Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
Pricing work
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2
Message
Posted
Evening. don't know about you but I am so pleased it has cooled down, and for me at least without a thunderstorm and the migraine that normally brings with it.
Anyway, I kind of asked this before in another post about something else, but I thought I'd make a proper post and see if any of you can help.
I promise I have googled and searched on here but I am either drawing a blank, or coming across very conflicting advice.
I am about to venture into selling my paintings - will be acrylics on either canvas board or stretched canvas, and will range in size from 6x8 at the smallest, through to 24x36 at the largest and I have zero idea where to start with pricing.
Since posting the cow painting on another platform (it's on the gallery if you don't know the one I am talking about) I have now had three requests to buy it (from people I know but am not friends with as such, so it's not that they feel sorry for me), after explaining that I am not selling it, I have asked them all to tell me what they would have expected to pay - v awkward I know. Bearing in mind the cow painting is 24x36 two said $200-$250 and the others said $150-$300 (they are both in America). This is more than I was expecting and has me panicking a little about the topic of pricing in general.
It seems to be so subjective, my partner thinks that is about right, whereas my mum thinks it's way too much. So any advice you could give me I would really appreciate (although i understand it's not an exact science) I'm only doing this because I am painting anyway daily and people in my little shop have suggested I sell them - I didn't really consider what a minefield the pricing bit would be.
Thanks in advance and sorry about the long rambly message.
Lucy
ps - Adele - I looked for the blog you suggested and i couldn't find anything similar to what you described.
Posted
Hi Lucy - Tried to find Sam's blog but it isn't in the recent 2 pages. Tried searching for it - not sure if anyone else here knows how to access older blogs. However, if you look at the latest topics on the Forum, Samantha has two threads running on Page 2. One is entitled "Asking Questions". Look at that one. Also google her website.
Posted
Ultimately, I guess the idea is to make a profit.
At the lower end of those price ranges, after buying canvas, paint and frame, does that sale price generate a positive value - your profit? If you're not dependent on selling your art then it might not matter, but if you want to be able to buy canvas, paint and frame for the next one AND eat tonight, then that's a very different ball game. If it costs you $50 for the raw materials, and takes you ten hours to paint, then selling at $150 generates $100 profit over ten hours; ten dollars/ eight quid an hour, which is below minimum wage.
Based on that, I'd start by asking people to pay nearer the top of their price ranges. You might get haggled down but it's a starting point.
Posted
Difficult to give specific advice without seeing the paintings and framing etc but my advice would be not to pitch your prices too low. Like you I find it hard to believe what some people will pay for one of my paintings but have sold at £150 to £180 through exhibitions when my instinct was to price about the £100 mark, which after commission and framing would not have left much for me. I definitely believe that pricing too low is a common error as many purchasers seem to believe that if it is cheap it cannot be any good!
Posted
Thank you Adele, I'll have another look.
Alan - I think your costs+minimum wage hourly rate makes a lot of sense, thank you.
Peter - Yes, you are right, I do find it hard to believe that people will pay £100+ for my paintings (even if I go through the steps of the pricing plan Alan suggests). The 'pricing too low makes it seem like it's not any good', is something that keeps cropping up, so I will try and avoid that and strike a balance. To be honest I don't expect anyone browsing for the first time to buy one of my paintings just like that because of the cost, but my hope is that a few of those people might like one of my pieces enough to go home, mull it over and come back to buy, or tell their friends about me etc. We'll see...
Lucy
Posted
Just for the record - I agree with all that! Ask for low prices and people will assume you're not really serious about what you're doing; that doesn't mean anything about your actual work, i.e. it doesn't have to be deadly serious at all, but if you offer work that's going to be worth £300 from an established artists at £50, a) you're not even covering your costs and time, b) no serious art buyer or gallery will so much as look at you.
I'm none too impressed by certain galleries that plonk an extra nought on the end of just about any figure - I saw a good, well-framed drawing priced at £45,000 some months ago, which I think a disgraceful price: absurdly high, and grossly inflated. On the other hand - presumably someone is prepared to pay that; I wouldn't know why....
But a much more common error is to under-charge, and so many of us have done that and not only when starting out: it's a part of yourself you're offering with any painting you try to sell, but some artists haven't the confidence to charge as much for a painting as they would for cleaning someone's house for them.
On the quiet, by the way - I will undertake work for people in the region of £50 to £100 as a one-off, if I know they really want a painting and can't afford anything more: but that's strictly between me and them, and I'd never want to advertise that low a rate (even though I've given myself away now!). But you've got to have confidence in your work, and ask for a price which really reflects all the materials you've used to create it, the time and effort you put in, the experience you've gained, and, crucially - enough to make a profit; or you're essentially working at cost, and that's no way to fill your dinner-plate.
Posted
Thanks Robert, it's really reassuring that you are all giving similar advice / are in agreement.
Wow, £45,000 that's obscene! Who knows how much of that is the galleries mark up though I guess.
Your 'house cleaning' point really struck home with me, thank you for that. We used to have a cleaner for a couple of hours a week and we paid her more than the minimum wage I will most likely use as the guide for my pricing.
And, oops! That's kind of you to do that for people, if I was in a similar circumstance I would no doubt do the same.
Thanks again, Lucy
Posted
Such a difficult subject and it does depend on size and the market place. A few typical charges for my work based on frame size in inches all framed behind glass. These are all artists prices - in other words the amounts I expect to receive after gallery fees or exhibition fees are deducted:
12 by 12 minimalist pen drawing £40 to £60
12 by 12 watercolour £60 to £100
18 by 14 watercolour £100 to £150
18 by 14 watercolour commission £130 to £180
24 by 24 acrylic ink abstract £250
36 by 24 acrylic ink abstract £350
Posted
The lesson I learned about not pricing too low came some years ago when a small watercolour of mine sold for £60 in an exhibition and was later seen for sale in a local 'art shop' (not a gallery as it sold a range of art related items) for £175!! Never found out if they sold it or for what price.
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2