14 great places to sell your design work online

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Whatever kind of design job you have, whether it be art director or 3D artist, the time comes when you ask yourself: "Why am I working for a boss when I could sell design work I've created directly to the public?" There are loads of ways to make money from your talents, and it's simpler than ever to sell design work online.

You no longer have to invest huge amounts of time and money in building your own online store: there are many existing ecommerce websites that will allow you to reach a wider market to sell your products.

So whether you're looking to publish a book, create your own T-shirts, or sell a series of art prints, the following sites offer a tried and tested way to make the most of your design work and start generating an income from it...

01. Creative Market

Popular site Creative Market is a brilliant place to sell your fonts, graphics, website themes, print templates and other designs online

A favourite among designers, Creative Market is a brilliant place to sell your designs online. Whatever it is you're creating – graphics, fonts, photos, even 3D assets – get it online at Creative Market and in front of its thousands of daily visitors. There's no exclusivity lock-in, you set your own prices and take home 70 per cent of each sale. Open a Creative Market shop here.

02. Design Cuts

Design Cuts was set up by designers, offering quality assets

Design Cuts is a community website offering high quality assets to designers at affordable and discounted prices. Patterns, brushes, backgrounds, fonts, graphics and other slick assets abound. "We're very exclusive and work with only the best designers in the world, curating the highest quality marketplace around," it told us. To be featured on the site, Design Cuts says to get in touch via its Contact page.

03. Art Web

Art Web offers options to sell paintings, illustrations, digital art, prints, designs and more

Art Web is an ecommerce site that specialises in selling art online to buyers around the world. A community of different artists and creatives use this online platform to network and share their work, as well as to make money from it. The service works on a no-commission basis, and there's a free plan that gives you an online gallery with up to 15 images. There's also a paid-for version that gives you more images and a professional-looking website. Sell your art with Art Web here.

04. Big Cartel

Create and customise your own store on Big Cartel's website

Launched in 2004, Big Cartel is one of the most popular platforms for any creative looking to sell design work online. Unlike a lot of websites, it allows you to build your store and customise it to give it a unique feel as well as it adapting to your existing website.

Giving you all the professional tools you need to conduct market research – such as a tracking and social networking – you're given total freedom and control over the ways in which you choose to sell and promote your work. The price plan ranges from free to $29.99 a month depending on the support and facilities you wish to use, as well as the number of products you are offering. Sign up for a Big Cartel store here.

05. This is a Limited Edition

This is a Limited Edition

This is a Limited Edition, formerly Click for Art, specialises in art prints, canvas prints and limited edition products from cushions to mugs and laptop cases. It features work from over 50 artists and design studios from Europe, the US, Asia and Brazil. If you're a talented artist, this could be a great avenue to sell your designs to a commercial audience. Fill out its Artist Application to be considered.

06. Threadless

Open an artist shop for free at Threadless

Open to the community of artists and designers globally, Threadless gives you the opportunity to submit your designs to a public vote. If you get enough votes from the community you'll get the chance to make money through the site's online production and promotion of your products. It's definitely a site to look into if you have designs hidden away, if you want exposure and great networking. Look into selling with Threadless here.

07. Society 6

Society 6 takes care of the manufacturing and logistics for you

Society 6 is another online platform for creatives to sell design work, focusing on "affordable art prints, iPhone cases and T-shirts". It's free to set up, and the products are produced made, shipped, and managed for you – leaving you with only the designing to do. With the site only taking a small percentage of what you sell back, this is a great place for designers and creatives looking to get their work featured onto a vast range of products. Find out how to sell on Society 6 here.

08. Etsy

Etsy has the feel of a giant online craft fayre

Launched in 2005, Etsy is a global ecommerce website that caters for the needs of creatives looking to sell design work, focusing on handmade goods, vintage items and art and craft supplies. Essentially it's an online version of a massive craft fayre. It could also be characterised as a folksy version of eBay. The site charges 20 cents per item listed, while for every item sold Etsy collects an additional 3.5 per cent commission. Open an Etsy shop here.

09. Zazzle

Sell your designs on hundreds of products with Zazzle

Zazzle is an online marketplace that lets you sell your designs on hundreds of products. It's free and easy to create an online store on Zazzle, and its powerful tools make it possible to sell your art on T-shirts, stamps, posters, mugs, business cards, skateboards, calendars, tote bags, hats, and more. Sell your designs with Zazzle here.

10. Redbubble

You can set up your own profit margin rate on Redbubble

On Redbubble you can set your own profit margin for all product types – avoiding any dodgy percentage cuts. It also has an array of artist groups that host challenges to inspire your creativity. It's free to join, with the site sending you your earnings every month. Find out more about selling on Redbubble here.

11. INPRNT

There's a three-part process to setting up your artworks on INPRNT

INPRNT is a moderated gallery with a three part submission process. First, sign up for an INPRNT account and submit three of your best pieces for review. That submission is then voted on by artists already on the site. Once the submission is approved, the new member's account is automatically upgraded to an artist account and you can upload work to your gallery for sale straight through the site. Apply for an INPRNT site here.

12. Not on the High Street

This online store gets over 2 million unique users per month

Not on the High Street gets over two million unique visitors per month, which then doubles at Christmas. Its TV and outdoor ad campaigns are also seen by millions, so this is a site for getting some great exposure. It's constantly looking for small businesses that are looking to grow. So if that's you, head here to find out more about selling on Not on the High Street!

13. Design By Humans

Illustrators rejoice! There's a huge marketplace of illustrated wares here

Design By Humans is an online store offering T-shirts, phone cases, prints, mugs and more with designs from over 15,000 global designers. Describing itself as a "community" of passionate artists and customers, you upload your designs and the site handles the logistics of payments, printing items, shipping orders and so on. You can even opt for a custom storefront. Sign up for a Design By Humans store here.

14. MyFonts

MyFonts is one of our go-to sources of new and exciting fonts here at CreativeBloq, and you can be featured on it! Your type designs could reach a broader (paying) audience by being featured in one of the site's bundles, as well as its collections filtered by descriptive keywords. Find out how to sell your typefaces through MyFonts here.

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