and zoomers have a preference for the practical? Sell functional art alongside the prints. If there is a new product idea, make a small amount to start, and expand upon it, should it be successful. And remember the 2-4 year rule of small business: You will only lose money or break even for the first 2-4 years of your business, and any profit made will go back into the business. There is no get-rich-quick for a sensible art business, but it is fulfilling if one is serious about putting in the effort. And seeing people fall in love with my art, finding a piece that speaks to them or finding the perfect gift for their friends and family is what makes me happy to share my art.
Hi. Thanks for your post. I always read the comments and probably pay more attention to those than the actual vid sometimes. So glad I do because that's when I find helpful little gems like your post that give me a bit of a boost. Thanks you and best of luck with your art 😊
Same! All these people who never picked up a paintbrush trying to get rich off monetizing art are now figuring out what us genuine artists already knew - society devalues art. Welcome to the club, you just made real art more valuable!
Me too... Happily, even the "Become an artist overnight without the years of work learning your craft or any talent" AI groupies are now going to realise that it take a lot more hard work to make any money from art... making the image is just the start for all of us.
I like using ai tools to further my own artistic creativity but these get rich quick guys are too stupid. Like this dude spent actual money buying abstract shapes yet does know how to use Photoshop, so why bother buying assets at all if you can make it yourself and if your actual product is considered stealing an art style? I would simply steal and trace any digital asset I want if I'm gonna be one of these dudes. And also he is selling a digital file, but buying rights to another digital file to put in his digital file and then hoping someone would buy his and not the original designers or just make it in an ai tool themselves. It would be quicker for him now just to learn how to draw he might just save some time and money.
Worry about your own gain. Don't worry about anyone else yall sound bitter. N of a lack mentality. That's not cool. How can u create from a closed off heart space. That's what i don't understand.
Thank you for saving me several months. And for your honest, and objective feedback, as you shared your very real life experience with us. I would subscribe twice if I could.
This was informative. I actually was quite a successful artist on Etsy (in house printing too). I got a lot of free exposure from Etsy staff. But as the site expanded I noticed people were able to add a huge amount of inventory fast and I couldn’t keep up. I wondered how they did it. Never thought about actions or presets (silly me). Now I’m playing around with AI with my artwork to create different variations. Kind of fun. Ai though could of created your elements rather than needing to use creative market. It does kind of suck for traditional artists, but I personally think it’s important they get knowledgeable about AI art tools.
Interesting to read that from an actual artist (and one who doesn't attack Ai, but is trying to use it for their own benefit). Thanks for sharing your story!
Thanks for this video. Coincidentally, I have been on a very similar journey with similar styles of art. Although I have many more listings, my sales results are similar.I am also considering adding POD to expand the market. However, because my listings are not getting many views, I can't say whether digital download is the problem. Based on the successful shops that only offer digital download, clearly digital download can be successful. I found that using photoshop smart objects and artboards makes mock up creation efficient. I have 8 mockups. Each is on an artboard with a smart object. The smart objects are all linked together so that when I put an image in one smart object, all the smart objects are updated to that image. Then I use quick export to export all the artboards. The whole process is done in two steps. 1. Place the image. 2. Quick export.
Hi Wayne! Thank you, that's a really interesting approach to the mockups, didn't know that before! I think it depends on the designs a lot, there are so many Matisse and Fauvism styled paintings around, that you have to come up with something original. We'll see, it's still early days, but hopefully we can both find success in this.
Wayne that's genius! How do I link the smart objects together in artboards? I've been using Photopea smart objects....using artboards as you mentioned sounds like a Huge time saver. Thanks
@@jre4001 I have not used Photopea. In Photoshop, I create the smart object for the mockup in artboard 1. To copy it, drag it down to the little + at the bottom of the layers panel. This will give you a second smart object that is linked to the first, original smart object. Then drag the second smart object to the 2nd artboard and arrange it where you want it in the mockup. Repeat for all your artboards. (Maybe it will work the same in Photopea.) I don't understand why, but when I tried to copy and paste the smart object, the new smart object was not linked to the original one. Had to drag the smart object to the little + in the layers panel. Hope that helps.
Same here.. I"m trying digital products, since last October, and its always lost with Etsy fees. I haven't made any revenue. (And I'm not even calculating other tools and subscriptions that I'm paying for. Last month I stop running etsy adds, cause it seems like the only party making money here is Etsy. 3 years ago I closed another store - where I was selling actual physical products - painting and prints, It was ok business like 10 years ago, about 5 years ago its died, I tried for some time and again after loosing money month after month I closed it. So, sorry to tell you, but don't keep your hopes to high.
A very honest and helpful video. I think a ton of people have jumped on the AI bandwagon hoping to make fast money but you still need a product people want. Too many TH-cam gurus promoting it as such and giving incorrect and unrealistic advice. I'm opposed to AI in principle and prefer to produce my own art. At some point I think the tide will turn back to human generated art as people get tired of the obvious artificiality. I wish you success though and am looking forward to see what happens next with this shop.
Thank you for watching! AI is already getting a tonne of backlash and I suspect that won't change for a good while. It also depends how good it gets, because right now it's very distinguishable from actual human made art. Appreciate the words and you're doing the right thing by producing your own art for sure!
99% of what people put on their walls is such horrendous artificiality, and that's been going on for decades. You know what I'm talking about. People will put anything on a wall just to not have a blank wall, and people buy what is accessible and low-priced. The AI generated art I've seen is mind-blowing, I'd love to have some of it on my walls. Sorry, but art is art.
@@markonbusiness Fast forward June 2024…AI art is better than ever…almost indistinguishable from any real art I’ve ever seen (I’am not an artist)….Mid journeys capabilities and output is mesmerizing. Chat GPT, Bing and Gemini have also incorporated it into their bots. It’s a force to be reckoned with and it will continue to have a front row seat. Etsy has fully accepted it on the platform it sells even in the printable format.
Perhaps the problem is also related to the fact that more and more people are really learning about AI art and if at some point they want something like this, it will probably be art based on their photos or they just use free resources 1-2 times, since they hardly need it more often. And those who really hang their walls with posters are more often people for whom the author is as important as art and they buy this and the like at fairs or creators' stores
The print on demand art is just as oversaturated as digital art. Most of the highest sellers on etsy are companies or groups of friends who can list many items in a very short period of time. The rest of the high sellers are people with extensive networks of family and friends who can buy their art and give it 5 stars to get it going, but they still require a lot of luck. Statistically speaking, you'll likely waste your time for a year to see little or no return. Everyone and their pet parrot are generating art with midjourney and selling it on Esty now.
wrong you dont need hundreds of listings haha, sure you have to update them and remove not working ones. But dont spam etsy, thats the worst you can do.
Im curios about pixel to ratio part of the video. I've never encountered that issue. But if it is one, I'd love to solve it. Right now I have over 20 digital sales. All five star reviews. No one has complained about the printability. But I just checked and my files do not match what you suggested. I've even had samples printed and they looked phenomenal. Is there anyway you could explain further about why that's important?
Have you tried: same design but in 3 or 4 different color schemes? Sometimes people are looking for something to complement the colors in their interiour. Offering an artpiece with editable color scheme or lettering, has added value as well.
@@mikeshaefer6848same with me I tried a lot of time on redbubble but result 0% i was tried most research but nothing except Actually compitition are very high 😢
@@mikeshaefer6848I actually saw a guy that had over a thousand items on red bubble and I think just made $2. Unfortunately, can’t find a video but basically it seems that Redbubble is a dud.
Bro your video is a true gem! Thanks for being sincere. The only thing I wish you had done was to put the links to the tools that you used and worked. Thanks for spending your time and sharing your experience with us.
One of the best online business videos i have seen. I loved how transparent you were with the money and how profitable/unprofitable your idea was. also the struggle and the tools you found to solve. thanks for the video
You'll find in the digital sale business that the people who are buying your files are resellers selling it in physical form. The typical consumer is lazy, they just want to pay and have the product.
I am selling artwork at Rising dragon prints on etsy but struggling to get any sales. Sucks cos a lot of the prints I spent a long time making them. I am not going to give up though. At the moment I am losing money.
