How To Draw Tattoos That Sell

Drawing your own tattoo art is something you either love doing or something you have some considerable skill at and then the next logical step is to try and sell your art although this can be a difficult task especially if you haven't got your marketing head on, but really it isn't all that difficult and there are lots of options to sell your tattoo art.

The first things to plan out are what types of tattoo art to concentrate all of your time on to create? and also what types of people want what certain types of tattoos, the demand has to play a certain part in your artistic productivity and of course when you know what tattoos sell more than any other it makes your tattoo designing job even easier and gives your mission a solid focus. Ask around at actual Tattooists and see what sells there or what popular tattoos people are getting, of course like any fashion or trend there'll be some current trends going on which more than likely filters down from Famous Celebrities wearing a random tattoo that everyone suddenly seems to want, but you should focus on long term tattoo art creation in the areas were there will always be a long term demand and not a short lived tattoo trend.

In the image slideshow above in the video after my slightly manic introduction you can see how a basic tattoo line drawing is created and how you can develop that further and skulls are a popular form of tattoo art when you also combine them with things like Serpents like I did, so always try and cross over tattoo design elements for some stylish tattoos. In the video above you can pause the video at any stage and follow along with the drawing if you wish.

You have two broad options open to you for selling your tattoo artwork, but first lets start with How to sell and what tips you can use to make your tattoo art stand out and be more saleable. Many collectors and Tattooists in general like tattoos to be in sets and not just individual tattoos as they feel like they are getting good value for their money and a range of stylized flash sheets of tattoo designs that they can add to their own design library.

If you are selling to Tattoo Artists then you will need to include the original outline of your art which is just the black ink lines of your drawing and this should be on tracing paper ideally the same size as your finished tattoo drawings. This saves time for the Artists to get to work almost straight away on inking someones skin, rarely have Tattooists accepted any of my first time tattoo samples without the tracings accompanying the designs.

I would have a separate tattoo portfolio too which might collect quality copies of any you have sold to other Tattoo artists or some you haven't yet sold but are great examples of your artwork. This portfolio is like a promotional tool and one that should be online too with Watermarked images and many different examples of tattoos that may interest any Prospective Tat Collector or Tattooist wanting some designs.

Ebay is always an option for selling your tattoos and selling is very easy if you think about how to list and plan all the details out such as thinking like a buyer who would be interested in buying tattoo art and adding an image of your work, maybe take a digital photo of your flash sheets all laid out on a table and you could also add a few other photos which Ebay usually adds a couple of Dollars onto your listing fee, but you should sell your flash set at a price that is worth the time and effort put into creating it. Do not draw and create a 12 sheet set and sell it for $10 as that is just not a decent return on your investment timewise, instead think of how many hours you spent on the tattoo set and adjust your price accordingly. Look at other tat listings on Ebay to get a feel for pricing....

Create Your Own Website To Sell Tattoos

Your own website is something you control more and if you build up a following of Tattoo Collectors and fans of your art then you could build up a list of Customers that might actually request tattoo commissions by email or phone. When you start to make sales you must think of this as a business, even if it's only part time as you are creating something that has value to others as there is enough demand for the designs and they will pay for them. So think smart about how you will sell from your own website, look into what you want and go for it.

Free hosting for a website may be the right way to go or the worng way it's up to you to do the research into whether you want to pay for a good domain name to promote your tattoo art online or just go with a free Blogger blog or some other website. I personally would go with a Wordpress site with my own domain name as that just reads more professional and they are easier to create than you would think nowadays with one click installs for Wordpress.

Paypal would be a good payment processor to sell tattoo art from your website, as would Google Check out. As with anything there is always a learning curve when trying to work with unfamiliar technology such as the Internet, but it's well within your interests to work online as well as offline in this day and age especially with the phenomenal growth of the world wide web.

Sometimes you'll find that simple ideas sell well too in the Tattoo industry and it's creating a range of different types of tattoos that your income from tat sales will increase. As an Artist myself I've sold many tattoo ideas that have either been super detailed or very basic, but they've both sold equal amounts online and off. The trick is being a tattoo Artist/Designer is to have a happy balance of art that lots of different people are going to be interested in purchasing.

The following three videos (To the right!) is a quick tattoo design idea that really is very basic and it is that simple. People will buy smaller tattoos and they'll want them customized by the Tattooist because it's the ideas that may sell and the Customer wants the specifics altered to suit what they actually want.

Creating these types of basic tattoos should always be a part of your tattoo selling plan as you can quickly create lots of these to sell online or offline, but you'll find that these will sell online more as most good tattoo shops already have quick custom tattoos on display.