Where do your paintings fit in? Is your work more like the high end or low end of the pricing structure?Ĥ.

Look at watercolors that are for sale on Etsy and see what the high, middle, and low prices are. Not just any artists, but look at artists who work in similar styles to you. After you know your costs and goals, find out how much it costs to buy other artists’ work. (Then you sell the original for gobs of money.)ģ. How many prints do you want to sell before you make that back? 20 prints? That’s $90 per print. What are your painting goals? Are you trying to appear like you care what the art world thinks, or are you creating art for your buyers?Īlso, how much money do you want to make? If your basic cost per painting is $50 for fixed costs plus $20 for materials, you will then add the 10 hours that it took you to paint the piece (that’s another $200). How much is your time worth? How much do you want to make? If you make $20 per hour, that’s about $40,000 per year. These will be calculated on an individual basis (by painting/piece). These will vary based on how much paint you use, how big the canvas is, etc. This includes your canvas, brushes, the paint you used, and the time you spent (yes, your time is a cost, unless you are working for free). Then there are your costs per painting, or variable costs. If you think you can sell 20 prints each month, then it’s only $50 per print. For example, if your studio and rent together cost $1000 per month, and you plan on selling 10 prints per month, then you have $100 in costs for each print, before you ever count anything else. These costs must be spread out among the number of pieces you plan to sell on a monthly basis. This can include fixed costs like your office space, lighting, heating, etc. You need to make back what you spent in making the art. Pricing is really tough, but you can figure it out! I’m not sure how to go about having prints made, as far as making it profitable. I am thinking of having prints made of some of my watercolor paintings and selling them on sites like Etsy.

Artist Julie Martin wrote in with the following question:

Fine art posters online