I've been meaning to update since my last journal entry, which was, oh, two years ago or so, but haven't been able to think of anything more meaningful than "hey guys, I'm not dead."  

I've recently gotten a lot of requests from friends for purchasing art prints.  I've never made prints beyond just spitting something out on a home printer.  Obviously I'm  looking for something a little better quality.  Problem is, most online printing services leave an outrageously low profit for the artist--DevArt, Fine Art America, etc... to justify doing it, I'd have to price my art stupidly high, and my penniless grad-student conscience won't let me do that (I tend to want to price things at a price that I would be okay buying at).  

I already shop at Etsy and have been thinking about opening a shop there for a while.  If I sold art there, I'd probably figure in the cost of printing and shipping, add a reasonable profit for myself, and then send it to a printer to ship to the buyer.  

I also found Art for Conservation, which requires its members to donate at least 1% of their earnings to a conservation organization.  I really like this idea, but the website is a little buggy and it seems like they're still in their beta stages.  I'd rather establish some printing preferences before I layer on too many other facets.

And then there's always my local small-town printers I could use, although I tried them out for my wedding save-the-dates and they were pretty disappointing.  

So, suggestions?  Do you make prints of your art?  What company or service do you use?  What finishes/printing methods do you prefer (giclee? stretched canvas, paper, etc?)?  How do you ship to buyers?  Should I just suck it up and sell through DevArt or FAA?

Thanks, guys!

---------------------------------------------
Favorite Deviants:




Clubs: