Mixed Media Artists Who Want To Make Money Series 4: Part 1 - Pricing Your Art So It Sells

Back by popular demand, artists and creative entrepreneurs I'm returning with the 4th series to give you what you need to keep on shining. We're going to start this off by going through a guide to help you come up with a way to price your artworks so that others' will want to buy them. There are many ways to rate paintings. These are just a few formulas to get you going. If your artwork is framed always increase the price by the cost of the frame and if the frame is actually drilled into the stretcher bars then double the fee to cover the labor. Never price your artworks according to the emotion that you feel or be afraid to ask for a higher amount as you took the valuable time to create your masterpiece now its time to get paid!

-This post may contain affiliate links. When a purchase is made from one of these links I receive a small commission at additional expense to you.

Basic Items

Let's go through a list of essential nitty-gritty items that you should include in the price of each artwork.

Paints, canvases, brushes, and supplies that you use to make each painting

What type of paint correctly and the price of each tube that you used. Which brushes were used and how much you paid for them. If you borrowed them from another artist even better as you can mention this is the description and give their art a boost as well when you do this!

Hypothetical Example:

Professional Winsor & Newton Ultramarine Violet Acrylic paint - $14.88
"                                               " Ultramarine Blue Acrylic paint - $11.54
"                                               " Titanium White Acrylic paint - $11.54
Masterpiece Vincent Pro stretched canvas - $78
Krylon Kamar Varnish - $6.88
Daler Rowney Professional flat edge brush - $18.79
My artistic boyfriend's brush set that he let me borrow - priceless

Total = $160

Take this total and add it to the final total in the section below.

*You don't have to add the prices to your descriptions just the part before the costs!

Time

To include time as a way to estimate the value take the time increment that it takes to create that specific painting including photographing the finished artwork to put on the market. For instance, if you have a studio in your home or outside of your home take the cost to run it and add everything together as we are going to make this cost and add it at the very end.

Hypothetical Example:

Rent (a space to create) - $500
Electric (lights, heat, and fans) - $150
Water (rinsing brushes) - $60
Garbage (keeping the place clean) - $120
Internet (uploading to online galleries, printing certificates of authenticity) - $120
Ink and heavy special paper - ($40 + $16)/16 = $3.50

Total = $950

Take this total and add it to the final total in the section below

The Formula Most Artists Use

Take the dimensions and multiply them together to get the square inches then multiply that by your per inch rate.

20" x 20" = 400

Per inch rate for acrylic - average $4

Per inch rate for oil - average $6

Total = $1600-$2400
*This is where you add in the 2 totals from above which comes in handy around tax season which you have less than a month to get them done!

Per inch rate is defined by the market segment and value that I will explain further in the next sections.

Market

Create a low-end segment as well as a high-end segment so that you are hitting two different markets. You can do this in online art galleries or if you sell at art shows in person or pretty much anywhere that you plan to sell your art.

Low-end: These prices will be more affordable, however, with lower cost items to make them. My lower-end of paintings I do not use super expensive acrylic paint. Instead, I use archival quality and smaller archival canvases. Advertising-wise this market segment needs to be geared more towards B2C (business to customer). Within your description of each painting include using words such as wall art, wall decor, home decor furnishings, etc.

High-end: This is going to be your gallery and museum-wrapped canvases with top notch quality professional paints. Advertising towards more B2B (business to business) wholesale art buyers, interior designers, art dealers, museums, galleries, and commercial businesses. Within the description include appropriate accolades which I will go into in more depth in the next section.

Value

If one of your paintings has won an award or been showcased anywhere on exhibit selected by a jury the dollar amount you charge can be increased by 50% of the price that you are thinking to sell it at.

If your signature is somewhere on the canvas doesn't matter where then you can increase the dollar amount 30% as the market value rises x3 for those that are signed and sealed ready to deliver.

If the painting has been on exhibit in a museum, a corporate setting, or anywhere that someone would deem as a suitable venue the market value increases depending on location sometimes upwards of 200% depending on where and for how long.

I hope that this post increases your profits and creates less of a headache when you have to nail down a price for your masterpiece!