Pricing your art

[Marcus Lim]

Originally Posted by Joan Breckwoldt

... if I'm selling direct then it would be half, which is certainly more reasonable but way below what I'm charging.

Hi Joan, i reckon what you mentioned here, rings another important issue that we have to sit on for a while: pricing against the gallery.

It's important to be price sensitive not only to customers, but also with galleries. By selling direct this way, it'll become fodder of bad reputation among collectors, and especially galleries. So my view is to establish a fair pricing that works well selling direct, and for galleries.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Marcus,

I hope you didn't misunderstand me.

I have just started doing commissions and I don't see myself in a gallery for a long long time, if ever. I am lucky (with regards to marketing) to live in a large city with, from what I can see, a strong interest in portraiture. In other words, I feel like I will be able to get enough clients to keep me busy as soon as I start getting my work out there. So . . . . all that was to say that when I commented on trying to figure a reasonable price, by cutting the price I calculated using Richard's $21 per square inch, it made more sense to me if that was possibly what a gallery might charge. I assumed that because it's way more than I'm charging, many times over.

I understand that if I were in a gallery I would need to keep my prices the same as their prices. I do love to paint figuratives, so I suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility to be in a gallery sometime with my figuratives. But I was thinking more near term. I'm about to donate a portrait at our church's annual rally day and I feel like that will give me some exposure. We'll see.

So, when I think of pricing, I'm not even considering a gallery's part in my work since that's waaaaaaaaaaay into the future. Sorry I didn't make this clear.

Joan

[Marcus Lim]

Hi Joan, it's clear to me you have that thought of the future possibilities already, and that you do know about pricing your art with galleries. It was that issue that i'm concerned with and hope to share with you.
I see you'll get far in your career with that mind of yours!

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Marcus,

I've learned a lot from this forum and fellow artists here in Houston. I do understand about galleries, I enjoy reading about other artists' experiences here on the forum. Perhaps I should do a bit more painting and a little less reading if I really want to get into a gallery

Joan

[Richard Monro]

Joan,
$21 per square inch would be a price for an artist with a well established reputation and following. For a good artist starting out, I would recommend a price in the $13 to $14 per square inch range.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for explaining your cost analysis. I think perhaps since I live in Houston, somehow the prices here must be lower. At $13 a square inch, a 16"x20" head and shoulders would sell for $4160. That seems high to me, in fact it's just about exactly the price that an established artist here in town charges for her head and shoulders out of her studio. She's a friend of mine.

Richard, I am not trying to be argumentative at all! There are some good artists here (part of a group I paint models with) that will do a lovely head and shoulders for around $1500 or even less. Granted, there are only a couple that are good enough to sell their work, but they are my definition of a 'good artist just starting out'. Perhaps you came across these prices but they were balanced out in your calculations by the higher NY prices? Again, not trying to be argumentative, just trying to understand.
thanks,

Joan

[Michele Rushworth]

As Richard mentioned in his introduction, the prices were based on work he saw in galleries in major art markets, so his definition of a "good artist just starting out" doesn't mean someone who's not yet selling their work on a regular basis, it means someone who already has a good gallery representing them and is just "starting out" doing that.