2 answers
Caelyn
Student
White Haven, Pennsylvania
2
Questions
Updated
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What phone apps will help me become more creative and successful with my art I currently enjoy selling my art at various art and craft shows. I’m hoping that my question will make me more creative and successful. #Spring25?
What phone apps will help me become more creative and successful with my art? I currently enjoy selling my art at various art and craft shows. I’m hoping that my question will make me more creative and successful. #Spring25
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2 answers
Debbie Sampson
Professional artist oil painter
4
Answers
Kissimmee, Florida
Updated
Debbie’s Answer
Being 45 years as a professional artist, we didn't have 'apps' when creating and selling our work. It was good ol' traveling the country displaying and selling our work. But now, being semi-retired, I welcome the internet and all the apps that are being created everyday. I love using AI to help me think thru a piece, place a piece in a room for display or just coming up with ideas. Other apps let you have a store and sell. Also payments on the apps such as Venmo or Zelle makes it much easier to get paid for a piece instead of having to call it in to a bank which took sometimes as long as 20 minutes if there is a problem or waiting for checks to clear. I wish they had these apps back in the day, I wouldn't have been so exhausted on Mondays after a week-end of traveling, setting up, sitting, talking to people, answering the same questions some are not so great...keep smiling and wondering who will watch my booth while I take a break. Now, I work from home and have many multiple stores on line besides my web-site where I can sell and email blasts! The best thing ever. I was so busy last Christmas season I felt like I was locked in my studio for 2 months..not complaining...grateful.
That being said, the AIs also is not good for us artist that gets our work copied, changed around without my permission. That is a big deal. Also with musicians they just say a few words what the song will be like, some lyrics and out come a song, words and all. What will happen in the future? I'm hoping that if you use AI to create a piece, there will be laws in place saying that you have to have that put in on the description that you collaborated with AI same as if two artists made a piece together.
I hope this helps, these are just my thoughts from my years of experience on creating and selling art. And remember, let your art grow with your creativity, don't be afraid to try new things or your work will get stale.
That being said, the AIs also is not good for us artist that gets our work copied, changed around without my permission. That is a big deal. Also with musicians they just say a few words what the song will be like, some lyrics and out come a song, words and all. What will happen in the future? I'm hoping that if you use AI to create a piece, there will be laws in place saying that you have to have that put in on the description that you collaborated with AI same as if two artists made a piece together.
I hope this helps, these are just my thoughts from my years of experience on creating and selling art. And remember, let your art grow with your creativity, don't be afraid to try new things or your work will get stale.
Cherice P
Visual Artist and Designer
1
Answer
Happy Valley
Updated
Cherice’s Answer
Hello Caelyn,
It sounds like you may be looking for apps that give you inspiration, let you create, and allow you to make money from your creations. With that, I'll address this in three parts:
1. Inspiration Apps
___Unsplash: "A stock photography website & app offering a vast library of free, high-resolution images that can be used for personal, commercial, and editorial purposes." Search for inspiration, save images to collections, and use the images to make anything you desire.
___Bored Panda: "Bored Panda's mission is to spread good news and highlight top artists from around the world." This website and app have tons of posts from various creative industries around the world.
___Colossal: "Colossal is an online art magazine that celebrates contemporary art and visual culture across a wide range of creative disciplines." You could read this magazine through your browser app.
___Google Earth: This app lets you explore anywhere around the world and offers incredible images of places that you can explore from your living room. I've used it for dozens of art projects that needed animals to be in the right habitat. It's an incredible tool.
___Flickr: "We are the world's biggest (and friendliest!) online photography community." This website features incredible photography, but it is not royalty-free (it is unlawful to copy/plagiarize their work). You can use these images as references to build something entirely your own. For example, if you need details of a tiger's nose, you can search for close-up photos of a tiger and use those images to compose a brand new nose from reference and your imagination.
___Project Gutenberg: This website is an online library that provides free eBooks accessible through web browsers or eBook readers. While there are third-party apps that allow users to access Project Gutenberg content, Project Gutenberg itself doesn't have an app. They have a mobile help page to assist you with your mobile device so you can get access to over 75,000 free eBooks.
