Are you an artist? Do you just start painting? You want to sell your marvelous painting but have no idea about how to price artwork for beginners. The artist must price their artwork properly and reasonably.
No doubt, one of the most difficult challenges for new artists in determining the value of their work, especially when they first begin to interact with galleries and develop their art business.
Furthermore, if you charge low rates, you may lose out, so you must negotiate the greatest possible pricing for your services.
Then, what’s the best way to price your artwork? Setting an unnecessarily high price for your artwork may result in remaining in the studio for a longer period.
No doubt, pricing art is one of the most challenging tasks, but how do you place a price tag on something that evokes emotion and imagination? Ahh, yes this query has an answer, as it isn’t as complicated as you think.
Commission fees in the art industry vary depending on a variety of aspects, including the genre of art, the style, the materials used, and also the hours you spent on this painting.
So, get ready to read the detailed answer for pricing the artwork if you are a beginner.
Contents
What’re the fundamental assumptions as a starting point?
You’ve spent money getting your artwork ready, therefore you’ll need to charge for it. As a starting point, consider the following fundamental assumptions.
- You have worth in your work, and you deserve to be rewarded for putting in the effort.
- Someone somewhere will appreciate your work and be willing to pay a reasonable price for it.
So, the most important thing to remember is to set fair and reasonable pricing for your artwork. Different formulae have been employed to estimate the price of the artwork, but the overall concept comprises accounting for expenses and adding a margin to obtain a fair price for your work.
Like, if you spent eight hours creating your art and are happy earning a $15 minimum wage, your total earnings should be $120. It would be helpful if you factored in the cost of materials, say $40. In this example, materials include ream papers, ink, and paints, among other things. The total cost of this type of painting is $190.
This is your art’s break-even point, and selling it at this price means you’re not making any money or losing any money. So, you must add up some margin, which equates to profit, and so get at the selling price.
What’s the main consideration for pricing an artwork?
Here are some major considerations for pricing artwork for beginners;
Costs of price commission
If you sell your art through a gallery, you will have to pay a commission, which should not be overlooked while determining the price.
Artwork Size
When it comes to pricing your artwork, size should always be a consideration. Small art pieces would necessitate cheap prices because purchasers expect to pay more for larger works.
Larger art pieces should, in theory, receive more attention than smaller ones, and this should be reflected in the selling price. Paintings and sculptures will always be in a variety of sizes and shapes.
You can get the measurements by calculating the sculpture’s inches or square feet. Every piece of art has a different weight and size, which reflects the amount of time it took to create it.
Consistency in pricing
If you want to flourish in the art industry, you must be consistent in your pricing judgments.
Select a pricing formula that will allow you to set a constant price for your artwork. Every time a buyer visits your studio, gallery, exhibition, or stall, they will have to pay a set charge
How to set a decent price for artwork?
This article will now look at the various methods you can use to determine the cost of your artwork. The traditional methods, or rather pricing strategies, are as follows:
Your Artwork’s Size
This is a standard way of determining the price of the artwork. Typically, the size of a work is determined by determining its area in square feet or meters, depending on personal preference. You may calculate the area by multiplying the length and width of your artwork. You can use an overlapping stick to measure the length and height of irregularly shaped work.
Estimate the amount of paint used per square foot after establishing the area. Next, use your instincts, conscience, or whatever else you feel will assist you in determining a fair price per square foot of your job. Multiply the value by the overall area of your paint, then divide by the artwork area to get the paint per foot product. The price of your artwork is the sum of the two derivatives.
Projection Of Cost and Profit
Profit projections are another sensible method of pricing. So, you must first calculate the overall cost of creating your painting. You already have a general sense of how much earnings would satisfy you based on the time and effort you put into your artwork.
A renowned artist’s standard wage is $24.60 per hour. This can be used as a starting point for calculating your hourly wage. Your pricing is the estimated profit multiplied by the painting’s cost so you can provide a $1-$5 discrepancy buffer.
It’s a good idea to start with a high rate and gradually lower it until you reach your target selling price. This strategy is very useful when the size of an artwork does not correspond to its cost. A golden decoration, for example, would be more expensive than a wooden jaguar carving. You’ll obtain the required value for your resource if you include the cost.
Analysis Of Competitors
If you don’t want to go the internet trading route, you’ll need to conduct a comparative analysis to see what your competitors are charging for their artwork so you can set your own price. To calculate the price of your painting, simply look into the rates offered by local traders.
Then, you may take an average of the prices charged by multiple retailers and use that as your reference point. Thus, you might charge somewhat higher or lower than the average for your artwork. When calculating the average price, however, the size of the art objects must be taken into account.
Make a Personal Hourly Wage Calculator
This formula assigns a monetary worth to one’s self in the industry. This is determined by the length of time spent in the industry, the type of artwork created, and how involved it is. You assign a value to every hour you spend in the art using these factors, however, there are many others.
This value should be carefully calculated to account for the sunk cost of obtaining the materials used in the artwork. The value is then multiplied by the number of hours it took you to create your work. This method, like the size approach, is generally simple to convey to buyers.
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Common Mistakes To Avoid While Pricing
Here are some mistakes that you as an emerging talent should avoid while pricing artwork;
1. Don’t charge a low price to make a quick sale, you must know that it takes time. This may be the best option but somehow only for a short time then you will be able to pay your payments daily, but the main point is your reputation will be ruined in the future.
Low price degrades your work, causing you to lose customers to other artists.
2. Either don’t overprice your work to get profit so it’s better to set a realistic price for your services, even your artwork takes time to develop your service.
3. Don’t allow emotions to run your business, no doubt it’s natural to have personal feelings about your work. But when it comes to commercial deals, it’s important to avoid such feelings.
Also check: Learn How To Make Art Prints for Etsy in 2021?
Conclusion
We understand that you’re an emerging artist and believe that you are the only one to have the power to establish your prices. Getting started is the most difficult aspect so you must have the confidence to know your prices are perfect after your first few sales.
We hope that this article on how to price artwork for beginners is really informative and helpful for you. Just figure out the pricing formula that works for you then setting prices won’t be as difficult. You’ll be increasing your pricing soon enough and best of luck!