List 1 or 2 items per day for 90 days, watch the results it forces Etsy to come to your shop each time, and index it. I heard this and tried it and it worked.
hi, I'm genuinely curious and not seeing this in the comments so I wonder if you've considered learning something about 'art' itself to add value. There are two ways of looking at it, either 1. in a objective sense, considering 'visual communication' as a problem+solution pool of ideas, or 2 . adding more subjective choices, make it more meaningful and therefore unique? (in your prompts to AI). I get that this type of advice is about minimal effort, but isn't there something about the visual images that interests you? If it's no value to you why should anyone else value it for more than a glimpse? There are lots of reasons why people value particular pieces of art, it's a massive field of knowledge. Maybe it's just me here but working in a scattershot, high volume, low meaning way feels like simply a different kind of effort for 'same-y' results. Discernment might save some time too. Interested to hear peoples thoughts
I base this off of the type of wall art I buy on Etsy. If it looks cool and I like it, I usually buy it, I don't overthink it. Grant it, I'm not an 'art person' and I'm not sure people who are deeply passionate about art go onto Etsy to purchase them, there are other mediums for that demographic.
I think I would think about these things if I was making trading cards or something like that where the sustainability of the art itself is much more important. These questions have come up in my mind too while making products so I am currently combining human made art with ai art.
I am 75% thru your video and just had to comment. Wow did you go thru layer after layer of obstacles. Most would had given up half way thru the process. Way to keep going.
I wonder if the market won't become oversaturated soon (if it isn't for quite some time already). Also wonder if Etsy policy might change in the future to outlaw generated content
@@webstercat I'm not saying they should, I'm saying they might. I'm not saying digital content, I'm saying AI generated digital content. It depends on their philosophy, if they continue to be OK with AI generated content or want only human-made content
I've used Imagemagick for over 20 years. I was doing this on ebay years ago to have over 20,000 active listings which is what it took to get good money coming in. Also, I owned my own printers, so my markup was huge - my cost to print an 18x24 was .50 cents. I sold these for $18. Way better than having to use a third party printer.
eBay is the worst option for online sellers. It's good to get your feet wet. Your own website is always the best option. eBay does not allow brand building. No customer support. At one time I had a personal account rep there and it was possible to get U.S. based phone support. eBay accepts far too many VERO takedowns over trademark issues that are not legitimate. As a seller you can not enforce your own policies on eBay.
Firstly, props on the honesty. Too many are out here making false promises about getting big bank from AI content on Etsy. However, selling actual printable stuff from PODs won't work either. Many folks are trying that right now and are finding less success. It's even more difficult due to the economy and how short people's pockets are right now. The transaction fees from Etsy are larger, and now you have to deal with the inevitable situation of dealing with customers who's orders get lost/messed up due to POD companies mistakes. That means more time being spent. You will inevitably come to find at the end of the year that the amount of time spent doing all of this would make you break even, meager profits, or at worse, a total loss. Best to spend that time doing something more ethical and profitable. ☺
I opened my shop this week and everything in this video is what to expect when starting on Etsy. It took me days to properly prepare my shop, talking Banner, privacy policies, shop description, listing description, keyword research etc. The research took most of my time away, what was I going to design and sell? The creative aspect of actually designing is the most fun, but then indeed I spend a lot of time into creating scripts with javascript to do the resizing to all the ratios. Then I created a script which would content-replace my mockups. Anyway let's see if I will even make one sale, thumbs up Automation is key, without it you won't have the energy nor time for creative work and you will be exhausted before you know it.
AI "art" belongs in its own specific category. There is a valid reason people don't want to purchase AI generated images and posting images just made to sell with little effort will get you very little in return. A lot of artists are successful selling online because they have a follower base that likes to follow and support the human behind the artwork. Seeing the process, engaging with the artist, and being apart of a community. Everything AI lacks. Yes there will be a niche of people who seek it out, but it will never be the same.
There are two categories for AI as well. One is AFE (automatic feature extraction) which relies typically on plagiarising, data piracy, etc which really should be banned, corps supporting this want to pirate everyone but not be pirated back so the counter-tactic is to simply say to corps "why should I pay for the work you stole", etc. The other case is when the AI actually understands how the image is made and possesses the skill to make an original piece instead of a glorified photobash, such doesn't really exist yet though. The former is not really art, since there's no artistic understanding nor process, though it's possible one day for AI art to actually exist but you'd need the algorithms to have its own experience and understand the art process and art foundations. Art authorship possesses questions like "where did these brush strokes come from", "do you understand anatomy", "what provoked you to make this", "these lines look to be made with anger, were you angry", "explain the perspective", "what was the laying (z) order of the strokes here", etc. Today there are only algorithms that can so-called "learn" to plagiarise things, and you can always tell a plagiarist by the fact they cannot answer or fathom how the thing was made in a rational or emotional sense which is where most of the creative process comes from. The fake scientists should really stop with anthropomorphic terms like "machine learning" and "training" though because learning does involve knowing what you're doing, not estimating data and dodging the capacity of understanding. The black-box magical thinking does not belong in science and is not empirical but rather correlative, AIs are correlative stochastic models that orientate prediction and have no means to an end that is inherently scientific. These AI condoners are not scientists anymore than Flat Earthers and the term scientist like artist should be applied to someone who communicates and explains through technical process and not philosophy. Playing with data is not science, though the algorithms they apply are mathematical and statistical. They want to steal the idea of being an "artist" so badly, just like they stole the term "scientist". The problem with society today is people stealing titles that do not represent them. Just like how even people training end-user algorithms are calling themselves "data scientists" or "AI art masters". It's more like arguing that being a thief is an art and that the process of theft is a science and it doesn't belong in today's society, corps just have nothing left to sell to us except the very thing that they didn't make.
This is a reminder of why I've had dozens of images ready for a year but never did the final edits and posted them online. Generation is the fun part. This is the drudgery. Thank you for all the tips!
We are on a similar journey. I started with POD then shifted my focus to Digital Download. I'm more concentrating on niches in digital download, such as restaurant food poctures or some ethnicity. Don't go thru the same learning process in POD. You are on top of this game, it will take time and thousands of image library, but you are young.
After watching your videos, I thought that I could do something too and decided to enter this field of work alongside my full time job. Thank you for inspiring me whether my business venture is successful or not. Everything aside, even the dream of having a job that I really enjoy is amazing. take care of yourself.
thank you for sharing. you shared your methods, tools, successes, loses, and sales, etc. and your video had a great fast tempo to it and was no fluff. Glad Google recommended your video today or I would have never stumbled upon you. I am now a new subscriber.
Almost everyone who comes to my AI print store ask's me if it's AI created.....They all pass when they're told it is...2 sales for me so far...One didn't care and another gave me negative stars because they found out it was an AI print
I can see it turning people off. There is a general backlash towards using AI, I mean even MCU's Secret Invasion got a tonne of negative feedback for using AI in its opening sequence. I do believe it is temporary though, people will warm up to it eventually.
@@theresnothinghere59 I hope the opposite happens actually, it needs to get regulated so massive companies can't just Datamine and train their models on work that's not theirs.
Thank you for this honest video. I also tried this, took an entire day to set it up, it was a lot of work for little to no sales. It is not easy and people shouldn’t fill people with videos saying it’s easy.
Thanks for the video. There are people who would not show all the steps they took and what the results were. So because your approach is much more comprehensive it gave us all a better understanding of how to deal with problems as they arise. Learn from other peoples mistakes as we don't live long enough to make them all yourself. Watching your video I did wonder if selling downloads was the right move rather than prints. Whereas most people would be happy to download something smaller they could print off themselves would they want to go to all the time and expense of getting it printed off then get it framed.
Duuude! I just started my online shop a few weeks back, so many issues so i was kinda feeling a little bit low, then i stumbled on your video, and after hearing your own experience i feel motivated, theres no way i'm stopping. great content by the way, just subscribed
It can be tough, I've had my shop for a few years, not really to make money as such, it was more just a side thing I was doing and was experimenting with stuff for when I properly launch. Just need to pay attention to your customer base once you start getting a few sales. I noticed that my shop favourited items/sales were from 99% women, so I have rebranded and designed my shop to accomodate that and make it more appealing for them on re-launch. Stick to what you like doing, I branched into pet portraits a while back because it sells, BUT I hate doing them so I stopped doing it as I find it boring for me and not enjoyable.
Mark your video are juicy of content and value decorated by honesty not click bite. You are the first TH-camr after 5 years i can finally subscribe! No scamming no bullshit. Many thanks.
