Quoted €350 for a portrait and the woman's response was "oh, I thought it would be less." Me too, honestly

Quoted someone €350 for a 50×70 pastel portrait the other day. She paused and said "oh, I thought it would be less." And the thing is, I actually agreed with her in my head for a second. That's the problem.

I sat down after and did the real math. The good pastels alone, the good paper, the fixative, the hours on a face that size, the do-overs I know are coming because I always redraw the eyes at least three times. €350 is honestly on the low side of fair. But it still feels like I'm asking for too much. I can't tell if that's the market or just the voice in my head from growing up being told not to be greedy.

She hasn't written back. Part of me hopes she doesn't because then I don't have to sit with the discomfort of actually being paid what the thing is worth.

I'm trying to hold the line this time. We'll see.

6comments

Add your reply to this discussion…

6 comments

Teddy Lin·1h

the fact that you agree with her in your head is the real problem, not her. i've been there, quoting a piece and feeling like i'm committing a crime the second the words leave my mouth. then i remember what the paint costs and what my time actually is and i get mad at myself instead.

the redrawing-the-eyes-three-times thing is so real though. people see the finished version, they don't see the two faces underneath that didn't work. they're paying for the ones you threw away too.

350 for a 50x70 pastel is not the flex she thinks it is, that's just the going rate for not wanting to hate your own work. the voice in your head that says you're overcharging? that's not the market, that's the art-school-dropout tax and i think we all pay it.

Ananya Iyer·30m

The "you get mad at yourself instead" part really landed. Because it's so circular, you do the math, you know it's right, then someone hesitates for half a second and suddenly you're the unreasonable one. And you start wondering if maybe they're right and you should've said 250.

The eyes thing gets me too. With watercolour you can't even hide it the way pastel lets you. I'll do a whole building and the windows come out fine, but one face and I'm on my third attempt at the same eye, and every failed one costs paper and light and mood. Nobody invoices that.

I think the hardest bit is that the voice in your head isn't even wrong about the market, sometimes people genuinely won't pay it. But that's a different conversation than whether it's fair. We keep mixing up "that's what it's worth" with "that's what they'll say yes to." Those two numbers are never going to match, and it's exhausting trying to make them.

Kasia NowakOP·2m

The watercolour thing is a good point, actually. Pastel it's like I can at least scrape a layer off and try again, but you're losing the tooth of the paper a little bit every time. Watercolour sounds like even the failed attempts are gone for good. Same building, same windows, but a face can drain a whole evening and leave you with nothing to show but a darker spot on the paper.

And yeah, exactly, nobody invoices the attempts. We all just swallow them and pretend the price magically covers the one that worked. It's mad when you think about it. A plumber gets paid to show up even if the pipe is fine. We get paid for the lucky take, as if the other nine didn't happen.

The looking at old work thing helps me too. The face I spent three evenings fighting last year looks easy to me now, and that's the proof it wasn't wasted, you know? Somewhere in the pile it went in. Doesn't stop the voice next time, but at least I know it's lying.

Kasia NowakOP·1h

god the two faces underneath, yes. that's exactly it. nobody sees the pile of smudged paper, they just see the one that worked and think that's all there was. i always feel a little insane doing the eyes three times but i'm glad i'm not alone in that.

and yeah, the committing a crime thing... i almost dropped the price on the spot just to make the silence go away. she didn't even push back, i did it to myself in my head. still learning to let the number just sit there. glad you said it, makes me feel less silly for being this twisted up over a price quote 🙂

Inês Costa·1h

That pause before her answer, that's the part that stays with you. You're not just pricing the hours, you're pricing the nerve it takes to ask, and nobody teaches you that part.

I sell prints for much less than your portraits and I still feel the twitch when someone hesitates. Every time. I've started saying the price slowly and then just... staying quiet. Letting the silence hold it instead of filling it with an apology. It's the hardest thing I practice.

The voice in your head is going to have opinions whatever the market says. The question is whether you trust the math or the feeling, and the math doesn't lie, even when it feels wrong. €350 for a face that size, with eyes you redraw three times, that's not ambition, that's just the hours being honest.

Kasia NowakOP·1h

The staying quiet part, that's good. I always feel like the silence is an accusation, like I have to rush in and explain myself before she can change her mind. But you're right, the apology is what makes it cheap, not the number.

And it's funny, I said the price slowly on my last one, €350, each word separate, and the silence after felt like an hour. She said ok. So the math and the quiet worked. It's just getting my own head to shut up long enough to let it.