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Hello friends! I am in need of your opinions. One of the things I have been noticing lately is that a lot of tier 1 artists have started transitioning to auctions... Specifically premade pieces and YHHs. In doing so, this has sort of raised the base prices for what people are paying for said Tier 1 art to be 1-2 million, if not higher depending on the artist and the complexity of the piece. Hell, even I'm guilty of doing this because it brings in more money per piece, usually, for way less effort on my end.
In short: I have decided that I dont like that this is becoming the "Norm" and would like to transition back to doing more custom art pieces through my shop.
I've raised my prices a little to stay on the same level with the people I feel I'm in the same skill level of, but that also leaves me hanging on if I have ideas I really want to do but I dont want to make them premade horses. For example, I really want to do a few tarot card styled pieces ( Example 1, Example 2) or something seasonal.. Like crimmas is coming, so a crimmas piece of a honse tangled in lights or some shit. Most people would auction them as YHHs, but again, I want to try to get away from auctions and more utilizing my shop. SO, long ass rant aside, I ask for yall's opinions.
Should I offer "themed" pieces where you give me a horse to base it on and I will build a piece around that horse fitting the theme of your choice, sold in my shop like a normal custom slot would be... OR should I just make them YHHs? And with that option, would you rather see me auction them off or sell them in my shop for the same price as a custom?
I was thinking of maybe giving slots for these types of "themed" pieces separate from my custom slots if I went the route of yall would get to choose which theme of the available ones you wanted. I dont know. Help. Im rambling LOL
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From my experience, a LOT of people were asking me to start doing YHH stuff... At least until I expressed I was tired of art. I think, honestly, if you had a specific vision in mind, you could turn it into a YHH. And when you don't have a YHH active, could be when you offer slots. That way it balances somewhere between. |
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This is something I've also been thinking about a lot recently (prepare for my own ramble lol)... and I have a theory that part of the reason (as well as the $) why many artists move to just auctions is because it gives them creative freedom to create pieces when they want and on whatever themes they want. And tbh it makes sense, I've personally found it really hard doing customs in the past when someone gives you an idea and there's just no motivation to make it because well... it's someone else's idea and not your own ya know? It might be great sometimes, you get really good inspiration, but after a while for me it just killed my love and motivation for making art. Maybe that's a reason art shops seem to have kinda have short life spans idk? I think your idea around having 'theme' slots in your art shop sounds really interesting and it could pose a great 'solution' (if that's what you want to call it). I certainly don't think there is any harm in trying it out, I doubt you'll have any trouble filling slots even if you pick themes for them! To me YHHs feel less custom, and I would probably be less inclined to pay custom price for them... but then again look at how much they go for in auctions lol, and I still think you'd have no trouble selling them. But I think they are still a great option if you you have a specific vision with specific stock etc. Just to me personally it's more like a premade item, something you'd sell in a premade shop rather than a custom one cause you'd don't have input from the beginning.... does that make any sense lol So yeah I guess my rec would be to try out doing themed slots and seeing how it goes (LOVE the tarot card idea... imagine doing a whole deck w/different horses!! lol)... maybe the slots will be something that catches on! Just my thoughts anyways :))) |
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Yes this is something that I've also noticed for a while now. Very glad that you addressed it! It's easy from an artists standpoint to think: why have an art shop where people tell you exactly what they want when you can make and sell whatever you want for 2x or even 3x more? From a buyer's standpoint this is a huge bummer though. And understandably so (for both parties really). Would love to see other artists chime in on the topic. . Anyway, I really like your idea. In the long run you've got to do what makes sense to you. I mean you could start charging a lot more for custom slots(?). But that's also a bummer for the little guy. I myself think I'll keep doing customs here and there just because I know how much it means to people. Idk, this probably isn't very helpful. Just thoughts. Your art is lovely and I'm sure you'll figure it out <3 |
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I honestly was debating charging more for custom slots to somewhat match or get closer to those auction prices but I don't want to increase them THAT terribly much... As nice as it is making 1mil per piece, to me it almost feels like too much to ask unless it's like.. a super complex piece. As for YHHs I feel like my biggest art block I've been having is rare.. Unlike most it isn't because I don't have ideas, but rather that I do have ideas but don't know what to do for the horse. So, one might say, just make it a greyscale YHH and fill it in after! My problem with that is that sometimes, the horse the person wants doesn't really fit the color hues/tones/lighting of the piece. For example, the one I made recently for Cats Eye was to mimic a silver grullo splash horse if I remember right.. But the lighting on the YHH piece was very intensely yellow, so when I made the horse fit into the background and such it made the horse pretty much look like a palomino. Maybe it's just me being annoyed with myself for that, but. Ehhh.. That isn't the first time I've had