Several times in recent months, I’ve been asked about creating wall art mock-ups of my work. So, I thought I’d share some of the resources I’ve found along with ideas for using the mock-ups once you’ve created them.
Visualizing artwork on your walls is not always easy. Many decorating companies offer a service that allows you to place artwork on your own walls, virtually so you can get an idea of how it looks.
Visualizing size and color
When you place an image in a mock-up situation, it can help you determine the size of print you need. It can also show you if the colors will work in your particular room (if you are using a virtual room mock-up of your own space).
Placing mock-ups on a virtual wall can also make it much easier to place multiple pieces of art. Arrange, rearrange and swap out horizontal and vertical pieces until you get the overall look you want.
You can also show clients how pieces might work together. For instance, combining two abstract florals with an architectural image.
What to search for
For the most part, when searching these sites, I use the following search terms:
- Wall art mock-up
- Blank wall mock-up
- Gallery wall mock-up
- Boardroom wall mock-up
Be specific if you have something in mind. If you have a piece going into a child’s room, “child’s room” into the search.
Where to find blank room templates
Etsy — is not the first site that comes to mind for such things, but there are plenty of downloadable resources here for a minimal cost.
Creative Market — this is a site of all types of assets for designers, graphic artists and more. You can also post your artwork here to sell for stock or commercial use.
Depending on how you use it you can subscribe as a customer for a fee or for free as a seller.
Canvy — touts itself as an artwork manager that helps you organize your work and create mock-ups to showcase your work. With a free account, you get 23 rooms included, seven daily downloads and 100 artworks. For the pro account which is $149/year, you receive 700+ rooms, unlimited downloads and artwork. The pro account also has Etsy integration which is nice if you’re selling your art on Etsy.
Fine Art America/Pixels.com — If you use Fine Art America you’ll be able to use the images they have created for you. The downside to this is that you’re limited to only three choices of mock-ups.
Adobe Stock — offers 10 free downloads to new accounts. I always check back here and see what I can find, sometimes the 10 free downloads renew themselves.
Envato / Place-it — Envato offers millions of templates from video, WordPress themes and graphic templates to plenty of room mock-up options. If you’re looking for something quickly you can always sign up for a free trial. Otherwise, there is a subscription fee that allows you unlimited downloads for $16.50/month.
Other options for wall art mock-ups
There are other options out there, these are the six that I tend to go to first. You can also find apps that have room mock-ups and also ways to “put” an image on your own wall. Smartist is one that so far is only an iOS app.
No matter which one you find useful for your own work, creating mock-ups with your images can really help you sell your prints a bit easier. Besides selling, it just creates a really nice way to showcase your images, even if you’re not trying to sell them.
Here is a gallery of sample mock-ups I’ve done with my own work if you’d like to see some of these templates that I’ve used.
There’s also a standalone program, Fundy Designer, that has room mock ups that can be exported. It’s not free but if you do a lot it could be a good investment.
Thanks for that Bob, I’ll check it out. Trying to keep costs down becomes a goal as well as we already pay for so much these days with subscriptions for everything we do!
Have you used freepik at all.
I have not heard of that one Iain, thank you. I’ve added it to my list to check out. Thank you for sugesting it.
have you tried artplacer?
Thanks for adding another to the list Wayne. I see it is another subscription service. Might check out the free trial but I’m done with subscription services if I can help it!