Appreciate the honestly. It makes sense that the vast majority of people have no interest in heading down to Kinkos or some other print shop and try to figure out how to get large wall art printed. I can’t even imagine how long it would take, including trial and error, to get something like that correctly printed and looking great.
This was so absolutely helpful! Thank you. It would be very nice if you set up some sort of visual example of you going through the whole workflow again and a breakdown. It would help people write this down, and if you did it at the end of every chapter, you would get retention. That being said, once you get the chance to have members for your channel you should. I would have paid for this video.
Many thanks! :) Yes, I was thinking of implementing more graphics in the next update video. It is a lot of work even like this, so really appreciate the kind words!
Thank you for your honesty. What I learn from all this is; if lots of TH-camrs wants to teach you how to sell a certain product to make money, rest assure that market is saturated so I am going to avoid it at all cost.
None of these selling-AI-art-videos seem to focus on actually offering art people like and want. It's total technical focus. That's fine, but if you run ads, get attention, have lots of products, low prices and still don't sell - your stuff is probably crap. Sorry. All this "I was doing everything right, I don't get it" shows a lack of understanding of the type of business they're entering, and underestimating potential customers.
WOW! I feel you Mark. I am currently in the same boat. Trying every way I can to make the right mockups, the right file sizes, the offerings. I liked your words of wisdom, just focus on the POD product. Good luck in your stores and your journey!
This is the reality for 99% of people trying to sell based on zero knowledge about Marketing. Mark, thanks for all the tools, tips, and experience. But, we all forgot the most important thing: targeting your audience. Pick a sub-niche, do some research on competitors and the sub-niche audience, and start creating focused content. Going wide on any platform will bring you zero results in most cases. Example: Background Pattern > Pattern for kids > Graphics pattern style for Kids age 2-6 Through this, you will have the chance, and people will know you are the guy to come for BG Pattern for kids.
What you make in the learning period doesn’t matter. Every item posted could be a hit and usually you get a few sales and a few reviews, then it’ll grow from there! I’m interested to see if you stayed consistent for maybe 6 months+ what kind of results you would see- and that goes for everyone who tries.
I think it's crucial for all users of these marketplaces to recognize the underlying truth: the primary beneficiary here is undoubtedly the marketplace itself. It's disheartening to invest countless hours into creating and promoting our products or services, only to realize that in order to gain any traction, we're forced to spend additional money on advertising. As a result, we unwittingly become a source of revenue for the marketplace, while finding ourselves financially strained. It's essential to approach these platforms with a clear understanding of the potential pitfalls and carefully weigh the costs involved. Don't let their profitability come at your expense. And we mustn't overlook those individuals who promote these marketplaces using clickbait titles promising huge sums of money every month, when in reality, they are receiving substantial affiliate commissions and even earning from TH-cam itself.
Etsy doesn't provide affiliate links to content creators on TH-cam, so it's pointless to promote the platform. TH-camrs earn nothing from that, the most they earn is from AdSense.
I tried the same thing but the other way around and now trying to build digital downloads only, my physical poster shop with ai designs with 75 listings got me 1 single sale in a month with 0.2% conversion rate. I think the biggest challenge is to be price competetive, i see everyone charging 5$ for shipping and i dont know how, since my first sale it costed 20$ of shipping while it was a neighbouring country in Europe. Anyway, gotta keep trying to learn :) Maybe we can find a niche that works.
You can do free shipping if you take the cost into consideration when pricing the art. Sacrificing profit margin is a better strategy than charging clients for shipping.
@@markonbusiness totally, but the end result is the same, you end up charging 2x the amount for a product comparing with the competition which is difficult to get away with.
Hi, thanks for posting this. I am just at the beginning of this same journey, I opened my store yesterday and immediately got suspended, and almost scammed. I'm enjoying learning and also the work. It combines my interest in art, with my understanding of tech and a decent business acumen, I understand that there won't be a return for a while, but as you said, just keep at it! Hope it all works out for both of us!
Maybe you should try selling art that's not so basic... Something that makes your audience think. I also make A.I. art and yes the process is time consuming but so is real art. The art doesn't have to fit the whole frame you can add a border or just not offer certain sizes.. if they like it they will buy it. Also you can't sell art that everyone else is selling 🤦🏾♂️ Then it won't be art 🤷🏾♂️. You have to offer something new, interesting, and fresh. Art is not a product, it's an expression of you.
Yeah, the art isn't very complex, for sure. However, there is always an argument that people prefer simple designs. Will definitely be switching it up a bit for the future though.
@@markonbusiness you have to do you.. that's what makes it art.. use printify for you art framing. I find it easier and cheaper as far as shipping ( 99 cent to 1.89 if you're in the states ) when you make a listing just duplicate it and change the picture all the settings will stay the same. You don't need all that extra fluff like staging. No one, well most people don't have that type of decor anyways and it just makes your store look hella busy. Just let the customer concentrate on the art and let them imagine it in their own home. You don't need all the fluff. 👍🏾
This is the most honest video about selling art or everything else . It’s not easy , most of TH-camrs oversaturate or don’t say the truth . For me it’s the sincere opinion . Bravo
75 listings in a week? You complain about the time you had to spend on scaling, improving the quality of illustrations and mockups. Now imagine if you had to create these illustrations yourself and not use AI. I sell on Etsy, I make my own patterns, I invent them, I draw them, I make products for photos based on them. I'm able to do two listings a week, so it annoys me that sellers are asked for quantity. It's not a factory job, it's creativity. I wonder what you expected after 30 days on Etsy? Etsy is a project for years not for a month. Even 1-2 years old stores struggle with the problem of visibility in such a flood of ... hmm ... creators...
My shop doesn't have only AI illustrations, it has art that I pieced together with vectors and assets bought from Creative Market. Which took time to do. Kudos to you producing your own patterns, however that has nothing to do with the point of the video, which was to show that this business requires work. Might not seem like work to you, but it's still work nevertheless. All the best and wish you continuous success with your shop.
Luv this vid. Thk u for the real profit & loss info, ESPECIALLY the specific detailed info about tools and methods. Im in the beginning stages of my own Etsy POD shop, this vid was great for me. Im sub'd & liked from this vid!
Dozens of sellers selling them with no problems. If you'd be sued for it, there wouldn't be so much physical and digital merch with celebrity faces + you're covered with Midjourney's commercial rights.
Dude, Mark...you might try dynamically loading smart objects into your templates. Size the art in question, rotate, skew etc. then link to an external image with the exact same AR, that way the same angled mock-up will just pull the same 4x5 and boom, done. then use actions to load and repeat. Death to the mouse :)
Goodluck! Don't forget Zapier can help automate some of the stuff.. Maybe it's not related but you might find some use there.. Best of luck with your print on demand!
Wish I'd seen this when you posted it, thanks for the honest, no bull analysis on it. I'd caught a whiff of this opportunity on another channel and it looked interesting. However I could see there were a slew of variables that could kill the amount one could make. I have to hand it to you on the amount of work you put in on this, it made my head spin. I don't have a fraction of the knowledge that you do and see that it'd take real commitment and research to make a dent in this market on Etsy. Appreciate your realistic take on your actual results. I've subbed and will check out some of your other vids. Thanks!
AI Art is using human artist stolen artwork and destroying the livelihood of the very artist whom the AI was modeled upon. Until there is an ethically sourced AI, there is no way to ethically profit from AI art.
As long as prompt engineering is a thing, nobody will make their own stuff. It's a hassle, paying for a subscription, learning how to use the tool, learning how to craft a prompt, upscaling, etc. This is a done for you service, which is always a lucrative business model.
@@markonbusiness If I went out and robbed an art gallery , cut up the paintings to make a collage ...it is not a lucrative business model no matter how much of a hassle it is to make the collage. It is still theft...and anyone profiting from AI without the permission of the artist whom it is trained on are common thieves. That may not be your intention, but that is what you are doing. The law will eventually catch up to AI.
@@DarkRubyMoon1 Do you have proof that Midjourney stole artists' work or are you making that up? U.S. courts didn't have a problem with it, perhaps you should take it up with them.
