Artists

[Sgt. Ram]

Are there any artists in this forum? I am a self taught portrait artist, just wondering? I am wanting to see if I can get some commission work and looking for advice. Such as what to charge for my time and the artwork itself. or should the two be considered one and the same.

 

[RamzFanz]

I have several selfies of my penis that I'm quite proud of. Should we share our work here?!

 

[RamzFanz]

Of course I'M KIDDING.

You NEVER charge for time. You charge for talent, skills, knowledge, product. Laborers charge for time and there's not a damn thing wrong with that. Creatives do not.

Bid your work and support it with references and examples. Customers do not value cheapness or hourly, they value results.

You are better off donating work to charities than being inexpensive. You get to value your work yourself ($2,000 mural).

I would love to see your work.

 

[thirteen28]

I have several selfies of my penis that I'm quite proud of. Should we share our work here?!

Is that you, Brett Favre??

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81155622/

 

[Boffo97]

Is that you, Brett Favre??

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81155622/

I hereby refuse to click on that link.

 

[thirteen28]

I hereby refuse to click on that link.

It's a commercial parody from SNL, Brett Favre for Wrangler Open Fly Jeans. It's actually pretty funny.

 

[Sgt. Ram]

Of course I'M KIDDING.

You NEVER charge for time. You charge for talent, skills, knowledge, product. Laborers charge for time and there's not a damn thing wrong with that. Creatives do not.

Bid your work and support it with references and examples. Customers do not value cheapness or hourly, they value results.

You are better off donating work to charities than being inexpensive. You get to value your work yourself ($2,000 mural).

I would love to see your work.

Thanks for advice. Sounds like the right way to go about it. May post some portrait later today.

 

[RhodyRams]

my wife actually puts alot of her landscape and beach scape stuff on fineartamerica.com and has sold some. She also donates some art work to local charities for fund raising auctions as a way to get more recognized



edit: just realized that has nothing to do with your question LOL

 

[Oh_Canada]

I am a wildlife artist (focus on high realism)... and have been for quite some time. My work has been displayed in publications, galleries and special exhibits (in Canada and some internationally). All I can say is it takes a lot of work to get your product "out there" but diligence does pay off to some extent. Those who have been successful have gotten into making prints and reproductions of their major pieces and thus the price of originals (mine run between $1800.00 and $3000.00 ... which is actually low btw) becomes less of an obstacle to buyers. Prints can be sold for a mere couple hundred dollars and that brings them into the reach of the general populace. Of course, the "print boom" is over as Robert Bateman told me, BUT that's where at least a modicum of success lies. The publications that you may investigate are magazines and journals ... and you can do your searching on line ... which is so much easier than the "good old days"!

 

[Oh_Canada]

 

[Oh_Canada]

Sarge, you asked about “pricing” your artwork so I thought I’d mention that you can’t base it upon time spent on a painting X cost per hour. It must be based upon the quality of the work and the level attained by the artist (i.e. beginner; emerging artist; professional artist; regionally known; nationally known; internationally recognized). Under these criteria an artist like Robert Bateman can charge $125,000.00 to $250,000.00 for an original while a fellow such as myself “tops out” at about $5,000.00 to $10,000.00. I do not have the acclaim that a Bateman has … nor have I tried hard enough to get there. I merely appreciated getting paid modestly for doing something that I love. If I were to depend upon my earnings as an artist I’d starve or get hungry enough to pursue it harder. As it is, it is just a nice little supplement to my income.
If you start your prices too low, or if you give away too many pieces, you will find it terribly hard to get your prices to rise over time. Donating is fine only to a point ... after that it begins to devalue your work!

 

[Sgt. Ram]

I am certainly not anywhere near those kind of prices for portraits of people, not even sure I should even be thinking about it really. I did do some commission work for some co workers a couple years ago, but none since. Then I charged 30 for the portraits and was given 35 by the customer.