I priced a commission at $1,850 and someone said "that feels steep for watercolor"

So I quoted a piece last week, 16x20, four figures, real time on it, and the person goes "that feels steep for watercolor, no?" and I just sat there typing and deleting for like ten minutes.

Because here's the thing, that's the exact sentence watercolor gets. Gouache never gets it. Oil never gets it. But watercolor is "just" the medium that comes in a little pan for kids. Which is insane because watercolor is the least forgiving thing I do. There is no covering up. No scraping back to a happy accident. You make one wrong wash at hour nine and you're starting the whole sheet over. I have a stack of failures in my closet that would make you cry.

I didn't say any of that, obviously. I wrote something very polite about materials and process and how many hours it takes and how the paper alone is like $40 a sheet before I even touch it. And you know what, they said yes?? They just wanted to understand it. Which I guess is the actual lesson and I hate that the lesson is "explain yourself more."

But also I'm kind of tired of explaining myself more. Does anyone else get the "feels steep" thing and how do you answer it without turning into a lecture. Because I keep doing the lecture and then apologizing for the lecture and then giving a discount, haha. The discount is the real problem. I know the discount is the real problem. 🙃

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Roman Petrak·3w

$1,850 for a 16x20 with four figures is not steep, it's probably low if you're counting real hours. The medium has nothing to do with it. Watercolor's unforgiving because there's no going back, you're right about that. I work stone and steel and the same rule holds, you find out at hour nine whether hour one was right. Price the hours and the risk, not the pan it comes in. People who say that either don't paint or are negotiating. Don't sit there deleting, just give them the number again.

Dani OkaforOP·3w

"you find out at hour nine whether hour one was right" ok that's going straight into my head forever, that's the whole thing and you said it in nine words about STONE. Stone and steel, god, no undo button either. I think that's why the sculpture people and I get along actually, we're both doing the medium that punishes you for being tired.

And yeah, "either don't paint or are negotiating" is the part I keep circling. Because the ones who negotiate know exactly what they're doing. They're not confused about watercolor, they're seeing if I'll flinch. And I did flinch! I sat there deleting. Which is on me.

I'm going to give them the number again. Same number. Thank you for this, genuinely 🙏

Lukas Brandt·3w

The price question is a distraction, I think. What the person actually said was "watercolor is a cheap material, so your time must be cheap" and that's a category error they'll never hear explained. You don't get paid for the pigment. A tube of good cadmium costs less than a sheet of decent cotton paper anyway.

But the part I'd push back on slightly: oil gets the same treatment, just later and quieter. I work in oil and cold wax, scraping layers back, and I still get the "well, it's abstract, so..." version of the sentence. There's always a reason the work should cost less. Watercolor just wears the reason more visibly.

The unforgiving thing is real though. No covering, no scraping back, one wrong wash and the whole sheet is firewood. That's not a reason to charge less, it's the argument for charging more.

Dani OkaforOP·3w

Okay the cadmium thing, RIGHT. I've had people do the math on a tube like that's the whole cost and I'm just sitting there thinking about the $9 sheet I've already ruined twice. The paper is the expensive part. The paper is always the expensive part.

But you got me on the oil point and I'll take it. I think I've been hearing "steep for watercolor" so loudly that I forgot oil gets its own quieter version, just a different excuse. "It's abstract so..." is brutal because it's the same move, it's just dressing up the "why should this cost money" thing in a different hat. Scraping back cold wax layers sounds like its own special kind of unforgiving too, honestly. Do you get the abstract version way more than the material version, or is it just whichever one the person thinks they can defend?

Dani OkaforOP·3w

ok the paper thing drives me insane, I've had someone do the tube math on me while I was staring at the third ruined sheet of the week. like sir the pigment is the cheapest part of this whole operation.

but yeah, the "well it's abstract so..." thing. that one I hadn't thought about and now I can't unsee it. it's always some reason the work should cost less and the reason just changes depending on what you made. I do mostly watercolor and gouache but I've got a friend who sculpts and she gets "it's just clay?" like clay isn't fired and fragile and heavy as hell to ship.

genuinely curious though, when you're scraping oil back, does it feel like you're recovering ground or losing it? because with watercolor there's no back, there's only "start the sheet over" and I think that's why the pricing question lands so hard for us. every hour is exposed. you can't hedge.