@@markonbusiness Does Midjourney steal from artists? According to the lawsuit: “Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt are appropriating the work of thousands of artists with no consent, no credit, and no compensation”. Stable Diffusion is an artificial intelligence product used by Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney in their AI image products.Feb 15, 2023
Hi - if I'd want to use my own photography with Midjourney - the basic plan gives commercial rights but no copyright - right? So whatever you create is posted in this public chatroom where everything you make can be taken and used immidiately bu someone else. Right? Or wrong?
@@webstercat I'm sure nobody heard or considered that sentence before, thank you for opening our eyes: All Art Issues and the ethics of AI are settled now.
Finally someone who's telling the truth, no clickbait BS. For that you get a sub. Man, why is it so hard for other YT creators to tell the truth? That's a rhetorical question, they lie so more people fall for it and click click click.
AI is crap and more than that it is thievery of someone else’s base art that AI Generators have scanned and stolen off the internet. AI Art generating Apps and Browsers will eventually have a toxic name unless they are companies that own the original Artist’s base art.
Midjourney doesn't just cut and paste images that it finds. It looks at whatever source images it thinks are relevant, and then uses its own experience to interpret all of that, and puts out something slightly different (limited by their own ability). From an ethical standpoint, how is this any different from what a human artist does?
@@markonbusinessThen the AI should be the one profiting from it. How is it different from you going to an artist and telling him "Hey, I want a painting of a very tall guy looking at a Gothic cathedral, et, etc" If it turns out well the merit is pretty much all on the artist! I'm not at all against AI art, I consider it another tool for artists to use, just like PS or Illustrator, but there's something very wrong with the present model. It shouldn't be possible to sell AI made stuff, or it should be prohibitively expensive because the AI gets paid for it (and redistributes to the owners of every single piece it got information from). This is stifling actual digital art creators and if it goes on, it may very well lead to less and less human made art being created, which will also lead to the AIs having less valuable sources from which to draw from. We'll see. But right now something isn't right.
Enjoy your work a lot! Would be very interested if you have time to see Photo Shop methods to add "glass" to wallart mock ups and wall colours change ideas.. thanks for your detailed efforts too!
Hi Mark, I truly am not a believer of putting digital products out there with such low prices between 2 and 5 dollars. It maybe stupid, but I'm tended to pay more money for a product. When I see a price so low like that as a customer, I'm like "what a cheap ass product" and I won't buy it. Am I alone here?
CHECK OUT my newest video: th-cam.com/video/rOWRdrABiJM/w-d-xo.html
Please tell me how can get a free upscaler that upscales the art in different ratio with good quality.
program called upscayl. its free
Hi sir
Do you need caption writer for your TH-cam channel
So refreshing to find someone telling the truth, instead of all these clickbait scammers promising thousands just to get views. Thanks for the tips and the honesty. 😊
Much appreciated
There are plenty of those around here. They only get rich with our visits but nothing with etsy and that etsy is no longer available in South America
@@ari_qui They get rich from their youtube views and selling their courses.
@@loth4015 i want the same.
"Make billions of dollars selling oil" they may as well just put that in the title.
The fact is that it doesn't matter how good your art is or any other products you sell on etsy, until you start running ads you will not see major profit. Or you have to have a huge online following. In short, the secret of being successful on etsy or Amazon or any other platform (nowadays, when markets are saturated) IS running ads AND running them successfully. Unfortunately, the actual talented artists don't make any serious money online, but only those who are skilled at marketing and more technical aspects are the ones who succeed..
Well said.
This is the truth of business. Why people are expressing appreciation for this video is beyond me.
That's true.
Nothing new. Think about music over the decades. Plenty of great bands and musicians who never made it big, plenty of crap that was super successful ( if you use money/earnings or fame as your measure of success) due to great marketing. Now and then we get bands/musicians who are talented and are good at marketing themselves or at least realise it’s necessity in the pursuit of success and find someone to assist them in doing it, those are the ones that both sides of the aisle ( creative artist types and technical marketing types) acknowledge as the greats. Without talent they wouldn’t last and without marketing they would never be found.
@@innes_82 In the 70s and 80s the music industry had a different culture, they were looking for the most talented musicians around. Then in the 90s new media science proved that you could make money with zero talented persons if you just had great marketing. in the 90s we used to say "why are the talented musicians replaced with zero talent on radio?" because it was not the way it used to be. And that goes for all genres in the 70s and 80s, even those you didn't like personally, you just had to admit they were talented.
Finally someone who is REALISTIC and HONEST! I hate those clickbait “I made $5k on Etsy in one month” bs. So I subscribed immediately. Very valuable content, thanks! ❤
Many thanks!
like Alek? lol i made 35k making logos in a month!
Custom new logo?
Yea and they actually made $5k from the amount of view for youtube video itself or getting commission from you for paying the subscription fee for their suggestion tools. lol
Thank you for posting REALISTIC results. Everybody else on YT pretends you can make thousands per month easily, but it requires hard work and perseverance and it seems that most people don't want to do any hard work.
Yes and a lot of people want fast results. An online business is no different than a brick and mortar business, in the sense that you probably need months or years to become profitable.
You know that most of them alter the html of the Etsy dashboard with the inspect feature of the browser to make it seem like they made more sales. It's super easy to do. This video is rare.
I work in the art industry although am not an artist.. the thing with art is collectors want art created by a human. Art is more than just a pretty design, there is a story, craft and a journey that goes into creating a piece. AI art is cool but lacks that soul which makes art precious.
Agreed
AI is just an instrument. Like photoshop. I'm using ai pieces as elements on creating my own art
@@LioraNehama if you want to be successful with art pick up a paintbrush, pencil etc something that requires talent. AI art is suitable for creating content for websites, apps, marketing emails etc. it just isn't selling because nobody is interested in "Art" created from text or image prompts.
I'm remastering it, slowly studying drawing by brushes, but prefer to do it digital in Photoshop. Main usage - I'm making event flyers and this work is paid good, but the topic was about selling AI art on etsy and stocks
@@LioraNehama Oh nice one how amazing is photoshop now! yes sorry I got off topic, just wanted to share that AI art doesn't sell and the reasons why (I work for the second biggest online gallery in the world).
At least you made a very insightful video out of it and didn't make a thumbnail image with a four figure dollar amount for it. Your honesty and openness is really appreciated and I wish you success wihile continuing this!
I will be forever grateful to you, you changed my whole life and I will continue to preach on your behalf for the whole world to hear you saved me from huge financial debt with just a small investment, thank you *JENNY PAMOGAS CANAYA* .
*JENNY PAMOGAS CANAYA* is my portfolio coach, I found her on Bloomberg where she was featured, I looked up her name on the internet. Fortunately, I came across her site and reached out to her, you can verify her yourself.
Traditional art videos are always about sharing knowledge, motivation, creativity, etc... while most AI art videos are just about making money.
I think is says a lot about the AI art community.
lol, you illustrate how little you know about the AI community. I don't like the word art because it's not Art imo. But you are wrong to think that the AI community isn't sharing knowledge.
You only see AI video about money because that's what's youtube is giving you. I watcvh several AI video each week and I only had one of this kind recommanded from TH-cam and since I ignored it, it never came back.
You are right, Ethan. I agree about the use of the word "art". I'm not an artist, I'm just an enthusiastic prompt peasant. Most of the people really involved in creating AI images create/consume tutorials (and there are tons of those) or showcase their images in a music or themed video.
@@ethan-fel AI communities, like all other tech communities, are quite enthusiastic about sharing tips and tricks, and that's great!
But... if you look at the ACTUAL use cases of AI art that exist at large, it's mostly only two things: making money, and passing off AI art as yours (EG on Instagram and such). And it's very funny coming from some people who complain about artists being greedy for wanting to keep their commissions or whatever.
I make money selling my art, but it is a lot more involved than just making art and suddenly making money. It's business, branding, tax law, market research, seasonal rotation, event scheduling, economics, crafting, labeling, packaging, customer relations, communication and many more skills.
It may seem as simple as having fun making art and then selling a product, but there is a lot that goes on in the background to make the customer happy with their purchase and have an enjoyable interaction.
I made many business mistakes when I started, and I learned and improved my business with each event. Customers don't want original art? Sell fine art prints. Millennials and zoomers have a preference for the practical? Sell functional art alongside the prints. If there is a new product idea, make a small amount to start, and expand upon it, should it be successful.
