How much should I charge for doing portrait drawings?
I am a college student and I have many commissions lined up for doing portrait drawings, but I never know how much is a fair amount to charge. Just a ballpark amount would be very helpful.
It depends on how much time you spend on it and your materials really. I do photo-realistic pet portraits in Prismacolor for people for around $200 and for me, that works out to about $10 an hour. That said, I’m a bit of a slow artist, and when it comes to lucrative subject matter, pets and children are about the best you’re going to get.
This picture was traded for a homemade quilt. The value of the quilt was probably around $600 and so I feel I lucked out 🙂 http://ladyzephyr.deviantart.com/art/Shilo-Again-149193897
This picture was commissioned for around $250… http://ladyzephyr.deviantart.com/art/Abby-38022909
I live in rural Virginia and my experience has been that a lot of people are eager to have one until they hear the price, so I’m going to start doing smaller ones, like 5 x 5 or 4 x 6 (I usually do large, 10 x 12 portraits) perhaps in the range of $75-$100 and I’m going to start doing sketches too that I might be able to sell for as little as $25. If you’re working with campus students, you also have to take into account that they probably have very little money. That doesn’t mean you have to discount yourself, but just give them their options for what they can afford (like doing a plain line drawing instead of a fully shaded one).
If you’re painting or using charcoal you may be able to charge less because your medium covers a page more quickly, or if you work quickly, or in smaller formats, or if you’re just doing quick sketches you can charge lower. But my rule of thumb is always $10 an hour (which is dirt cheap for original work, let’s face it) and when I get too much work, I up the price.
If you don’t know how much your art is worth, gauge it by posting a commission auction on eBay. Show some of the work you do, explain what you will or won’t do and make sure you list your work’s time frame. Whatever you get for that auction, I would say it’s safe to mark up your price by at least $50.
Tips: 1. Always focus on the eyes. Even if there are small issues with anatomy or hair, if you can capture the expression in the eyes, the customer will fall in love with your work. 2. Never cringe when you deliver a price quote. If you don’t believe in yourself, your customer won’t either and you will either lose the sale or get talked down to some inappropriate price. 3. Enjoy it. The day it becomes insufferable work is the day you need to either stop or take a break.
Don’t swamp yourself with work. Best of luck!
I’m from New York City and if you walk on Times Square, you can usually find an artist who will draw a portrait of you on the street. Unfortunately, I am not sure how much they charge. Personally, I wouldn’t pay more than $20 – $25 for one.
I hope I helped.
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Find out what they charge at local amusement park and charge a little cheaper.A couple of years ago i went and they wanted 29.95 but i’m sure it’s gone up…[or down?] since then.Crazy economy.
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My experience with pricing art I had done, left me with this impression to learn from:
Artist creating for little gratuity leave little to be desired
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experience
It depends on how much time you spend on it and your materials really. I do photo-realistic pet portraits in Prismacolor for people for around $200 and for me, that works out to about $10 an hour. That said, I’m a bit of a slow artist, and when it comes to lucrative subject matter, pets and children are about the best you’re going to get.
This picture was traded for a homemade quilt. The value of the quilt was probably around $600 and so I feel I lucked out 🙂 http://ladyzephyr.deviantart.com/art/Shilo-Again-149193897
This picture was commissioned for around $250… http://ladyzephyr.deviantart.com/art/Abby-38022909
I live in rural Virginia and my experience has been that a lot of people are eager to have one until they hear the price, so I’m going to start doing smaller ones, like 5 x 5 or 4 x 6 (I usually do large, 10 x 12 portraits) perhaps in the range of $75-$100 and I’m going to start doing sketches too that I might be able to sell for as little as $25. If you’re working with campus students, you also have to take into account that they probably have very little money. That doesn’t mean you have to discount yourself, but just give them their options for what they can afford (like doing a plain line drawing instead of a fully shaded one).
If you’re painting or using charcoal you may be able to charge less because your medium covers a page more quickly, or if you work quickly, or in smaller formats, or if you’re just doing quick sketches you can charge lower. But my rule of thumb is always $10 an hour (which is dirt cheap for original work, let’s face it) and when I get too much work, I up the price.
If you don’t know how much your art is worth, gauge it by posting a commission auction on eBay. Show some of the work you do, explain what you will or won’t do and make sure you list your work’s time frame. Whatever you get for that auction, I would say it’s safe to mark up your price by at least $50.
Tips: 1. Always focus on the eyes. Even if there are small issues with anatomy or hair, if you can capture the expression in the eyes, the customer will fall in love with your work. 2. Never cringe when you deliver a price quote. If you don’t believe in yourself, your customer won’t either and you will either lose the sale or get talked down to some inappropriate price. 3. Enjoy it. The day it becomes insufferable work is the day you need to either stop or take a break.
Don’t swamp yourself with work. Best of luck!
References :
Personal experience, college art student (always), graphic designer (<— this IS my day job), professional artist for 10+ years
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through Yahoo!