Etsy as a platform hosts a wealth of suppliers, goods and plenty of legitimate, trustworthy options for all of your wedding needs. However as a professional artist in the wedding industry. when it comes to scams on Etsy, bespoke wedding art is one of the biggest rip offs I see.
In this blog, I wanted to share with you what I notice and the red flags to look out for, especially if you are someone who would love to have bespoke artwork at your wedding, but might not have the experience of an artist to spot the giveaways of a scam. So lets jump in.
Digital artwork being sold as handmade.
So many Etsy accounts are selling digital venue edits as watercolour illustrations. There is actually a Photoshop filter that you can purchase, which automatically transforms a photograph into a stylised watercolour (digital) painting. The easiest way to spot this is to notice how the artwork fades into the white background. Firstly, it is common in digital works to see that the edge of the painting has an unnatural brush stroke. Second to this unnatural effect, look to see how the detail of the image reaches the point where the fade of the unnatural brushstroke begins. This is very typical of a digital process which involves:
Edit an existing photograph to have painting filter.
Use a brush tool to erase the edges of the photograph. This makes it looks like a 'organic' edge rather than the rectangular edge of the photo (which gives the illusion away). In result, the detail of the original photograph in on the erased line. Whereas, for a hand drawn artwork, an artist would never draw the entire image then rub out the edges to create the same effect - It makes no sense to spend time on the work to just rub it out!
Here are some examples of unnatural brush strokes, take a look to see how close the detail reaches the edges too:
The edges in each image above increasingly looks more realistic, but remember my tell-tale, if the detail lies too close to the faded edge, its probably not hand drawn.
If the price is cheap, that's because the work is cheap.
Don't be fooled by a price that seems too good to be true. As a professional artist, I price my work for the hours spent on the piece and as my work is extremely detailed, it requires more effort and skill, impacting the time I spend on a piece. Like any other profession, you are be paid for the time that you work. Of course, many wedding artists have different styles, therefore some may be more abstract in style and the price reflects a shorter time spent working on it. But in general, if you come across an original wedding artwork that is under £50.00, you are definitely in digital art territory.
So be wary of the Etsy wedding art scams my friends, use my advice to determine what type of art that you working with and remember, either way you are supporting a local business.
I would encourage you to consider what you get for your money, for when you invest in an artwork that has a connection to a skillful artist, who lovingly creates a piece bespoke to you, that truly lasts a lifetime, in comparison to a 20 minute edit that you could probably do at home...
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