How do you price bellies?

So, how much do you charge for belly painting?

That was my first one, on a great friend, so i didnt charge at all. Im guessing you would charge at a normal hourly rate?? Im not sure. Hopefully someone with a little more knowledge than myself will answer

I charge my normal hourly rate plus the rate of the studio I rent. I have a friend with a high end consignment shop. Her shop has 2 back rooms, so we're fixing up one as a studio for me to belly paint in. The shop sells local art as well, & is very visually stimulating. It's a great setting to belly paint in & I'm very excited to get some belly work!

I charge €25,- ($33,-)
I do the paint at my home or at the expectant mothers home.

I'd use my home, but with my kids & dog... it's not a very calming environment for mother-to-be.

I charge $50/hour

I feel that the way we price the bellies we do is very important. After tons of researching others websites and and even just noticing what painters in my area charge, for some reason belly painting pricing is incredibly inconsistent! If we are to do a face painting party for two hours and charge $150 then why would we not charge $150 dollars for a belly painting that takes two hours to paint? In Anita's case, I can see dropping your price some to take into account that you do not have to pay for travel or gas because you are in your home and the lack of travel also means you are spending less time. So I can understand a slight price drop when you are doing it in a location that is convenient for you, but why would we price are work on a larger canvas lower than we price the work on multiple small canvases? Anyway, I don't mean to rant, but this has been a source frustration for me. I can't wrap my head around the reasoning for an amazing artist that does beautiful work that some mother is going to cherish for a lifetime selling themselves and therefore everyone else in the industry short. My statement is not meant to offend, but hopefully allow everyone to think of this issue from a different perspective. Perhaps some charge less because they are only painting one person, or because it's not "face" painting. I'm really not sure the thought process, but I do hope that everyone might be able to find a price that they feel reflects the quality of their work and the amount of time that they put into doing it.

I have no driving license and therefore i only work within a radius of 15 km from my house.
I'm usually doing a paint in 1.5 hours.
I am the only one in my town that offers bellypainting.
And people just don't want to spend more.
I have my prices increase once but got much less bookings.
And it's just a hobby for me.
I got a part time job and do not live of my painting money.
If it would be my income, I had asked much more for my painting jobs.

I've not done bellypainting yet (crossed fingers, my mom-to-be got sick and had to postpone) but I wondered about pricing too. It's difficult... it's worth the same as 2 hours of facepainting (more actually, since it requires forethought and design, photography, etc), but it's a little hard for me to imagine many people being willing to pay $150+ dollars for a belly painting. (Same goes for bodypainting.) In theory, I totally understand it being worth that much and more, but realistically I wonder how many mothers will pay it?

I was thinking along the same lines as Angie. You can only charge what the market will pay. They are already paying $$ for photography, so this would be an additional cost. Of course, they have enough money to pay a professional photographer and don't want to miss the opportunity, but on top of that, more money? On one hand, I wouldn't feel comfortable paying that kind of money when I'm expecting a baby but on the other hand, maybe I'm just not thinking like someone who HAS that kind of disposable income.

That said, Angie, I think that body painting for advertising campaigns should be priced VERY high. They pay for the models/actors, writing, directing, styling, so they should pay top dollar for painting too. Plus, they would value your work based on the price. If I were hiring "the best" body painter I would expect to pay a lot but if it was too low, I would wonder if I was in fact getting "the best."

Unfortunately, people usually value things more when they pay more. Yes the market is smaller, but we can only paint so many people so a smaller market isn't that big of a deal. And to me, marketing bellies is the easiest thing in our business to market. Put photos and business cards in all of your local OBGYN clinics. 3-D imaging clinics are even better as that is where a lot of the wealthier moms go so they can get extra photos of the baby during their pregnancy. But this allows the same women to see your work over and over again throughout their pregnancy and really work up an urge to have it done themselves. We are all aware of what people pay for photography and the clothes they'll wear in the photos or creating themed locations for the photos. Belly paintings do just that. They create a perfectly unique way to capture one of the largest moments in a woman's life.

So why is it so hard to believe that there is a market? For me, it's because I wouldn't pay $150 to get it done for myself. But I also spend my days searching Craigslist and cutting coupons so I am not exactly the market that we are trying to reach. I just read an article last week stating that creative based businesses are going to lead the next generation. Art has lost it's focus in our schools and our communities and therefore people are starved for it. They are beginning to value the work. They recognize it as a custom piece that they can not just go to Walmart a buy. With so many cookie cutter things in our lives, people are beginning to have an extreme appreciation for things that are unique and creative.

