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Pricing is one of the most critical aspects of your art business, and it comes with its fair share of challenges and emotional weight. With over three decades in the gallery business and having founded Xanadu Gallery in 2001, I’ve worked with countless artists and observed the various ways they approach pricing their work. Through these experiences, I’ve identified key mistakes and developed strategies to help artists price their art more effectively.
Introduction
Pricing your artwork correctly can be a daunting task. It’s an emotional process, deeply intertwined with your attachment to each piece, and it often feels like navigating a maze. Yet, getting it right is crucial for your success. Drawing from my years of experience, I’m here to share actionable insights that will help you tackle this complex issue head-on.
Common Pricing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
1. Pricing Emotionally
One of the most frequent mistakes artists make is pricing their artwork based on emotional attachment. This often manifests in two ways: overpricing works they feel particularly proud of and underpricing those they struggled with. However, it’s crucial to remember that buyers don’t share the same emotional journey.
To avoid this pitfall, develop a consistent pricing formula that removes subjective feelings from the equation. This formula should be based on objective criteria such as size, medium, and complexity, allowing you to present a cohesive pricing structure to your potential buyers.
2. Inconsistent Pricing
Inconsistencies in pricing can confuse potential buyers and erode their trust in your brand. Whether it’s due to varying levels of emotional investment or differing amounts of time spent on each piece, inconsistent pricing sends mixed messages.
To combat this, establish a clear, objective formula for pricing your work. Many two-dimensional artists use a per-square-inch formula, sometimes with a sliding scale for different sizes. Sculptors might base their prices on production costs with a consistent multiplier. The key is to develop a formula that can be applied universally across your portfolio.
3. Ignoring the Broader Market
Many artists fail to research how similar works are priced in the broader market, leading to prices that are out of alignment with what buyers expect. This can result in either undervaluing or overvaluing your work.
Spend time conducting market research to understand the pricing landscape for your genre and medium. Look at other artists’ websites, gallery listings, and art shows, both locally and internationally. This will help you set prices that are competitive and realistic.
4. Lacking Confidence in Pricing
Self-doubt can lead to underpricing, which not only undervalues your work but also sends a message to buyers that your art is less established or of lower quality. This is particularly challenging for emerging artists who might feel they haven’t yet earned the right to higher prices.
Building confidence in your pricing comes from thorough market research and understanding that the value of art is somewhat subjective. By setting prices that reflect the quality and uniqueness of your work, you position yourself for greater success and growth in the market.
Developing Your Pricing Formula
Creating a pricing formula involves a few key steps:
- Research Comparable Artists: Identify artists whose work is similar to yours in style, medium, and complexity. Analyze their pricing structures to understand where your work might fit in the market.
- Calculate Per Square Inch/Linear Inch Prices: For two-dimensional works, a common method is to calculate prices based on the size of the artwork. This can be done per square inch or linear inch, depending on what aligns better with your body of work.
- Consider Production Costs for Sculptures: If you’re a sculptor, your pricing might start with the cost of materials and production, adding a consistent multiplier to account for your time and effort.
- Adjust for Market and Venue: Your pricing should also reflect the venues in which you plan to sell. Higher-end galleries and art shows might support higher prices than local co-ops or small markets.
Conclusion
Pricing your artwork effectively is an ongoing process that requires research, consistency, and confidence. By avoiding emotional pricing, ensuring consistency, understanding the broader market, and building confidence in your pricing, you can position yourself for greater success.
Remember, your pricing should reflect the quality and uniqueness of your work and align with market expectations and the venues where you showcase your art. By developing a clear, objective pricing formula, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the art market and achieve sustainable growth.
Share your questions and thoughts in the comments below. Your insights and experiences can help create a richer discussion around this important topic.
I create photography that captures many people’s attention. Some walk right by, but many are just drawn right inside the print. They are very moved or stirred but rarely buy my work. I don’t know if it is the wrong size to go inside their house or if they just don’t know where to put it?
I don’t want to shoot images just to sell them. I want to shoot what stirs my soul! What I am driven to capture!
I win awards often and so there is a certain size I do for shows and maybe that is not the size to put in someone’s home. I don’t know what to do? I would do more shows if I could read people’s minds!
Can you do a lesson on that? Reading people’s minds! Or this starving artist might end up living in a cave with my treasures.
Hi Jason,
Thanks for your interesting article. I have a question please – You list factors one should consider in setting one’s prices but you don’t mention one’s track record in the market. Do you mean to suggest that an artist who has made few sales should price his work the same as an established artist if the emerging artist feels that his work is comparable to that of the established artist?
