I personally like the sq./in. method for pricing but on a sliding scale, meaning smaller sizes are more per sq. in. than larger sizes. I don’t think anybody can tell you exactly what your paintings are worth, just be careful not to price them so low you resent selling them at that price, even to family and friends. Don’t feel bad if family and friends won’t pay the price you think your paintings are worth, generally speaking family and friends will think you will give them an extra deep discount or paint for free, don’t fall for that trap unless you are not really interested in developing an art business and just want to do this is a hobby for fun, because once you start selling for dirt cheap they’ll always expect you to sell for dirt cheap.

Without seeing your work a good/fair price for your canvases may not be forthcoming here. Would you pay those prices for your pieces?

That said, what is your time worth? If you’ve ever worked for a wage or salary you should have a good starting point for that.

If a friend or relative expressed an interest in any of my work I’d offer it to them for free. But that’s me – I don’t have a lot of family or friends. If they insisted on paying I’d ask ’em to donate the price to The Salvation Army or other charitable organization.

One of the most important points so many buyers/sellers of anything seem to miss is that business is a two way street. The price has to be fair to both parties.:thumbsup:

Just my thoughts.

R/Mike

This is one of the best articles I’ve read on the subject of pricing, and really helped me to solidify my own prices and be able to ask them more confidently.

[url]http://theabundantartist.com/5-art-pricing-lessons/[/url]

That is an interesting and thought provoking article, but so are a thousand others that say the same thing. And none of them say a thing about how to set a price on a piece of work. If an artist doesn’t include the cost of materials, overhead, and the cost of her/his time, the best he/she can do is ask the potential client what they’re willing to pay and accept it.

A lot goes into figuring out what to ask for a painting, but in the end it boils down simple arithmetic: Direct costs (items that are used for that painting only such as canvas) + indirect costs (paint, brushes and other materials whose costs can be spread over a number of paintings) + overhead (rent, insurance, utilities, etc – again, spread over time) + labor rate (ALL labor costs -hourly wage, health insurance, and more). Once you have those in hand, you know where to start your pricing structure. Until you have them in hand you are cheating yourself or your clients. People will pay a fair price, but no more and usually not less, for art.

R/Mike

Simple, you charge a price that neither party will feel taken advantage of. If you cannot come to agreement then do not sell the work. You will find there are a lot of folks who “talk” about buying your work- friends included. When it comes time to actually spending money it is another story. Friends are not a good source of income. I had one friend who commissioned me to do a portrait of their dog who passed away. We agreed on a price up front. When I finished the work he had the nerve to haggle me down in price. That is the last time I did commission work for a friend.

That is an interesting and thought provoking article, but so are a thousand others that say the same thing. And none of them say a thing about how to set a price on a piece of work. If an artist doesn’t include the cost of materials, overhead, and the cost of her/his time, the best he/she can do is ask the potential client what they’re willing to pay and accept it.

A lot goes into figuring out what to ask for a painting, but in the end it boils down simple arithmetic: Direct costs (items that are used for that painting only such as canvas) + indirect costs (paint, brushes and other materials whose costs can be spread over a number of paintings) + overhead (rent, insurance, utilities, etc – again, spread over time) + labor rate (ALL labor costs -hourly wage, health insurance, and more). Once you have those in hand, you know where to start your pricing structure. Until you have them in hand you are cheating yourself or your clients. People will pay a fair price, but no more and usually not less, for art.

R/Mike

I found the article very useful in deciding on my own prices to set. Attempting to figure out cost of materials + time + business expenses, etc, never really worked out for me. I don’t think there is any single ‘right” way to do anything, including pricing art, but what worked for me was to set prices that I felt reflected the quality of my work, made me feel that I was not underselling myself (which I’ve done in the past), and were in the range of what my ideal customer would be willing to pay.

In regards to selling to friends in general, I would say either stay away from it or else determine beforehand that you will set your fees and STICK BY THEM. The temptation to give ridiculous discounts to friends is very strong, and unless you have already set your prices and determined to not haggle, then you’ll likely end up coming out of that deal disappointed and feeling like you’ve cheated yourself. Also, you can likely expect that most of the friends expressing interest in purchasing your art will not actually follow through.

Do you have any of your work uploaded on to wet canvas or otherwise? I would love to check out some of your work.

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Generally, I feel as though you should be compensated for your overhead, time, and efforts but into any given piece. But that is just an ideal scenario which isn’t always the situation.

An artist I looked up to said he charges: (materials x 2) + Time spent x his rate (which was 20$). You count each colour and each brush you picked up to make it as the full price of materials.

Some other artists charge by square inch, which can be more fair if the time spent on a piece pushed the price to ridiculous prices.

If family or close friends want to purchase your work then make sure to cover the cost of materials and then give them a discount of which you don’t feel cheated by, based on what you’d normally charge others.

But as for right and wrong… the only correct price is where you feel compensated, and they don’t feel cheated.

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This was a good thread which also spoke about the difference in pricing between outsider artists and ones with formal teaching/degrees.

https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1382491&highlight=outsider