by 8bitgallery on Wed Sep 02, 2009 4:12 pm
I seem to have sparked a little conversation here on what is a fair price to charge for sprite-based artwork and I'm glad for it. Here's my input on the subject:
First off, artists will more than often take their skills and work for granted expecting people not to pay top dollar for their wares. DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT! In my experience, someone who REALLY wants what your selling WILL pay for it, one customer has even admitted to forgoing their dinner money at the end of a convention for one of my paintings. If you're spending 10 hours making something and selling it for $45, what does that tell you? If you have a part-time job, would you want to be paid $4.50 an hour? I bet you wouldn't.
Secondly, to be honest I'm guilty of the above as well. I'm really selling my paintings at the bare minimum and I should be charging more. However, I do consider my market that I'm selling to where to majority has either an allowance from their parents, a lousy part-time job that doesn't pay well or no job at all. It's all about perspective. Someone with a well-paying full-time job is not going to consider a $40 for a painting expensive if they're making $2000+ a month as apposed to someone with a part-time job who makes $400 a month.
Consider my expenses for paintings, on average (in CDN dollars):
1 tube of paint (2.oz): $4.95 - $11.49
1 paintbrush (synthetic sable hair): $4.95 - $12.95
3 canvases (4x4"): $5.95
3 canvases (6x6"): $8.75
3 canvases (8x8"): $11.95
* 1 tube of paint will last me approx. 6 months.
1 paintbrush will last me approx. 6 months (due to fraying, the brushes NEED to be as straight as possible to ensure the best line quality I can get).
6 canvases (4x4") will last me ONE FULL DAY of painting (8-10 hours).
I usually buy six to nine 3 packs of varying sizes at one time. At peak times, like before a convention or if I feel like painting a lot, I can finish off 18 canvases in A MONTH. So, on average, I spend $60 - $90 every 1-2 months on canvases ALONE. And I haven't even gotten into my supplies for college (im in animation): pencils, pens, animation paper... BUT I've written enough here and I like that people are taking about supplies and pricings on the forum.
I'll just say one last thing to consider: if you were employed part-time at a coffee shop and you had to pay for the coffee that you served your customers and the pot that it came in and the coffee filters and the electricity to run the coffee machine, wouldn't you expect to be paid more than minimum wage for all the expenses that you have to pay for yourself?
Dont sell yourselves short guys, I've seen good stuff here. You'd be surprised at the number of people that are willing to pay for your work.
~ HeatHer
I used to paint all the time, and I have a ton of supplies, as well as some nice sized canvas. I just didn't think people would be willing to pay that much for something of that size.... but on this person's blog, it's already sold! It's actually nice to see that people are willing to pay the price... I have a closet full of large paintings and I'll bet I couldn't get $10 a piece for em. 
