You have “Etsy” and we have “minne” in Japan. I started using minne at the end of May and it has been such a huge workload to develop tons of new items and register all of them. When registering items, you need to prepare many photos, items descriptions which work well not only for the customers’ convenience but also in terms of SEO. It seemed endless but quite recently I was finally able to find some time to seriously listen to the advisory lecture series hosted by a shop advisor of minne. For those who hope to sell mainly art items such as the original drawings, postcards, prints and so on, she recommends that you develop skills to present your works in a very “tangible” manner. People want to know if the artworks will fit in the places they want to decorate, i.e. the size, design, and colour etc., and there are many people who don’t know much about framing including where to get appropriate frames, how to frame the artworks, how much a frame will cost, so and so, therefore it is better to sell framed items rather than the artworks for themselves. If it is not possible for some reasons, you should at least provide good enough information so that people can imagine clearly how their rooms will look like with your artworks.
Inspired by this recommendation, I prepared some images using my framed drawings. I do not have any expertise in wall decorations but hopefully these images will be helpful.
Thank you so much for your kind comment Denise. I’m so happy to know that these decoration approaches look good to somebody from the US, where I guess people enjoy decorating the walls with many many framed artworks and therefore have much better sense. Thank you again!
Hi Marise, thank you so much for your feedback. I am relieved to know that these wall decoration ideas look lovely to somebody from Australia. In Japan not so many people decorate their house walls with many artworks, partly because houses are much smaller in Japan compared to those in Australia, so I myself am by no means familiar with wall decoration. I was not sure how well these decoration offerings can appeal to the viewers at all. But perhaps I can say that I got a passing mark considering that a viewer from the US and Australia says that they look lovely and beautiful. Thank you again!
it really Looks awesome, maki, how you set these up. I was thinking when you put in drawing (virtually) in a frame how important context makes.
this takes it to the next level!
there is a lot of great art here, in composing how your lovely pen and ink drawings complement the decor.
I prefer the image at the top; in that image, you have some of your darker more involved drawings and it REALLY compliments the somewhat minimalistic look of the bookcase.
I’m sure this is a matter of taste, though.
there are both so very lovely; I could imagine people loving either one.
out of curiosity; have these images “sold” any of your drawings? I hope so - its a brilliant idea.
Hi Jason, thank you for your comment. It is really helpful to know that these presentation ideas look awesome to you. I always do my best to present my works in the most appealing way, but I cannot tell if my approach is actually working well or not because they are my works after all and therefore there is always some partiality involved. That’s why some feedback from others are required.
They are not sold yet in this format although the postcard version of some of the drawings have been sold. I say “not yet” because I know these sets are still new on minne and have not gained the required number of accesses as of today. According to the shop advisor, each work needs to earn at least 100 accesses before it is sold. She also said that it is not surprising at all if some works need 1000 accesses before somebody decides to buy them. That’s part of the reality of selling anything online…you need to be patient!
But maybe I should put them on Etsy too. As I mention in my previous comment, most houses in Japan do not provide wall spaces large enough for decorating with many artworks. I hear that the most major users of Etsy are people in the US, so my works may be able to gain the required accesses much more quickly there.