And remember the 2-4 year rule of small business: You will only lose money or break even for the first 2-4 years of your business, and any profit made will go back into the business. There is no get-rich-quick for a sensible art business, but it is fulfilling if one is serious about putting in the effort. And seeing people fall in love with my art, finding a piece that speaks to them or finding the perfect gift for their friends and family is what makes me happy to share my art.
Hey I’m trying to sell art but need your advice based on what I have now
Hi. Thanks for your post. I always read the comments and probably pay more attention to those than the actual vid sometimes. So glad I do because that's when I find helpful little gems like your post that give me a bit of a boost. Thanks you and best of luck with your art 😊
As a traditional artist 🎨 the fact you lost money - 💰 using A.i. makes my heart sing 😆 🤣 🤑
Same! All these people who never picked up a paintbrush trying to get rich off monetizing art are now figuring out what us genuine artists already knew - society devalues art. Welcome to the club, you just made real art more valuable!
Me too... Happily, even the "Become an artist overnight without the years of work learning your craft or any talent" AI groupies are now going to realise that it take a lot more hard work to make any money from art... making the image is just the start for all of us.
I like using ai tools to further my own artistic creativity but these get rich quick guys are too stupid. Like this dude spent actual money buying abstract shapes yet does know how to use Photoshop, so why bother buying assets at all if you can make it yourself and if your actual product is considered stealing an art style? I would simply steal and trace any digital asset I want if I'm gonna be one of these dudes. And also he is selling a digital file, but buying rights to another digital file to put in his digital file and then hoping someone would buy his and not the original designers or just make it in an ai tool themselves. It would be quicker for him now just to learn how to draw he might just save some time and money.
Worry about your own gain. Don't worry about anyone else yall sound bitter. N of a lack mentality. That's not cool. How can u create from a closed off heart space. That's what i don't understand.
Yeah but you spam emojis lmao
Thank you for saving me several months. And for your honest, and objective feedback, as you shared your very real life experience with us. I would subscribe twice if I could.
I appreciate that, thank you for watching and subscribing! :)
I appreciate the honest sharing of results!
Thank you!
This was informative. I actually was quite a successful artist on Etsy (in house printing too). I got a lot of free exposure from Etsy staff. But as the site expanded I noticed people were able to add a huge amount of inventory fast and I couldn’t keep up. I wondered how they did it. Never thought about actions or presets (silly me). Now I’m playing around with AI with my artwork to create different variations. Kind of fun. Ai though could of created your elements rather than needing to use creative market.
It does kind of suck for traditional artists, but I personally think it’s important they get knowledgeable about AI art tools.
Interesting to read that from an actual artist (and one who doesn't attack Ai, but is trying to use it for their own benefit). Thanks for sharing your story!
Thanks for this video. Coincidentally, I have been on a very similar journey with similar styles of art. Although I have many more listings, my sales results are similar.I am also considering adding POD to expand the market. However, because my listings are not getting many views, I can't say whether digital download is the problem. Based on the successful shops that only offer digital download, clearly digital download can be successful.
I found that using photoshop smart objects and artboards makes mock up creation efficient. I have 8 mockups. Each is on an artboard with a smart object. The smart objects are all linked together so that when I put an image in one smart object, all the smart objects are updated to that image. Then I use quick export to export all the artboards. The whole process is done in two steps. 1. Place the image. 2. Quick export.
Hi Wayne! Thank you, that's a really interesting approach to the mockups, didn't know that before! I think it depends on the designs a lot, there are so many Matisse and Fauvism styled paintings around, that you have to come up with something original. We'll see, it's still early days, but hopefully we can both find success in this.
hey, thanks Wayne! I'm going to try that!
Wayne that's genius! How do I link the smart objects together in artboards? I've been using Photopea smart objects....using artboards as you mentioned sounds like a Huge time saver. Thanks
@@jre4001 I have not used Photopea. In Photoshop, I create the smart object for the mockup in artboard 1. To copy it, drag it down to the little + at the bottom of the layers panel. This will give you a second smart object that is linked to the first, original smart object. Then drag the second smart object to the 2nd artboard and arrange it where you want it in the mockup. Repeat for all your artboards. (Maybe it will work the same in Photopea.)
I don't understand why, but when I tried to copy and paste the smart object, the new smart object was not linked to the original one. Had to drag the smart object to the little + in the layers panel.
Hope that helps.
Appreciate the advice and the realistic results man. Helps a lot
Thank you for watching!
Same here.. I"m trying digital products, since last October, and its always lost with Etsy fees. I haven't made any revenue. (And I'm not even calculating other tools and subscriptions that I'm paying for. Last month I stop running etsy adds, cause it seems like the only party making money here is Etsy. 3 years ago I closed another store - where I was selling actual physical products - painting and prints, It was ok business like 10 years ago, about 5 years ago its died, I tried for some time and again after loosing money month after month I closed it. So, sorry to tell you, but don't keep your hopes to high.
Thank you for the insight and bummed it didn't work out with the previous shops. Hope you find some success with this one though!
nice that you were honest with your experience.... viewers appreciate that. Your honesty is soooo refreshing.
Thanks for sharing your journey and lessons learned. Great video and best of luck on your shop!
Many thanks!
A very honest and helpful video. I think a ton of people have jumped on the AI bandwagon hoping to make fast money but you still need a product people want. Too many TH-cam gurus promoting it as such and giving incorrect and unrealistic advice. I'm opposed to AI in principle and prefer to produce my own art. At some point I think the tide will turn back to human generated art as people get tired of the obvious artificiality. I wish you success though and am looking forward to see what happens next with this shop.
Thank you for watching! AI is already getting a tonne of backlash and I suspect that won't change for a good while. It also depends how good it gets, because right now it's very distinguishable from actual human made art. Appreciate the words and you're doing the right thing by producing your own art for sure!
99% of what people put on their walls is such horrendous artificiality, and that's been going on for decades. You know what I'm talking about. People will put anything on a wall just to not have a blank wall, and people buy what is accessible and low-priced. The AI generated art I've seen is mind-blowing, I'd love to have some of it on my walls. Sorry, but art is art.
@@markonbusiness
Fast forward June 2024…AI art is better than ever…almost indistinguishable from any real art I’ve ever seen (I’am not an artist)….Mid journeys capabilities and output is mesmerizing. Chat GPT, Bing and Gemini have also incorporated it into their bots. It’s a force to be reckoned with and it will continue to have a front row seat. Etsy has fully accepted it on the platform it sells even in the printable format.
Perhaps the problem is also related to the fact that more and more people are really learning about AI art and if at some point they want something like this, it will probably be art based on their photos or they just use free resources 1-2 times, since they hardly need it more often. And those who really hang their walls with posters are more often people for whom the author is as important as art and they buy this and the like at fairs or creators' stores
You can't even imagine the percentage of people who doesn't know even how to use laptop....
The print on demand art is just as oversaturated as digital art. Most of the highest sellers on etsy are companies or groups of friends who can list many items in a very short period of time. The rest of the high sellers are people with extensive networks of family and friends who can buy their art and give it 5 stars to get it going, but they still require a lot of luck. Statistically speaking, you'll likely waste your time for a year to see little or no return. Everyone and their pet parrot are generating art with midjourney and selling it on Esty now.
8 Billion people only 2 billion online billions more will coming on. 2030 you may be wrong on that analiz .
It's not about how many items you have listed. Its purely about marketing. Thats what sales is.
Yeah, they f×cked It up for actual artists, sadly..
You’re basically competing with the entire world of people hungry and desperate to make money to feed their mouths
wrong you dont need hundreds of listings haha, sure you have to update them and remove not working ones. But dont spam etsy, thats the worst you can do.
Im curios about pixel to ratio part of the video. I've never encountered that issue. But if it is one, I'd love to solve it. Right now I have over 20 digital sales. All five star reviews. No one has complained about the printability. But I just checked and my files do not match what you suggested. I've even had samples printed and they looked phenomenal. Is there anyway you could explain further about why that's important?
Have you tried: same design but in 3 or 4 different color schemes?
Sometimes people are looking for something to complement the colors in their interiour.
Offering an artpiece with editable color scheme or lettering, has added value as well.
Would be interesting to see what happens if you do both digital and POD within the same shop. Please keep sharing your results with us. Thks
Yes, planning to keep both digital and POD within the same shop, although generally people don't recommend that. We'll see what happens!
