People usually don`t look at art as business. But art is a business, and a profession as any other out there. It starts as a hobby, something one likes to do or is good at. But doctors, lawyers, journalists, archeologists, they all started their careers that way. Artists too have to gain skills through many hours of practice and classes, tutorials, schools.... It costs them a lot of money and time. So why is it that people/potential clients so often undervalue artist`s job and products?
Have you ever thought how much time it took the artist, whose art you admire, to get on that kind of skill level, to produce the product you like? Have you ever thought how much time the artist spends advertising, responding to messages, emails and phone calls, answering all of your questions, setting up and taking apart vendors spaces at art shows and fairs, how much money the artist spends to get merchandise ready (with no guarantee of any profit from it), art show fees, shipping costs involved with sending art piece somewhere just to try reach audience, advertising fees in magazines or elsewhere, just to get the word and product out there to be seen....?!!!!! Just to be noticed.....
When people think of an artist, they imagine very non-realistic picture: a person with no responsibilities, no bills, no worries, just having fun drawing/painting and selling it for ton of money. People imagine a piece of art is created in matter of minutes, so why would they pay more than a few bucks, right?! Like if the artists are magicians with magic wands! Yeah, believe me, all artists wish for that kind of reality. It just does not exist.
Art is a regular full time job, with lots of overtime, sore backs, sore eyes, sore butt cheeks and sore hands. Hours very often go long into night time. Artists are also very harsh self-critiques. They are perfectionists, no matter what skill level, they try to give their best to produce the best product.
The artists too, have bills to pay, families to feed and take care of, they need place to live, they need health insurance, they get sick, have other health problems, surgeries, disabilities etc... They are people as any other of you. They have bad and good days, they go through rough times, they worry, they fall, get up and try again. Life events can affect their motivation and inspiration. Artists have to deal with all sorts of audience, and there is always someone who can just make you loose motivation for going on and bringing wonderful atmosphere with their artworks into so many homes. So even if you can not afford their art, why not to be the person who motivates them to keep up the good job and help them reach the audience by sharing their posts or spreading a positive word about their artwork?
Have you ever given a thought to how much $ the material for a portrait you plan on getting actually costs? Quality of the product depends a lot on the quality of the supplies used, and supplies are costly. Usually the better the product the more the material cost. Let me give you an example: Imagine colored pencil drawing, nice detailed, rich colors, realistic..... what does come to your mind?- sheet of a cheap printer paper and colored pencil set from Walmart or Dollar store. ....vuallaa! Wrong! You are so, so wrong!
Creating a piece involves so much more than that! So many tools, you would not believe. Choice of the right surface to draw on, so that you get the result you want. Think more like $6-$15 per sheet of paper/board that`s going to be used. Erasers (a lot and different ones, including the electric ones=expensive!), sharpeners (the same thing applies to sharpeners). Did you know how much time the artist spends sharpening pencils, because the point has to be constantly sharp to be able to do details? Did you know, sharpeners go dull quickly (after a few drawings), so they have to be replaced? Other tools, just to mention a few, solvents, blenders, burnishers, pencil extenders, wet wipes, paper towels, cotton swabs, masking tape, frog tape, scotch tape, razor blades and scalpels (you read it right), embossing tools, various kinds of brushes, sponges, paper stumps, good lamp/light, computer, often printing photos of parts of the animal to be able to see the details, drawing table, comfortable chair for long hours of work, ....
And since we are talking about colored pencil piece....the most important part, the colored pencils! They are no dollar store kind. Not if you want a quality product. And believe me, you would not want me to create one with that kind. Cheap pencils simply don`t have enough pigment to leave that quality color vibrance, plus they easily scratch paper/surface - since it his hard to lay down enough color on the paper, it is making a person to push hard with them to get down any color at all. 1 animal portrait with no back ground can take about 35 pencils (or more) and pencils run from $2.50 -$4.80/each. then you put shipping cost on top of that, or gas money and your time to go get it.
Good quality camera to take photos of the created artwork, printer and scanner and/or paying someone for those services. Artist needs editing software (or a few) in the computer, and spends many hours editing, watermarking images of the artwork to be able to post it somewhere online or get files ready for printing.
Another interesting point is: just because someone is an artist, it does not mean they automatically know how to work in all mediums (pastel, charcoal, watercolors, graphite, guache, colored pencils, oils, acrylics, etc...). It also doesn`t mean every artist knows how to do people, animals, landscape, still life,... Think about it this way: when you think about doctors, foot doctor does not deal with teeth. Learning to draw different subject is like trying to learn new specialty. And learning to use a different medium is a brand new, long journey. Every time an artist tries to learn new subject or medium, it means starting from zero ( with lots of sweat and frustration along the way). And of course, with more skill, the price for art goes up again.
Then, you have to think of location of the artist: Person living in USA has basic living expenses incomparably higher, then someone from Poland or China. Shipping fees from China to USA are almost nothing if you compare it to sending it the other way. And yes, we all know about Ebay, and clients` price point range is often affected by product prices on Ebay.
Maybe you can remember at least some of the facts I wrote about, next time you want to point out someone`s art is priced too high. We do understand that person with very little or no artistic skill and insight this is hard to imagine. Just like a regular person can not understand why 1 horse can cost $800 while other a few hundred thousands or a million. Because all the person see is "a horse, with head, 4 legs and tail"! A regular person does not understand what all plays role in the price , e.i. age, color, bloodline, breeder, training level, achievements in shows/races (earnings),health condition, gender and potential breeding value. Original art is luxury , and not everyone can afford luxury. Artists are aware of it. With all respect , you would not work for less than minimum wage as a doctor or lawyer either. Original art is special, unique. It is not something that was bought because in 1 season it will be replaced by something else. It something that you should value high and have it on the wall even for generations. Lots of artists offer prints of their work for the ones who can not afford the original piece. And if even that is too much, then there are places like Target and Walmart and such, where the less fortunate ones can buy posters (that were printed in millions of copies).
It`s like , you either drive a Ferrari ,.....or...... Kia. You are either looking for something that`s going to be a valuable and cherished piece into your collection and last even generations or, something with no value for you that will be replaced shortly after (few months) you buy it.