My head has been spinning and my feed has been flooded with "ways to make money online in 2024." My curiosity and flexible schedule are allowing me to try a few of these online professions first hand and I'm sharing my experiences with you, one of them being creating printable art. This is digital art, I create once, multiple customers can purchase, download, print, frame or use as they otherwise choose (think wallpaper, phone backgrounds, social media covers etc).

My Prior Etsy Experience

I have had an Etsy shop since 2013, but when I started Etsy was quite different, to me it was more of an online craft fair, and to my understanding most or all of the items were handmade. At the time, I had recently become an Auntie and my friends were starting to have babies so I was inspired to create gifts for little ones! I was hand tying tutus, creating designs then block printing those images on onesies.

This process led into me acquiring a Cricut (this is the one I currently have) which to this day I use at least monthly if not more! This is the most current Cricut #Goals. With the Cricut the block printing evolved into iron on vinyl designs. (Products linked are my favorites or highly recommended for each project. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. See something you like? Click it! It helps support the amazing content on this site. Xoxo B)

At one point, with my Etsy shop, I had a pretty good thing going. Sometimes I felt almost too busy to keep up, but it wasn't enough to quit teaching full time by any means.

In 2014 I put my Etsy shop on "vacation mode" because I had been working on my Masters in Art Education from the University of Boston online. It was a hybrid program so I was there for most of that summer! I also met and started dating my husband at the same time and thoughts of this little shop kind of slipped away.

As an elementary art teacher I was still creating art everyday in some form and never stopped making handmade gifts for every occasion I could but I didn't bring the shop back until December of 2023!

Learning to Create Printable Wall Art

Needless to say, there was a bit of a learning curve for me to be able to provide digital downloads in my shop! I watched videos, read other blogs and looked at examples of how to do different parts of the process then pieced them together with what worked best for my creative style.

So let's get down to creating your first printable!

Canva

The first thing you need is a Canva account https://www.canva.com/. I am not an affiliate of Canva but I have been using it for several years now for many different projects and it has met all of my needs thus far. I pay monthly for a Canva Pro account. From my research it is ok to use Canva Free and Pro elements when designing printable art but if you are creating customizable art with pro elements the customer will be required to have a pro account as well to access the work as you created it.

At this time I am not creating customizable digital art but when/if I do I will be sure to come back and share that experience as well.

Idea

Next, if you do not have one already, you need an idea. You can use the internet or Etsy's trending section for inspiration. For my very first printable it was close to Easter and the hottest topic on the planet is/was Taylor Swift! So I decided to use that as my inspiration which progressed into the creation of my Taylor Swift Era Bunnies. Sneak peak in the video below! To check them all out visit my Etsy shop! https://heartneidsart.etsy.com

Aspect Ratios

Now here is where I started to get confused because I kept seeing different things about aspect ratios and while I knew what that meant I did not understand how it applied to printable art. Unfortunately I had already created an almost final draft of my design so my recommendation here is to decide what sizes you are going to offer before you start creating.

I decided to provide the following sizes in my shop as downloadable files:

2:3 ratio (use to print) Inches : 4x6, 8x12, 10x15, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30, 24x36

3:4 ratio (use to print) Inches : 6x8, 9x12, 12x16, 15x20, 18x24

4:5 ratio (use to print) Inches : 4x5, 8x10, 12x15, 16x20, 24x30

11:14 ratio (use to print) Inches : 11x14

If a customer wanted an 8x10 they would use the 4:5 ratio downloadable file they paid for, print the image themselves or send it to a printer of their choice. I provide all of these sizes for one sum but you can break it up and offer them however you'd like to.

Creating Different Ratios

24x36 is the biggest size so I start there. In Canva, create a blank page or resize the page you are designing to 24x36 inches. I then label this "Name of Project 2:3 Ratio." Once my design is finished I use the "Resize & Magic Switch" to resize to 18x24 (3:4) 16x20 (4:5) and an 11x14 inch document and label each accordingly. This appears to be a pro version feature but if you do not have the pro version you could group your design together, copy it, create a blank document in the size needed, then paste your image in. You would need to do the same for each document size.

The document sizes are now all different so I go back to all of them and adjust the artwork to fit, recenter it, etc. I also use the margin or guidelines to make sure everything is lined up the same and within printable bounds.

Mockups

Next I create mock ups for my Etsy listing. A mockup is a rendering of a your artistic design used to showcase the image in a scene of a proposed design or product. Here are a few from my latest project.

Dig Deep

Sow Love

Grow Positive Thoughts

I save the 4:5 ratio file of my images as a PNG but I turn the PX or DPI all the way up, you need it to be at least 300DPI. If you do not have this feature in the free version you may need to use another program for this but please do your own research, I am not a resolution expert!

On Canva's homepage, I start by searching "mockups" or "wall art mockups." When I find one I like, I open it to start customizing it but don't do anything yet. In the same document I add a blank page below and search in the "design bar" for more mock ups and I continue to add mockup designs that I like as pages to the same project.

I prefer to use the mockups that allow me to delete the current image, then my image slides right in to that spot and is pre-sized but you can resize your image to make it fit the frame if it does not automatically do it. I then save this as a "Master MockUp" copy to use for my future projects.

I make a copy of my "Master Mockup" and title it "New Project Name Mockups." I upload the PNG images of my project downloaded earlier into Canva. I add them to the mockups I want to use for this project. As I do so, I like to turn the transparency down a little bit to make it blend in, but some backgrounds are black so I do this visually and not at a set percentage each time. I then save this the same way I saved the images as PNGs.

Next I download all of the different ratios I created of that project, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, 11:14 as "PDF Print" files. I move them all to my desktop into one folder with the project name.

Directions for Customers

I created a one page "Heart Neids Art Digital Download Directions" document that tells my customers exactly what to expect when they buy and download the file. I reuse this each time and change the project name. I add this to the folder on my desktop for the project and title it "Read First" so it is a part of the file they download.

This is what mine looks like but there are several examples out there.

Creating the Listing on Etsy

Now it is time to create the Etsy listing. Everything is exactly the same for other listings you may have done but you are not selling a physical product it is a digital download and I put the amount as 999 so unlimited people can buy it.

I compress the project folder on my desktop into a zip file. To do this, right click, and hit compress, it will make a compressed copy and nothing else will be affected. This is the file that I upload to Etsy for customers to download. If it is too big I break it into two files and change the directions in my description so they know how many files to expect.

I also created a Google Document of a "master description" for my Etsy listings of what a digital download is, what ratios and files to expect, how to print, ideas of how to use it etc. This way I can reuse the description if I am not directly copying the listing.

For a detailed description on creating listings on Etsy be sure to revisit my blog!

I hope you I hope this project was helpful or inspiring! If so, please let me know by leaving a comment! Remember to come back regularly to keep up with my farm, art, restoration and other miscellaneous adventures. Thank you!

Xoxo, B

Creating Printable Wall Art for Etsy Using Canva