Give a credit

[Carol Norton]

Mike, you are one creative dude! I absolutely love the idea. That could be a whole lot of advertising for very little. (Of course, it depends upon how much the commission was!)

[Tricia Migdoll]

It's clever, but in a rather tacky way. Too gimicky.
I guess it would depend on how seriously you would like your work to be taken.

( only in America)

[Michele Rushworth]

I give my clients half a dozen nicely printed notecards with their image on the front and my contact info on the back. That way they can frame one for grandma and send the rest to out of town friends. They're kind of upscale looking and are in nice gold lined envelopes. Anyway, that's just what I do as a follow up thank you, and as a way of possibly rounding up some future business.

[Mike McCarty]

Here's an idea that's not fully baked.

This may fall into the category -- just because I can do it doesn't mean I should do it.

I think Michele's idea is a better one.

[Michele Rushworth]

Although..... I've never gotten a commission that way, but hey, maybe someday!

[Cynthia Feustel]

I do something similar to Michelle but with business cards. I have a business card program on my computer . The design has an image of a painting and I have two versions, one horizontal and one verical card depending on the painting I am using. When I finish a job I give the client about a couple dozen business cards with their painting on it.. It is easy to switch images on the computer. The one I thought looked the best was when I ran out of business card stock and instead used a glossy photo paper. I had the image right up to the edge of the card at the top and sides( it was a vertical card) then I just trimmed them with my paper cutter. It looked great, kind of like a wallet photo with my info in the white space on the bottom. The photo paper gives a sharp, clear image. Just remember to change your printers set up to"best". This gets your info right into someones hand to keep. And people are always happy to show off their painting and some even set them on their desks at work and advertise for you.

[Tricia Migdoll]

Cynthia & Michele, those are nice ideas.

Mike, I am glad you thought to shelve it. Sorry if i was a little blunt.
I think it was the gimmicky thing with $$$ attached that i found rather tacky.

Of course, you must not listen to me. I have sold one painting only so far - so who am i to speak.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Originally Posted by Michele Rushworth

I give my clients half a dozen nicely printed notecards with their image on the front and my contact info on the back.

Michele,

What a fantastic idea. But how do you only get half a dozen printed? Are you using a high quality printer at home with special paper?

It seems the minimum to have something printed on a press in 4 color is usually a high number (500) and would be cost prohibitive (for me).

thanks for sharing your great ideas,

Joan

[Michele Rushworth]

I use an Epson R300 inkjet printer (which costs around $100) at home, with Costco photo paper (costs around $20 for 125 sheets). I use this printer and paper to print thank you cards, notecards for clients, 8x10 printouts for my portfolio, samples of my work to mail to prospective clients, my business cards and photo reference to paint from. In short, it's a real workhorse. The ink isn't cheap (I spend many times more than the cost of the printer on ink over the course of a year) but it's worth it to have complete control over the quality and quantity of what I print.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Dear Michele,

Thank you for that helpful information. We have an 'hp deskjet 5150' that we've tried to print postcard type things on, even with special paper and the special ink catridge, and didn't have good results.

But . . . what you have does sound like a real workhorse, and a reasonable start-up cost, then costs going up as needed. I was thinking of having some postcards printed from modernpostcards but for the cost of 500 cards and envelopes from them, I could have a printer that I can make my own cards on. Honestly, I don't need 500 postcards and if I did, then it would be reasonalbe to have them done at modernpostcards. I'm having a 'show' at our church in January and February so I thought it would be nice to have some postcard sized notecards with my name and number on the back.

How wonderful to be able to print up 10 postcards at a time.

I'm not sure if we have a Costco here in Houston, and if we do I'm not a member. Probably photo paper from the local Office Depot would work. We probably have some around here from our previous failed attempts with this deskjet printer.

Thank you Michele, you are always so helpful and generous with your time.

Can't wait to go out and get a new printer. (Saving my husband more money! )

Joan