The price is right ... maybe

Other than actually executing the artwork, the next most difficult thing artists have to do is pricing their own finished works.

Rarely do I see so much hand-wringing as when artists are discussing how should they put a price on their artwork.

Most of the time, we let our emotions get involved in the process. If the artist is particularly attached to the work, they have a tendency to overprice the piece. Then there's the lack of self-confidence issue where the artist thinks, "Well, why would they buy that from me?!" Subsequently, they price the piece too low.

If I price it too high, does the buyer think I'm an egomaniac? Or am I trying to impress a collector with the high price in order to create a false impression? If I price it too low, does the buyer think I am not proud of the piece, so why should they invest their money? Some artists underprice their work because they feel sorry that the buyer should spend that much money.

A few years back, I read a piece on the internet that made a lot of sense to me -- establish a formula and try to stick to it. I have used that as a guide and have adjusted it according to situations. Which sounds like I'm being wishy-washy, but I'm really not because there actually is a formula involved.

Marin (Unframed)

The formula should be $$$ x square inches of the painting. I usually set $5 or $6/square inch as my guide. Therefore, if the painting rendered is 14 x 18 (252 square inches), the price should be somewhere in the neighborhood of between $1,260-to-$1,512. This should be the unframed price of the artist's work.

Framing is an unknown cost for many artists. Some of us are fortunate enough to be able to frame their own work and that reduces the cost considerably. I am not one of those. In fact, the hardest thing for me to do is selecting a mat color for my drawings. Selecting the frame is another mind-numbing experience for me. 

I try to avoid specially made frames because that really rockets up the price of the framing. Thus, I find myself drawing pieces to fit pre-made frames. Or, I select a pre-made frame that works after the mat is cut to fit.

Framing has to be worked in to the formula of pricing.

Again, as a rule of thumb, I double the cost of the frame per painting. That truly helps in defraying the cost of frames. Artists have a great deal of money tied up in frames around paintings that haven't been sold. In many cases, the collector buys the piece then puts their own frame around the artwork anyway.

Marin (Framed hanging at Exhibition)

And don't forget the glass! Most artists use UV resistant glass, especially on drawings, in order to prevent the image and/or the colors from fading. That glass costs more than regular glass.


That being said, the formula looks like this:

$5/$6 per square inch + 2x Framing = Final total

Or, using the above example

$1,260 + $250 Frame = $1,510

Another factor that some times comes in to play, at least for me, is time invested in creating the artwork. If I am doing a colored pencil piece or a scratchboard piece, I will raise the price accordingly because the time invested in so much greater. (I hate to think I'm "working" for less than minimum wage, but we always do.) I believe colored-pencil artists, in particular, price their work far too low for the time invested and the final product rendered.

How much of an impact "time invested" has on the final price will vary according to the artist. Nonetheless, I believe the formula is a valuable guide to the final price.

In the example of the artwork I have in this article -- Marin -- the formula looks something like this: 10.25 inches x 12 inches x $6 = 738 + $200 Framing = $938. I actually added an additional $900 because there was close to six months work invested in that drawing which was executed in colored pencil. That was an unusual amount of time for me to put in to a piece. Thus, my final price is $1,800. 


Conversely, if there is less time put in to a piece, I deduct according from the formula price. 
The Cardinal oil painting took less than a week to do. At 6 x 8, it would be about $240 unframed. I priced it at $125.

For me, at least, time invested plays a role in my bottom line price. But it's the formula from which all the pricing revolves around. 

Last, but not least, once you set a price, don't change the price -- at least not in front of a perspective customer. Never say "Well, it's $1,500, but I will sell it for $1,200." And the collector is thinking, "Well, maybe that piece isn't worth as much as I thought it was; maybe I shouldn't invest my money since the artist doesn't think as much of it." As an artist, you can't fall in to that easy trap.

Next blog preview: The importance of composition.


 

MBPGrafix.com

YAY!! Houston we have lift-off!

After more tweaking than I thought would be needed I finally have a website I can call my own.
You can access it at http://www.mbpgrafix.com/

I also added a nifty little clicky box to the right of this blog that gives you instant access to the website.  

I do post this disclaimer. It's not totally, completely finished, but it's good enough to let everyone know that I am out there. There's a couple of fixes that need to be done on the Gallery page. I have information that is to come on a couple of the pieces listed. The Commission page might eventually need some revision as the images don't display in their entirety as I would prefer. However, when  you click on them, you do get the full image as it should look.

I want feedback, please!

As the heading suggests, I would appreciate any comments, observations, criticisms regarding the way the website looks and how easy (or not so easy) it is to move around.

Some explanations are in order:

 My palette -- so much more fun than my array of pencils

1) I have linked all purchases to my Etsy site instead of to a credit card procedure. I believe the fees on Etsy will be less expensive than the credit card fees. If an interested person does not have an Etsy account, they can still contact me directly. Good idea or bad idea?

2) PayPal may be something that I will add later. I actually prefer to use PayPay personally as it is more secure for financial transactions than internet credit card purchases. Nonetheless, if someone requests a Commission, then I can still send an invoice via PayPal.

3) My Bio page tab also has a pull-down menu that lists awards, achievements and so forth. Is that too obscure or not easily seen to access? I'm not big on artist's statements. I think most of them come across as being hokey. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I do enjoy telling and listening to stories and that's the only message I truly want to convey.

4) Blog Tab is pretty self-explanatory. If you are reading this blog, then you know where that blog tab will take you!

5) Clicky buttons along the bottom. I registered for a Pinterest account earlier this week, but I don't have it set up yet. Not sure if that link works yet or not because of that.

5) Website Design tab was a last-minute addition. After lengthy discussion with my Webmaster, Stephen Schauer of NKY Bluegrass Computers, we realized that with my design and writing skills and his technical savvy, we could produce solid web pages for businesses and individuals at relatively low cost. It's clearly an area that I will be investing more time in this coming year. If you are interested in talking with us or know someone who might be interested in developing a website, then please remember us for your referral!

Let me know what you think of the (Nearly) Final Product! 

Art-ing

 

I haven't neglected the real reason I have this blog and put together the website -- my artwork.

I have produced a couple of oil paintings since the last posting in mid-December. 

Cardinal 1

Blue Jay 1

Both of these will eventually be listed on the Gallery page. I am not thrilled with the photographic image of the Cardinal. Every time I took a photo of the painting I kept getting a feedback glare. The colors on the bird are not as harsh as it looks on the image shown here. I may have to get the image shot professionally. Or at least by someone who is more skilled than I am.

NEXT BLOG PREVIEW: I will discuss how to price artwork. What goes into my thought process in setting a fee. This is always a great cause of angst among artists. If you charge too much, do you scare away a potential client? If you charge too little, does a potential client think you don't have respect for your own work? For the non-artists among you, this may not seem like much of a dilemma, but it truly is a topic of much discussion among artists.