As good as some of these apps are, you will have the most luck bookmarking inspiration websites through your browser (Chrome, Mozilla, Safari, Edge, etc.). There are sites like:
______Character Design References, which features a large library of animation references for anatomy, posing, art styles, and competitions.
______Adorkastock, which is a free resource for thousands of photo references, also offers a free timer tool to let you practice gesture drawing. I use it every week, and all of my artwork has improved dramatically after the third week.
______Textures.com is another library that has tons of textures. If you aren't sure how to show a concrete texture or want to do a photo composite with one, this is the website to locate that information.
______Resolution Art is an incredible art group that has a website full of resources (free and paid), and a free Discord group.
Overall, there are tons of options, depending on what kind of inspiration you are on the hunt for, but one thing I deeply recommend is not to scroll through social media for inspiration. At least, not most of the time. It can be disheartening and discourage the creativity that you possess. You are a producer of art and will need to give yourself time to explore that process. Stick with things you love, and show that love in your work. However, if you are looking to sell your art through social media, I recommend Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook since they give you access to lots of different people who may be interested in your work and allow you to advertise (if that's in your budget). You can also use Redbubble, Society6, or Saatchi Art to sell directly through a massive online art shop.
2. Creative Apps
___Krita (free)
___Artflow (free)
___Ibis Paint (free)
Disclosure: I have not used the above apps before because I have difficulty drawing on my phone. I like to go big, but I have used Krita on a PC with a drawing tablet and loved it.
___Adobe Apps are available for a monthly or annual fee, depending on the plan and apps you want to access, but they offer a lot of options in terms of resources, tools, inspiration, and community. If you are a student, you can get a discount. This is the service that I have been using, but I have to continuously budget and save to keep it.
3. Payment Apps
Before moving forward, keep in mind that, depending on how much you sell, you will need to track and report your earnings. If in the U.S., read about the tax laws in your state on the IRS website to ensure that you follow the rules and don't get in trouble (have to pay a huge fine).
___Venmo and PayPal: I use both of these for art commissions. They are easy to set up, and people can scan a QR code to send me payments or go to my profile page. It's really easy. They also send you tax documents at the beginning of the following year based on how much you earned so you can easily report it.
___Square and Stripe offer credit card readers that attach to your phone so you can accept non-cash payments while selling at arts and crafts shows. A lot of my artist friends use Square and love its convenience.
___Etsy: You can take photos of your art and sell it on Etsy. Be sure to read all the rules, research stores with art similar to yours, and draft (not post) a fake listing to see if it's something you are interested in doing. You will need to connect a payment account to receive money from each sale.
___Set up your own website and shop. You can use Shopify, Wix, WordPress (most popular), or any other builder for a fee. If this interests you, price things out and consider the overall annual cost vs how much you earn or expect to earn (be realistic).
___You can also do cash-only at shows, but keep in mind that not everyone is going to have cash or be willing to get funds from an ATM during a busy show. I've seen a few people in Artist's Alley do this method, but it did not go well for them. People would pass by their booth because they didn't have cash and didn't want to have to get any.
I hope these suggestions help give you an idea of what you might be able to do with your talent and artistic creations. One thing to remember is to keep pushing to get what you want in this world. You have to show up every day and show everyone that this is something you want and you are capable of obtaining it.
Wishing you great success!
Cherice
It sounds like you may be looking for apps that give you inspiration, let you create, and allow you to make money from your creations. With that, I'll address this in three parts:
1. Inspiration Apps
___Unsplash: "A stock photography website & app offering a vast library of free, high-resolution images that can be used for personal, commercial, and editorial purposes." Search for inspiration, save images to collections, and use the images to make anything you desire.
___Bored Panda: "Bored Panda's mission is to spread good news and highlight top artists from around the world." This website and app have tons of posts from various creative industries around the world.
___Colossal: "Colossal is an online art magazine that celebrates contemporary art and visual culture across a wide range of creative disciplines." You could read this magazine through your browser app.
