Cheap art buyers

I am sick and tired of people bitching about how I price my original artwork. I don't even price them that high- the most expensive one is $150. Even at those prices, I am being pretty cheap and running the risk of being considered an amateur or "student". Artists who are considered professionals usually price similar artwork anywhere from $300 to $2000 for an original piece. That's one of the reasons why I am selling prints- they're cheap and affordable for people who don't want to spend a hundred bucks for artwork. Seems like a nice compromise to me.

If you are too cheap or too poor to buy a drawing or painting for that price, fine. You can either settle for a print or just appreciate it from afar. But please don't complain to me, please don't come to me about "wow, those are so expensive, good luck selling them, hah!" or mock me for trying to make a decent living. And no, I don't sell them very well but that doesn't mean my price is too high (it's actually too low). It just means that I have either not met the right buyer yet or that the demand for my artwork hasn't gotten to the point where I can sell my artwork one right after the other. I'm not that well known yet and probably won't be for a few years.

But you know what that means... when I do get demand and my artwork does start selling regularly, the price isn't going to stay the same. It's actually going to go up. So instead of selling my pieces for $50-$150 I will be selling them for $250-$500 or maybe even higher. So either settle for a $5 or $10 print or shut up- cheap asses like you are the reason why so many artists have a hard time being able to do what they love for a living.

And why does nobody really bitch and moan about the plumber who charges you a steep fee for fixing your pipes? Or about the repair bill for your car? Or when you get the bill from a doctor for your checkup? These are all skilled trades that take years to learn, so people usually respect that and pay what's due. Why are artists considered different and are the only ones expected to just give their skills away or give them away for such a low price that they can't possible make a living and have to work at some crappy retail job to make ends meet?

Being a great artist is not easy. It takes years, decades, to fine tune our skills and get to the point where we can even consider selling our artwork. Instead of hanging out at parties with friends or going to see that concert in town, we sat at home and spent hours drawing and sketching. Most artists spend more time learning to draw, more hours, than most students spend to earn a college degree. Yet no one has any gripes about paying someone a higher wage for having that piece of paper... but they want to gripe about giving an artist a fair wage. And that drawing that an artist made that you really like, it probably took him anywhere from 10 to 30 hours to complete it. So when you see a painting or drawing that is priced for a $100, $300, or even $500... you're not just being asked to pay for the skills that come from years of practice and study. You are also paying for the time it took to create that particular artwork.

So a $100 dollars is actually pretty cheap when you think about it. So if even after considering all that, you still want to make a fuss over the price, then at least keep your comments to yourself and don't let the artist know how you think. Anytime an artist has to deal with cheapskates, it just makes them think that maybe being an artist isn't worth the crap and makes them consider giving up. Just don't do it.