I'm not saying that every location around the world can handle $150 for a painting. All I'm saying is take the time to network with a great photographer. Try to work out a deal on the prices of the photos. Get them to offer you the smallest starting rate they can. I've found that many photographers in my area are willing to offer a $20 starter package for my clients when I agree to put them on my advertisement and use them exclusively. Using one exclusively, for me, is exactly what I am looking for. I want to create a creative chemistry with whatever photographer I will be using. When You can advertise that your client will receive professional photos as a part of their $150 painting, they feel like they are getting a deal. Many pay more than that for just plain prenatal photos.

Hope this helps you guys feel more comfortable about maybe testing out some different marketing techniques that might allow you to raise your prices to make them more comparable to your face paint pricing.

My take on the difference in pricing goes soley to the service and the skill of that service. With FP people are paying you for the speed of a service as well as being able to produce a variety of designs within a set amount of time. I mean we market ourselves as being able to paint X amount of people in X amount of time and that is what draws people in.

Not the same when it comes to belly painting 1 person 1 design and the time constraints are not there, unless self imposed by the client. Some of the pricing I have seen has been way under what I would have expected to be charged. Your geographic area is gonna have an effect and dictate where your prices are set, but it doesn't hurt to push the envelope a bit.

Now for me depending upon how involved/ intricate the design/use of special FX/ and the level of detail of the belly paint would obviously command a higher price point.

IamGinaW wrote:
That said, Angie, I think that body painting for advertising campaigns should be priced VERY high.

I definitely agree with you on corporate body painting fees. My comment was directed more toward individuals wanting halloween body paintings and such. Commercial work is definitely another matter.

It is $150 for me to come to you. Period. A minimum party is 10 people or more gettng $15 worth of henna. A belly in henna starts at $40 and goes up depending on the amount of work involved. So if it's a $45 belly, then they need 7 or more friends to get henna with them or they opt for a larger design. I will plan to do the FP belly much the same way when I get that far.

I charge a flat rate for belly painting based on my hourly rate, sort of.

I have a 2-hour birthday party "special" rate and the belly painting painting generally takes me approximately two-hours - so I've set my rate a little less than my party special rate. I do charge mileage on top of the fee though based on my normal terms.

I tend to stick to my hourly rate for body work of any sort generally. Keeps it simple for me.

I charge my hourly rate. Belly painting is more work because I take time to create a custom design too. So not sure why I'd charge less for that. I don't have a lot of 'paid' bellies yet, but I have had some. If you hit the right market they don't want perceived 'cheap'. The more you charge the more they value it. Yeah it's expensive, but it's custom artwork that's totally unique.

I'm about to do my first one (for free for promotion purposes) but I've been wondering about the charging myself. IMO-people don't want to pay as much as a full party price just to paint their belly. ...AND they usually will also be paying for a photographer. so not sure they would be able to afford both. I am working with a photographer now to be able to come up with a maternity shoot combo deal, so idk what I'm going to do yet. I think I'll just have my price go up gradually as I get more experience.

People who can't afford it don't expect to get the design that took 3 hours to paint. Come up with some "express" designs that take about 45 minutes and for me that translates to 45 dollars. A lot cheaper, but still not compromising on your hourly rate.

Good Evening All,

Question about how those of you who have done belly art in exchange for prefessional photos. I am curious how to broach the topic and I wanted to know if this agreement was struck between yourself and the photographer/photgraphy studio or with the expectant mother/parents?

I would appreciate any guidance or information you are willing to share.

thanks for reading

Tamara

I give the price after I design the piece so that I can estimate the time it will take and charge a flat rate. I don't like the time pressure on a piece that's going to be photographed. I might be having a bad day and take longer to get in the zone - my issues shouldn't effect the pricing. I can also design accordingly depending on a budget but I wouldn't take a job under $125 there's more that goes int to the job than what happens while you are there. I have a partner who is a photographer and he charges his rate separately depending what they want. I don't see me making a ton of money on bellies - I do them because it's my favorite experience while painting ( the energy is amazing) and if you establish a good relationship you might just get at least 10 birthday parties in the future.