Buying prints off illustrators...
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- Horp
Long post, sorry
What do you think is a reasonable price to pay for signed limited edition prints that you buy off an illustrator's website?
- Lets say the prints are about A2 in size, and are limited to runs of 10 or 20.
- They are not giclées (which are just bubblejets no matter what anyone tells you) and they are not screenprints or litho...
- They are hand printed by the illustrator in two or three colours, on a self-made pressure press, using wax plates that he has devised and made himself, which give every print in the run a unique texture and enable each print to have different colours. By the end of ten or twenty prints the wax plate is no longer useable so there can never be any more.
What would be a good price that reflects the product but doesn't make them too expensive to buy?
Forget for the moment what they might look like... don't say "Can I see one first?"... I'm just asking, hypothetically, what people think is a reasonable price to pay for a print viewed off a website, and so I'm giving you a rough idea of what the product is.
Thanks for any feedback.
- blaw0
Depends on the work, obviously, but first blush I'd say anywhere between $50 and $200 is a good place to start.
- Pricing in the range dependable upon market factors such as how quickly you want them to move, etc.blaw
- Thanks Blaw.
How you doing?
Happy New Year!Horp - HNY, spook. I'm well. You're experienced in screen printing? Quite a few talented printers on this board.blaw
- Making that leap is on my "must-do" list. I'm looking forward to your work being available for purchase.blaw
- I have my own print process I'm keen to use and explore.Horp
- I am looking forward to yours being available too!Horp
- Thank you, sir.
"Ladies and gentleman, the ever talented and always polite Mr.Spooky..."blaw
- digdre0
As I like you and your work, Horp, I would pay $100
but think of that size.. A2... you might want some smaller versions aswell.. since not everyone has space for A2prints.if i'm still on ignore, ignore this post.
- chossy0
I would not have a problem paying £50 for A2, I just bought something last night for £52 which included delivery of something 12 inches by 17 inches.
- But these are prints, not dildo's.max_prophet
- boo yarodzilla
- Horp0
Okay great, I feel I know what to do with pricing then.
Second question(s)...
When spending £50 / $75 / €60 on a print that you have only seen on a website:
- do you expect to see lots of detail shots as well as an overall image?
- Are you going to be relatively open to the fact that what you see on a website on your personal computer screen is not going to be exactly the same as what you see in the flesh with regard to colour matching?
- Would you expect to be able to pay to receive the piece, view it upon delivery, and then send it back for a full refund if its not quite the shade of lilac you thought would match your curtains after all?
- drgss0
1 dollar
- agentfour0
generally a lot of pricing would depend upon the notoriety of the artist involved.
But as a starting point i would calculate all costs involved in producing, marketing, administrating etc etc. This wax method sounds quite hard work and costly so i would firstly make sure prices make it actually worthwhile to produce and sell. Cover costs first and then maybe double it....at least.
I bought four colour screenprint of edition of 75. 70 x 50 cm before xmas for £95. I was happy to pay that as i really like the artist and have wanted something of theirs for a while.
- chossy0
I would expect a reasonable sized image to see it's entirety then one maybe two close up shots.
If the print was crap or ruined then I would want my money back but if it is not absolutely exactly what I wanted I wouldn't give a hoot as long as like I say it wasn't ruined or completely different from the online photos.
People when buying things online have to accept this as part of the deal you are not able to view it like in a shop proper.
- chossy0
Tell them to fuck off, anyone buying prints would be knowledgeable enough to understand things and if they are not then have a disclaimer a well written disclaimer so that it doesn't discourage from buying but holds key the situations that may arise.
If people don't like what they get you can say what is wrong with it? provide pictures please then the onus is on them to match it to the original....
Have confidence man :)
- FallowDeer0
I would say around £40 - £80 for a print.
maybe up to £100 if it was extra good
- ian0
Hey spooks!
I haven't bought much online but people here have been pretty good with answers. I've bought some of this guys posters, they are screen printed limited editions of 500, prices range from about $40 up to $80 depending on inks and specials.
http://tstout.com/welcomeI like the way the images are on the site, one big and some close-ups. I think for more hand done stuff the price generally goes up (i've seen some illustrators charge anything up to $1,000 or so for one offs/hand done etc) but for me the most I could afford would be $150-$200 which is what, about £130/€150 or so. Then think about shipping costs on top of that.
