How do I price my artworks?

[MFRArt]

Hello!

I had my artworks displayed at the gallery twice so far. The first time I had three artworks displayed, and I didn't price them. I was not sure if I would want to sell them or to know the critique what I should improve. Second gallery, I had five artworks displayed, I priced 4 of them and one was not for sale. My friends who also are artists, and they displayed their pieces as well. They sold some of theirs, and mine was not sold at all. I compared their prices and mine. Theirs were photographed with the nice frames, they were small/medium and they priced them below $100. Most of my five pieces are between 16 x 20 to 16 x 40. Three canvas are about $120 (16 x 40 was not for sale), and two frames (one is $180 and the other is $300).

I priced them based on my feeling, labor, materials, and frames (or without). I wonder if I price them reasonably since I am the beginner, not even famous yet. Please feedback or advises will be much help to give me to better understand how to price them.

Thanks so much in advance!!

[Singular]

Always a difficult decision. There is a really good discussion on that topic here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2746&hilit=price

all the best,
Joe

[ehoeveler]

Your pricing doesn't seem unreasonable but I would have to see your work.
Thank You, E

[melencio_sapnu]

Art is priceless as many people will say but as per monetary value is concern, I think you did the right decision to price it based on your feeling, labor, materials, and frames. If you compute the total cost of the materials and the frame then all you have to do is add a markup in which you will be happy when you sold it. It doesn't matter if it is expensive or not cause I believe that whenever an artist sell his/her work, he/she is not selling the actual work alone but his emotion, feelings and imagination. We are sharing it to the world because we want them to envision what we think of this world (or out). Then again, it always depends on how to represent yourself and how you view yourself as an artist.

The one recommended by Singular is very useful and informative, http://asingularcreation.com/Forums/vie ... ilit=price . Always have a blessed day and keep rocking the Art world!!! Rock ya

[jannatul18]

Arts actually always not get the perfect price. Many times I have seen some less creative arts are selling in high price other than a good one. Anyway according to my view your price seems to me quite reasonable.

[Artsupplies]

No one can judge your work perfectly better than you. So i think your decision of price according to labor,feelings and material is good. As a beginner you must have to face problems but there would be so many people who knows the real value of your talent and artwork. I would love to see your artwork. One more thing it is not bad to reduce your price as a beginner.

[Nina Reach]

Pretty hard question. You price your works based on your feeling, labor, materials. I suppose it's the best way to price them. I think you shouldn't look at other artworks. Maybe your artworks are just waiting for your audience

[FreshArt]

Pretty difficult thing to do. All the same I believe you're in the best position to know the quality of your work. You can look into this , maybe you'll find similar works like yours. Then you'll know how best to price your art works.

[St.Luke]

Hello MFRart.

I agree with the other comments too.

Oddly enough, most buyers of original artworks, who are not artists themselves, already have an idea of how much their tastes are worth.
It is a well known fact that many art buyers do not necessarily judge art by aesthetics. Instead, they tend to be more influenced by the longevity of an artists work history, and a not-to-low a pricing. Both prove to the art buyer that the artist's work MUST be good.

For a beginner, where artworks generally take up more time, the calculated price may be too high. To sell, the costs may need to be cut short somewhat. Just enough to replace the materials with some change left over. It seems this is the price the unknown artist has to pay - unfortunately.

[MargaritaW]

I totally agreed with Artsupplies. No one can judge your work perfectly better than you.

[Gareth Craven]

It's a question that can never have a straight forward answer. My advice is although it can pretty contradictory to the nature of your artwork, try not go by your feelings but by the cold hard facts. How much did it cost you financially to make it? How many hours? What do clients usually pay for your work? Etc.

I think over time as you build develop your artistic identity you can let your more of our own personal feelings influence your pricing. But as a beginner you don't have much of an identity and one of the ways to build one is to sell your artwork, the only way you're going to do that is sell it cheap.

Sorry for the crummy answer!

[GaleriasdeArte]

Pretty hard question. You price your works based on your feeling, labor, materials. I suppose it's the best way to price them. I think you shouldn't look at other artworks. Maybe your artworks are just waiting for your audience

Couldn't have said it better.

There are many things that need to be taken into consideration, so you can price your art. An online art gallery or a normal art gallery, could also help you to price some of your creations, depending on what they have seen in the market and what they expect it to sell for. There are many art experts who could help to give your art a price.

[CarlOwen]

Well, I just finished work for the day. I am building a concrete block retaining wall. In the old days I could have finished this job in a day. It now takes 10 times as long. Just getting old and feeling a little petulant. So I will give you a direct answer. Charge one dollar per square inch if you are not known. You will find it falls within the ball park of what everyone else is charging. Go online to see what are the top ten preferred works of art are. Hint: Landscapes are number one. I think I remember seascapes number two. Portraits and nudes were at the bottom. Then make your own decisions after you truthfully answer this question in your own mind. Do you want to paint to sell or do you want to paint what you want. Any other words here would be esoteric and just simply useless for your simply pragmatic question. So, going to stop here and wish you well and wish you happy.