My Art is Worth Money // or Why Artists Fail

The other day I had a friend of my brother's contact me, asking how he could get acquire one my work.  This friend--let's say he's more an acquaintance is a nice enough kid.  He comes from a family with money, but he's living the Santa Cruz trust-fund lifestyle, and devotes a lot of time and energy to hanging out with hippies, fire dancing and making his annual pilgrimage to Burning Man.

His message looked something like this:

hey there

i was just wondering how i could get my hands on a piece by you?

money trades favors love? let me know...

To this I replied:

Hi _____, I'm glad you like the work.

I'm trying to get in the habit of selling work, since it's the best way to grow my reputation as viable artist. If you buy from me, you'll be one of my first legitimate customers. For my 9x12" pen drawings, I think $40 plus shipping is a fair asking price. I have a sizable collection of recent work, so you'd have plenty to choose from. If you want the piece framed (which I recommend you do in any case, since it protects and enhances the drawing), I can frame (black or white) and ship you the piece for a clean $60. 

Let me know if you're interested.

Since then it's been radio silence, and I haven't heard from him since.  Presumably because I am not interested in giving away my work to someone I only barely know for "Love," it has become a bad deal in his eyes.  Yeah, maybe I was a bit too upfront around pricing (in sales you should come to the price at the very end), but too many artists aren't confident selling their work--valuing it in monetary terms (myself included)--and I don't want to go down the path of giving away all of my work or permanently underpricing it.  I've been drawing for nearly two decades, and I have my own (fairly recognizable) style.  My art is worth money.

Maybe $40, or $60 is steep for his budget, but if he wants my work he needs to pay.  It may sound ruthless, but it actually benefits  both of us.  In addition to compensating someone for their time, when you buy work by an artist, you are telling the artist you value their work--that it brings you pleasure enough to warrant payment.  And by paying for the work, you will not only value it more highly in the long run (since you had to sacrifice something to acquire it), you will also take better care of it.  You paid for it, so there's less risk that it will end up in the garbage can when you change up the decoration on your walls. And with any luck the work will appreciate over time--by the same process you participated in--people buying the work.  

Artists should stand up for themselves.  Charging money for your work does not mean you are extrinsically motivated.  It means you have confidence in the value of your work, the foresight to grow the value of your work, and the pragmatism to pay for the everyday--so that you can continue making the work.  The fact that many don't is lamentable.