Good luck chief!
- davetravis0
Perhaps explain due to the nature of the process that colours ect may vary. But price wise around £50 sounds cool, depends on costs ect as mentioned before.
A lot of bullshit about at the moment with silly prices just 'dameges' the brand. I remember (leans back in rocking chair) when artomatic, forbidden planet ect sold banksy prints for £35
- You mean inkjet prints, from photos, of work they didn't really have the right to? Sounds like a steal for £35...Nairn
- No fall prov, numbered ect. Around 2002ish
davetravis - Screenprints. But not really the point of this post just a throwaway comment.davetravis
- Ah, actually, I'll shut up - one of my friends has one of those screens from way back. I thought you meant the shit ...Nairn
- ...that's on sale in all those typical middling 'art' shops around tourist market hovels in London.Nairn
- max_prophet0
Personally I never buy any kind of giclee/litho print so I think you're on the right path with this more crafted approach. I'm also fussy with who I buy and as such I never really buy any designery posters or anything trendy jump on the bandwagon crap. My point is that I think it would help to have some info on the site about the artist, something that shows a fair bit of previous work and shows you as a serious, original artist/illustrator and not just some kid out of college or fly-by-night hack.
This way people are buying into you as an artist and would feel that the print should gain value over time, this taps into what agentfour was saying about noteriety. Using this approach would, I think, enable you to put a higher price on the prints, because with the materials, time etc the amounts people are talking about here don't seem to be enough. I would think like apple do with their range, there's a variety of product and the step-ups in price isn't too ridiculous, so the upsell is easier. To add to this I would put one off original pieces up for sale too, with hefty price tags as this will seemingly increase the perceived worth of the prints, plus if you do sell one, you're laughing.
- Cheers Max, you touch on a dilemma I often have: selling 'prints' vs selling 'pieces of art' so to speak [pto]...Horp
- ... but at this point I'd also be keen to sell more at a lower price to feel it is worth it. The process I've created requires...Horp
- ... a particular style of drawing to exploit its crudity so I need to get cracking on doing those drawings now I guess!Horp
- Exploiting crudity eh? Add a tenner.max_prophet
- HahahahaHorp
- Horp0
For what its worth, this is the print process in action, though I have to add that I just picked a sketch from my sketchbook to experiment with, sothe artwork would not look like this. I would do 2 or 3 colours and exploit the fact that the inks are transparent to give additional overlap colours. The artwork needs to be quite bold as per linocuts for the process to work...
- max_prophet0
Really nice
you should definitely make it really clear the distinction between these types of prints and the other crap that's out there.
- I would try to explain that these were not gicleee bubblejets, but people don't read these days. Thanks for your thoughts btw.Horp
- < That note seemed as though it had a subtext didn't it.
(It didn't: I just crammed in a courtesy at the end)Horp - You're an illustator and a designer - design step by step illustrations to clarify your process to your punters...Nairn
- ...and, *ahem*, to provide your conniving fellow fiends here a peek into your technique..Nairn
- Maybe some pics of the process would help, and also, to use a horrible phrase, 'ADD VALUE'max_prophet
- YEs, that's exactly what I'm hoping to avoid ahaha, but maybe some seperation proofs could be enlightening.Horp
- I'd actually be interested to see anyhow, looks like fun.max_prophet
- QBNers will definitely be the first to know when I have finally got around to doing the first piece/s.Horp
- Aye, fuck the art - where's the tutorial?Nairn
- kodap0
t's a good thing to explain the process, since it has passed the to the "hand-made" territory, instead of just a simple print made on the corner-print-shop our on a good printer/paper
Just like Horp has demonstrated by the pics and the artwork itself (worthy or not >100$, there is a clear understand on the consumer's choice when it comes to buying a good piece of art or just decorative scraps to "go-well" on the furniture and the sofa color...
So in conclusion, it all depends on how you want your products/art to be seen and appreciated by the buyer... and add the aesthetic appeal...
- explaining with good photos and the 'making-of' the production processkodap
- digdre0
Love it Horp, but you already know that.
How is linocut done,
