ricobenfico
Junior Member
Posts โข 3,174
Likes โข 364
May 2008
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(Charity) Art Pricing Advice Required, by ricobenfico on Mar 28, 2015 0:03:30 GMT 1, Hi All,
Some of you may already know, I work for a national disability charity and I've recently been encouraging an art group located in one of our services to produce some work to commission (I already have a handful of buyers lined up). We've sourced and priced materials, estimated time to produce each individual piece but what I'm struggling with would be what mark up to put on these in order for the group to make an 'acceptable' profit to move onto their next work. So my (tough) question:
How do artists calculate prices for their work?
(e.g. time taken, cost of materials, physical size of works; ยฃ/sq inch, etc?)
Any pointers much appreciated...thanks in advance.
Hi All,
Some of you may already know, I work for a national disability charity and I've recently been encouraging an art group located in one of our services to produce some work to commission (I already have a handful of buyers lined up). We've sourced and priced materials, estimated time to produce each individual piece but what I'm struggling with would be what mark up to put on these in order for the group to make an 'acceptable' profit to move onto their next work. So my (tough) question:
How do artists calculate prices for their work?
(e.g. time taken, cost of materials, physical size of works; ยฃ/sq inch, etc?)
Any pointers much appreciated...thanks in advance.
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ricobenfico
Junior Member
Posts โข 3,174
Likes โข 364
May 2008
|
(Charity) Art Pricing Advice Required, by ricobenfico on Mar 30, 2015 21:05:30 GMT 1, Hi All, Some of you may already know, I work for a national disability charity and I've recently been encouraging an art group located in one of our services to produce some work to commission (I already have a handful of buyers lined up). We've sourced and priced materials, estimated time to produce each individual piece but what I'm struggling with would be what mark up to put on these in order for the group to make an 'acceptable' profit to move onto their next work. So my (tough) question: How do artists calculate prices for their work? (e.g. time taken, cost of materials, physical size of works; ยฃ/sq inch, etc?) Any pointers much appreciated...thanks in advance.
I'd have thought there would be plenty of folk on here these days looking to give their tuppence worth on a question like this, no?
Genuinely looking for guidance, not trying to be controversial. PM me directly if you would rather. Cheers.
Hi All, Some of you may already know, I work for a national disability charity and I've recently been encouraging an art group located in one of our services to produce some work to commission (I already have a handful of buyers lined up). We've sourced and priced materials, estimated time to produce each individual piece but what I'm struggling with would be what mark up to put on these in order for the group to make an 'acceptable' profit to move onto their next work. So my (tough) question: How do artists calculate prices for their work? (e.g. time taken, cost of materials, physical size of works; ยฃ/sq inch, etc?) Any pointers much appreciated...thanks in advance. I'd have thought there would be plenty of folk on here these days looking to give their tuppence worth on a question like this, no? Genuinely looking for guidance, not trying to be controversial. PM me directly if you would rather. Cheers. |
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(Charity) Art Pricing Advice Required, by Agent Provocateur on Mar 31, 2015 11:34:42 GMT 1, ricobenfico good question.
In the normal world, when someone makes a product to sell, material costs together with time and logistics can be worked out and a profit margin added on top to get the RRP.
But even that's not so simple as there's the hard to quantify perceived (brand) value. For example, a t-shirt manufactured using cheap materials/production/labour etc aimed at a mass 'high street' market will have a price point very close to how much they cost to make. Whereas a t-shirt designed by a fashion label, although having more expensive production costs, is usually priced considerably higher than the cost of making/marketing because of the exclusiveness they want associated with their brand.
Similarly with art, one artist cutting a simple one layer stencil and spraying it on a small canvas can charge a lot more than another artist using a similar process, because of their popularity/perceived exclusiveness. The ability to charge more for their work does not come from expensive materials or more hours spent creating, it's derived from a complex relationship with the people that want to buy their work. Quality, popularity and success will invariably cause prices to increase when the actual cost of production and time hasn't changed.
I have never worked out a price for a piece purely on time spent and material costs, although (obviously) covering money spent on materials is pretty important. I could spend 30 hours cutting and spraying an intricate 5 layer stencil on a 10" canvas, but would not charge more for it than a simple 1 layer stencil on a 100" canvas that took me 5 hours even tho the production costs are considerably less (is that wrong!?).
For your example of the charity commissions I think you should start off with covering costs, then look at the bigger picture regarding the individual pieces/artists and the people that might buy them. Do the artists have any pedigree? How skilled are the artists and what quality of work are they producing? Does their artistic style sit in the contemporary art market or is it harder to define? Does the charity angle effect the setting of prices, as invariably people are more likely to spend a bit more on less well known artists when they know the money's going to a good cause?
To simplify, I'm imagining two (broad) scenarios.
One... competent amateur artists, that have not built up a following of collectors, who's work has a broad appeal. The charity association adding slightly to the final prices. Range: low to affordable prices.
Twoโฆ artists with a bit of history, having already sold work and built up a reputation, so there is a pricing structure already in place that buyers understand. Range: affordable to high prices.
Did any of that make sense!?
ricobenfico good question. In the normal world, when someone makes a product to sell, material costs together with time and logistics can be worked out and a profit margin added on top to get the RRP. But even that's not so simple as there's the hard to quantify perceived (brand) value. For example, a t-shirt manufactured using cheap materials/production/labour etc aimed at a mass 'high street' market will have a price point very close to how much they cost to make. Whereas a t-shirt designed by a fashion label, although having more expensive production costs, is usually priced considerably higher than the cost of making/marketing because of the exclusiveness they want associated with their brand. Similarly with art, one artist cutting a simple one layer stencil and spraying it on a small canvas can charge a lot more than another artist using a similar process, because of their popularity/perceived exclusiveness. The ability to charge more for their work does not come from expensive materials or more hours spent creating, it's derived from a complex relationship with the people that want to buy their work. Quality, popularity and success will invariably cause prices to increase when the actual cost of production and time hasn't changed. I have never worked out a price for a piece purely on time spent and material costs, although (obviously) covering money spent on materials is pretty important. I could spend 30 hours cutting and spraying an intricate 5 layer stencil on a 10" canvas, but would not charge more for it than a simple 1 layer stencil on a 100" canvas that took me 5 hours even tho the production costs are considerably less (is that wrong!?). For your example of the charity commissions I think you should start off with covering costs, then look at the bigger picture regarding the individual pieces/artists and the people that might buy them. Do the artists have any pedigree? How skilled are the artists and what quality of work are they producing? Does their artistic style sit in the contemporary art market or is it harder to define? Does the charity angle effect the setting of prices, as invariably people are more likely to spend a bit more on less well known artists when they know the money's going to a good cause? To simplify, I'm imagining two (broad) scenarios. One... competent amateur artists, that have not built up a following of collectors, who's work has a broad appeal. The charity association adding slightly to the final prices. Range: low to affordable prices. Twoโฆ artists with a bit of history, having already sold work and built up a reputation, so there is a pricing structure already in place that buyers understand. Range: affordable to high prices. Did any of that make sense!?
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ricobenfico
Junior Member
Posts โข 3,174
Likes โข 364
May 2008
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(Charity) Art Pricing Advice Required, by ricobenfico on Apr 5, 2015 8:51:05 GMT 1, AP, that's fantastic. Thanks for the detailed and considered response. I'm going to digest that and will reply properly. Much appreciated.
AP, that's fantastic. Thanks for the detailed and considered response. I'm going to digest that and will reply properly. Much appreciated.
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