How do you price your artwork?

Katblake

I have heard many methods for pricing artwork.  The one that seems most logical to me is pricing per linear inch.  As a new artist, (i've been painting acrylics for about a year and switched to oils once I found Mark Carder.  I would like to begin to sell my work if possible but I need your advice.  How would you recommend that I price my art?  Here is a sample of my work. 

CJD

If the work is high quality a good starting point could be 2 dollars a square inch plus cost of frame if applicable. Lots of artists sell their work for less than this though.

Summer

My last painting was 2/3rds plain sky, so this pricing method worked in my favor even though pricing was the furthest thing from my mind. 

mikenwales

When I first started out as a signwriter I had 3 part-time jobs to pay the bills, feed the kids etc I would go out to businesses hotels garages anywhere that might need a sign. I priced the work low in order to get the job. I was unknown and without a reputation. My work was of the highest quality Word spread fast and within 12 months I was able to give up my part-time jobs and signwrite full time. As my reputation grew so did my prices As for pricing by the square inch well that just baffles me. How can a large poorly painted piece by worth more than a miniature painted by a Master.  

PaulB

mikenwales said:

How can a large poorly painted piece by worth more than a miniature painted by a Master.  

It's not the same price per square inch for a master and an amateur.  It's means to convey that a 24" x 12" painting by you is twice the price of a 12" x 12" painting by you.  The master would charge more, but it would still be proportional to area.

Stefan Baumann suggests $2 per square inch, plus double framing cost.  Then he recommends increasing that $2 to $2.50 in a year or so, and gradually increasing as skills and experience increase.  This gives the artist more income, and the customers see their investment increase in value.

alsart

I would also ask - what would you pay for a piece of art that you wanted and really liked,.!!!

BOB73

Some décor businesses are getting hundreds of dollars for prints and giclée so Baumann's formula is probably reasonable and @alsart's idea is valid too but when it comes to starving artists I think it's wise to consider the pricing acumen accepted by practitioners of the "World's Oldest Profession": There are no thousand dollar "painters"; there are only thousand dollar patrons but fifty dollar patrons too. The one advantage painters have is their work is unique and there are enough consumers who value originality over a pretty picture and would rather have a hand painted, one-of-a-kind painting than a copy of a masterpiece.

Summer

BOB73 said:

The one advantage painters have is their work is unique and there are enough consumers who value originality over a pretty picture and would rather have a hand painted, one-of-a-kind painting than a copy of a masterpiece.

I agree. 

mikenwales

Interesting replies. How would you go about pricing painting by an artist that wanted to specialise in miniature? Another question Wall Murals? How would you price a full-blown Wall mural. let's say 9ft high by 15ft long. How does pricing by the inch or even ft come into this?
 At the end of the day surely the painting is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.     

BOB73

Wait a minute @mikenwales, while I get out my slide rule.  At $2.00 a SqIn that's $32,280.00. Sounds good to me. On the other hand, if it takes you three years to complete it, it's probably not enough and you don't have the opportunity to charge double for the frame. I'd guess it would take me about two months to complete painting having had laborers do the prep and paying them ($600) I think I would charge about $15,000 based on $200/day plus expenses. That's a time and materials type of bid. If I was a known artist, I would charge 3 times that much and whatever the venue, I would negotiate for free admission/meals/service for life unless it's a casino, then I would charge double and be done with it.  A wise painter knows that "At the end of the day surely the painting is worth what someone is willing to pay for it."  

tassieguy

@BOB73 is right. There are all sorts of formulae for pricing paintings but, in the end, the right price is somewhere between what you are prepared to let it go for and what a potential buyer is prepared to pay for it. When these coincide the price is precisely right. That's according to the Chicago school of neo-classical free market economics, anyway.  

You can try going it alone using one formula or another but, ultimately, the best people to ask about price are not other painters but  those who are successful at the job of selling paintings.

When we're just starting out as a painters we can't expect big bucks. When we've won a major competion or two and had successful exhibitions then we can raise our expectations. As developing artists, charging by the square inch at the same rate as established artists is just hubris.

That's my thinking on the subject, anyway. . But, of course, I may be wrong.