that problem either. I feel like giving people a few themes to choose from would solve that issue. I'm still technically making a custom piece from scratch with their horse of choice as the subject, so that the lighting and such will fit since it IS being made from scratch.. But at the same time, it's from a list of themes that I myself am incredibly interested in and would like to make pieces for. I just wasn't certain if people would be interested at all since it's forcing their hand lol. ... Another big part is I'm getting hella bored of nature or nature pegasus pieces. I feel like they're all generally the same, and although they are pretty to look at, they just.. They aren't that interesting to make. But I didn't want to make super complex, intricate, unique premades and put way more work and energy into them if people weren't interested in them. Thank you so much guys for responding! Ngl I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this trend. |
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Epsilon Acres said:
I honestly was debating charging more for custom slots to somewhat match or get closer to those auction prices but I don't want to increase them THAT terribly much... As nice as it is making 1mil per piece, to me it almost feels like too much to ask unless it's like.. a super complex piece. As for YHHs I feel like my biggest art block I've been having is rare.. Unlike most it isn't because I don't have ideas, but rather that I do have ideas but don't know what to do for the horse. So, one might say, just make it a greyscale YHH and fill it in after! My problem with that is that sometimes, the horse the person wants doesn't really fit the color hues/tones/lighting of the piece. For example, the one I made recently for Cats Eye was to mimic a silver grullo splash horse if I remember right.. But the lighting on the YHH piece was very intensely yellow, so when I made the horse fit into the background and such it made the horse pretty much look like a palomino. Maybe it's just me being annoyed with myself for that, but. Ehhh.. That isn't the first time I've had that problem either. I feel like giving people a few themes to choose from would solve that issue. I'm still technically making a custom piece from scratch with their horse of choice as the subject, so that the lighting and such will fit since it IS being made from scratch.. But at the same time, it's from a list of themes that I myself am incredibly interested in and would like to make pieces for. I just wasn't certain if people would be interested at all since it's forcing their hand lol. ... Another big part is I'm getting hella bored of nature or nature pegasus pieces. I feel like they're all generally the same, and although they are pretty to look at, they just.. They aren't that interesting to make. But I didn't want to make super complex, intricate, unique premades and put way more work and energy into them if people weren't interested in them. Thank you so much guys for responding! Ngl I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this trend.
Yeah pricing can be tricky... but I think if you think your art is worth more in the current market then raising your prices is perfectly justified - especially if you do move into doing super complex stuffs (which people are def interested in dw). From a buyers viewpoint it isn't great, but you also can't undervalue yourself and the time and effort you put into your art. As for the YHHs, maybe if you make one where specific coat colours are gonna be really tricky you could stipulate what ones you can/can't do? Or what colours would not look as good as a warning? That kinda sucks because it restricts what horses people can buy them for, but it could be an option? And yeah I think the themed slot thing would help on both sides like you said, the buyer still gets something custom and you get to make art that fits with you - win win!! And I'm sure people will be interested, I mean auction pieces fly out the door and everything about them is predetermined. People will just find a theme that suits them! |
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Even though 300k is a lot, that's a little more than one top straw and about 1/2-1/3 the price of a top embryo. The reason I personally do auctions is because it does bring a lot of much needed income to my stable, because I can barely afford to try and be a top breeder by showing alone. Another reason (the main reason) I do auctions is because I HATE the fact that people are waiting on me to finish their art. School has been so busy that I have almost no time to do anything I love, which includes art. Now I feel both a pressure to complete my homework, and a pressure to complete these art orders, which is a terrible feeling. I do auctions because then I can still offer my art to people, but I also don't have the stress of feeling "required" to do something for others. |
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I learned very quickly when I started that reserve lists and a ton of slots are a no-go for me. I had the exact same issue where I felt hella pressured and it got to the point where people were waiting several months for pieces they had already paid for. Now I refuse to take payment unless the piece is finished. Then I'll get payment before sending the cuts. I also don't think I will ever take on more then two paid comms at a time (with the exception of the pieces I make my frens for funzies. But they also understand those aren't a priority so they may take me a hot minute) I agree that the current HEE economy, 300k is not enough. That's why I raised my prices like I did. But it still shocks me that people will pay 1mil+ for a premade piece that can have minimal changes. To me it feels insane to ask that much for a custom slot. So I felt 500k was a good middle ground, and it gives the person free reign to request what they want for their horse while working with me to make sure it's something within my skill level. If it's something I don't think I would be able to do, I would refuse it and ask for some other idea. |
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Sunny
