The Art of Gavin O'Donnell - price?

Xenzo

I'm wondering what do people think is a reasonable and fair price to be charging people for the drawings i'm doing? I don't know of anyone else in Dublin doing what i'm doing, if anyone does link me to them!

I set up a small Facebook page for it, take a look to see what i'm doing.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-Gavin-ODonnell/226032054077423

spinandscribble

I've mostly seen this type of drawing (pencil head shots from photos) in holiday locations that have bazzar/market areas in europe/asia, you give them a photograph and 24 hours later you get the drawing.
The pricing I saw wouldn't be helpful to you since you're in ireland and different prices are expected. I think the length of time it takes to produce the drawing would change the price (if you can do a turnaround in one day as opposed to 2weeks or 1 month for example) so factor that in.

Xenzo

Thanks for the reply! I'd usually spend about 10 - 15 hours maybe on a portrait of 1 or 2 people, depending on the amount of detail. I'd get it finished in about a week - 2 weeks usually. So what do you think I should be charging?

spinandscribble

I'm not sure i think they were going for roughly 10/15 euro when i was in thailand and those were very life like, almost like photographs and you could pick them up the next day. I think you might need to practice facial proportions a bit more as the eyes are somewhat too large and distracting in some of the examples of work you have (particularly the little girl from 2007 with the bow on her head).

edit: thats from 4 years ago, i can see now on closer inspection and you need to ask yourself if its sensible to use that image to promote yourself now if your skill has improved. Punters might be turned off straight away if they see it and think "oh so which will i get?". It isn't like portfolios for college where they want to see progression, punters just want great finished work. The newer stuff is much more balanced and probably best represent where you're at now.

If I was you i'd probably look for max 35 euro at the moment for a A4 drawing and increase/decrease this depending on scale/turn around time. This is just my opinion, I think once you're at it longer and build up a stronger portfolio (some of your work is very strong but some looks like it was done some time ago) then you could increase the price. This is just my opinion however and you're likely to find opinions vary widely. You could probably get more but its hard to gauge with these things. you dont want to under sell your work but you dont want to be too high either.

Xenzo

Yeah I cleaned up and removed some of the older stuff, you're right about that, doesn't represent where i'm at right now. I was thinking in the progression sense. Thanks for the help and the opinions

artycrafty

Xenzo wrote: »

Yeah I cleaned up and removed some of the older stuff, you're right about that, doesn't represent where i'm at right now. I was thinking in the progression sense. Thanks for the help and the opinions

Hi Xeno, I had a look at your link and your work is very impressive! It has a softness to it that is appealing. Well done.
In reply to your response quoted above, this is the way I have porfolio'd my work also, I do woodcraft.
Sorry for hijacking your post but I too have learned a very valuable lesson from spinandscribble about featuring older work. I too have progressed over the years and it makes total sense to show where you are at right now!
Thanks!

spinandscribble

artycrafty wrote: »

Hi Xeno, I had a look at your link and your work is very impressive! It has a softness to it that is appealing. Well done.
In reply to your response quoted above, this is the way I have porfolio'd my work also, I do woodcraft.
Sorry for hijacking your post but I too have learned a very valuable lesson from spinandscribble about featuring older work. I too have progressed over the years and it makes total sense to show where you are at right now!
Thanks!

well thats the thing, the consumer is buying the work NOW, they don't give a damn how far you've come, they're not going to be more impressed, if anything it'll put them off, it can look at a glance you're hit/miss or can't be selective in how you present yourself.

artycrafty

spinandscribble......thanks! I haven't posted enough yet to be able to do the little "thanks" tab.

spinandscribble

Funny thing is I've no experience selling my work, my art work wouldn't really be sellable (4 foot tall ball of hair anyone?). its something i'm okay with, I don't want to hinder my process with money yet as i'm more interested in getting exhibitions ect (I can't please everyone and myself regarding the nature of my art work) but I do want to work on my illustrations more (getting more and more people asking if i've cards of them to sell) and transfer them onto bag/mugs/boxes ect and try selling on etsy. I need monies!!!!!! lol

artycrafty

spinandscribble wrote: »

Funny thing is I've no experience selling my work, my art work wouldn't really be sellable (4 foot tall ball of hair anyone?). its something i'm okay with, I don't want to hinder my process with money yet as i'm more interested in getting exhibitions ect (I can't please everyone and myself regarding the nature of my art work) but I do want to work on my illustrations more (getting more and more people asking if i've cards of them to sell) and transfer them onto bag/mugs/boxes ect and try selling on etsy. I need monies!!!!!! lol

Eek!:eek:
I have visions of a dodgy shower trap! lol
Now I want to know more about the art you do. Rather than hijack Xeno's post can you start a new thread and enlighten us please!