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or through an art show or some other venue that collects any kind of selling/commission/entry fee be sure to add that into your prices. If you don't it'll be eating into your profits. Not good if you only have a small profit margin. You've been warned!

Importance of the Artwork to your artistic development

As an artist you can't help but feel that some artworks have more importance than others and represent major leaps forward in your artistic development. What we're really talking about here is an emotional attachment to an artwork.

How important is that artwork to you and can you factor it into your pricing?

The short answer is you shouldn't consider importance because it will lead to inconsistent and difficult to understand pricing. How do you explain to your buyers why two artworks of similar size and complexity have such vastly different prices? How do you put a dollar value on 'importance'?

If you think a work is so important that you can only sell it for the right price then it's better to exhibit it with Not For Sale notice on the tag. If someone really likes it they'll probably make you an offer. Then you can say, I couldn't sell this artwork for any less than... That way you won't mess up your pricing structure on works you are more than happy to sell at market value.

Your reputation as an artist

If you're an unknown artist you won't have any reputation outside of your family, friends and other people who know you. So this won't be much of a factor but it's something to keep in mind.

Once you start selling to people who are buying purely because they like your art (i.e. they have no other relationship to you) then your reputation will begin to grow. Reputation is a lot like importance, you can't really put a dollar value on it or logically factor it into your pricing.

Your work is worth what the market will pay. If you consistently sell at one price then test the waters with higher prices. If you still sell consistently then you know people value your work more than what they are currently paying.

Don't make massive price jumps though. People generally understand that your work will be worth more as your reputation grows but very few people will understand a massive price hike. At the very least you should be raising your prices annually, in line with inflation.

Conclusion

There are no hard and fast rules for pricing your art. The considerations I've listed are all points to think about when determining your own prices. You may not need to factor all of them into your pricing but in all cases, covering the cost of materials and understanding your market are the two most important.

After all you can't create art if you can't afford to buy materials and you'll have a harder time selling your art if you don't understand your market.

Learn more about this author, The Extraordinary Tourist.
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