Family and friends all rave about your paintings.
You find yourself comparing your work to others and realize that your paintings are just as nice as those you see with juicy price tags on them.
An associate at work asks if you could make a special picture for them “because you’re such a good painter.”
Well, maybe it’s time you start putting a price tag on your work and putting your painting out in the market place. The big question is how do you price your work. This exercise is every bit as nerve jangling as staring at a blank canvas with no inspiration.
You’re walking a fine line when it comes to setting a price for your artwork. Price it too low and you’re not making a profit. Price it too high and it will never sell. This is going to take time and research, so clean your brushes off carefully and prepare to do some investigative work.
Gallery Prices VS Private Sales
Keep in mind that an art gallery charges a high commission for exhibiting an artist’s work. There may be a 50 or 60 percent commission fee, so the artist is seldom making more than half the listed price in a gallery. If you’re not selling in a gallery, don’t price your paintings at those kinds of prices.
On the other hand, if you’re fortunate enough to exhibit in a gallery, don’t undercut your gallery prices to private clients or at art festivals. If your discounted selling price is discovered, you’ll make an instant enemy of the gallery owner and never hang another work in his or her shop.
Research Your Local Market
If you live in Chicago, London or New York, you’ll get a higher price for your work than if you live in New London, Ohio or Paris, Texas. Check out the competition and see how other comparable work is priced. If these folks have been on the local scene for any length of time, they’ve found the right price for your local market.
An unfortunate fact of life is that oil paintings are generally higher priced than any other traditional art medium. If you’re an oil painter that’s a bonus for you. However, if you’re a watercolorist, acrylic, egg tempera or encaustic painter, your equally fine work will command fewer dollars.
Manufacturing Costs – Time And Materials
Unlike producing a manufactured product, your paintings are not based solely on time and materials. However, you should have your material cost as a basis, so you can be assured of covering the cost to produce your masterpiece.
Figuring your actual costs for a painting is probably one of the easier tasks in this little exercise. You can easily tally up how much your support, paint, mat and frame cost. Consider the quantity of paper towels, mediums and other auxiliary supplies you used and figure a cost for those. You also have other expenses like electricity and heating or cooling costs for your studio. Those are also considered in the bottom line of your production costs.
You should also have an idea of how many hours you slaved over your project. Sure, you’re probably not going to be paid nearly what you’re worth per hour, but it’s important to see how much time you have invested in a piece.
Marketing Costs
If you’ve decided to go full-bore boogie with your new passion, you may incur marketing costs. Business cards, mailers, fliers and the gas to drive around passing out all your self-marketing materials cost money. If you make or buy special signs to hang with your work at a shop or produce giveaway bookmarks or other promotional literature to hand out at festivals, these costs should be divvied up and a percentage of those costs should be assigned to your paintings.
Size Really Does Matter
Let’s say you whipped up large, interesting abstract. Your colors are striking and your composition is dynamic. It only took you a couple hours to produce. For the sake of argument, let’s also say that you spent 40 hours painting an excruciatingly exact miniature that’s a mere five-inch by seven-inch masterpiece. Unfortunately, you’ll probably need to charge more for the two hour wonder than for your tiny, time-consuming triumph.
The buying public is generally looking at the decorative worth of a piece. That translates into large. If you persevere and develop a reputation and following as an artist, you may eventually command a higher price for your meticulous miniatures. At that point, you’ll begin to have collectors who are looking for artistic value rather than decorating style.
Now, take all the research you’ve done, the facts and figures you’ve acquired and toss them into your blender. Set it on puree and see what comes out.
You may need to tone down your lofty monetary objectives for a while. Your hourly wage may be almost non-existent and your aspirations of beautiful, four-color personal statement brochures may have to wait. Season your painting price puree with a little common sense along with realistic expectations, and you’ll probably end up with prices that will encourage both you and your clients.
