How To Price Artwork | The Learning Curve
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How To Price Artwork
THE LEARNING CURVE Daniel J. Montes
The Art Of Pricing PART ONE
D. Hello, my name is Daniel.
These blogs are a culmination of hours upon hours of research into and conversations about the business of the art world. My hope in sharing our journey is that artists, buyers, art lovers and promoters, like myself, will learn from our mistakes and successes.
Welcome to The Learning Curve: The Art Of... series.
The More I Learn. Events of the past few years have motivated Linda Lisa and I to begin ramping up her career as an artist. Boy, I had no idea how little I knew about starting a business, let alone promoting an artist. The more I learned, the more I realize how little I knew. There is a laundry list of the subjects I've learned about and continue learning about. I've realized how important marketing, networking and of course pricing are in successfully promoting Linda Lisa and her dream of being a full time artist. The number one subject many artists struggle with is the pricing of their artwork. Many buyers struggle to understand the pricing as well.
Through extensive research I've found a number of methods to pricing artwork. Some of those are pricing by the hour, by the square inch and by the linear inch. The medium used is irrelevant as the the pricing can go up or down from medium to medium.
Pricing Methods
Pricing by the hour.
I've found that the majority of artist start out using this method. Linda Linda was one of them. Unfortunately, this method leads to many frustrating hours of judging how long a piece will take before beginning, rushing a piece because one element takes a little longer than expected, underestimating the hours need and the buyer changing elements mid project. I, as Linda Lisa's promoter and not an artist, had no idea how to even begin pricing a piece with this method. Having watched Linda Lisa's frustrations using this method, I did not want all of the burdan of pricing to fall on her shoulders, so I began looking for another way to price her artwork.
Pricing by the square inch.
This is done by measuring the length and width of the piece and then multiplying the two numbers. That total is then multiplyed by a dollar amount. This method is used by many artists, has been a standard in the industry for many years and is still used today. As I began crunching the numbers on Linda Lisa's work I found a couple inharent flaws in this system. First, using the same dollar amount on all of the different sizes, I found that the smaller pieces were underpriced, or the larger pieces priced outside of our current market. The other issue I found with this method was the large numbers I had to deal with when running them in my head. Again, I began looking for a simpler and more consistent method for pricing Linda Lisa's artwork.
Pricing by the linear inch.
This is done by measuring the length and width and then adding them together. That total is then multiplied by a dollar amount, similar to the price by square inch method. With this method I found that I could use one dollar amount and no matter how big or small the piece was, the pricing was consist throughout. I also found that crunching the numbers was simpler to do in my head on the spot for Linda Lisa or a client. Then, I found an added serendipity. The pricing of prints was incredibly simple. By reducing the price of an original by approximately 60% and then rounding to the nearest whole dollar amount, I was able to find a fair and consistant price for prints, regardless of the size of the original or the print. More on pricing of prints later.
I would like to show you how the pricing by square inch and pricing by the linear inch compare side by side using some of the sizes that Linda Lisa works with regularly.
WARNING!!! MATH AHEAD!
Let's take one of the largest pieces Linda Lisa has done recently, a watercolor and ink, which is available for $295. I will round this to $300 for this demonstration as my base number.
Square Inch:
"West Wind" measured 18" X 24" 18x24=432 Square Inches. $300÷432= $0.69. Or $0.70 per square inch rounding to the nearest dime.
Now taking one of the smallest pieces Linda Lisa has done recently, a 4" X 6" watercolor. "Butterfly Breeze" is available and using this method the price would be $16.00
"Butterfly Breeze" 4" X 6" 4x6=24 Square Inches 24x$0.70= $16.80 Total Price
At approximately 8 hour of work put into "Butterfly Breeze", this puts her hourly rate at about $2 per hour. This is considerably underpriced given the time and creativity put into the piece and devaluse Linda Lisa as an artist.
Linear Inch: Now, using the same two pieces let's calculate the prices using the price per linear inch.
"West Wind" 18" X 24"
18+24=42 Linear Inches
$300÷42=$7.14 or $7 per linear inch.
"Butterfly Breeze" 4" X 6" 4+6=10 Linear Inches 10x$7= $70 Total Price
As you can see $70 for an original piece by Linda Lisa is a fair price for the artist given the time and creativity put into the artwork. As an added bonus the numbers are simpler to calculate. Efficient and consistent. Just what I was looking for.
As a result of all this number crunching, Linda Lisa and I have decided to go with the linear inch method of pricing. Being an artist, Linda Lisa wants nothing to do with the number crunching. As the one that the number crunching falls to, I opted for effeciancy, consistency and simplicity.
Feel free to crunch the numbers for your own artwork or the pieces that you might be interested in buying in the future. If you decide to use the price per square inch method, I suggest you carry a calculator.
In conclusion
The dollar amounts I've used here are the numbers that work with were Linda Lisa is in her career, the materials she uses, pricing of artwork that has already sold and the number and enthusiasm of her followers. Your base pricing may be more or less based on were you are in your career. If you are just starting out, I suggest that you start your pricing on the lower end and move up as the demand for your work increases. If you over price starting out and then lower your prices in the future, it may put a potential collector off. By selling a piece early on at a high price and then lower the price on a simular piece later, the first buyer may feel cheated and may not return. By starting high and later lowering your prices, you devalue the artist and their art. Remember, many people who buy artwork are looking at it as an investment. You can always start low as long as you cover the cost of your materials and time. Remember "Art is never finished, only abandoned." Leonardo Da Vinci.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this blog. I hope that you have found this informative and entertaining. If you have, please sign up for the news letter and return for further updates. If you have stories or experiences involving the pricing of your own artwork, comments or questions, please leave them below. If you have found this blog helpful or might be helpful to someone you know, please share it on your social media.
I'd like to send a special thank you to Jason Horejs, owner of Xanadu gallery for his "Art 2 Market" webinars. Jason specializes in helping artists build their careers.
Thank you for joining us on our journey. I hope along the way you will find some useful information, a little entertainment and maybe a friend or two as well. I welcome your stories, comments and questions below.
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