Late last month I received an email from one of the sales executives at Condé Nast’s World of Interiors inviting me to advertise my work in their Artistic Impressions feature for the May 2022 issue. The World of Interiors magazine is collected by over 155,000 reader worldwide, and it was a huge shock to be noticed by such a prestigious publication.
I submitted my piece ‘Brain Fog‘ (2022), as this is a huge opportunity for me to showcase my art raising awareness of my health conditions.
I’m proud of every brush stroke in that piece, and it’s so exciting to me to think of so many people being able to see it.
The front cover of the May 2022 issue of ‘The World of Interiors’ in which my art is featured.The page in ‘The World of Interiors’ in which my art (‘Brain Fog’ 2022) is featured.
The May 2022 issue is being released today, March 31st 2022! If you pick it up and happen to see my art in there, feel free to show me on social media by tagging me @nicolalucyart (Instagram, Twitter, TikTok & Facebook)!
Having an art piece sell in a gallery for the first time, and then featuring in a magazine, is such a wonderful way to start the year!
I finally decided to take the plunge and make my own Etsy store. This is a great opportunity for me to sell prints at the same price (or less) than my print-on-demand stores, but more of the profit actually comes to me!
With each of my Etsy orders:
The A5 print is quality checked by me, the artist, before it is sent out to you.
There is a sticker on the back, with:
My signature (hand-signed)
The number it is (e.g. print 1 of 10)
The piece’s official name
The year of completion
Which print run it is
The thank you note is completely hand-written and personal to the customer.
Protecting the print
The print is packaged in a plastic sleeve for protection against water and a reinforced envelope to protect against bending.
Is it eco-friendly?
The prints are all on recycled, or part-recycled, paper and were delivered from the supplier to myself in a carbon neutral way.
The print is protected from water by a plastic sleeve, which is not recyclable. However, once my stock is used up (100 sleeves), I will look into more eco-friendly alternatives.
The envelopes, as far as I am aware, are not recycled but are recyclable. I strongly encourage you to do so!
I have definitely got room to improve in terms of how eco-friendly my small business is. I know this is important to a lot of people, so I would rather be transparent about where I am up to in terms of that. Hopefully as my business grows, I will have more available to me to invest into eco-friendly packaging. If I could have 0% plastic usage, that would be incredible.
What is the quality like?
To be absolutely clear, the prints in my Etsy shop are not giclée prints for now. I think the quality is beautiful though, and I think they would make a gorgeous addition to any room. I could not guarantee the level of lightfastness that you would expect from a giclée print – which if stored correctly supposedly last 100+ years. You can purchase giclée prints of my artworks, in a variety of sizes, from my Saatchi Art store.
Are they available internationally?
To start with, I’m sticking to UK delivery only for my Etsy store. This is until I have the chance to build up more funds to make that leap. At my current prices, I would barely break even if I shipped internationally due to the cost.
Is there anything else you need to know?
If you’re at all curious about my prints, please feel free to ask questions! I would love to answer them for you!
It’s no secret that pursuing a career in art is not always the most stable of incomes. Whether you’re just selling art as a hobby, or pursuing it as a full-time profession, pricing correctly is very important.
How To Price Artwork
The general rule of thumb is to consider all of the following:
Time taken: Make sure you are earning at least minimum wage for the amount of time that you spent on the artwork.
Cost of materials: Make sure that the cost of any supplies used is included.
Packaging and delivery: Have a rough idea of how much packaging and shipping will cost, and make sure that this is highlighted.
Skill level: Some artists will mark up the cost of their artwork to reflect their level of skill, experience, or education so that they are making more than minimum wage.
Original or print? A print is inherently less valuable than an original as you can reproduce it. If you’re doing a limited run of a print, one way of pricing it could be to divide the total cost of the labour and materials by the number of prints.
Note: this is why many digital artists struggle to sell non-commissioned pieces for decent amounts of money.
Why It Matters
You may have seen some artists price their works at incredibly low price points, including below minimum wage. Quite often this is to encourage customers to shop with them rather than the more expensive competition, or due to a lack of confidence in how much the piece is worth.
It’s important to remember to not give in to the temptation to reduce prices, even if you only do it as a hobby, because this leads to a downwards spiral. Your competitors, who may lose business to your low prices, may lower theirs to compete with you. You then may feel tempted to lower yours to compete again. Then they do the same. This continues until the art is essentially worthless.
Your art took your time, energy, and involved some form of materials. When selling your art, you deserve to be paid for all of that fairly. Please do not devalue your own work.
Nicola Lucy 