ArtWanted.com Staff 08 Jul 2005

We appreciate honest feedback and would like a chance to explain why premium membership is required for this new program...

A high-resolution image takes anywhere from 25-1000 times more storage space and bandwidth then a normal image on our site. If we had all members uploading 25 meg files to our servers of our 140,000 images, we would run out of server space very quickly. To avoid this problem and to pay for our new equipment, the income from Premium members is used. It's only fair that those paying for these upgrades are the ones that get to use them.

As far as having other print options out there, we are well aware there are many other websites that offer a printing service. In fact, we visited about 100 other websites before launching our own program to see what options are out there. ArtWanted.com does not want to become the next SnapFish or Kodak Gallery for photo processing. Our goal is to provide a quality service to our art community members that will bring them more exposure and hopefully some extra cash. We provide many unique advantages that no one else can offer.

Although you can get prints WalMart.com, you will not find your artwork being viewed by hundreds of thousands of art lovers & buyers on their website if you use them for your prints. This is just one of our unique advantage of our site. We not only offer the printing service, but we bring the buyers to you. For the record, we have no problem with anyone using another print provider for their artwork prints and selling these prints on your ArtWanted.com portfolio. The big advantage we offer is that we will handle everything for you. Once you upload your image and set your prices, you are done. If you use any other provider, you will need to upload your artwork, fill out an online order form, worry about the payment and tracking/shipping of each order along other things. With ArtWanted.com, we do all of this for you. $5/month is a very small price to pay for everything that is offered to you with the print program, not to mention all the other great benefits you get by being a Premium Member.

Joe Bartz 08 Jul 2005

Alrighty then.

Everyone needs to be aware that canvas prints (in my experience) usually come out a little lighter and require a spray coating to get the color right.

Also, in my experience, it takes at least 3 or 4 adjustments to get the color right on any high quality print.

Cassie Chamberlain 08 Jul 2005

I couldn't help but giggle at the words "reliable delivery".

You all seem confident with this, it sounds risky but if it's a good service then I can't see why it won't work. I still have no idea if I'm ready to sell my work but perhaps I should stop whining and get on with it and see :P

Judy Minderman 08 Jul 2005

and to quote AW in a previous thread

Answers to recent questions...

There would be a handful of different sizes to choose from, all at different prices.

This would probably be available for free and premium members. (my comment) so then I guess AW changed its mind on this one! Well as a free member I guess I lose out again, and no, I cannot afford the premium membership!

Ronnie Fernandez 08 Jul 2005

this sounds cool, I've been looking for a good print shop here in Houston, but if ya'll at AW prove reliable I'd rather go with AW. I use cable for my connection but I think I'll send in a cd instead to get my prints done. What address would I send it to? And one more question, can I pay with money-order? thanks.

VICKI ASHWORTH 08 Jul 2005

On my program i have with my photo printer there is a photo editor,where you can change the size of the picture etc..Now there is a place to change the DPI...when i first unload my photos they are about 180 DPI and 21,000 KB..But i can change the DPI to 400..is that all i have to do to send the photos to you? All this stuff is new to me yet..so sorry if the questions sound dumb.

Magdy A 08 Jul 2005

right on

jennifer blenkinsopp 08 Jul 2005

AW ,is it right that you are splitting 50/50 after the base price, some artists who sell there prints for say $120 will pay AW $60, and others who charge say $50 will pay AW 25, for the same service.

Barbara Kaplowitz 08 Jul 2005

How high of a resolution? Will there be a chart so we can see what can and what can't be printed? And what about proofsheets? Should all of our creations be officially copywritten by the govt.? So many questions....

Nancy Costley 08 Jul 2005

I will need help posting my images, will you be giving pointers on how to do this to get the best quality? Will we be able to ok the image before it goes into print?

