The Painter and Client: A Marriage (or at least an Engagement)
 

The 'teeth showing' thread has prompted me to consider aloud one aspect of what it is to be a portrait painter. As I have long felt, the painted portrait is neither solely about the painter, nor the subject, nor the commissioner. It is a marriage of sorts, a hybrid between a product and a service.

The nuances of pricing are both intriguing and frustrating. I wholeheartedly believe that the more variables you introduce to a client, the less likely you are to to have the chance to make your next painting your best painting.

In my opinion, pricing should be based on your own very general principles, and your own practice about how much time you need to paint a painting you are pleased to present. Challenging the client financially for things like 'extra hands/feet/etc etc' puts your buyer in a position to set parameters that are penny pinching and may will result in a lesser work than you could otherwise do. If you were to simply give yourself a 'raise' of 10-15 % I doubt that your clients would change their purchasing decision, and it would allow you the ability to spend a little more time on some.

This thought process is probably based to some degree on the idea that it is hard for any of us to buy something unseen. Making it as easy and painless for people is only sensible.

That is not to say that a large part of the painter-client relationship isn't based on confidence and trust. It is. Your clients want to believe that you will guide them through an uncertain process, qualified by an expertise that you have and they do not. Don't disappoint them. Let them know clearly that what you need to paint a portrait in the way that will properly express your relationship: certain things will work, certain things simply won't. If they insist, I wish you the fortitude to graciously decline, and, if possible, to help them find a painter that can do what they want.

Chris

As a former manager of a portrait painter, I can agree that keeping the pricing simple for your client is important. You can even scare some prospects away by being too complicated in this area.

I think the bottom line is that there will be more profit from some portraits than others and I think this is probably just the nature of things when we're talking about a custom creation.

I experience this in doing web design. Some of my clients ask for more things on their site or they are simply more picky. Though I must admit that I've jokingly threatened to add a surcharge for any client that is a former graphic designer. Sites for them usually take at least twice as long to do! But, I've yet to do it cause I'm a softy.

To any of my former graphic design SOG clients reading this, I'm saying this with a smile. :)

I'm a former graphic designer (and a former web designer to boot) but I never nit-picked your site design for me, Cynthia! In fact I know your design was much better than anything I ever did!

Michele,

Ok, you surprised me on that one! The thing is, I'm very picky myself, so I really don't mind it plus in the end I want the client to be happy. It's just after a while of doing web sites, it was something I noticed and thought it was rather humorous.