I charged 400 zł for a portrait that took 16 hours, then did the math

Commissioned portrait of a woman's mother, from an old photo. Two weekends of fighting with it, the hair nearly ended me, redid the left eye three times. I came out to about 16 hours and I charged 400 zł. That's roughly 25 zł an hour, which is about what a teenager makes stacking shelves, and I did it sitting on my kitchen floor with pastel dust in my coffee.

The worst part isn't even the money. It's that I priced it by what I thought my work was "worth" as an unknown, self-taught nobody, and the woman cried when she saw it, said it looked just like her. So now I'm happy and embarrassed at the same time, which is a weird way to feel about your own labor.

I keep going back and forth on what a fair price would even be. My materials cost more than I think people realize, good pastels aren't cheap and a sheet of good toned paper is not nothing. And time is time, nobody gets it back. But then I think, who's going to pay a proper rate to someone who's still not sure she's good? That's the trap. I walk into it every time.

Has anyone here found a way to price from your own side instead of from what you're afraid people will think of you? Because I clearly can't do it on my own.<｜end▁of▁thinking｜>

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<｜｜DSML｜｜parameter name="body" string="true">Commissioned portrait of a woman's mother, copied from an old photo. Two weekends of fighting with it, the hair nearly ended me, redid the left eye three times. 16 hours in total and I charged 400 zł. That's about 25 zł an hour, less than a teenager makes stacking shelves, and I did it sitting on my kitchen floor with pastel dust in my coffee.

The worst part isn't even the money. It's that I priced it at what I thought my work was worth as a self-taught unknown, and the woman cried when she saw it, said it looked just like her mother. So now I'm happy and uncomfortable at the same time, which is a strange way to feel about your own labor.

I keep going back and forth on what a fair price would even be. Good pastels aren't cheap and a single sheet of good toned paper is not nothing, most people have no idea what the materials cost. And the time doesn't come back. But then I think, who's going to pay a proper rate to someone who's still not sure she's any good? That's the trap and I walk into it every single time.

Has anyone actually found a way to price from your own side instead of from what you're scared people will think of you? Because I clearly can't do it alone.

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Lukas Brandt·3h

The 25 zł an hour stings, but it's not the real problem. The real problem is you priced it from the wrong place, from what you thought you were allowed to ask, not from what the thing actually is. Nobody who's made something good ever prices it right the first time. You learn by getting it wrong and feeling the embarrassment of it, and then the next one you charge more, and the next one more still.

The crying is the thing worth holding onto, though. She didn't cry because it was cheap. She cried because it was true. That's the part you can't buy at 400 zł or 4,000. So keep the embarrassment if you need it, but don't let it touch the other part. You gave her mother back to her. That's not nothing, and it's not fraud either.

Raise your price next time. Then raise it again. The market won't tell you what it's worth, that's your job, and it's the hardest part of the whole thing.

Roman Petrak·2h

The fraud part is real but it's also how you know you're onto something. People who aren't nervous about the price usually aren't nervous about the work either, and that's a worse place to be.

Sixteen hours is a lot for one portrait. But here's the thing nobody tells you when you start: the first ones are slow because you're still learning. The eye you redid three times, you'll do it in one pass in two years. The hair that nearly ended you won't take half as long. Price goes up and the hours come down, and that gap between them is where you actually start making money.

Keep the embarrassment. It does more for you than confidence does. But charge more next time anyway.

Kasia NowakOP·1h

"People who aren't nervous about the price usually aren't nervous about the work either", I need to pin that somewhere I'll actually see it, because you're right and I don't believe it yet, but it's a good thing to keep staring at.

The hours coming down is the part I keep trying to talk myself into. I know it's true, I've only been at this a couple years, but some days it feels like every portrait is my first one all over again. The hair especially. I almost dread it before I start, and then it always ends up being the bit I'm most proud of. Brains are stupid.

But thank you. "That gap is where you start making money", I've never heard it put like that, and it settles something in me. I'll try to keep the embarrassment. It seems to be doing something.

Kasia NowakOP·2h

That second part really got me, the "fraud for charging anything at all." That's exactly it. Like if it made her cry, then asking for money somehow cheapens it, like I'm putting a price on something that should be beyond that. But then I remember my back hurt for a week and the pastel dust is still in my rug, and that was real work, not just feelings.

You're right about the next one. I already had someone ask about a commission, and I think I'll just double it and see what happens. Worst case they say no and I'm back to 400 zł, which I already know how to survive.

Thank you. That was a kinder way of saying what I needed to hear. 🙂

Elin Holm·3h

The crying is the thing, isn't it. That's the part that can't be priced and also the part that makes you feel like a fraud for charging anything at all.

But you did the work, sixteen hours of it, and that part is real whether she cried or not. The tears don't make the hours worth less, they just make the whole thing feel too personal to put a number on.

I know the math hurts. I've been there with pieces that took weeks to sell for what a shop assistant makes in an afternoon. What I've started doing is separating the pricing from the feeling entirely. The value of making her mother look like her mother is not the same as the value of your time, and you have to charge for the time or you'll stop being able to do it at all.

The shame fades. The portrait doesn't. Charge more next time, and know the crying will still happen.

Kasia NowakOP·2h

The tears don't make the hours worth less, they just make it harder to name a number, you're right. I keep telling myself the crying is proof of value, not proof that I shouldn't have charged. And then I go and feel guilty anyway.

You're right about separating the pricing from the feeling though. I've never managed it, I always price from my stomach not my head. How do you actually do it, the separating? Because I sort of nod along and then next commission I'll probably panic and undersell again. Genuinely asking, not being difficult.