Worksheet for Pricing

[Elizabeth Schott]

I have performed a search and did not come up with adequate responses to the question of pricing your artwork. I notice oils tend to go for square inch and pastels might go by figure size i.e.; head and shoulders, 3/4 and full figure. Additional figures and pets seem to be at the discretion of the artist (where all pricing is, I believe). But if we were to come up with a formula how would we approach this? Just some of my thoughts are listed below.

1. Demographic - Where are you located? Does the region or area influence the marketability of portrait work. I think this is a yes, so perhaps we could break this down to (I am just using the States as examples):

• a. arts rich and educated areas, such as NYC, California, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Arizona, Dallas, Charlotte etc.
  b. metropolitan areas that might not be as cosmopolitan, such as my city Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh (could move to A), Louisville, other New England cities, etc.
  c. small Midwest, southern and western cities
  d. little towns everywhere

2. Portrait Medium

[Michael Georges]

Beth: I think all of the factors you mentioned are good considerations. In the end, we all have to get some handle around what a portrait of - two figures at 3/4 length at 20x24 inches in oil with elaborate costuming and background, and oh by the way, subject B passed away last year and all I have is this decent but small black and white picture - will cost a client.

It can be hard and it's something you want to have iron clad figured out before you find yourself sitting with a client trying to come up with a price.

I began my pricing on a size-based model, but I am somewhat unhappy with it as size is often not reflective of the overall Level of Effort (LOE). For me, if I paint the painting at 18" x 24" or at 24" x 36" the LOE is not that different. So part of me is saying "Do what is right for the client, not your pricing system."

This may mean chucking sizes all together and just doing pricing based on a baseline level of effort. Often I find that a painting calls to be larger and the client gets into a "well, I can only afford this size" mindset. I also like painting larger and you find yourself doing a lot of 16" x 20"s and not a lot of 30" x 48"s.

I have thought about something like this:

Head and Shoulders - $XXXX
Waist Up - $XXXX
Waist Up with Hands - $XXXX
3/4 length or sitting pose with hands - $XXXX
Full Figure - $XXXX
Full Figure with hands - $XXXX

Portrait size will be determined by the number of subjects and the size of the space where the portrait is to hang. Additional figures add 1/3. Complex backgrounds add 1/3.

I still don't know what I want to do about it - let us know if you find a neat system that you like.

[Michael Georges]

You want to give some recognition to your friends and family. However, you are doing this painting stuff for your living and they should understand that and not abuse you, so.....

For friends and family, I offer one portait at 1/2 price. After that, they pay like everyone else.

[Michele Rushworth]

My philosophy on pricing has been based on Level of Effort, as Michael terms it, and based on keeping it simple, too. Too many options confuse people, I think.

My pricing is as follows:

$2,000 for head and shoulders
$3,000 for three quarters
$4,000 for full length

Additional figures are 70% of the first one. I've been charging 30% more for any background other than a plain "studio" background and have been pricing pets at $1,000 each. Travel and framing are at the client's expense.

Even with this relatively simple basis, the pricing for a portrait can get complex. Some of my clients have already paid for a portion of the cost through a charity auction, for example.

A recent portrait I priced, for two kids and a dog went like this:

• $3,000 for first three-quarters figure
  -$2,000 for head and shoulders equivalent, already purchased at an auction
  $2,100 for second three quarters figure
  $1,000 for dog
  $1,830 for complex background of fireplace, plant, chair, which I price based on 30% of the total before the auction amount is deducted
  Total: $5,930.

(I feel my work is worth much more than this but I haven't built a name yet and I live in a part of the country with no tradition of portraiture. My prices will rise as my backlog grows.)

As you can see, the above sample pricing is already getting complex, especially if the client is trying to decide between one portrait of the two kids, two separate paintings, including the dog or not, etc. I end up presenting them with a list of pricing options like the one above for these various possible portrait combinations they may choose.

This pricing formula allows me to paint at whatever size canvas would end up at about 80% to 100% life size, which I like to work at, and compensates me more or less based on the effort involved.

There will always be variables that make one painting much harder to do or another one very easy and I won't always know which before I begin to put brush to canvas. That's just part of the business, I think.

If a client presented me with reference or other conditions which I felt were too tough I would kindly refuse the commission. Better to have no commission than a bad painting out there with my name on it, I think, especially while I am trying to build my reputation in the wealthier circles of this city!