Reputation and experience can definitely be a factor, but it is often far less of a factor than we might imagine. Even some of the best known artists today aren’t that well known by the art-buying public, so often the only way a potential buyer knows how established you are is by your price tag. Setting a low price sends the wrong message in this regard!
Following are the challenges I have with pricing when I submit my portfolio:
1. I’ve been painting since the 80s; however, I haven’t shown in a gallery for a long time, which I believe tends to increase the price of an artist’s work. I’ve continued to paint, and the quality of my work has increased along with my experience. So, do I price my work based on its quality and, therefore, on the same scale as what is showing in galleries today or should my prices reflect my lack of gallery presence and sales?
2. If I submit my portfolio to different cities, should I adjust the price to match what’s going on in each city? For instance, there’s a lovely gallery in a small town an hour from where I live. I find their prices lower than in big cities. I’m also going to submit my portfolio to a large, culturally rich city. I’m thinking that my prices need to be consistent. Is this true?
Thank you.
Our websites reflect our prices. I’m not sure changing prices is a good idea. I figure if the gallery is selling the piece, they should get the commision. If I sell the same piece, I get the commission, unless the buyer saw the piece in the gallery, then the gallery gets the commision. The price has a commision built into it.
Any thoughts on this, Jason?
This is exactly the right way to think about commissions. The commission is the value of all the work that goes into selling the art. If the gallery sells it, they earn it. If you sell it, you do. The value of the work is consistent no matter where sold.
It used to be possible to adjust pricing based on the market in which the work was showing. The internet has made that much harder. If you have any inconsistency in pricing, you run the risk of alienating buyers and galleries.
I have a spread sheet that calculates the price of my art per square inch, which changes for small, medium, or large pieces. My media are watercolor, pen and ink, and graphite. I use the same formula for all media. It has worked for me.
Jason, you said difference media should be priced different. Why is that, when the artist trained to learn the media, worked to develop skill, put time and heart into their work, and money into materials?
Medium doesn’t have to result in a price difference, but it’s good to be aware how others who are creating in the same medium are pricing their work. If you are trying to sell all three media at the same price and the broader market seems to value one of the media more, you at least want to be aware of the difference.
You talk about emotional attachment, but what about research investment? I’ve got “fiction” landscapes I can put out in1-4 hours (depending on size and complexity), and historically-accurate scenes that don’t look more complex than my “quickies,” but can double or even quadruple my production time, because I’m trying to figure out exactly what something looks like, and redoing areas as I discover more about what it should look like.
It’s really difficult for potential buyers to understand differences in pricing based on your time, unless the time put in has a clear impact on the artwork that is discernable by the buyer. You will be better served by thinking about the average research time you are putting into your work and applying that research premium across all of your work to systamatize your pricing.
I’d be interested to get opinions on sales, discounts and VIP pricing. Also, LOWERING a pricing structure after a few years of stagnant or slow sales. And rumor has it that election years are notorious art sale killers. How much truth is there to that?
And here’s an interesting thought: A friend told me her sister had a $500 piece that would not sell so she added a 0 to make it $5000 and it sold.
I have other posts on discounting and promotional sales – https://reddotblog.com/negotiating-and-discounting-to-sell-your-art-21/, https://reddotblog.com/discussion-are-promotional-sales-appropriate-in-the-art-world/.
We’re in the midst of an election year as I’m writing this and we’re seeing excellent sales. World and national events can certainly have an impact on sales, but I’ve always felt that the only appropriate response is to work harder than ever.
Higher prices can have the effect of lending work credibility. This won’t always work, and there are limits, but pricing appropriately for the market you are selling into is the best approach.
This seems such an impossible dilemma with deeply divergent interests for all concerned.
I mean, as an artist I inhabit a world of sensations and ideas. I commit time, materials, all the skill i can muster, and sheer courage to produce a material expression of the idea. It’s all a viewer, collector, gallerist, even me has to go on. And because it’s material it has a monetary value attached.
But the collector has their own sensations, purpose and attachment (or not) to the material expression.
The gallerist, likewise comes with their own sensations.
It seems more and more miraculous that anything actually changes hands, or gets represented with so many interests and considerations un-stated maybe unknown, all vying for some sort of leverage. And yet somehow, it does tend to work.
Your plan is the most coherent and ultimately comprehensive I’ve found so far. I feel more conmfident with this than anything else I’ve tried.
Thanks Stephen – what you say is true, and yet artwork sells every day!
Pricing paintings is different from pricing other kinds of things, such as clothing and cars, which all end in .99.
Is there a “best way” to price paintings? Should the prices always end in 0? Or is 5 all right? How about the other numbers?
For Example:
$990… $1475… $2,784…