Artists Alley Information Thread

Selling at Cons is best during the...

Spring	11.6%	[ 83 ]
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[jungleguu]

Sozaku Nixe

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So I'm looking into buying a new printer so I can print my own stuff....since i don't trust printing companies where i live and I'm too afraid to order prints online (I also just like doing things myself)
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a printer that printers atleast 13x19 and has a scanner bed thats atleast 11x17? I've heard epson makes pretty good inkjets but I want to see if anyone who prints at home had any suggestions :B

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Yeah, I had a friend who did have a printer that could print up to 13x19 and after she ran the numbers she said it was more economical to actually have large things printed by someone else. Doing one or two prints at 13x19 at home is convenient, but if the bulk of your print sales are going to get into large sizes you will find that ink is a costly investment.

There are a lot of companies that can do orders online and have a reasonable turnaround time. I haven't gone with any of these companies recently but do a bit of research and perhaps try a few tests with them yourself: CatPrint, GotPrint, PrintKeg, and PEPhotos.

I am primarily a print artist when I decide to go into the alley so right now I've decided to just go with Costco for my prints that run 11x14 and larger. I prefer photo finishes versus gloss paper and the ability to submit my orders online and generally pick them up in person the next day.

I don't like Kinkos anymore because you can't exactly get things corrected without paying for face time with consultants and I don't like the paperstock.

Where a printer may be of great help is for items printed 8.5x11 or 8.5xanylength and smaller. I use these for experiments - new prints that I don't want to make lots of copies of or for things that become something else like bookmarks! My printer actually came with an optional 4x6 paper tray which is a great starting point for bookmarks and buttons.

It's not true though that self-print is perceived as bad. There are plenty of folks on the SFF mailing list who do self-print, but they pick papers that are archival quality and are protecting their resulting prints with good bags and boards.

That said, they don't work the anime artist alley circle and their pricing scheme is very different. They can afford to restock their printers and ink cartridges because their base scheme is set usually at a starting point of 35 and higher. Anime artist alley customers tend to want cheap prices, which generally means you do need to think about your base cost.

[SamhainStar]

Is anyone still waiting on a response from AWA?

[[Kako]]

Kyousouka

Sozaku Nixe

===

So I'm looking into buying a new printer so I can print my own stuff....since i don't trust printing companies where i live and I'm too afraid to order prints online (I also just like doing things myself)
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a printer that printers atleast 13x19 and has a scanner bed thats atleast 11x17? I've heard epson makes pretty good inkjets but I want to see if anyone who prints at home had any suggestions :B

===

Unless you're willing to shell out several thousand dollars for a printer (and I'm pretty sure that's not going to have a scanner included), you're not going to get anywhere near the quality you'd get using a reputable online printing company. Some people might buy your inkjet prints, but a lot of people would rather have something with nicer quality.
Also, it's actually cheaper in the long run to use a commercial printing service, inkjet cartridges are pretty expensive and art prints use them up very quickly.

Actually, I've done all of my prints at home for the last few years and have only heard compliments about the print quality. A several thousand dollar printer wasn't necessary, though a several hundred dollar one was. I have a Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II, which can print up to 13"x19" with borderless printing. (Thankfully, I didn't have to shell out the five hundred dollars for it. Another member of my household bought the thing for her photography hobby.) It's true that ink and good quality paper run fairly pricy, though. If you are going to be going through a large volume of prints per year, it'll definitely be a lot cheaper to order from a commercial printing service. If you're only doing a small number of prints per year and thus can't get quanitity discounts, home printing is a bit more worth it. The big advantage of printing at home actually comes into play outside of cons - online print sales. When you print at home you don't have to maintain a stock of prints, you can just make one whenever it is ordered. Of course, printing at home means that you have to cut all of your own prints too. It's not hard, but it is pretty time consuming.
You're definitely not going to find a printer good enough to sell prints from that has a built in scanner, though.

[Kyousouka]

[Kako]

Kyousouka

Sozaku Nixe

===

So I'm looking into buying a new printer so I can print my own stuff....since i don't trust printing companies where i live and I'm too afraid to order prints online (I also just like doing things myself)
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a printer that printers atleast 13x19 and has a scanner bed thats atleast 11x17? I've heard epson makes pretty good inkjets but I want to see if anyone who prints at home had any suggestions :B

===

Unless you're willing to shell out several thousand dollars for a printer (and I'm pretty sure that's not going to have a scanner included), you're not going to get anywhere near the quality you'd get using a reputable online printing company. Some people might buy your inkjet prints, but a lot of people would rather have something with nicer quality.
Also, it's actually cheaper in the long run to use a commercial printing service, inkjet cartridges are pretty expensive and art prints use them up very quickly.

Actually, I've done all of my prints at home for the last few years and have only heard compliments about the print quality. A several thousand dollar printer wasn't necessary, though a several hundred dollar one was. I have a Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II, which can print up to 13"x19" with borderless printing. (Thankfully, I didn't have to shell out the five hundred dollars for it. Another member of my household bought the thing for her photography hobby.) It's true that ink and good quality paper run fairly pricy, though. If you are going to be going through a large volume of prints per year, it'll definitely be a lot cheaper to order from a commercial printing service. If you're only doing a small number of prints per year and thus can't get quanitity discounts, home printing is a bit more worth it. The big advantage of printing at home actually comes into play outside of cons - online print sales. When you print at home you don't have to maintain a stock of prints, you can just make one whenever it is ordered. Of course, printing at home means that you have to cut all of your own prints too. It's not hard, but it is pretty time consuming.
You're definitely not going to find a printer good enough to sell prints from that has a built in scanner, though.

Oh, thanks for the heads up. I guess that's my inexperience talking, or my snobby pickiness about quality (or maybe some of my really nice-looking prints are inkjet and I don't realize it).