Sunshine Promising
Inc.
Monthly Newsletter
Mar. 29, 2007
Why Portrait from Photo Become Less Expensive Now?
Edited by Sunshine Promising, Inc. Best Arts from China
Putian City of Fujian Province, P.R.C.
Portrait from photo, is always a hot topic among all galleries, both overseas and
domestic, since such service brings people happiness, reminding previous happy time
with their family members, relatives or intimate friends; or even their dear pets,
landscape; sweet memories of their important events such as wedding ceremony, award
winning; to name a few.
What a valuable service! No wonder it attracts so many galleries and artists to devote
themselves. However, portraits need higher level of painting skills, thus in each medium-
sized city, only no more than 100 painters are qualified for portrait painting.
A few years ago, portraits painters were a hit since their scarcity. Pricing of portrait tops
paintings of all quality standards. Suddenly, in recent 2-3 years, its pricing decreases at
unexpected rate, at the same time, lots of portraits painters seem coming out from
nowhere. Does it mean its skill is no longer a secret, and easy to master now?
NO. The answer is PRINT. You may wonder, I did receive oil portrait. Yes, but the print
is underneath and you can’t look through it. No wonder the degree of resemblance is
even better. The rate of rejection is even lower than 100% hand-made ones.
God seems to award those less skillful painters with latest technology to earn more
money with quicker speed. Unfair, isn’t it?
The truth is, a layer of print is firstly printed onto canvas and the second layer is painted
onto. Then some maybe 3rd layer. But time and labor are substantially reduced due to
omission of first layer, furthermore, the time and labour spent on the second layer is
much less, and finally, since the rejection rate is low, painters spend less time on
correcting the final portraits. All the bad feelings, including impatience, frustration,
overpaid labor, no longer obsess painters. What a relief!
Is the latest technology application wrong? Or we’re so stubborn to stick to 100% hand-
making?
The result is, end-customers may not be happy to get easy come, easy go work! After 2
years, the first layer and the second one become not sticking together so well, and trace
of print will be found somehow, by comparing to the 100% hand-made ones, making it
not nice-looking any more and you have to decide to take it off from your important
place. Or, customers may feel being cheated from the first moment of knowing the truth,
with their expectation of 100% hand-made portraits, but ending up a printed plus painted
one. They would rather go to a photo shop to print it anyway, why bother to make it a
hand-painted portrait?
Suppose, if some customers are not against such application of print, as long as final
effect looks the same as 100% hand-made one, and as long as it is cheaper. As a gift
presented to others, they don’t care how long it will last. Two years, pretty enough.
So we need to inform all customers the difference with different pricing before they order
portrait, making the service process transparent, thus all customers get what they want,
by paying higher price for higher quality, lower price for quasi-hand-made paintings.
Then it becomes fair once again! Rule comes back.
Who are gonna be the pioneer to tell our “Source of Profit” – customers the truth?
I am, in China, while, who is the first buyer overseas, to tell the truth?
Written by
James Jianyin LIU
Sunshine Promising, Inc.
www. SunshinePromising.com
Best Arts Provider
Sunshine Promising Inc.
Monthly Newsletter
Sep. 10, 2007
Will Pricing of Paintings Be Raised in China Recently
Edited by Sunshine Promising, Inc. Your Best Arts Partner from China
Putian City of Fujian Province, P. R.C.
To us, a wholesaler of oil paintings and service of portrait from photo, summer seems
like a long and cold winter. We keep waiting for all clients coming back from their
vacations. Order quantity was record low along this whole year. Meanwhile, our hearts
were beating up and down with dynamics of submarket crisis in US and its potential
economic depression. We worried if realism paintings are replaced by giclee print or not,
and if RMB appreciation causes pressure for buyers overseas, to name a few.
Ah… Summer is almost over at last.
Orders are coming in finally. Wu… we can relax a bit. However, does it mean our
pressure is gone? Too early to say yes.
According to my perception based on our survey, pricing of oil paintings in China’s
painting industry will need to slowly be raised up by around 10% so that painters and
agents will maintain the same profit or living standard, due to combined effects of USD
depreciation and inflation in China at rate of 10% (Official nominal rate as 6.3% in
August but according to a survey done by ourselves within our company, their ratio of
expenditure/salary is affected by 10% at least, by calculating cost of their food and
accommodation only.). Concretely, RMB 150 yuan is added to their monthly expenditure
at least.
Let’s analyze to what extent two most important chains of painting industry, namely
painters and agents (or trading company) will be affected indeed.
First we categorize painters into three groups according to their levels of skill, namely,
High Quality (HQ) painters, Middle Quality (MQ) painters and Low Quality (CQ) ones, to
see to what disparate degree they are now affected by rising up of China economy.
Their general wages are listed as below (based on incomes of painters in Putian City,
but not Xiamen or Shenzhen City). Here we take RMB 150 yuan as added cost due to
inflation fit for all Putian residents, thus including painters and agents.
Painters Monthly Salary (RMB yuan) Affected by Inflation by %
(3 Groups) (As X ) (150/X%)
HQ Painters 2200-5000 3% - 6.818%
MQ Painters 1200-2200 6.818 % - 12.5%
CQ Painters 700-1200 12.5% - 21.4%
Apparently, 3%-6.818% is not affecting HQ painters too much, while 12.5% - 21.4% for
CQ painters means a countryside family will have to cut their budget for a child’s food
and accommodation. MQ is sandwiched between.
Thus CQ and MQ painters are more willing to raise their pricing. But their price-raising
requests will be dissolved and rebounded by saliva of trading companies or agents who
are also under great burden of US dollar depreciation and tight stance of buyers of
overseas. In future the only way out is that CQ & MQ painters most probably become
pluralistic.
However, HQ painters will survive not only this summer but also next summer although
part of them will be eliminated due to fierce competition (but even without all such
factors, the less skillful painters will face the same fate).
The trend of price raising-up of oil paintings and portrait from photo will seem to vary
according to different painters’ groups. But, not necessary.
5% increment for HQ paintings is normal and 8% for MQ and 10-15% for CQ is
reasonable, however, not workable at all since south and east Asia are competing
China with their low labor cost in terms of CQ and MQ paintings, looming up as a new
potential next “World Plant”. Thus 5% will be a mutually acceptable rate of inclination of
pricing between agents and all groups of painters.
Now, let’s turn to the other important chain, agent. Analogous to the summarization of
painters pricing, agents will raise their pricing by 5% as a mutually acceptable rate of
inclination for agents and buyers overseas. By the way, the agents have to swallow the
brutal fact of falling down value of USD all the time until intolerable.
5% + 5% = 10%.
Our conclusion is, the gradual trend will be, 10% increment of pricing will be very
possible for oil paintings from China in coming months.
For us, since we are more than 80% working with HQ painters, thus formula 3% + 5%
is fit for us, hence our pace of price-raising will be more gradual and prudent.
Anyway, price-raising is always a hard war to win when putting forward by agents or
painters to any buyer.
Written by
James Jianyin LIU
Sunshine Promising, Inc.
www.SunshinePromising.com
Your Best Arts Partner
