Tips & Resources: How To Price Your Artwork
“The moment you make a mistake in pricing, you’re eating into your reputation or your profits.”
Pricing is a very iffy topic and it can feel very difficult to do especially for creatives, because when you love what you do, how do you charge for your work?
The Consequences of Undercharging
- hurts the community
- sends the wrong message to consumers
- you have to work long hours and unable to take a vacation and afford nice things
- attracting clients who don’t value your work
- having a reputation for doing cheap work
Here are some basic pricing guidelines for you:
Your Get-out-of-bed Price
This is very straightforward. If someone comes to you with a request to make a piece of art for X dollars, you refer back to your get-out-of-bed price to see if this job is even worth your time. It is basically your bottom line minimum fee. For example, if the specs was for a custom watercolour job and they’re only offering $20, you can be sure they are under quoting you. Once you have a get-out-of-bed price, it’s basically a clear signal to you what jobs are worth your time and which ones aren’t.
Include Supplies Cost
Supplies don’t come free and paint costs money, so please don’t forget to take that into account as well, because this is part of your operating costs!
How Much Do You Want to Earn Hourly?
One factor that can help you figure out / double check if your rate is reasonable, is to ask yourself how much would you like to earn per hour, after deducting your supply cost. Sometimes the number seems reasonable until you do the math and realize that you’re only paying yourself $6 an hour.
Calculate Your Monthly Expenses
If you can write down all your expenses, you will be able to see how much you need to spend in a month, and by working backwards, you will be able to figure out how much you need to earn. This will give you a guideline on how much you need to charge.
The difference between loving your profession and being constrained by it is how you price yourself. It's time to reevaluate your pricing approach if you appear to be working nonstop and living from paycheck to paycheck.
Resource Recommendations
These are some of the resources that I personally use and keep on hand to refer to whenever I need to double check something, and these resources are GOLD. They are without a doubt some of the best guides I have come across and they have been a great help to me when it comes to pricing queries, which are honestly way too difficult for me to google about due to the scarcity of information. So if you’re struggling to map out your pricing system, I highly recommend these resources for you! Let me know if these work for you or if you have any other good resources to share!
PDFS/BOOKS
Panic-Free Pricing by The Happy Ever Crafter
The Dark Art of Pricing by Jessica Hische
The Graphic Artist Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines
PODCASTS
Jenna Rainey Show: Pricing Woes
LITO Show_ Pricing Your Offers
BLOG
Jessica Hische Thinking Thoughts About Pricing
The Art League_ How to Price Your Artwork
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