WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.179 --> 00:00:03.160 Do you know how much your art is worth? 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:07.390 After watching this video you will be able to set a base price on your art and learn 00:00:07.390 --> 00:00:12.350 how to increase the value of your art even if it stays the same quality. 00:00:12.350 --> 00:00:16.690 Pricing is a challenge for artists of all skills, so when I asked for examples to create 00:00:16.690 --> 00:00:21.190 this video we received over 1,000 pieces in less than 12 hours. 00:00:21.190 --> 00:00:26.430 And I say “we” because I’m joined by a group of full-time artists and buyers who 00:00:26.430 --> 00:00:29.430 took time to price and critique some of the entries. 00:00:29.430 --> 00:00:32.020 Arenia is a professional animator. 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:37.190 At the time of this video she is at Titmouse, a studio that creates a lot of cartoons you’ve 00:00:37.190 --> 00:00:38.190 heard of. 00:00:38.190 --> 00:00:42.600 Crunchy is an independent character designer and illustrator who works in digital and traditional 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:43.600 art. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:49.920 Marina specializes in game design and animation, with a background in both 2D and 3D art. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:52.710 Din is representing the buyer’s perspective. 00:00:52.710 --> 00:00:57.390 He’s experienced with the convention side of things and purchases quite a bit of art. 00:00:57.390 --> 00:01:00.580 Kallenin is not familiar with pricing artwork at all. 00:01:00.580 --> 00:01:03.420 He’s here to give you an outsider’s point of view. 00:01:03.420 --> 00:01:05.320 And then there’s me: animator. 00:01:05.320 --> 00:01:10.670 During the gallery you’ll see some times when our valuations were very different. 00:01:10.670 --> 00:01:14.820 Otherwise, everything is listed by median price. 00:01:14.820 --> 00:01:18.570 Let’s start with a quick review of what goes into a price. 00:01:18.570 --> 00:01:19.570 Materials. 00:01:19.570 --> 00:01:20.570 Traditional artists: canvas, paper, pencils, etc. 00:01:20.570 --> 00:01:21.570 Digital: the item you draw with and software. 00:01:21.570 --> 00:01:22.570 Fees. 00:01:22.570 --> 00:01:23.570 Paypal transaction fee. 00:01:23.570 --> 00:01:24.570 Currency conversion. 00:01:24.570 --> 00:01:25.570 Market, gallery, and convention fees. 00:01:25.570 --> 00:01:26.570 Other Costs. 00:01:26.570 --> 00:01:27.570 Shipping, websites, travel, insurance, business registration, vacation time. 00:01:27.570 --> 00:01:28.570 Taxes. 00:01:28.570 --> 00:01:29.570 Sales tax + income tax. 00:01:29.570 --> 00:01:32.799 Freelancers and businesses pay double income tax. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:34.520 Quality and experience. 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:35.520 Hours of work. 00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:38.310 At the professional level all of these need to be factored into your price. 00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:44.450 Otherwise you are spending more than you make. 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:46.920 For judging purposes I hid hours of work. 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:51.500 The judges had to assume based on the piece itself how many hours it may have taken. 00:01:51.500 --> 00:01:56.509 At the end of the art gallery I’ll discuss how to calculate and add hours of work to 00:01:56.509 --> 00:01:59.360 your price. 00:01:59.360 --> 00:02:03.930 This topic video is sponsored by Amino, where I am posting mini versions of my tutorials 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:08.720 using Amino’s stories format, which allows some really interesting possibilities for 00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:09.720 artists and animators. 00:02:09.720 --> 00:02:14.079 Stories have to be short, you can fast flip between parts by tapping your screen, and 00:02:14.079 --> 00:02:16.749 you can add polls and quizzes in between parts. 00:02:16.749 --> 00:02:20.540 I’m already thinking of a bunch of crazy stuff I could do with that, like an interactive 00:02:20.540 --> 00:02:22.159 mini comic series. