Home Forums The Art Business Center General Art Business Need pricing advice using the linear inch method!

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 32 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #995322
    Abstractlover
    Default

        Hello all! I’m new to this site and excited to be here! :)

        I have been battling myself trying to figure out the best prices for my first art show. I am an abstract artist in NC. I have a decent sized following and lots of support but keep getting mixed advice about pricing.

        Some people tell me to look at etsy for comparisons, but I see many large and original paintings being sold for 150 or so, which seems like way too little. Some say to charge hourly but that can be confusing for interested buyers. I have decided to price by linear inch because it seems easiest and most fair. The problem I am having is deciding what to multiply the added height and width by. I saw an article stating that the established artist would multiply by 20, which is obviously too much for me starting out. I am trying to figure out what is the best number for myself, in my area. I was thinking of multiplying by 7, making a 36×36 painting 500. I use good quality materials as well. But still don’t know if that is too much or too little.

        Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Pricing is absolutely annoying so I am thankful to find an experienced community of fellow artists!
        :) Thank you all!

        #1272787
        Robin
        Default

            Hi Abstractlover!

            Welcome to WetCanvas, it literally changed my life when I found it! Used to type for lawyers, much nicer to be painting for a living!

            As far as the linear method, I can’t help you.

            What have your sales so far looked like?

            As far as Etsy, I wouldn’t go by what you see in listings. Most of my listings start at $225, but they rarely sell for that size, I almost always sell much larger ones. So it’s hard to tell what sellers are ACTUALLY getting.

            Anyway, hopefully someone who charges that way will come along to answer your question.

            Robin

            #1272811
            Abstractlover
            Default

                Hi Abstractlover!

                Welcome to WetCanvas, it literally changed my life when I found it! Used to type for lawyers, much nicer to be painting for a living!

                As far as the linear method, I can’t help you.

                What have your sales so far looked like?

                As far as Etsy, I wouldn’t go by what you see in listings. Most of my listings start at $225, but they rarely sell for that size, I almost always sell much larger ones. So it’s hard to tell what sellers are ACTUALLY getting.

                Anyway, hopefully someone who charges that way will come along to answer your question.

                Thank you! I haven’t had any official sales yet as i am finally starting to put myself out there. I gained a following fast but anxiety stopped me from selling yet because I am still unsure of what to ask for. So i am finally taking the big step this week at my first show and then a second show a few weeks later. :)

                What is your pricing method?

                #1272788
                Robin
                Default

                    What the market bears. I started by looking at my competition and pricing similarly, and raising my prices every year.

                    I haven’t had to lower again, so I know I’m not too high for my target market.

                    Robin

                    #1272798
                    Harold Roth
                    Default

                        That is cool that you are selling more of larger sizes, Robin. I have been messing around with smaller sizes and they have been selling immediately upon being posted on FB, but some of my larger ones have been snapped up by one collector also. So I kind of am baffled which way to go. I did order a bunch of 10 x 10″ supports from Blick because I am liking doing the smaller stuff. I am pricing them at the same price per square inch as my larger ones but will raise them a bit. I agree with you that Etsy is not a good source for average prices, but there are people on there selling abstract landscapes 5 x 7″ for $100 or more.

                        #1272794
                        virgil carter
                        Default

                            Do mean using a square-inch formula rather than a linear-inch formula? Don’t know how you would do it using linear inches, but please describe.

                            A good yardstick is to visit local galleries, competitive shows and exhibitions, noting the price of artwork of a quality and subject similar to yours.

                            All prices are local. For example, prices in New York and Los Angeles have very little to do with prices where I paint in Texas.

                            Good luck!

                            Sling paint,
                            Virgil

                            Sling paint,
                            Virgil Carter
                            http://www.virgilcarterfineart.com/

                            #1272806
                            bongo
                            Default

                                …………All prices are local…………

                                Unless you’re selling on the world wide web.

                                http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/18-Sep-2019/1999899-sigsmall.jpg
                                STUDIOBONGO

                                #1272812
                                Abstractlover
                                Default

                                    Do mean using a square-inch formula rather than a linear-inch formula? Don’t know how you would do it using linear inches, but please describe.

                                    A good yardstick is to visit local galleries, competitive shows and exhibitions, noting the price of artwork of a quality and subject similar to yours.

                                    All prices are local. For example, prices in New York and Los Angeles have very little to do with prices where I paint in Texas.

                                    Good luck!

