Topic: Selling Originals

[Dani Duck]

Okay, so I saw this friend (that I don't know so well) on Facebook who needed a mascot drawn for her school. I have a soft spot for teachers (especially ones who are moms) and didn't ask for any money to do this. Even when she asked to send me money I said that I didn't do it for money and unless she wants the original I wasn't going to charge her anything.

Well now her boss is possibly interested in buying it and posting it all over the school. I don't want to charge too much because I know schools don't get funded well. Is $50 for it too much or too little? It's about 8x10 watercolour. This is the link:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Lz7slGBrEQ/UEFAcHX7fcI/AAAAAAAABHE/iCuxfbJZNBc/s1600/Tiger+Sleuth_Final.jpg

I just want to do something that's reasonable for both me and the school itself!

[TanjaW]

Well, looking at it this way:

 -- $50 could be the minimum payment you might get on a WFH textbook educational project for a quarter page spot illustration.
 -- It might be the hourly rate you'd bill a client

Think about how much time you put in on the project, and the value you have for the result and the education that got you there.  If you don't intend to donate the artwork to the school, then ask them a fee you feel is suitable pricing for your artwork.  And don't forget to include information on the bill of sale (since this wouldn't be a contract for illustration development) about what rights they purchased with the original.

Hope that helps!  :azn:

- t   

[Dani Duck]

They are going to be using this all over the place if they decide to buy. I believe it took me 3-4 hours to do this. I'm not sure about charging $150+ for it, but you have definitely given me something to think about! Thank you.

As a side note: I was talking to one of my friends and she posted on a message board asking about the pricing of the artwork. Someone told her that I should charge $8000 dollars for it because it's for a school and they can afford it. Some days I have a big ego on my artwork but that sounds a bit crazy! I think they were considering that the school was going to sell the image (which is a good point, and I should mention something about that in my contract).

[PaulaP]

$50 is really cheap, and $8,000 is really a lot! $150 sounds reasonable to me, but you need to be clear about how they'll use the art, and if they're going to be making money off it, etc.
Pricing is always the hardest thing. You have to 'go with your gut' sometimes.
Good luck!

[Dani Duck]

I did say 125 for it, because it was good experience and maybe this would be some good exposure for me. I've not heard back, but I'm hopeful. Just the chance that someone is thinking about buying has me feeling pretty good. Now off to work on submitting some things for publishing.

[christripp]

If they do reply (they may have already, post is getting old) make sure you layout the rights that go along with this sale. Rights are just as important as pricing, sometimes more so. Remember buying a piece of art, does not give us the right to reproduce it, we own the physical art, not the copyright:)
To sell rights costs far, far more!