How to Price Your Artwork | Part Two | Myth Busting

Feeling comfortable with your pricing can be difficult, especially when there are so many myths surrounding the pricing of artwork, so I want to bust some of these myths and offer a useful technique to make pricing less daunting…

Using Visualisation:

I basically live my life visualising. If I'm doing something new or something I wouldn’t normally do, I find visualisation an incredibly powerful technique. The first thing to do when it comes to pricing is to think of a price you’re really comfortable with. This is likely going to be low, for me it was £40. You then visualise what that amount of money could buy you, how it could make you feel, and then take that price and raise it just a little bit, to the point where you are a little uncomfortable but happy to go for it, so let’s say £60.

Now, add a zero to the end. Don’t panic! Think what that £600 would mean to you, what the £600 in your bank could pay for, what bills it could cover, what it would feel like if your pieces were earning £600.

Now, add another zero. Could you imagine selling one of your pieces for £6000? How incredible that would feel! Imagine just doing one piece a month and earning £72,000 a year! What could that money do for you? What could it do for your family?

Now, remind yourself, it is completely doable. You can walk into any art gallery and see how much more than that people are willing to pay.

Now, go back to your £60. Suddenly, it no longer seems uncomfortable or as daunting and, actually, now £100 feels like a very comfortable amount to charge for a piece of your artwork, and you can feel confident with that price. This is just an example of how powerful visualisation can be.

“The Market is Saturated…”

The first myth that I want to bust is that the market is saturated. I hear artists all the time saying “oh, there isn’t room for me, there are already so many people doing what I am doing”. That doesn’t mean there isn’t space for you, it means there is demand for it! Otherwise, people wouldn’t be in business.

People Don’t Have Money to Buy…

At the moment, there are a lot of people who are struggling with the cost of living crisis, and, understandably, people think that means nobody can afford to go out or buy things. While that's true for many, there are still a lot of people buying luxury items and going out for nice meals. As a business owner, you need to be aware that, although many people, unfortunately, can’t afford to buy from you at the moment, there are still many who can and will.

You Are Losing Customers to Businesses Selling an Item Cheaper…

People are often under the impression that artists who are selling their artwork cheaper are going to be taking customers away from those who are charging more. Again, that simply isn’t true. Someone willing to spend £500 on a piece of artwork isn’t going to be interested in a piece of artwork for £10. Now, that isn’t to say that the £10 piece of art isn’t beautiful, because it absolutely could be. The psychology behind it means people will consider it to be lower quality. It comes down to the fact you are simply targeting different audiences.

Pricing can be a very emotive subject, but once you start to have confidence in your work and feel really proud of what you do, you can start to create a great career for yourself from your art. To hear more, watch the video above and for more tips on pricing your artwork, make sure you've read part one of this blog by clicking here.