Jessica Morgan 08 Jul 2005

Yes can we please have more info on the 50/50 price splitting, and also some info on shipping charges and how that cost works in?? I guess it isn't too clear to me.. thankyou :)

ArtWanted.com Staff 08 Jul 2005

If anyone has questions on the commission split, you can refer to the pricing table that shows all of the print sizes, base price, default retail price and default artist commission. It's pretty straight forward, but if you have any specific questions, just ask.

We will provide a chart of minimum resolutions for all print sizes once the program begins.

You do not need to register your artwork with the government. By default, all your original works are instantly copyrighted without filling out any paperwork. You just need to be able to prove it if a case ever comes up to prove you are the original artist.

We will also be posting tips on how to get the best quality images and how to calibrate your monitors for the best color. All of these things may not be done on the first day of the launch, but they will come shortly after.

Although all images will be inspected for quality, we will assume that once you upload it to us, you are satisfied with the quality and no proofs will be given to the artist. We would imagine that most artists will want to order a few of their own prints at the beginning, just to see how the quality and color turns out.

A shipping chart and shipping calculator will be available once the program starts to answer any shipping questions you have.

Keep the questions coming. We will answer what we can right now and the rest will be answered when the program officially launches. :-)

Kevin Eason 09 Jul 2005

Interesting. I figure I'll try this out at least once to see the print quality.

Angela Drysdale 09 Jul 2005

Sounds interresting, especially for somebody living as remote as I do. However, living remote could also be a problem, as Wendy mentioned.

Don't you think, an artist needs a proof sent before printing? There is, after all, the artist's reputation on the line and no other publisher would print without the artist having seen the proof.

I also have to wait for feedback from other artists but would like to consider it after I come back from my travels in September and checking with my publisher I signed a contract with.

Jessica Morgan 09 Jul 2005

thankyou AW!!

Steph Salt 09 Jul 2005

I take it that any artwork for printing also needs to be in CMYK colour as well as being of good resulution?

Well I am interested, and I can see now why you have been too busy for some things this last few months.

Congratulations on your new venture AW Staff.

ArtWanted.com Staff 09 Jul 2005

Because thes prints will be digitally printed one at a time, your images must be in RGB mode (just like you upload them on the website). CMYK is for offset printing when you would want to print over 1,000 copies of the same image at a time. The advantage of this program is that we will print them as the orders come in and have no stock on hand.

Lisa Eshkenazi 09 Jul 2005

I was thinking (you've now been officially warned) about the reason given for not allowing non-premium members the ability to sell prints here. And though it seems valid, I can't help but thinking that it *is* slightly illogical.

If you allow non-premium members to upload a maximum amount of picture per month, wouldn't it also make sense to allow them to sell prints of a set max number of prints from their portfolio. It seems to me that offering a taste of what premium members can have (especially if they actually are able to *sell* anything) would get more of them to switch to premium rather than saying "Sorry, you don't even get the crumbs." (Okay...I *know* you're not really saying that but you get my point.)

Personally, I'm not sure if I would sell prints here either way but I know there are other non-premium members who aren't able to go premium right now for whatever reason (no money, fear that it's not worth it, having to convince the spouse or significant other that this is a *good* investment, etc.) but would love the chance to possible sell some prints here. Selling a few prints might convince them (or whoever it is that needs convincing) to scrape up the cash to switch over....

Just a thought.

ArtWanted.com Staff 09 Jul 2005

We originally thought of offering this service to all members, but after crunching the numbers for quite some time, we just couldn't make it work financially. We didn't want to have a program that was doomed from the start, so it's only open to premium members at the time.

ArtWanted.com is always revolving and we don't know if premium memberships will be required years down the road, but for now this is how the program must run.

For those that want to try the print program, they can sign up for a Premium membership for a month for only $5 and try ordering prints of their artwork. If it doesn't work out for them, they can cancel. If it works out great, then they can continue. We expect that many artists will be able to pay for their premium membership just from the profits their prints bring in, so the cost will be easily be justified.

Christiane Doré 09 Jul 2005

That's a great idea. I only would like to know on what kind of paper or canvas you will do the prints.

Thanks in advance.

Christiane Doré