Artist > ART Pricing
Custom Designs vs Clipart/Stock Art
blue moon:
--- Quote from: BoldLineDesign on May 17, 2014, 10:00:06 AM ---
--- Quote from: blue moon on May 17, 2014, 08:38:54 AM ---Many ppl expect something for nothing, it is not much different with artwork. Then there are those of us that pay the fair rate for clip art and custom work. We have a large, expensive collection of clip art and fonts that is used for the less demanding customers. When a canned solution is not enough, we get the art done and pay hundreds of dollars for it.
So yes, many ppl will want Champagne on the beer budget! It is your job to find customers willing to pay the going rate if you wish to stay in business. . .
Pierre
--- End quote ---
So you pay out hundreds to an artist to get a custom design...is that something you end up tacking on to your customer charge or do you warn them upfront? I agree there are those who do not care about the design beyond keeping it as cheap as possible!
--- End quote ---
we are strictly contract so everybody has terms, but everybody is also a repeat customer.
if we touch it, we line item charge for it! customer chooses what we do.
pierre
Dottonedan:
BoldLine,
I know your vector art is very good. Very clean and a very nice style.
The tee shirt business is sort of all over the place on art cost. I've seen from many printers over the years the type that want $20.00 art for 20.00 and also 200.00 art for 50.00
Even (most of) the larger shops that do retail licensed art will buy it from you at 150.00 if you let them but the art is a 400.00 job. That is the key sentence, (if you let them).
The whole price issue with art is all about what you feel (you) and your time is worth.
I've talked with another really good "creative" artist who also is excellent with design and who is also an excellent color separator. It's very hard to find all three of those traits.
He is high priced and all of the work he gets is geared towards high end customers that can afford him and want him. He does not do low end "clip art designs". Nor does he entertain lowering his price. He's busy. Very backed up. Maybe as far our as 3 months with customers.
On the flip side, I do have those skills like he does but I reserve the effort into the jobs (based on the budget). So it's a different approach. I do the 25.00 work and also capable and get the request to occasionally do a 500-1000 art job. For this reason, I can be busy, but also, my personal portfolio lacks high quality due to the customer base and budget orders.
Taking apples to apples, hours to hours in a day, I'm sure the other artist is happier, more profitable and has a better portfolio than I do.
re: shop type, there are those both big and small shops that want 10-50.00 art because they do not charge the customer. They started out this way and are now known for this so it becomes too hard to transfer out of giving art to now charging for art . Of those that do, either don't charge the full amount to the customer, are still working off the idea that customers won't pay for good art. I've heard it for years both ways.
Then you have printers that have always charged for art (and typically) they will pay the money it's worth.
I think you do have to define from your art customer (what they are wanting). Is it a low cost budget job (taking advantage of clip art) or are they looking for custom art and willing to pay a higher price.
How you respond depends on the artist you want to be. You can be busy and pay the bills on one side, or be very profitable, happy with your work and portfolio on the other side.
At least your working at either option. :)
Like Greg Kitson said in another post regarding contract printers, it's all about asking questions or communication.
Boldline:
thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic. My goal is to be like the artist you referenced, not compromising on his pricing, his quality or originality. of course the major question becomes, how do you attract that kind of a market, while still paying the bills as you get established. I was having a conversation yesterday with an artist who decided once he went out on his own that he would never rely on clip art or stock art for his work...I understood and admired his stance, but again...it goes back to what kind of work do you want to be known for and how desperate are you for income.
Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com
Boldline:
Dan, another thought I just had about some printers is that they make up for low initial art charges by charging more on the backend (shirts printed). I know this was the case at the screen print shop I worked at prior to striking out on my own. Artwork was wrapped into the total cost of the job and was not itemized for the customer to see and thereby scrutinize. My boss would ask me how long a job would take and then charge accordingly in the initial quote. Of course, the customers were never just given their vector artwork to keep (giving them more of a possibility to take their design elsewhere for printing next time). If they requested the vector, it was assumed they were never coming back and they were charged a couple hundred for their file.
So I noticed when I started out and only offered design and not shirt printing fulfillment that I was missing out on a lucrative part of the business and as having difficulty competing with the shops like the one I used to work at because I had to charge more (from the client POV) for the artwork.
Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com
Dottonedan:
--- Quote ---
So I noticed when I started out and only offered design and not shirt printing fulfillment that I was missing out on a lucrative part of the business and as having difficulty competing with the shops like the one I used to work at because I had to charge more (from the client POV) for the artwork.
Mat Woodworth
www.boldlinedesign.com
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Yes, this is another side of the art and tee quoting dilemma. IN a perfect world, everyone would charge the same and quotes would be itemized the same and customers could compare apples to apple and quality for that price.
Thats never going to happen and as it is, we have people burying art prices into the cost...making the per piece look high...and potentially losing a shirt order over that as well.
Then, (as I had just recently been talking with a printer about), if you were to line item an art charge of $200.00 but be $5.70 on shirt price for first time order, the customers go nuts because of the $200.00 art charge. They may say, "Well, X Co down the road doesn't charge me art at all" and charged me $5.75 on the per piece, but they don't see that X Co charged $25.00 for screens on the reorder and also $25.00 on the initial order.
It seems to be a "where can I hide charges" game and a play with the customers head (so they don't flip out) thing. To the printers point of view, I can certainly see customers that don't understand. THey can't grasp the differences and value. So more often than not, a charge is built in or hidden just to make life easier for everyone.
Another interesting thing I've learned over the years is that some printers may ask if you can work on a job at a lower price (as the order is low quantity) or the customer doesn't have the budget for the art.
What can tick me off tho, is that on occasions such as this, a printer can sometimes tell you this, but mark up the price 30%-50% like they do on any other cost once they've received a discount on art. Now, that (marking up a cost) in and of itself is not the problem, thats business. The problem is that (in this case), on this job... they've asked me to come down on something so they can get this order. I've worked with them on price, yet they've gone back and still marked that price up. I've given some off, but (THEY) have not taken any concessions in order to gain this order. What they should have done, to get the price lower, is just not mark up the art at all.
Asking me come down, "so they can help their customer" but they don't come down on anything...is deceitful.
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