                                    Sling paint,
                                    Virgil

                                    Linear inch method is adding height by weight and multiplying by a certain number (say 20) as opposed to multiplying height by width and then multiplying it by a certain number (say 2) like the square inch method. So adding vs multiplying height and width is the only difference. Linear inch method has less of a gap between small and large sized paintings, unlike the square inch method which has a much larger gap in prices. I hope I explained that well! 😊

                                    My only problem is figuring out what my certain number would be. Local shops have some paintings priced in the low thousands. I am new and not yet known in my area, so going off of that is a little difficult. Also, my first few shows do not take a commission on my sales, like those galleries do with their artists. Why is pricing so difficult starting out? Lol I know I and probably most new artists, have trouble asking for several hundred dollars for a painting. So, that is sometging I need to work on as well.

                                    #1272804
                                    contumacious
                                    Default

                                        I find the linear pricing method to be the most logical if you work in a wide variety of sizes with LARGE stuff being in that mix. I started out working fairly small, nothing over 11×14 and I priced my work comparable to artists that were close to my skill level and were actually selling their work at the galleries I was also hanging in.

                                        Since I was new to the local scene, even though I had more years experience than some of the other artists, I priced my work slightly below theirs but not so low as to make the buyers wonder why it was so cheap. If the best artist in the gallery was getting $700 for a framed 11×14, I priced mine between $500 and $600 to start and some did sell fairly regularly.

                                        When I went to price a new large 36×48 and based it on the approx $3.90 per square inch price of my 11×14, it came out at $6,739 which was more than double the price of anyone else’s work that size in any of the galleries I was showing in. So I tried the linear equivalent of my 11×14 – which produced a price of $24 per linear inch or $2016 for the 36×48. This happened to be about right when compared with most of the larger works by other artists so I went with that and did end up selling some also.

                                        I have noticed that some artists don’t seem to have any kind of pricing method, just pricing it where they want it to be. I think this confuses some buyers when they see an 8×10 for $500 and another one by the same artist that isn’t any more complex for $900, so I stick to the linear price formula, based of my smaller piece pricing and it has worked OK for me. I do add some to the price for 8×10 and smaller pieces which seems to be a fairly common theme among successful artists here.

                                        Be aware that if you are using inexpensive and expensive frames you need to factor that in, otherwise you are going to lose too much money on the expensively framed work vs the less so, if your price per sq inch is based on the cheaper frames. To avoid confusion and questions by the buyers, I use the most expensive frame I might put it in to calculate my base linear price, regardless of which frame I actually use. Remember to increase the cost of your frame by the gross profit margin that matches the gallery commissions or you will lose money on the frames.

                                        #1272808
                                        bongo
                                        Default

                                            how do you price round paintings? —1/2 the circumference?

                                            http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/18-Sep-2019/1999899-sigsmall.jpg
                                            STUDIOBONGO

                                            #1272799
                                            Harold Roth
                                            Default

                                                So by linear inch to you mean take the longest of the width or length and multiply it by some number?

                                                #1272807
                                                bongo
                                                Default

                                                    length plus width times xdollars.

                                                    http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/18-Sep-2019/1999899-sigsmall.jpg
                                                    STUDIOBONGO

                                                    #1272789
                                                    Robin
                                                    Default

                                                        Virgil, re: all pricing is local?

                                                        Only if you are selling local.

                                                        If you sell via the internet, the whole world is “local”.

                                                        Robin

                                                        #1272795
                                                        IanBertram
                                                        Default

                                                            theBongolian above – for non-rectangular paintings I would use half the circumference, since that is what length + width boils down to for a rectangle.

                                                            Two points come to mind more generally. If you work in different media (in my case printmaking, collage/mixed media and painting) I assume you use the same process with different multipliers for each medium – however arrived at.

                                                            Secondly, the approach breaks down in my case for very small works. I’ve been selling some tiny collagraphs and monoprints (about 2″ square) and if I use that price to set the multiplier the larger ones work out too cheap. I’m going to use a larger size as the reference point and treat the tinies as outliers.

                                                            With that caveat, I like the approach. It seems to generate prices with a more consistent feel than pricing by area and then fudging it to remove the anomalies created for larger sizes.

                                                            Ian
                                                            Website - https://ianbertramartist.uk
                                                            Instagram: - https://www.instagram.com/ianbertramuk/
                                                            Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/ianbertramartist/

                                                            #1272800
                                                            Harold Roth
                                                            Default

                                                                Half the circumference for round ones, I think. Because length + width is only for two sides.

                                                                I tried this with smaller ones, and it almost doubled the price. I don’t know…

                                                              Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 32 total)
                                                              • The topic ‘Need pricing advice using the linear inch method!’ is closed to new replies.