Artrepreneur Success Rule #4/10

Rule #4: Art is a Luxury Good

Your art is worth what you say it is. Almost every great masterpiece throughout history comes down to simple, inexpensive materials - canvas, paper, paints and pencils. Given what it’s made of, the work isn’t worth much at face value. But yet somehow it is. This is because art is a luxury good. It must be priced similarly to how one would price luxury watches and cars. Art should be overpriced and rare because nobody needs it and everyone wants it. The luxury pricing structure is the only way to make a living from your work.

Most artists undercharge for their work because they suffer from imposter syndrome. You might be thinking, “but my art isn’t good enough yet.” But what does good even mean? I would define good as something that takes a lot of skill to make. Good has nothing to do with it. Is a Jackson Pollock or a Pablo Picasso painting actually “good” by that definition? Probably not. But the work is still beautiful and highly prized. In the same sense, there are a lot of very “good” artists not making any money from their work.

Pricing your art too low will hurt you immensely. It’s the quickest way to make sure you never succeed financially as an artist. In the same way people want expensive watches over cheap ones, they’ll choose expensive art over yours just because it’s pricier and therefore it must be better. For every talented artist that undercharges there is a “less skilled” artist saying, “my work is worthwhile” and stealing your sales. Cheap watches aren’t necessarily less beautiful. They perform the same function as a more expensive watch, yet everyone wants the expensive version if they can afford it. And ideally, most people should not be able to afford it, or else it wouldn’t be worth anything.

Too many artists today are killing themselves trying to make a living from their underpriced work. They think if they simply charge less, more people will buy their work. But it’s actually the opposite. Charge more, and more people will buy your work. Charging a hundred bucks for a custom painting just isn’t sustainable. How many of those would you have to do per week to make six figures from your art? The answer is over 20.

When trying to figure out your pricing it’s important to ask yourself several questions. How much money would you need to make to feel like you’re killing it as an artist? And how many things would you have to output per week or per day in order to hit that number? Is it even humanly possible? If not, you’re charging too little.

A good rule of thumb is to take whatever you’re comfortable charging and triple it. Your own pricing should make you squirm a little. And if you aren’t hearing people say you’re too expensive from time to time, you aren’t charging enough. Anyone who says your art is too expensive is not a customer you want to have because they don’t value your work.

For client work, I make sure I’m charging at least $150 per hour (more depending on the client), because that’s what I feel I’m worth. And I often hear people say $58 for my 8x10 prints is too high. In my opinion, that’s a steal. I’m probably not charging enough. The sweet spot is where you’re selling enough of your work to make a good living, but not so much that you have to work yourself to the bone. Being a full-time artist should be fun and sustainable.

It’s worth noting that charging too little hurts the whole community. It communicates that art has no value, and that makes me really sad. Self expression is the thing that makes us human. Each art piece is a snapshot of that. It’s the most important thing in the world to communicate a piece of ones soul visually. So remember that next time you are pricing your art “too high.” If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for your fellow artists! Imagine if every single artist in the world united in not undercharging for their work. We’d all be killing it!

Stay tuned for rule #5!

Nicole Cicak