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:26.829 So instead of posting this exact video there, I made a game where you can test your art 00:02:26.829 --> 00:02:28.329 pricing skills. 00:02:28.329 --> 00:02:32.769 If you use Amino, please follow my CrownePrince profile before you play. 00:02:32.769 --> 00:02:36.029 If you don’t have Amino, there’s a special link in the description where you can download 00:02:36.029 --> 00:02:37.689 the app. 00:02:37.689 --> 00:02:40.710 So let me explain how to use this video to price your art. 00:02:40.710 --> 00:02:41.710 The art gallery is organized into categories. 00:02:41.710 --> 00:02:46.579 Take the art you want to sell, find the category it’s in, and study the examples for a price 00:02:46.579 --> 00:02:47.579 estimate. 00:02:47.579 --> 00:03:00.510 Then, use the tips throughout this video to choose a final price. 00:03:00.510 --> 00:03:05.049 We judged all of the prices as if we were a normal customer paying for personal use 00:03:05.049 --> 00:03:06.049 art. 00:03:06.049 --> 00:03:09.349 Situations other than this can drastically affect price. 00:03:09.349 --> 00:03:14.909 For instance, if I wanted to buy art to put on merchandise I’m selling, or if the buyer 00:03:14.909 --> 00:03:19.129 is a company, or if you’re selling mass digital prints instead of originals. 00:03:19.129 --> 00:03:21.419 We’re not going to get into those things today. 00:03:21.419 --> 00:03:24.489 We are focusing on commissions for individuals. 00:03:24.489 --> 00:03:29.230 A little note on the $5-10 range: these tend to be beginner pieces. 00:03:29.230 --> 00:03:34.799 if you find yourself at a similar skill level you’re probably not ready to sell art yet, 00:03:34.799 --> 00:03:38.099 but if you do, make sure to charge at least this much. 00:03:38.099 --> 00:03:52.530 You know, when I was collecting the data I thought I might have to ignore Kal’s prices 00:03:52.530 --> 00:04:05.260 for the final estimate, but it turns out he was spot on almost every time. 00:04:05.260 --> 00:04:08.209 Raise the price for every character in your piece of art. 00:04:08.209 --> 00:04:10.499 Raise the price for a background. 00:04:10.499 --> 00:04:34.319 Complex backgrounds are worth more. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:05:02.129 For character sheets, charge a design fee on top of base price if you do a lot of sketch 00:05:02.129 --> 00:05:41.190 work and communication with the buyer to come up with a design from scratch. 00:05:41.190 --> 00:05:44.400 Illustrations and traditional art are the most expensive categories. 00:05:44.400 --> 00:05:49.729 As Din says, it can be trickier to sell these because many casual buyers hesitate to spend 00:05:49.729 --> 00:05:52.909 over $150 on one piece of art. 00:05:52.909 --> 00:05:56.449 But people can and will pay the fair price. 00:05:56.449 --> 00:05:59.300 Don’t undercharge, wait for the right buyer instead. 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:05.940 Be willing to say no to those who try to negotiate you too far down on prices, or offer them 00:06:05.940 --> 00:07:36.979 a different type of art for their lower price - like a fullbody with no background. 00:07:36.979 --> 00:07:41.370 Now that you have an idea of prices, let’s talk about the hours of work it takes to make 00:07:41.370 --> 00:07:42.370 your art. 00:07:42.370 --> 00:07:44.559 First, if you don’t know, find out. 00:07:44.559 --> 00:07:48.520 Keep track in a document how long it takes to create different commissions, alongside 00:07:48.520 --> 00:07:50.099 how much you charged for them. 00:07:50.099 --> 00:07:54.909 You’ll get a brutal assessment of how many dollars per hour you’re making. 00:07:54.909 --> 00:07:58.169 Increase your price to reach the dollars per hour you need. 00:07:58.169 --> 00:08:03.150 If you’re scared of sticker shocking current customers, raise the price in increments over 00:08:03.150 --> 00:08:04.150 time. 00:08:04.150 --> 00:08:06.760 That’s something you should be doing anyway because of inflation. 00:08:06.760 --> 00:08:11.539 You may have to face the fact you are spending too many hours per piece. 00:08:11.539 --> 00:08:16.189 turtlehat has this fantastic illustration with a very marketable, unique style, but 00:08:16.189 --> 00:08:18.129 it took 18 hours to make. 00:08:18.129 --> 00:08:23.860 Even if you lowballed at $20 an hour, that’s $360, not including operating costs. 