Nothing will hapen, Ivtried IT with redbuvble 300 Designs 5 months ago, result 0
@@mikeshaefer6848same with me I tried a lot of time on redbubble but result 0% i was tried most research but nothing except
Actually compitition are very high 😢
@@mikeshaefer6848I actually saw a guy that had over a thousand items on red bubble and I think just made $2. Unfortunately, can’t find a video but basically it seems that Redbubble is a dud.
Bro your video is a true gem!
Thanks for being sincere. The only thing I wish you had done was to put the links to the tools that you used and worked.
Thanks for spending your time and sharing your experience with us.
Should update your title to "I am the 500,000th person to try selling AI art."
Exactely
One of the best online business videos i have seen. I loved how transparent you were with the money and how profitable/unprofitable your idea was. also the struggle and the tools you found to solve. thanks for the video
Awesome! Thank you!
You'll find in the digital sale business that the people who are buying your files are resellers selling it in physical form. The typical consumer is lazy, they just want to pay and have the product.
I am selling artwork at Rising dragon prints on etsy but struggling to get any sales. Sucks cos a lot of the prints I spent a long time making them. I am not going to give up though. At the moment I am losing money.
List 1 or 2 items per day for 90 days, watch the results it forces Etsy to come to your shop each time, and index it. I heard this and tried it and it worked.
That's great info, thanks for sharing! Will give it a shot.
Can you show us how to use mockup and size tools please.
hi, I'm genuinely curious and not seeing this in the comments so I wonder if you've considered learning something about 'art' itself to add value. There are two ways of looking at it, either 1. in a objective sense, considering 'visual communication' as a problem+solution pool of ideas, or 2 . adding more subjective choices, make it more meaningful and therefore unique? (in your prompts to AI).
I get that this type of advice is about minimal effort, but isn't there something about the visual images that interests you? If it's no value to you why should anyone else value it for more than a glimpse? There are lots of reasons why people value particular pieces of art, it's a massive field of knowledge.
Maybe it's just me here but working in a scattershot, high volume, low meaning way feels like simply a different kind of effort for 'same-y' results. Discernment might save some time too. Interested to hear peoples thoughts
I base this off of the type of wall art I buy on Etsy. If it looks cool and I like it, I usually buy it, I don't overthink it. Grant it, I'm not an 'art person' and I'm not sure people who are deeply passionate about art go onto Etsy to purchase them, there are other mediums for that demographic.
I think I would think about these things if I was making trading cards or something like that where the sustainability of the art itself is much more important.
These questions have come up in my mind too while making products so I am currently combining human made art with ai art.
I am 75% thru your video and just had to comment. Wow did you go thru layer after layer of obstacles. Most would had given up half way thru the process. Way to keep going.
Thank you so much!
I wonder if the market won't become oversaturated soon (if it isn't for quite some time already). Also wonder if Etsy policy might change in the future to outlaw generated content
was looking for this comment. I hope so. If you go to certain tourist shops a lot of their content is cookie cutter from big chains
It’s so easy to make AI art from free apps. I don’t know why anyone would buy it.
Why should Etsy digital art? Why can’t people buy what they want?
@@webstercat I'm not saying they should, I'm saying they might. I'm not saying digital content, I'm saying AI generated digital content. It depends on their philosophy, if they continue to be OK with AI generated content or want only human-made content
Because of your honestly and straight forward a approach you just got a new subscriber thanks. Keep it up brother.
Many, many thanks!
I've used Imagemagick for over 20 years. I was doing this on ebay years ago to have over 20,000 active listings which is what it took to get good money coming in. Also, I owned my own printers, so my markup was huge - my cost to print an 18x24 was .50 cents. I sold these for $18. Way better than having to use a third party printer.
Thanks for sharing your experience. 20,000 listings, damn, I have to get to work haha!
May i ask why did you stop selling on ebay ? Did your buisness get slow or do you still run the buisness ?
eBay is the worst option for online sellers. It's good to get your feet wet. Your own website is always the best option. eBay does not allow brand building. No customer support. At one time I had a personal account rep there and it was possible to get U.S. based phone support. eBay accepts far too many VERO takedowns over trademark issues that are not legitimate. As a seller you can not enforce your own policies on eBay.
Firstly, props on the honesty. Too many are out here making false promises about getting big bank from AI content on Etsy. However, selling actual printable stuff from PODs won't work either. Many folks are trying that right now and are finding less success. It's even more difficult due to the economy and how short people's pockets are right now. The transaction fees from Etsy are larger, and now you have to deal with the inevitable situation of dealing with customers who's orders get lost/messed up due to POD companies mistakes. That means more time being spent. You will inevitably come to find at the end of the year that the amount of time spent doing all of this would make you break even, meager profits, or at worse, a total loss. Best to spend that time doing something more ethical and profitable. ☺
I opened my shop this week and everything in this video is what to expect when starting on Etsy.
It took me days to properly prepare my shop, talking Banner, privacy policies, shop description, listing description, keyword research etc.
The research took most of my time away, what was I going to design and sell?
The creative aspect of actually designing is the most fun, but then indeed I spend a lot of time into creating scripts with javascript to do the resizing to all the ratios.
Then I created a script which would content-replace my mockups.
Anyway let's see if I will even make one sale, thumbs up
Automation is key, without it you won't have the energy nor time for creative work and you will be exhausted before you know it.
Wow! You shared your learning curve, mistakes, successes so valuable. Thank you! I will watch more of your videos!
Thank you very much!
AI "art" belongs in its own specific category. There is a valid reason people don't want to purchase AI generated images and posting images just made to sell with little effort will get you very little in return. A lot of artists are successful selling online because they have a follower base that likes to follow and support the human behind the artwork. Seeing the process, engaging with the artist, and being apart of a community. Everything AI lacks. Yes there will be a niche of people who seek it out, but it will never be the same.
There are two categories for AI as well. One is AFE (automatic feature extraction) which relies typically on plagiarising, data piracy, etc which really should be banned, corps supporting this want to pirate everyone but not be pirated back so the counter-tactic is to simply say to corps "why should I pay for the work you stole", etc. The other case is when the AI actually understands how the image is made and possesses the skill to make an original piece instead of a glorified photobash, such doesn't really exist yet though. The former is not really art, since there's no artistic understanding nor process, though it's possible one day for AI art to actually exist but you'd need the algorithms to have its own experience and understand the art process and art foundations. Art authorship possesses questions like "where did these brush strokes come from", "do you understand anatomy", "what provoked you to make this", "these lines look to be made with anger, were you angry", "explain the perspective", "what was the laying (z) order of the strokes here", etc.
Today there are only algorithms that can so-called "learn" to plagiarise things, and you can always tell a plagiarist by the fact they cannot answer or fathom how the thing was made in a rational or emotional sense which is where most of the creative process comes from. The fake scientists should really stop with anthropomorphic terms like "machine learning" and "training" though because learning does involve knowing what you're doing, not estimating data and dodging the capacity of understanding. The black-box magical thinking does not belong in science and is not empirical but rather correlative, AIs are correlative stochastic models that orientate prediction and have no means to an end that is inherently scientific. These AI condoners are not scientists anymore than Flat Earthers and the term scientist like artist should be applied to someone who communicates and explains through technical process and not philosophy. Playing with data is not science, though the algorithms they apply are mathematical and statistical. They want to steal the idea of being an "artist" so badly, just like they stole the term "scientist". The problem with society today is people stealing titles that do not represent them. Just like how even people training end-user algorithms are calling themselves "data scientists" or "AI art masters". It's more like arguing that being a thief is an art and that the process of theft is a science and it doesn't belong in today's society, corps just have nothing left to sell to us except the very thing that they didn't make.
This is a reminder of why I've had dozens of images ready for a year but never did the final edits and posted them online. Generation is the fun part. This is the drudgery. Thank you for all the tips!
We are on a similar journey. I started with POD then shifted my focus to Digital Download.
I'm more concentrating on niches in digital download, such as restaurant food poctures or some ethnicity. Don't go thru the same learning process in POD. You are on top of this game, it will take time and thousands of image library, but you are young.
Hey! Thank you, that's awesome, hope you see a lot of success soon!
Thanks a lot. Your comment interested me especially with the learning curve with POD.
Why did you abandon POD in favor of digital?
Hey dude! Great video! Can you explain your lighting setup? Love how it looks!
Hey! I use an Aputure Amaran 60d on a light stand and I have that single lamp in the background for a bit of atmosphere.
