TikTok has become a powerful marketing tool for some Etsy sellers, who say they're using it to make thousands of dollars in art sales

• TikTok has become a powerful new marketing tool for artists looking to drive sales on the e-commerce platform Etsy.
• Creators are using TikTok to highlight their work and attract art commissions from their followers.
• Business Insider spoke to four artists - Annie Morcos, Elizabeth Nigro, Bree Eral, and Alexandria Bishop - to learn how they are leveraging the app to generate thousands of dollars in new sales on Etsy.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

TikTok users love watching artists at work.

Art-themed videos are blowing up on the app, with the hashtag #art appearing in 38 billion video streams and #artist driving 9.6 billion views to date.

Business-savvy artists have taken note and are using TikTok's fast-growing audience to generate art commissions and sales on the e-commerce platform Etsy.

Graphic artist and animator Annie Morcos said she started taking TikTok seriously last month when one of her videos attracted 3.2 million likes and 17.9 million views. The Los Angeles-based creator added her Etsy shop name to her TikTok bio so her 318,000 followers would know where they could buy her art.

"I really didn't sell a lot of my artwork before, and in the past two months, all my art on my Etsy is flying," she said. "Everybody that follows me on TikTok wants a piece of my work."

Morcos said she charges anywhere from $9.99 for a pair of resin earrings to $2,000 for a custom painting. In the past two months, she's earned close to $4,000 in sales on Etsy. Before joining TikTok, her best month of sales was $500. In some months, she said she would earn nothing from the e-commerce website.

"They always leave a comment saying 'I found you on TikTok, I love your videos, I love your art,'" she said about her new Etsy customers. "It's really changed my little art world. I focus on TikTok now more than anywhere else."

'TikTok is an amazing advertising platform'

Elizabeth Nigro, 22, doesn't have a huge following on TikTok compared to the app's top stars. But many of her 73,700 followers have become customers, reaching out through the app to buy her custom bound books on Etsy.

"It kind of turned out that TikTok is an amazing advertising platform," she told Business Insider. "During the summer I joined as a joke, and then it became serious. Each time I post a video on TikTok, my activity on Etsy definitely has gone up," she said.

Nigro said most of her custom book commissions come from TikTok, where she's posted her Etsy store name in her account bio. She charges $60 for a small book, $200 to $300 for a custom medium-size book (6 inches by 9 inches), and $400 for a book that is larger or has a custom embroidered design.

Nigro makes roughly $1,000 each month from book sales, which supplements her income from working as a library aid.

TikTok has also helped Nigro grow her audience on Instagram, which jumped from 500 to more than 3,000 followers after joining the app.

"I try and get a video out at least once a week, but it's hard because I have to produce a book as well as record it," she said. "It's a nice balance I have to get down. TikTok blew me up. I'm pretty thankful for it."

TikTok artists can use the app's livestream feature to sell their art

One of the main ways that TikTok creators earn money on the app is by livestreaming to their followers.

During a livestream, users can send a creator virtual "gifts" that are transferable into real dollars. But artists on the app have found another way to monetize livestreams: selling their artwork.

Bree Eral, 26, built an audience on TikTok by filming herself spray painting art. She now has 105,000 followers on the app.

"People watch the videos, find one [painting] that they really like, and they'll ask for that one or it will give them ideas for commissions," she said.

She charges between $25 to $85 for a painting and makes at least 25 paintings each month. It takes her roughly four hours to make each painting, a process she films for TikTok posts.

Her first Etsy sale came from a TikTok user who watched her make a painting during a livestream on the app.

"I did a huge 24 [inch] by 30 [inch] Legend of Zelda canvas on live, put it on Etsy, and someone that watched the live video bought it five minutes later," she said. "It was really cool because it was somebody that actually watched me make it."

"People like seeing the process of how their canvas is made," she said. "I think they take interest in being able to see how each step goes."

Eral said she connects with potential customers in TikTok's comments section, and will post a buyer's TikTok username next to a commissioned work on Etsy so other customers know a painting has already been claimed.

TikTok videos showing how art is packaged and shipped are also popular on the app

TikTok users are interested in every stage of an artist's creative process. There's even an audience for how creators pack up their artwork for shipment.

"My favorite thing recently has been showing people how I package up my art," said Alexandria Bishop, an artist and TikTok creator with 20,000 followers.

Bishop, 26, experiments with different techniques like sculpting and wood-burning on her TikTok account, but it's still a part-time gig. She makes most of her income working as a manager at an adult foster care home and from part-time contracts as a special effects makeup artist. She said she earns roughly $400 for a commissioned painting with a custom frame, and in a good month will make $1,000 from her art.

"I've been trying to make videos that show my process," she said. "I don't think they realize the work that artists and small businesses put into every piece of work."

"My packing videos are me packing up, step-by-step, with butcher paper wrapped around my book and using pretty thread and wax seals to pack up my books in this kind of old-world way," Nigro said. "It really kind of reminds of those ASMR videos where people do these slow things. I think showcasing how I gift my products to the person who bought it is a good way of advertising as well."

For more on how TikTok creators are using the app to make money, check out these other Business Insider Prime posts:

• A TikTok photographer explains how he gained 3 million followers in 3 months and was able to quit his job as an insurance actuary: Alexander Stemplewski quit his job to focus on social media and photography. Here are the three ways he plans to earn a living as an influencer.
• How a pair of 30-year-old video producers turned TikTok from a side gig to their main job: TikTok's biggest stars tend to be in Generation Z. But as the app gains popularity in the US, other generations are cashing in on sponsored content.
• How TalentX plans to rule TikTok, starting with 32 influencers and a Los Angeles mansion: TalentX Entertainment is eyeing brand partnerships, merchandising, live events, and television and film development for its roster of TikTok stars.
• Marketers share what it's like to use TikTok's invite-only tool for finding the right influencers to hire for brand deals: Business Insider spoke with marketers who are beta testing TikTok's new matchmaking tool for influencers and brands, Creator Marketplace.