Are aesthetics/picspams considered art, and another question

[kybcr]

I was thinking of starting an art shop where I could sell things like this



or this



(ignore the credits, I changed my tumblr url from blazefrostwolf to sherlollipops)

So my first question is: Are these considered art? Would people be willing to pay for them?

This leads on to my second question. Most of the images I use are not in the public domain and probably have some sort of copyright. Now, it would be fine if I were not using them for profit BUT does online currency (pets, chicken dollars) count as profit? I'm not making any real money from it, but just to be sure?

[Aaron✦]

Online currency counts as profit so you'd need permission for the images, but if you're able to get it there'd be nothing wrong with it. (:

[Pyromaniacal]

As far as whether people would pay for it or not, that's not something you'd be able to know without experience. I haven't seen an aethestic shop before, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't necessarily do well since aesthetics are popular on Tumblr. Perhaps if you set up a shop, you could try offering some orders for free before you start to charge to hopefully drive up interest in your work.

I also want to point out that, depending on what the copyright on an image is, you could get in trouble for image theft on CS even if there is no profit involved. Make sure you have the suitable permissions for an image before using it whether you're selling it or not.

[arabella !!]

You can ask for critique here: viewforum.php?f=10