After watching your videos, I thought that I could do something too and decided to enter this field of work alongside my full time job. Thank you for inspiring me whether my business venture is successful or not. Everything aside, even the dream of having a job that I really enjoy is amazing. take care of yourself.
Thank you, I wish you a lot of success! :)
thank you for sharing. you shared your methods, tools, successes, loses, and sales, etc. and your video had a great fast tempo to it and was no fluff. Glad Google recommended your video today or I would have never stumbled upon you. I am now a new subscriber.
Thank you, Gina, I appreciate that!
Almost everyone who comes to my AI print store ask's me if it's AI created.....They all pass when they're told it is...2 sales for me so far...One didn't care and another gave me negative stars because they found out it was an AI print
I can see it turning people off. There is a general backlash towards using AI, I mean even MCU's Secret Invasion got a tonne of negative feedback for using AI in its opening sequence. I do believe it is temporary though, people will warm up to it eventually.
@@markonbusiness I think laws will warmup to it eventually
@@theresnothinghere59 I hope the opposite happens actually, it needs to get regulated so massive companies can't just Datamine and train their models on work that's not theirs.
Thank you for this honest video. I also tried this, took an entire day to set it up, it was a lot of work for little to no sales. It is not easy and people shouldn’t fill people with videos saying it’s easy.
Thanks for watching! Yes, products are easy to make but the selling part is difficult.
Thanks for the video. There are people who would not show all the steps they took and what the results were. So because your approach is much more comprehensive it gave us all a better understanding of how to deal with problems as they arise. Learn from other peoples mistakes as we don't live long enough to make them all yourself.
Watching your video I did wonder if selling downloads was the right move rather than prints. Whereas most people would be happy to download something smaller they could print off themselves would they want to go to all the time and expense of getting it printed off then get it framed.
Valuable insight, thank you Max.
Duuude! I just started my online shop a few weeks back, so many issues so i was kinda feeling a little bit low, then i stumbled on your video, and after hearing your own experience i feel motivated, theres no way i'm stopping. great content by the way, just subscribed
Great to hear that. Don't give up!
Why not starting art classes? It's fun and a great achievement. There's a lot of ways to make easy money.
BTW who signs the masterpieces?
Why would he do that when it's on a plate for you? It takes years to even be good at art @@AnaLuizaHella
It can be tough, I've had my shop for a few years, not really to make money as such, it was more just a side thing I was doing and was experimenting with stuff for when I properly launch. Just need to pay attention to your customer base once you start getting a few sales. I noticed that my shop favourited items/sales were from 99% women, so I have rebranded and designed my shop to accomodate that and make it more appealing for them on re-launch. Stick to what you like doing, I branched into pet portraits a while back because it sells, BUT I hate doing them so I stopped doing it as I find it boring for me and not enjoyable.
Mark your video are juicy of content and value decorated by honesty not click bite. You are the first TH-camr after 5 years i can finally subscribe! No scamming no bullshit. Many thanks.
Thank you, much appreciated! :)
Appreciate the honestly. It makes sense that the vast majority of people have no interest in heading down to Kinkos or some other print shop and try to figure out how to get large wall art printed. I can’t even imagine how long it would take, including trial and error, to get something like that correctly printed and looking great.
Thank you and yes, the average buyer will not go through all the hassle, I think.
This was so absolutely helpful! Thank you. It would be very nice if you set up some sort of visual example of you going through the whole workflow again and a breakdown. It would help people write this down, and if you did it at the end of every chapter, you would get retention. That being said, once you get the chance to have members for your channel you should. I would have paid for this video.
Many thanks! :) Yes, I was thinking of implementing more graphics in the next update video. It is a lot of work even like this, so really appreciate the kind words!
This was so informative, I love your persistance at finding shortcuts! Very helpful can't wait to see more
Glad it was helpful!
You generally need to be a famous artist to make a lot of money from your art.
This video is great b/c it's very honest and insightful, and to boot, Mark is a pretty sarcastic guy which makes it funny to watch.
Thank you for your honesty. What I learn from all this is; if lots of TH-camrs wants to teach you how to sell a certain product to make money, rest assure that market is saturated so I am going to avoid it at all cost.
Thanks. It's premature to say that, I'd give it 6 months to see if it gains traction
Thank you Mark for being candid and transparent, with this new business. I have subscribed to your channel and am excited to begin.
Many thanks and welcome aboard!
None of these selling-AI-art-videos seem to focus on actually offering art people like and want. It's total technical focus. That's fine, but if you run ads, get attention, have lots of products, low prices and still don't sell - your stuff is probably crap. Sorry.
All this "I was doing everything right, I don't get it" shows a lack of understanding of the type of business they're entering, and underestimating potential customers.
thanks for your honesty man! It really means a lot and I hope to see you getting exactly what you want
Thank you so much!
WOW! I feel you Mark. I am currently in the same boat. Trying every way I can to make the right mockups, the right file sizes, the offerings. I liked your words of wisdom, just focus on the POD product. Good luck in your stores and your journey!
Many thanks!
Thanks for keeping it real. Too many TH-camrs have us out here wasting time.
This is the reality for 99% of people trying to sell based on zero knowledge about Marketing. Mark, thanks for all the tools, tips, and experience. But, we all forgot the most important thing: targeting your audience.
Pick a sub-niche, do some research on competitors and the sub-niche audience, and start creating focused content. Going wide on any platform will bring you zero results in most cases.
Example: Background Pattern > Pattern for kids > Graphics pattern style for Kids age 2-6
Through this, you will have the chance, and people will know you are the guy to come for BG Pattern for kids.
That safe bet is cats. Some people really like cats and if his art was themed to just that he would have made something.
Great information here. Honest and concise. No extra nonsense and I look forward to future videos.
What you make in the learning period doesn’t matter. Every item posted could be a hit and usually you get a few sales and a few reviews, then it’ll grow from there! I’m interested to see if you stayed consistent for maybe 6 months+ what kind of results you would see- and that goes for everyone who tries.
Subscribe bc of your honesty, we need people like you rather than people who only look for subscribers and sell classes.
I think it's crucial for all users of these marketplaces to recognize the underlying truth: the primary beneficiary here is undoubtedly the marketplace itself. It's disheartening to invest countless hours into creating and promoting our products or services, only to realize that in order to gain any traction, we're forced to spend additional money on advertising. As a result, we unwittingly become a source of revenue for the marketplace, while finding ourselves financially strained. It's essential to approach these platforms with a clear understanding of the potential pitfalls and carefully weigh the costs involved. Don't let their profitability come at your expense.
And we mustn't overlook those individuals who promote these marketplaces using clickbait titles promising huge sums of money every month, when in reality, they are receiving substantial affiliate commissions and even earning from TH-cam itself.
Etsy doesn't provide affiliate links to content creators on TH-cam, so it's pointless to promote the platform. TH-camrs earn nothing from that, the most they earn is from AdSense.
Art is an option…food isn’t..
It's so valuable that you shared your mistakes, as well as some real solutions! Good luck with the shop) thanks for the video
I tried the same thing but the other way around and now trying to build digital downloads only, my physical poster shop with ai designs with 75 listings got me 1 single sale in a month with 0.2% conversion rate. I think the biggest challenge is to be price competetive, i see everyone charging 5$ for shipping and i dont know how, since my first sale it costed 20$ of shipping while it was a neighbouring country in Europe. Anyway, gotta keep trying to learn :) Maybe we can find a niche that works.
You can do free shipping if you take the cost into consideration when pricing the art. Sacrificing profit margin is a better strategy than charging clients for shipping.
@@markonbusiness totally, but the end result is the same, you end up charging 2x the amount for a product comparing with the competition which is difficult to get away with.
@@fedaykin8564Postal costs in Europe are prohibitively high compared to other countries. I haven't found a way around that either.
Hi, thanks for posting this. I am just at the beginning of this same journey, I opened my store yesterday and immediately got suspended, and almost scammed. I'm enjoying learning and also the work. It combines my interest in art, with my understanding of tech and a decent business acumen, I understand that there won't be a return for a while, but as you said, just keep at it! Hope it all works out for both of us!
