Ever wondered if it is possible to make Money with your smartphone? Well, today I want to explore this and see if it is really worth it. To be more precise, we will be focusing on design and art Apps that have the option to create high-quality art.

Step 1, what to sell?

First, determine what kind of product you want to sell. For this experiment, we will be focusing on wall art. The reason we first choose the kind of product is that this will determine our design, wall art is different than mugs, and mugs are different then stickers.

Also, There are a lot of other products that you could sell, sometimes the same designs can be sold on multiple products.

And to give you a few examples of other products you might want to sell: washi tape, stickers, T-shirts, notebooks, pillows, straws, cups, paper plates, and more.

Step 2, find an app that you like

Find an app that can create designs that meet a few criteria. They are as follows:

• Has as many design features as possible
• Layer ability 
• Export HR image

I tried a few different apps but wasn’t able to find one app that could do all (something like photoshop or illustrator). Maybe I should try paid apps, but even then, I think it is too much of a hassle. So instead, I used multiple apps. And I think that is actually better because that will give you much more options to create unique art.

There are many apps that are free to use, that have different features and options. So it’s wise to download as many design and art apps as possible and try them all. Stick to the ones that work best for you.

The apps that I used are:

• PicsArt
• Background Eraser

In another post, I will go into more detail about the apps that I tried, and their pros and cons. But this article would become too long to do that.

Tip. Before you start designing, try different apps and play around with them first. Learn how to use them and get comfortable with them. This makes it a lot easier for you to create your first artwork on a phone or tablet.

Step 3, Create your design 

Before you actually start to work out your design. You should first do some research. What are competitors’ designs that sell well? What colors, text, composition, and concept, are you going to use? The more you take your time for research, the better designs you can create and of course sell more.

After you did the initial research, you can start to create your design. I figured that cute and or funny animals are often on top of search engines. So I choose to create fun and cute dog artwork. 

First I went to Unsplash and searched for a picture of an animal that suited my expectations. I found this cute funny dog photo. And I also found an image with a bow tie and glasses. My goal is to combine these images to create something new.

Then I removed the background using the Background Eraser app and loaded it into PicsArt. PicsArt lets you add multiple images, rotate them, apply effects, and more. 

After that, I saved the image and opened my background image, and placed the dog image on top of this image. I couldn’t really find a layer option in PicsArt, like in photoshop. So I had to do it this way. 

After that, I applied effects to create a cool and a bit worn-off vintage effect.

And here is the final design:

Step 5, Sell your design.

Now that you created a design, it’s time to promote it and make some money. There are a lot of different ways to approach this. Some will cost you money (Facebook or Google ads) and some are free (SEO, social media). It also depends on how you are going to distribute it, are you printing it yourself, or letting your local printer do it.

But let’s say you are going to print yourself. Why? It can be a lot cheaper. And you can be more flexible. You don’t need to buy a high quantity of products, and you could even offer a custom version, like adding a text or name. 

Having an A3-size printer is better. But starting with A4 size is ok too. Make sure that when you print, you select everything of high quality.

Tip. Printing from Photoshop directly makes it possible for me to print without white margins around my printout. I am not sure if that will be the same for you, but you can give it a try if you think that is a problem.

What you need:

• Inkjet printer, A3 or A4 sizes.
• High-quality 100-gram or thicker glossy and matte paper.

Where to sell?

In order to make money, you need to offer your customers a safe place to buy. I would suggest you use Etsy for this. You can create your own shop in no time, and people can even follow you and like your stuff just like Instagram. but beware of the fees you have to pay for Etsy.

Other places are Amazon, eBay, or a Shopify store. It depends on you and what you consider the best for you.

Start promoting 

Promote your designs on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik-Tok. Also, show it to your friends and family and ask if they want to buy a print. It will take you some time, but after a while, you will have a small following and more and more people will start to buy from you. 

Tip. Don’t forget to ask what your buyers think and like. It will help you make more designs that sell well.

Step 6, keep promoting and designing.

Add more designs and keep promoting them. Every free moment you have you should spend on promoting your designs. You also should try and create more designs to increase your chance of selling. 

The more you do this, the better you will become at creating new designs. If you don’t know your own style yet, try experimenting to find out. Try different apps, combine them or just stay in one app, that is up to you.

Extra step

As a designer, I would not recommend you only use smartphone apps to design or create art. I would always recommend you use either Adobe Photoshop, or Illustrator, or a free tool like GImp or Inkscape to create art on your computer.

Still, for people that don’t want to spend too much money or don’t want to use their computer to create art, working on your tablet or smartphone is a great alternative to a computer.

But if you do have a computer or laptop with a design tool, then I recommend you import the final design into this program first to do some finishing touches or even upscaling the art.

Conclusion:

Yes, you can create art and designs on your smartphone or tablet that you can then sell and earn money from. Smartphones and apps have become much more advanced over the years. And are a good alternative to Photoshop and Illustrator, especially if you are on a budget, or are just starting your online business.

But like most tools and skills, it can take some time to master them. I also suggest you get yourself a tablet with a pencil. It’s much more simple to create art with a pencil instead of using your fingers. Nonetheless, both options are available, and it all depends on yourself.

Please understand, that this post is meant as an example, you don’t need to follow the steps, I just wanted to show that you can create art on your smartphone or tablet, and start selling that art.

Good luck!