___Google Earth: This app lets you explore anywhere around the world and offers incredible images of places that you can explore from your living room. I've used it for dozens of art projects that needed animals to be in the right habitat. It's an incredible tool.
___Flickr: "We are the world's biggest (and friendliest!) online photography community." This website features incredible photography, but it is not royalty-free (it is unlawful to copy/plagiarize their work). You can use these images as references to build something entirely your own. For example, if you need details of a tiger's nose, you can search for close-up photos of a tiger and use those images to compose a brand new nose from reference and your imagination.
___Project Gutenberg: This website is an online library that provides free eBooks accessible through web browsers or eBook readers. While there are third-party apps that allow users to access Project Gutenberg content, Project Gutenberg itself doesn't have an app. They have a mobile help page to assist you with your mobile device so you can get access to over 75,000 free eBooks.
As good as some of these apps are, you will have the most luck bookmarking inspiration websites through your browser (Chrome, Mozilla, Safari, Edge, etc.). There are sites like:
______Character Design References, which features a large library of animation references for anatomy, posing, art styles, and competitions.
______Adorkastock, which is a free resource for thousands of photo references, also offers a free timer tool to let you practice gesture drawing. I use it every week, and all of my artwork has improved dramatically after the third week.
______Textures.com is another library that has tons of textures. If you aren't sure how to show a concrete texture or want to do a photo composite with one, this is the website to locate that information.
______Resolution Art is an incredible art group that has a website full of resources (free and paid), and a free Discord group.
Overall, there are tons of options, depending on what kind of inspiration you are on the hunt for, but one thing I deeply recommend is not to scroll through social media for inspiration. At least, not most of the time. It can be disheartening and discourage the creativity that you possess. You are a producer of art and will need to give yourself time to explore that process. Stick with things you love, and show that love in your work. However, if you are looking to sell your art through social media, I recommend Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook since they give you access to lots of different people who may be interested in your work and allow you to advertise (if that's in your budget). You can also use Redbubble, Society6, or Saatchi Art to sell directly through a massive online art shop.
2. Creative Apps
___Krita (free)
___Artflow (free)
___Ibis Paint (free)
Disclosure: I have not used the above apps before because I have difficulty drawing on my phone. I like to go big, but I have used Krita on a PC with a drawing tablet and loved it.
___Adobe Apps are available for a monthly or annual fee, depending on the plan and apps you want to access, but they offer a lot of options in terms of resources, tools, inspiration, and community. If you are a student, you can get a discount. This is the service that I have been using, but I have to continuously budget and save to keep it.
3. Payment Apps
Before moving forward, keep in mind that, depending on how much you sell, you will need to track and report your earnings. If in the U.S., read about the tax laws in your state on the IRS website to ensure that you follow the rules and don't get in trouble (have to pay a huge fine).
___Venmo and PayPal: I use both of these for art commissions. They are easy to set up, and people can scan a QR code to send me payments or go to my profile page. It's really easy. They also send you tax documents at the beginning of the following year based on how much you earned so you can easily report it.
___Square and Stripe offer credit card readers that attach to your phone so you can accept non-cash payments while selling at arts and crafts shows. A lot of my artist friends use Square and love its convenience.
___Etsy: You can take photos of your art and sell it on Etsy. Be sure to read all the rules, research stores with art similar to yours, and draft (not post) a fake listing to see if it's something you are interested in doing. You will need to connect a payment account to receive money from each sale.
___Set up your own website and shop. You can use Shopify, Wix, WordPress (most popular), or any other builder for a fee. If this interests you, price things out and consider the overall annual cost vs how much you earn or expect to earn (be realistic).
___You can also do cash-only at shows, but keep in mind that not everyone is going to have cash or be willing to get funds from an ATM during a busy show. I've seen a few people in Artist's Alley do this method, but it did not go well for them. People would pass by their booth because they didn't have cash and didn't want to have to get any.
I hope these suggestions help give you an idea of what you might be able to do with your talent and artistic creations. One thing to remember is to keep pushing to get what you want in this world. You have to show up every day and show everyone that this is something you want and you are capable of obtaining it.
Wishing you great success!
Cherice