Art Pricing - What Should I Price My Art
http://LloydDobsonArtist.com Art Pricing - What Should I Price My Art? This is a question that I am ask many times. In order to price your art realistically, you must understand and respect how the art business works and how collectors shop and buy. You must also objectively assess your art world accomplishments and determine how they position you in relation to all other artists. These are difficult tasks and not necessarily pleasant; but they're absolutely essential to achieving the goals of making a go of it as an artist and of selling art.
Understanding common mistakes that artists make when setting prices is the first step in this process. Perhaps the most significant error is the tendency to focus too much attention on only that segment of the art world that pertains to you and too little attention on the rest, or even worse, dismissing the rest as irrelevant. If you let this happen, your asking prices may make sense to you and to your inner circle, but make little sense to the overall art community.
Here is a typical question: "I am thinking of having prints made of some of my watercolor paintings and selling them on sites like Etsy. I’m not sure how to go about having prints made, as far as making it profitable. Any suggestions?"
This is a great question. Pricing is really tough, but you can figure it out! Here are a few things to consider:
1) Costs - You need to make back what you spent in making the art. This can include fixed costs like your office space, lighting, heating, etc. These costs must be spread out among the number of pieces you plan to sell on a monthly basis. For example, if your studio and rent together cost $1000 per month, and you plan on selling 10 prints per month, then you have $100 in costs for each print, before you ever count anything else. If you think you can sell 20 prints each month, then it’s only $50 per print.
Then there are your costs per painting, or variable costs. This includes your canvas, brushes, the paint you used, and the time you spent (yes, your time is a cost, unless you are working for free) and the cost of the prints. These will vary based on how much paint you use, how big the canvas is, etc. These will be calculated on an individual painting basis.
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