One of the fastest ways to "makeover" a room is to hang some art. Art can immediately change the vibe and inspire a room's potential. Art is going to show off your style and personality faster than anything else you put in a room. It's a big deal! And while we're huge proponents of collecting original art, hanging prints that move you is a great way to develop your personal style and a budget-friendly way to fill your walls. And luckily, digital art can be found all over the internet for cheap and sometimes even free! Here's how to find it.
Where to find free digital art?
Shop Faye's Room
If you didn't know, the "public domain" consists of creative work not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright. This could mean the copyright has expired or the author has deliberately placed their work publicly. In other words, no individual owns the rights; therefore, it's open for public use and free to download, print, and even sell! A lot of print shops that we know and love have sorted through hundreds of thousands of images and pieces of artwork in the public domain to create curated collections. Big companies like Target do it too, and so can you. You might start with the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian, and the Met Collection.
For the prints in Faye's room, I stumbled upon these vintage illustrations from the original Wizard of Oz book series, illustrated by W. W. Denslow, and I swooned. The Wizard of Oz is somewhat special and nostalgic to our family, and wouldn't you know, they fit in with the color scheme in Faye's room.
So why buy vintage art prints and downloads when you can download them yourself for free? Mostly because these shops have done the work for you. The Smithsonian has 2,800,000 public domain pieces. That's a lot of scrolling and sorting! Also, the prices for digital downloads are famously affordable, making it easy to pull the trigger on a piece when someone with a good eye has rounded up the best of the best.
Framed Tree Art Prints | Dining Table | Lantern | Black Vase | Stem | Chairs & Rug (vintage)
The tree top art we had hanging in our dining room was something we bought already framed and had shipped to us for hundreds of dollars. We have since found the same art in many digital art shops on Etsy for only a few dollars. Of course, you still have to print and frame them, but this is a good sign that the art is free public domain art. Here are some shops that have gone through the effort of sourcing and curating digital art at an affordable price!
Shops that source and sell digital art
1. BFF Print Shop
2. Blue Jay Vintage Art Shoppe
3. Juniper Print Shop
4. Willow Antique Arts
5. Foggyst Prints
6. Chaos & Wonder Design
7. Hearts in Color
8. The Printable Studio
Picture Light | Top Art | Bottom Art
If you want to get your art printed, you can upload them to Shutterfly and Artifact Uprising, and even Walgreens and UPS have really great quality. The prints in our kitchen were printed and picked up at our local Walgreens!
Frame TV Art
Shop the bonus room
This is also why you can find Frame TV art for so cheap! If you have a Frame TV, you can choose what art is displayed on it and change the tone and lighting to make it look really real. The Frame has some built-in art options, but you can actually upload any digital art, with the correct resolution, to your TV, which opens up a lot of options. Here's a tutorial on exactly how to do that.
These digital art options are so inexpensive and impactful! I change up the art on our TV often–whenever I’m in the mood! Here are a few of my current favorites.
1. Aged Textured Moody Landscape $1
2. Vintage Wooded Landscape $2
3. Deep Cyan Indigo Abstract $2
4. Tex 4 $3
5. Bushel $4
6. Bay Horse $4
7. Over the Sea $4
8. Sailing $4
9. Vintage Autumn Bundle (60 Prints) $19
10. Night Sky $20
11. Loch II $20
12. Swan $20
Other Frame TV Roundups
1. Frame TV Digital Art
2. Halloween Frame TV Art
3. Thanksgiving Frame TV Art
4. Holiday Frame TV Art
5. Winter to Spring Frame TV Art
6. Spring Frame TV Art
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Love this roundup! I'd love to be added to any future lists for Art Prints + Downloadable Art, my shop is shopyore.com!!
The blacks will be more pronounced and glass has a reflective property where light reflects within the surface to provide that almost 3-D look with greater color vibrancy.
Thanks so much for doing the hard work of creating this curated list, but it'd be very helpful if you could please make the pictures linkable instead of or in addition to the list.
Thanks.
Thank for your beautiful posts and letting us follow along with your renovation. Your IG is my favorite! I love absolutely everything, especially your cooking/kitchen stuff! I have searched the website and failed to find the link (if there is one) to the really cool picture hanger Chris used about a week ago?? I’m ready to find some beautiful art to hang as well. Thanks again for all you all do!
https://rstyle.me/+Dq-zU_AyoPk0rUx-U3oMIg
Here you go!