Maybe you should try selling art that's not so basic... Something that makes your audience think. I also make A.I. art and yes the process is time consuming but so is real art. The art doesn't have to fit the whole frame you can add a border or just not offer certain sizes.. if they like it they will buy it. Also you can't sell art that everyone else is selling 🤦🏾♂️ Then it won't be art 🤷🏾♂️. You have to offer something new, interesting, and fresh. Art is not a product, it's an expression of you.
Yeah, the art isn't very complex, for sure. However, there is always an argument that people prefer simple designs. Will definitely be switching it up a bit for the future though.
@@markonbusiness you have to do you.. that's what makes it art.. use printify for you art framing. I find it easier and cheaper as far as shipping ( 99 cent to 1.89 if you're in the states ) when you make a listing just duplicate it and change the picture all the settings will stay the same. You don't need all that extra fluff like staging. No one, well most people don't have that type of decor anyways and it just makes your store look hella busy. Just let the customer concentrate on the art and let them imagine it in their own home. You don't need all the fluff. 👍🏾
This is the most honest video about selling art or everything else . It’s not easy , most of TH-camrs oversaturate or don’t say the truth .
For me it’s the sincere opinion . Bravo
Thank you, really appreciate that!
75 listings in a week?
You complain about the time you had to spend on scaling, improving the quality of illustrations and mockups.
Now imagine if you had to create these illustrations yourself and not use AI.
I sell on Etsy, I make my own patterns, I invent them, I draw them, I make products for photos based on them. I'm able to do two listings a week, so it annoys me that sellers are asked for quantity.
It's not a factory job, it's creativity.
I wonder what you expected after 30 days on Etsy? Etsy is a project for years not for a month. Even 1-2 years old stores struggle with the problem of visibility in such a flood of ... hmm ... creators...
My shop doesn't have only AI illustrations, it has art that I pieced together with vectors and assets bought from Creative Market. Which took time to do.
Kudos to you producing your own patterns, however that has nothing to do with the point of the video, which was to show that this business requires work. Might not seem like work to you, but it's still work nevertheless.
All the best and wish you continuous success with your shop.
Then start using AI or get left in the dust lol. No reason you can't do both
@@gregbroere696 We will see who will be left in the dust...
Luv this vid. Thk u for the real profit & loss info, ESPECIALLY the specific detailed info about tools and methods. Im in the beginning stages of my own Etsy POD shop, this vid was great for me. Im sub'd & liked from this vid!
Don't think selling Prince and David Bowie wall art is such a smart move
Dozens of sellers selling them with no problems. If you'd be sued for it, there wouldn't be so much physical and digital merch with celebrity faces + you're covered with Midjourney's commercial rights.
Dude, Mark...you might try dynamically loading smart objects into your templates. Size the art in question, rotate, skew etc. then link to an external image with the exact same AR, that way the same angled mock-up will just pull the same 4x5 and boom, done. then use actions to load and repeat. Death to the mouse :)
Goodluck! Don't forget Zapier can help automate some of the stuff.. Maybe it's not related but you might find some use there.. Best of luck with your print on demand!
Thank you very much, will look into Zapier
basically quantity over quality
truly a lazymaxxing business model.. have a computer make the art and make the buyer do the printing.
Welcome to selling digital downloads.
Wish I'd seen this when you posted it, thanks for the honest, no bull analysis on it. I'd caught a whiff of this opportunity on another channel and it looked interesting. However I could see there were a slew of variables that could kill the amount one could make. I have to hand it to you on the amount of work you put in on this, it made my head spin. I don't have a fraction of the knowledge that you do and see that it'd take real commitment and research to make a dent in this market on Etsy. Appreciate your realistic take on your actual results. I've subbed and will check out some of your other vids. Thanks!
AI Art is using human artist stolen artwork and destroying the livelihood of the very artist whom the AI was modeled upon. Until there is an ethically sourced AI, there is no way to ethically profit from AI art.
As long as prompt engineering is a thing, nobody will make their own stuff. It's a hassle, paying for a subscription, learning how to use the tool, learning how to craft a prompt, upscaling, etc. This is a done for you service, which is always a lucrative business model.
@@markonbusiness If I went out and robbed an art gallery , cut up the paintings to make a collage ...it is not a lucrative business model no matter how much of a hassle it is to make the collage. It is still theft...and anyone profiting from AI without the permission of the artist whom it is trained on are common thieves. That may not be your intention, but that is what you are doing. The law will eventually catch up to AI.
@@DarkRubyMoon1 Do you have proof that Midjourney stole artists' work or are you making that up? U.S. courts didn't have a problem with it, perhaps you should take it up with them.
@@markonbusiness Does Midjourney steal from artists?
According to the lawsuit: “Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt are appropriating the work of thousands of artists with no consent, no credit, and no compensation”. Stable Diffusion is an artificial intelligence product used by Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney in their AI image products.Feb 15, 2023
Not happening
Hi - if I'd want to use my own photography with Midjourney - the basic plan gives commercial rights but no copyright - right? So whatever you create is posted in this public chatroom where everything you make can be taken and used immidiately bu someone else. Right? Or wrong?
It's funny when you say that you're making art. You might even believe it.
I literally start the video with "This piece of art is made BY AI"
@@markonbusiness I know, and you still say several times that you made art
Art is & will always be in the eye of the beholder…
@@webstercat I'm sure nobody heard or considered that sentence before, thank you for opening our eyes: All Art Issues and the ethics of AI are settled now.
Finally someone who's telling the truth, no clickbait BS. For that you get a sub. Man, why is it so hard for other YT creators to tell the truth? That's a rhetorical question, they lie so more people fall for it and click click click.
Thank you for subbing! :)
AI is crap and more than that it is thievery of someone else’s base art that AI Generators have scanned and stolen off the internet. AI Art generating Apps and Browsers will eventually have a toxic name unless they are companies that own the original Artist’s base art.
Midjourney doesn't just cut and paste images that it finds. It looks at whatever source images it thinks are relevant, and then uses its own experience to interpret all of that, and puts out something slightly different (limited by their own ability).
From an ethical standpoint, how is this any different from what a human artist does?
@@markonbusinessThen the AI should be the one profiting from it. How is it different from you going to an artist and telling him "Hey, I want a painting of a very tall guy looking at a Gothic cathedral, et, etc" If it turns out well the merit is pretty much all on the artist!
I'm not at all against AI art, I consider it another tool for artists to use, just like PS or Illustrator, but there's something very wrong with the present model. It shouldn't be possible to sell AI made stuff, or it should be prohibitively expensive because the AI gets paid for it (and redistributes to the owners of every single piece it got information from). This is stifling actual digital art creators and if it goes on, it may very well lead to less and less human made art being created, which will also lead to the AIs having less valuable sources from which to draw from.
We'll see. But right now something isn't right.
Truly appreciate the honesty and transparency here. Good luck as you go forward!
Thank you very much!
Honest and straight to the point. You've earned my loyal subscription
Many thanks for your honesty ! Good luck for the next month with different concept 🍀 !
Thanks so much!
Enjoy your work a lot! Would be very interested if you have time to see Photo Shop methods to add "glass" to wallart mock ups and wall colours change ideas.. thanks for your detailed efforts too!
Thank you! Video on that is coming next week! :)
Amazing information ! Thank you for this ! Good luck for the future, you deserve the world !
Thank you so much!
Hi Mark, when I watch this video, I actually in the process uploading the mockup. Thank you for the video.
Awesome! Hope it helped
Hey, thanks for sharing! I really appreciate your transparency. I'm now a subscriber. :)
Thanks for the sub!
Hi Mark, I truly am not a believer of putting digital products out there with such low prices between 2 and 5 dollars. It maybe stupid, but I'm tended to pay more money for a product. When I see a price so low like that as a customer, I'm like "what a cheap ass product" and I won't buy it. Am I alone here?
Okay I subbed just to really see what becomes of your efforts. Wishing you all the best.
Thanks for the sub, welcome aboard! :)
Thanks for being so honest. I was wondering if you could test some pod providers for wall art like awkward styles or printify!
thank you mark! super authentic and great insights. Hope you can scale that shop!
Thank you for sharing. Creating mock-ups in Canva was giving me a headache.
Glad it was helpful!
Appreciate your candid and honest video! Great job!
no bullshit ,no waste of time . from second 1 all info is related to the topic, bravo!
More great information. I like keeping it real. I'll be watching for more ... Cheers
You are such a KIND SOUL!
We are not selling anything anywhere but your video is just so touching. Thanks for helping people