He replied,
” I don’t advocate pricing by time and materials, price is so much a part of the perceived value of art and that has to be taken into account. But if you decide to go that way you need to take into account all expenses and time.. You need to know how much it costs to pay someone $10 an hour.
FIRST: If you are figuring it takes me so long, at such a price per hour, and materials are this much, you are pricing the cost of manufacturing. So double that for the final price. (This is what you would give to a gallery etc to market, advertise and sell your work.) If you are doing this, you will need to get paid.
SECOND: Your overhead; studio rent, utilities, heat and ac , phone and internet. (Even if your studio is in your house, you will be spending money to light and heat and cool it when working there which you wouldn’t if you were out working somewhere else) and equipment depreciation. You will have to replace that computer, those brushes, upgrade software , vehicle, cost of use and insurance etc. Insurance, health insurance. (No one has offered me free insurance yet). PO Box rent. the list goes on. Paper for the printer, postage and envelopes.
THIRD: Time, how much time is spent working but not creating, bookwork, research, picking up supplies. Delivering work. If you are doing commissions, you can include meeting the client under marketing markup, but time photographing clients, sorting photos, time spent cleaning your studio. Janitors get paid too. Answering phone calls. etc etc.
FOURTH: Downtime: Don’t forget the days that you get sick or can’t work…You need to bring in enough when you are working to cover when you can’t……..
So 10 hours at the easel with a twenty five dollar canvas and ten dollars of paint doesn’t add up to the price of creating your piece of artwork.”
Steve’s summarization takes in all the factors of coming up with a “real” price for what you create. Don’t randomly paste a price on your artwork based on vague factors such as “5 hours of time and $8.00 worth of canvas and paint” or “$3.00 per square inch should do it.” Proudly acknowledge to yourself TWO things when you establish a due diligence price for your artwork.
You and your art are worth every dollar of the price you establish!
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Apologies, I forgot the source. I just got this from the web. It struck me because it somehow encapsulates my pricing philosophy. My pieces have very competitive prices. I keep the costs low while at the same time without sacrificing on quality.
So, browse around here and in our Facebook account. You might find something to your liking AND at a price you can afford 🙂
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