00:08:23.860 --> 00:08:26.719 For that kind of price we’re looking at a different market than what this video is 00:08:26.719 --> 00:08:27.930 talking about. 00:08:27.930 --> 00:08:32.890 If you find your hours are too high and pricing you way out of the market, you have three 00:08:32.890 --> 00:08:38.740 options: charge the high price anyway, develop a style you can create faster, or keep practicing 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:40.199 until you’re faster. 00:08:40.199 --> 00:08:44.490 With experience you will be able to create an illustration like this in 4-8 hours, possibly 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:46.440 less. 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:51.360 And of course for advanced artists some pieces do take 40 hours to make. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:52.720 Charge accordingly. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:57.590 The customer base for expensive art is smaller, but it is there, even in the realm of individual 00:08:57.590 --> 00:08:58.590 buyers. 00:08:58.590 --> 00:09:01.949 Walk an art gallery at a convention (not the marketplace, but the art gallery) and you’ll 00:09:01.949 --> 00:09:03.480 see what I mean. 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:07.240 If you’d like to sell your art for more money, these are a few things that increase 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.070 the value of the art even if the quality is the same. 00:09:11.070 --> 00:09:12.740 One of those is reliability. 00:09:12.740 --> 00:09:17.100 If you always deliver on time and communicate well, people remember that. 00:09:17.100 --> 00:09:18.550 Word goes around. 00:09:18.550 --> 00:09:24.339 Having a good looking store, well organized prices, pleasant to look at, that can increase 00:09:24.339 --> 00:09:25.779 the value of your art. 00:09:25.779 --> 00:09:31.480 As an artist you’re often told to practice all different kinds of art, but, for business, 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:38.360 if you get known for a particular style or niche, you can charge higher prices for that. 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:44.510 Stuff like tattoo designs or skateboard designs are niche markets you can get well known within. 00:09:44.510 --> 00:09:49.639 And that ties a little into name recognition, which is basically you can charge a higher 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:51.199 price because you’re famous. 00:09:51.199 --> 00:09:53.029 Or well known in some way. 00:09:53.029 --> 00:09:58.100 So you might be familiar with some famous artists who are able to charge $100 or more 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:01.959 for only a flat color fullbody because if they didn’t, they’d be so overflowed with 00:10:01.959 --> 00:10:04.610 commissions they wouldn’t be able to do anything else. 00:10:04.610 --> 00:10:08.160 So if demand for your art is high, raise your price. 00:10:08.160 --> 00:10:13.079 One last tip: people generally don’t buy art because it’s cheap. 00:10:13.079 --> 00:10:18.139 When you have a small audience, having a low price doesn’t mean you’ll get more customers. 00:10:18.139 --> 00:10:22.910 It means the customers you do have are paying less than what they are willing to pay. 00:10:22.910 --> 00:10:25.600 A big thank you to today’s panelists. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:31.890 You can find their links in the description, along with a list of the artists in today’s 00:10:31.890 --> 00:10:32.910 gallery. 00:10:32.910 --> 00:10:37.240 Thank you Acru for fixing my first messy price scale. 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.810 Would you like another video like this? 00:10:40.810 --> 00:10:42.329 Have a question about pricing? 00:10:42.329 --> 00:10:44.300 Write it in the comments section! 00:10:44.300 --> 00:10:49.459 Visit my YouTube channel for more tutorials, subscribe for new ones, and join my Patreon 00:10:49.459 --> 00:10:55.009 to overthrow Nitsua, who’s terrorizing the kingdom with his dastardly ironfisted grip 00:10:55.009 --> 00:10:56.940 on that top tier. 00:10:56.940 --> 00:11:00.980 (hums Wii music)