My suggestion is to spend lots of time studying the websites of the artists on SOG, comparing the various variables you mentioned and see how they price their work.

[Catherine Muhly]

One can look at pricing portraits from a different point of view. I benefitted greatly from attending workshops and presentations sponsored by the Small Business Development Corporation and the Service Corps of Retired Executives. You can visit www.score.org to find a chapter located near you; you can try www.xxx sbdc.org, where in my case the xxx is NYS - New York State. Google will turn up useful hits if you search on "sbdc" and "your state".

These seminars and workshops covered topics such as writing a business plan, obtaining financing, marketing, personnel, taxes and regulations. Obviously, some of the topics pertain to us more than others. In addition, both agencies provide one-on-one business counselling free of charge. These sessions are great for bringing up matters that we are likely to overlook.

So, then, how do I arrive at a price for a portrait?

1. Estimate your average monthly living expenses--housing, utilities, food, laundry, life-, auto- and health- insurance premiums, cable TV, gas and maintenance for the car, etc. If you have kids this amount goes up; if you pool your income with your spouse's, the amount goes down.

2. Now, add 30% to 40% to account for your Federal, state and local income taxes.

3. Now take a stab at determining how many portraits you can do a month. This varies alot, naturally. Conservatively, I know I can do at least one head-and-shoulders a month. Whether I get at least one head-and-shoulders commission per month is up in the air. The more conservative your estimate is, the higher your minimum price will have to be.

4. Add to that minimum price the cost of getting it photographed for slides, prints, transparencies -- whatever you think you must have. Add whatever you have included in the price, such as the cost of framing, shipping, insurance, and the like.

5. Take what you estimate to be the cost of advertising, creating promotional brochures, creating glicees, business cards, memberships in portrait societies, registering with SOG, plus a suitable amortization of the cost of capital equipment, such as cameras, printers, computers, software. Get a per-portrait average or guess-ti-mate and slap that onto the final price.

6. Round that to a nice figure and there you have it. Use any of the "level of effort" formulae proposed in previous posts, and compare the result with the competition's pricing. Just as you do with a household budget, you can jiggle the way you estimate the categories.

The tasks that my SBDC counselor set me to do was quite an eye-opener for me. I ended up almost doubling what I thought I should charge for a portrait. As someone starting out, I expect I'll have to augment my income with some temp work of some sort, or a part-time job. But once I get a waiting list, I know I'll be able to cover the costs of me and of my career.

I hope this was helpful!

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Pricing is always so difficult to decide. Carroll Michel noted in her book that price should not depend upon region, but realistically it must, I believe. I live in an area that is in general somewhat depressed economically and in which there is no tradition of portraiture. South of the Mason-Dixon line we might be, were someone to extend it eastwards to the Atlantic, but in philosophy we're a hybrid. My first commissioned portrait went for $200 and a spotting scope and I agonized over the $200: too much, too little, just right? I was thrilled to be asked - and by a world-famous birder, no less - to paint his wife. I gradually raised my prices (which are listed on my site on the process page) but am still far below Michele and Cathy, and I don't know whether increasing them would garner me more attention and more work, or frighten off the people who are toying with the idea of having a portrait painted. Currently my feeling is that I should put off any increase until I actually have a waiting list; perhaps this is foolhardy, though.

I am well aware that I can't make a living off my portraiture at those prices and thankfully I don't need to. My husband is about to retire and I have been retired since 2000; both of us worked in school systems and have quite solid pensions. My art is my pleasure and the source of extra money but not a necessity. And I would rather be painting commissions for less money and have more of them, because each commission teaches me something new and offers a fresh experience. Were I in a different situation vis-a-vis money I'm still not sure I would be charging more; I don't think my current clientele and the area could support it until there's more demand for those services.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

When I started out, I based my prices on a $15 per hour fee plus expenses for material. I kept a time sheet and frankly got very tired of logging in my hours. I often have spent so much time on a piece that it produced a price tag, which I considered too high.

Having attended many local shows and exhibits and evaluating the response from those who admired my work, I felt they would have made the purchase or ordered a commission if the price was lower. I have also consulted with a group of very close friends, whose opinion I value 100% and who also represent the buying consumer and have received the same input regarding the affordability factor.

After this I went on the Internet and made a list of every portrait artist