How to Sell Tattoo Flash Art
Tattoo artists not only create permanent artwork on skin, many also create their own flash art. Tattooists use these renderings to create tattoo stencils. Having flash art available provides customers with choices or ideas for their next tattoo. By creating their own flash, tattoo artists showcase their own artistic flair and sell their artwork for some added income. Since it's a required element, if your tattoo flash art is good, selling it is an easy task.
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Instructions
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Display your flash art. Whether you sell your flash in the tattoo parlor you work at or take it with you to peddle at other shops or tattoo conventions, people have to be able to see it to purchase it. For a shop, use tattoo flash display racks similar to those used to display flash for customers. Keep yours separate, and either mark prices on the pages or simply mark them for sale. For on-the-road selling, you have at least two choices for display. You can either display them at a smaller size in a book people can easily flip through and keep the full-sized versions safely tucked away or carry laminated, full-sized versions in a large portfolio case or use a portable tattoo flash display rack.
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Allow purchases at your tattoo shop. Although artists may display flash for sale in their tattoo parlor, typically this isn't where most of your sales will come from. Most people who come to the shop are customers looking for work and won't be interested in purchasing flash.
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Take your tattoo flash to other shops. You can drag your tattoo flash from shop to shop and see if any of the tattoo artists or the shop owner are interested in buying your work, but you may find many shops not open to solicitations including flash. Plus, if they're willing to look but busy with clients, they won't be able to give you their undivided attention.
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Sell at tattoo conventions. Taking your tattoo flash to conventions is one of the best options for selling your artwork. Conventions allow fellow tattoo artists and enthusiasts to get together and display what they can do. Many attendees are there to shop, as well as network, and some may be in the market for what you're trying to sell.
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Market your tattoo flash online. There are websites specifically designed for tattoo artists to display and sell their flash, or you can design one of your own. Be careful, whichever route you take, to protect your work from theft. Use thumbnails too small to print and trace or pictures with low resolution that distorts if enlarged, so people can't save the picture to their computer and use it without paying for it. You can also utilize scrolling techniques to make the pictures unusable. Selling tattoo flash art online provides the biggest exposure for your artwork, and thus, garners the most sales.
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Place an advertisement in tattoo magazines. Most tattoo magazines offer ad space where you can put information about the flash art you have for sale. The larger the ad space, the more info and samples you can provide, but it doesn't come cheap, and generally makes this the most expensive route you can take.
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Decide if you want to sell per sheet or piece. Tattoo artists purchasing flash typically prefer to buy them by the sheet, which is more economical for them. You can also sell them by the piece, which is more convenient for individuals who are just looking for their next tattoo design to take to their artist. Selling both ways ensures the most sales.
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Tips & Warnings
When selling tattoo flash art, provide both the finished artwork and line drawings. Tattoo artists display the color pieces and use the line drawings for making stencils. If an individual is buying the flash, they need the line drawing for their tattoo artist who otherwise will have to charge them to make the stencil from scratch.
If you're selling physical sheets, it's a good idea to laminate the color sheets to protect them, but the line drawings don't require lamination. They're easier to use with a light box or scanner this way.
