Explore and learn the market you operate in. Discover art most like yours. Learn about the artists and where you find their stories chime with yours; check their prices for benchmarks and learn why they charge the amount they do. benchmarking does not mean that you charge the same, it just means you use that price point when comparing your own. You might end up charging more or less, but you will have justified that in your mind and you will be able to communicate that to your collectors.
A nice place to kick off is with a formula for pricing your art which considered:
- time
- labour
- cost of materials
For example, if materials cost €150, you take 10 hours to make the art and you pay yourself €35 per hour, then you price the art at €500.
This is a very crude means of working out value. Most artists will testify that they do not earn an hourly wage. We ask “why not?”
Of course, give yourself a reasonable wage. Don’t underpay yourself and don’t go mad. If you use this system and your art turns out to be too expensive when compared against what other artists are selling for in your comparables, then you will need to have another think about your pricing or think about reducing the amount you pay yourself every hour.
Now that is all fine when considering the price of your original works but if you are to succeed in applying The Model of maximising the value of what you have created, you will need to consider:
- Limited Edition examples of your creation
- Tasteful merchandising
- Licensing the use of images of your work (whether for magazines, promotions or packaging of other consumerbles)
- Any other commercial activity which gets your art known
The success story of Stéphane Delaprée
A fine example of an artist who does an excellent job in the area of price points is Stéphane Delaprée; a French artist living in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is obviously not the only reason Stéphane Delaprée is a success, but in an area so many artists make mistakes, this artist has not.
Stéphane’s artwork is bright, attention-grabbing, happy and often reflects life in and around the place he lives, with subjects dancing, riding a tuk-tuk or even taking the bus. He is prolific.
If ever you get to visit Stéphane’s studio shop, you might notice that he has a range of artworks and products on offer.
From large original pieces, Limited Edition prints, cards, mugs, fridge magnets and books. If folk like his work, it is almost impossible for them to leave without giving him some money.
Stéphane Delaprée is also on hand much of the time which means that the likelihood of folk getting a selfie with ‘the artist’, enjoying the experience and the chance of them becoming a confirmed Real Collector increases.
Just to be clear, Stéphane Delaprée is not cheap. The price points for his work are right and recognise the hard work put in. He does not cheapen himself to get the sale, he simply offers different things at different prices which might appeal to folk who have different budget limits.
The price point Stéphane Delaprée useslook like this:
- Origal artwork €2,000+
- Prints €12 or 2 for €20.
- Postcards €3.
- Mugs €15 or 2 for €25.
- Xpresso cups €10 or 2 for €18.
Because of his location nearby a UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor Wat, he gets visitors flying in from all over. These folk regularly become Real Collectors and Stéphane Delaprée, despite not having a website maintains relationships using Facebook as his main internet channel.
Setting your price point structure
You might want to think about how you can make your work affordable to anyone who looks at it. You might settle on something like this. In the end you will need to work out what is best for you where you are:
- €1,000+ Original artwork (depending on size)
- €150-350 Limited Edition print
- €50 Open run print on good paper
- €25 book
- €10 tea towel
- €2 A5 postcard
We want to hear your experiencea too. Tell us what you do.
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With ArtMarketDirect.com artists are able to take control of their own careers, list their own pieces for sale to collectors and undertake their own fulfillment of orders.
The only stipulation on ArtMarketDirect.com is that the work you list is your own and is original. Where prints are for sale, we ask that all image copyrights belong to you and that you are legally disposed to sell the pieces you have on offer.
The site is FREE to use with only 10% sales commission OR for those willing to bet on themselves with only a nominal subscription (from less than £1/month) to upload unlimited artwork and very low 3% commission on sales. If you are a creative ArtMarketDirect.com is the best option you have.
Blog post illustration images used by kind permission of the artist: Stéphane Delaprée. All copyrights relating to these images remains soley with the artist.
Header Image by Stéphane Delaprée. All copyrights relating to the image remains soley with the artist.
