Pricing Your Work

[Pooch]

Hello all! I'm new to the forums. I started my first post my putting up my painting of a ship (a WW2 destroyer) in the middle of a Typhoon. It's up in the 'Show" section.
Well, anyway, I'm very happy with the results of that work so I also posted it on another, not art related, forum that I frequent. I'm thrilled to say I got rave reviews. And also, it seems, a possible commission!
Another member asked me if I would do certain ships that he would like painted and how much would I charge.
Damn! I wasn't ready for that. How much indeed? I don't know. How many people here have sold work? How do you decide it's worth? An artist once told me that a dollar a square inch is a fair price for a new artist's work. That would make the ship painting about 400 dollars. Seems a bit much. I'm just not sure.
So, how do you all set a price for a piece of artwork?

[Pooch]

Ah, I see this has been brought up before and answered quite nicely.

[Singular]

glad you found it

[CarlOwen]

Yes to the first two comments, but to directly answer your question I recommend these three answer options.
1. Set your own price and never negotiate it or just give it away. It is your work to do what you want to do with that not another human being on this planet can reproduce. Even the best frauds are uncovered.
2. Follow the dollar a square inch rule and get caught into the swap meet mentality that forever structures your artist business production level at a commoner attempting to make it in the art world.
3. Follow the twenty dollar an hour requirement of a craftsman to produce an object and have people gasp at how expensive your work is.

These are the answers to your question. It is your choice to decide. I am sure these answers will cause other questions.

[Pooch]

I wasn't comfortable with the whole, selling it by the square inch, idea. It reduces your artwork to no more than a piece of lumber. How long it took you, the medium you used, what it's mounted on, and as in my case, how much research was involved. That's what should be considered.
Anyway, we're still talking. So I'll see how this pans out. I appreciate the answers.

[CarlOwen]

Thank you. Glad I didn't put you off, so to speak. I have given away more paintings and portraits than I can remember. While I have sold a few, to me, selling is not a necessary evil. Your ship painting is excellent and reminded me of some of the ship paintings along the second story hallway of the 1st Marine Division command building at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 1966. Hope we will converse again in the future.