What I Do With Draft Prints

So, you've started working on some photos. You're printing drafts, and you realize exactly how many draft photos you have printed. It's too many! What do you do now?

6 months worth of draft photos. Click the photo to see the final versions!

You have a huge stack of paper, and no idea what to do with it. You can't re-use it, it's already printed with colored ink. You don't want to put that to waste; that ink is expensive!

When I create my work that I sell, it always goes through drafts that I print. There are always rough drafts before the final versions that go here! So, the question is: what do I do with the drafts?

You probably want to find a use for them, right? Well, I've got quite the idea for you. Why not share it? You can do this in two ways: either sell it, or give it away. Both of these are good options and, in my opinion, neither is better than the other. It's just personal preference.

On one side, you have distributing it for free. It's a great way to get some more exposure. Plus, who objects to free stuff? You tell someone about your work, give them a draft version and your business card, and now you have a contact! They also get free art! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, no?

I drafted/printed this one several times before I was satisfied!

Printing is pretty expensive though. Selling the drafts is a great way to make a little extra money, and help fund more printing! Usually, artists sell a draft print at a significantly reduced cost. The prices vary between artists, but they can get fairly low. I've seen artists sell draft prints from as low as 5$ to as high as 50$. The best way I can tell, is that the artist sells the draft prints at 5-10 times cheaper than the final/limited edition print. So, if a final version costs 100$, the draft could be sold for 10$.

I like to put my rough drafts, all collected and organized, in a binder. That way I can find them easier, and customers can explore my entire collection with relative ease. I always try to make looking through my photo collection easy. That's why I keep such a simple system on my art store!

So what do you think about my opinion on draft photos? Share your thoughts by contacting me below!