James Jean original art coming soon!

[AKA Rick]

SO with pieces going that fast, does that mean they were incredibly under priced?

 

Not necessarily. I think the pricing was fair and on par with that James Jean charges when he does sell direct to fans on occasion. I'm sure some of the pieces could sell for more, but at the same time I think Felix is a smart businessman who has earned the reputation for not price gauging. I'm sure he meets with the artists he represents, asks them what they want for the pieces, provides his recommendations for what they could sell for, and then prices them accordingly.

 

It could be potentially disastrous to overprice an artist being represented on several levels. The artist gets nothing for a high ticket price tag, non-sales pays no bills. So, if an art rep prices artists works and has no customer base resulting in no sales, the artist rightfully so could be disgruntled. If the pricing is too high, then customers won't make purchases. Furthermore, if the art rep gets a reputation for having inventory which is overpriced, then they become a bit irrelevant and even held to a certain level of disdain (like how many feel about "Coolines" The D' Brothers). If you look at the recent postings regarding Greg Capullo's art, the majority of comments are negative regarding his pricing. That leads me to believe there's a certain population of collectors who will assume all of his future art will be similarly priced and will not bother to even check his website.

 

I think by having pieces fairly priced, and even with inventory depleting within minutes of their debut, it adds to the feeding frenzy, where the next opportunity, collectors won't sit and think too long and there could be a whole lot more impulse purchases for the "go / no go" approach of decision making, which ultimately bodes well for the art rep and the artist, moving merchandise quickly. It's reputation and brand building for Felix, so when "website updates" are announced, people will schedule the time to log on the day of the update rather than take it casually.

 

I think the tipping point for pricing will be if the art purchased ends up quickly into the secondary market on places like eBay and commanding much higher prices, then I think market value adjustments will occur to the pricing of future art for sale.

 

...at least that's my opinion.

[Nexus]

SO with pieces going that fast, does that mean they were incredibly under priced?

 

I always try to price fairly. I think, like the previous Bryan Lee O'Malley (200+ pieces) and AKIRA (300+ pieces) sell outs, it's really a reflection of a starved, underserved market and pent-up demand. And, of course, if the customer base is confident they're not getting gouged, that helps, too. I only wish I had more to offer this time, but again, the good news is I should be getting more soon!

[Mr. Machismo]

Congrats, Felix and well said.

[dhurley]

SO with pieces going that fast, does that mean they were incredibly under priced?

 

I always try to price fairly. I think, like the previous Bryan Lee O'Malley (200+ pieces) and AKIRA (300+ pieces) sell outs, it's really a reflection of a starved, underserved market and pent-up demand. And, of course, if the customer base is confident they're not getting gouged, that helps, too. I only wish I had more to offer this time, but again, the good news is I should be getting more soon!

 

 

[Hado]

Very well said