I loved the tutorial on your insta stories about the size of pic to format for frame tv (we just got a 55 inch & love it) my kids were distracting me & I didn’t get a chance to go back & really watch it so I can know the specifics of how to do that. Could you please repost that somewhere to access it?
I'll add it to a highlight on Instagram!
This is such a perfect pandemic days post! Thank you, I'm spending time digging thru these sites and hopefully can keep working on our home while social distancing!
Thank you for compiling these art resources! I'm wondering if you recommend using glass when framing a digital print of a vintage painting. Would love your thoughts!
If you can print on a matte paper or a canvas paper, so ahead and forgo the glass for a painterly look!
So I love this post, first off, but some of these vintage art shops are taking artwork off of the MET museum public collection and selling it.. which I don’t think they are technically allowed to do.
So before you buy, search for the image our artist and download it yourself.
They’re are two companies you posted that I know have free MET images on their website.
We actually explained this IN the post. Check it out!
What would you say about mattes? Always, never or sometimes does it make the art better? When would you use a matte?
I use a mat when the art really "asks" for it. Sometimes there's a piece that really transforms into fine art with the addition of a mat. I especially love the oversized mat on this signature frame: https://rstyle.me/+BrvrNN_XQL09B2t_fPpu7w
It makes even small works look so substantial!
I like to skip the mat on vintage pieces because I think they look more authentic filling a frame. But it's a personal preference!
Where do you print the larger format pieces (like in the AZ bedroom)? We’re looking for something that size, but our at-home printer can’t handle that one!
Your old bedroom digital art with the ship- do you have the source?
That was from the frame TV collection
Do you have any suggestions for finding a good horizontal piece that isn't a landscape? We're looking for something for over our fireplace and are really struggling to find many choices. SO much great work in portrait out there!
lots of amazing still lifes in these round ups
There is so many amazing smaller shops out there that have great stuff! Hot tip, lots of minted.com artists also have their own print shops!
https://www.evergreenaspen.com/
Love that you are supporting digital art shops, there are some great pieces available out there!
If you are into travel/architecture prints please do visit our new Etsy store, we are adding new illustrations all the time :)
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MistyCityArt
This couldn't have come at a better time! I am finally getting to the art portion of some rooms and I couldn't be more excited. When you print digital downloads, what type of paper do you print them on? Cardstock? Photo paper? I love pictures that have a lot texture and I am not quite sure what would bring it out the best.
I generally do just cardstock!
Do you have a post about choosing and arranging two art frames that are lined up vertically. I have recently seen a small trend with the smaller picture frame on top of a larger portrait on bottom. I'm having a hard time finding inspiration for that layout or even a keyword to search Pinterest for it. Thanks! You always have the best sources!
Check out Finding Beautiful Truth Etsy shop for mcm and delightful fruit, tree and car photos!
Love this! Perfect timing too! If I already have a cool frame but want to put a mat in it do you have any recommendations for that? Thanks!
I'll be the first to say DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU NEED A MAT. I love a mix of matted and unmatted frames. If you want to add a mat, try Amazon.
I love this post! I purchased some from Foggyst Prints at your suggestion from a recent IG story. Check out Museum Quality Art. They have a beautiful mix available for download. http://www.museumqualityart.com
When using a digital print shop, what type of paper should we be looking for? I've had art printed at Walgreens/CVS before and they just don't look that great, to me. I've also used Costco's printing and chose 'lustre' paper and same thing - meh. Even Lustre seems too glossy to me.
I almost always go for a matte finish. You can see the depth so much!
So, so grateful for this post and the time that went into it. Never thought this artwork would be in my (current) budget and I'm ecstatic! I've already placed some orders - can't thank you enough:)
This post could not have come at a better time!! Currently stuck on committing to some artwork as well! Mostly because it's going over grasscloth wallpaper.Hhaha, no fixing those holes if it's not right!
What about a command hook!?
I’ve read (maybe on CLJ?) cutting a small v in the paper, pulling it back a smidge, and nailing into the wall may help if you’d like to preserve the paper. You end with a flap to fold back instead of hole.
Thank you for this round up! What is the source for the measurement artwork you had hanging in your old kitchen? I just rearranged some things in my kitchen and remembered that. How convenient you posted about artwork today to prevent me from digging through your archives!
Oh my goodness! How could I forget! The Faux Martha has a print shop too! Right here!!
Yes, that's it! Thank you!