Wall Art On A Budget
January 11, 2020 7:39 AM Subscribe
I am looking for some art for my walls. What are some cool sites like Society6 and Redbubble? Also, is there a way to print images from Google or somewhere else that are affordable and look good?
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I am looking for art for my walls. I love Society6 and Redbubble. The fact that things are affordable and framed is awesome. I also like supporting artists. I would like recommendations for similar sites.
I have lots of images that bring me joy. Sometimes I cannot afford them (thousands) and sometimes they don't exist to be purchased. Is there a way to print things off of Google or somewhere else? I love films and modern art and music. Sometimes I would love a still from a film printed and framed. How do I do this? Is it "ethical?" I am not talking about stealing someone's design who is selling it.
Thank you in advance
I am looking for art for my walls. I love Society6 and Redbubble. The fact that things are affordable and framed is awesome. I also like supporting artists. I would like recommendations for similar sites.
I have lots of images that bring me joy. Sometimes I cannot afford them (thousands) and sometimes they don't exist to be purchased. Is there a way to print things off of Google or somewhere else? I love films and modern art and music. Sometimes I would love a still from a film printed and framed. How do I do this? Is it "ethical?" I am not talking about stealing someone's design who is selling it.
Thank you in advance
This is a good way of scaling lower res images to wall art size.
posted by supercres at 7:49 AM on January 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by supercres at 7:49 AM on January 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice - I think that printing a still from a film and using it as art for your own personal use is technically not 100% legal, but it is also not likely to be something that anyone is going to penalize you for, much less even know about. The biggest problem with printing a screenshot from something may be that if you try to go to a copy shop, they may say they can't do it, as a cover-their-ass measure. So this may have to be a DIY kind of thing, where you print it yourself on a home printer with just the highest resolution you can find and nice paper, and then find a suitable frame at Ikea or something.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:49 AM on January 11, 2020
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:49 AM on January 11, 2020
Your local Walgreens or similar will have printing options that are pretty reasonably priced for pretty reasonable quality, shutterfly does this online. Search online for print on canvas, or art quality printing.
If art is offered by the artist or their representative, don't swipe it. But there are many fantastic images on flickr, deviantart, mltshp, etc. whose owners will be happy to sell or give you the rights affordably. Right now, you can get gorgeous calendars full of beautifully printed art of all sorts, marked way down.
posted by theora55 at 8:14 AM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
If art is offered by the artist or their representative, don't swipe it. But there are many fantastic images on flickr, deviantart, mltshp, etc. whose owners will be happy to sell or give you the rights affordably. Right now, you can get gorgeous calendars full of beautifully printed art of all sorts, marked way down.
posted by theora55 at 8:14 AM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Like you, I love buying art from smaller indie artists. One of the downsides of the Redbubbles and Society6’s of the world is that it can be hard for you as a buyer to tell if you’re buying a piece from the artist who created it, or from someone who swiped someone else’s work to upload for a print or t-shirt for a quick buck. The latter situation is hugely common (and very poisonous for the artist community), and the sites selling the designs are not incentivized to be pro-active in taking them down.
For this reason I like to buy work from Etsy, where it’s typically easy to tell if you’re buying from the actual creator. Especially if they sell their Originals alongside their prints, that’s a pretty good indicator! It’s where nearly all my artist friends sell their work, alongside storenvy, and reproductions/prints are often cheap.
But even more satisfying is learning about and following artists themselves! I like Instagram a lot for this, once you find one or two you like it’s so easy to gradually broaden out, until you’re following dozens of amazing creators before you know it. They all have links to their own shops in their Bios and you can support ”undiscovered” artists directly, save money, and get a piece that you know isn’t on 2,000 other people’s walls already.
posted by churl at 8:34 AM on January 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
For this reason I like to buy work from Etsy, where it’s typically easy to tell if you’re buying from the actual creator. Especially if they sell their Originals alongside their prints, that’s a pretty good indicator! It’s where nearly all my artist friends sell their work, alongside storenvy, and reproductions/prints are often cheap.
But even more satisfying is learning about and following artists themselves! I like Instagram a lot for this, once you find one or two you like it’s so easy to gradually broaden out, until you’re following dozens of amazing creators before you know it. They all have links to their own shops in their Bios and you can support ”undiscovered” artists directly, save money, and get a piece that you know isn’t on 2,000 other people’s walls already.
posted by churl at 8:34 AM on January 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
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Vintagraph
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 7:48 AM on January 11, 2020