Comments on: Pricing Your Art: 10 Rules

By: Bob Ragland

Bob Ragland — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:33:21 +0000

I devloped a loose formula for pricing. I call it the 12/52. I divide the price of the art work by 12 months or 52 weeks, this gives the potential buyer an idea what the assault to their yearly income is. A thousand dollar art object divided by 12 is about 84 dollars a month, 52 into a 1000 dolars is about $19.23 a week. I always ask for half down and the balance to be paid in two or three payments. This works well with NEW buyers.

By: Mireille Damicone

Mireille Damicone — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:56:10 +0000

I did a sculpture made of copper which is about 6feet tall. I also did a painting in a chapel with 3 larges walls. How would I price that?

By: Alyson

Alyson — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 01:21:32 +0000

I think $10 is on the low end. $25/hour isn’t too much, but is probably on the high end. $5/hour isn’t even minimum wage!

By: Vicki Schroeder

Vicki Schroeder — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 01:16:23 +0000

I am wondering what a “reasonable” wage is? I do beadwork and other textile techniques that are very time consuming. 100 hours is not unusual for an 8 x 10 or so piece of beading. As an emerging artist, must I pay myself only $5 an hour? It’s disheartening. Thanks!

By: J. Forest Ocean Bennett

J. Forest Ocean Bennett — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 18:53:45 +0000

Sacred art, true art, is so uniquely you that no one can imitate it. This is what is known as a sacred trade; the pain of letting go should be equal to the joy of the income it sells for. You each feel you gave a little of yourself. “Artists have always been the Holy men, the Shamen.” If one is doing one’s innermost soulwork through art, than that commands higher prices, and people will eventually want to buy the work for it’s courage commitment- because it sings “you”. Make sure you are making art like this! If you are not getting what you deserve, simply work harder to find your market. 1/2 your time must be spent working at this, being a new artist.( Unless you live in NYC, then anything goes.) Remember, this is all a part of the process of becoming more You. Be aware that the Universe may try and help support you in other ways, and be gratefully accepting. Don’t compare yourself to anyone. You are a unique and beautiful spirit, so your path will be different. Make sure you are saying what you REALLY want to say. The soul-work of ‘true art’ takes the artists and the observer to a new place. Are you sure of where are you taking you? If you are wildly successful, is it your path or someone else’s that you follow? If we sell our work quite reasonably priced to move it and confirm others like it, we may get what we wish for. I know of one woman who exhbited at NY ArtExpo and got orders. Now she sells faster than she can paint and is unhappy, burned out. ‘Will this be you?’ If you are not paying yourself, than you do not value your soul-work, yourself, or other artists. That being said, you must also do what you must, on occassion, do. I have done it- and yet always regretted it. Understand that this too is part of the process of learning who we are and becoming more ourselves. Here in Hawaii, artists sell thier work WAY to cheaply, except for a few ‘well known’ artists. This is a great place to buy art becasue the prices are SO cheap here! Come, collectors!!!!!! This is probably as a result of the beauty of where we live, the small market, and the numerous good artists here. Therefor I look at taking my work to the mainland. I couldn’t afford to buy art that I like as much as mine. There is no one doing what I am doing in 3-D, so I cannot compare my prices. As my work gets better, and I value me more, I raise my prices. I am still selling ‘too cheaply’, but working on co-creating my vision. In this manner I come to create my future and myself at the same time. Be prepared to hang on to your work if you are selling beneath what your heart knows it is worth. Wait, and show it around, work at creating your future. Most businesses fail because they don’t have enough capital to help them through the lean times. This, too becomes part of your co-creation of your life. Use it to make your life interesting! My commitment is to live my life from the view of the 80-year old me I will become; I won’t sell some of the pieces I make now, because some are just too good to part with at the moment. Make more art like this! Make art that is the ‘holy shaman’ in you.

By: Carla

Carla — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:21:34 +0000

Alyson, this discussion of pricing is a boon to artists. Pricing is torture and we have nothing to go on. Not one word was there about the biz of art in my art school (that was 30 years ago) have things changed? My prices, I have played with prices a bit, and have now settled on a level I am both comfortable with in terms of value, and have a plan to increase in an orderly fashion. I am still open to learning more, and am currently priced so that I feel very comfortable with raising prices as work sells more briskly, or I have gallery representation that calls for pricing higher. Carla Sanders

By: Clint Watson

Clint Watson — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 15:29:57 +0000

Alyson, Great rules for pricing. I would add an corollary to rule #4. I agree that larger works sell for more than smaller works. However, artists should not succumb to the temptation to just price by square inch. In general, larger works have a lower “per square inch” price than smaller works. I’ve seen artists try to rigidly stick to square inch pricing and it can price the larger works above what the market will bear. Clint Watson Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic

By: Alyson

Alyson — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 23:07:24 +0000

Hmmm. Interesting dilemma. No one has purchased at the higher price, so is it okay to lower them back to where they were before? I’m guessing the print dealer had good reason. I have no way of knowing how long they’ve been on the market at that price or how much you raised them by. That would help me with an answer. Having said that, YOU have to be comfortable with your prices and it sounds like you are not. If you can’t justify them to yourself, how can you justify them to anyone else?

By: Karen Baker Thumm

Karen Baker Thumm — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:04:18 +0000

But, what is an artist to do if she has already priced her work higher than it should be? I let a print dealer of mine convince me to raise my originals prices but in comparing those prices to similar work, I now feel my prices are too high. I’ve sold some older work for more reasonable prices but haven’t sold the newer and bigger pieces yet. Am I safe in lowering their prices? I’m known in the genre but am more of an up and coming artist than established in any way.