FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Tough to answer directly simply because every project is different. There are many variables beyond size that affect the bid. However you want and deserve an answer. So I'll offer the range from my minimum of $2000 up to tens of thousands on large projects involving lighting, audio, sculptural or architectural elements or requirements for heavy equipment such as boom lifts or cranes. Generally speaking though more typical painted only murals fall in the range of $20-35 sq foot. Original painted commissions and portraits range from $2000-$5000.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
It all starts with a conversation. Every customer has an idea of what they want. The first part of my job is helping them refine and explain it in such a way as I can conceptualize and visualize it well enough to begin to put the idea into visual form. I ask a lot of questions to understand what visual style fits their idea or purpose. Often, I'll want to visit the location of the work, get a sense of how the work fits into the existing architecture and the condition of the surface on which the mural will go. We'll talk about the different ways creation of the mural can occur, depending on factors including whether painting directly on the wall is practical or too disruptive (as in an existing open for business commercial enterprise). Those conversations lead to a decision on method, schedule, adjustments to bid pricing, and installation. Once we're on the same page on everything, and an agreement is reached then I begin preparing detailed design proposal drawings/renders showing the potential future work incorporated into photos of the site location taken during the first visit. Feedback results in refining the art concept sketches shared via email or text until the design is approved when I begin scaling it up to full size in the method agreed upon. That might be paint on the wall itself or on canvas or vinyl done in my studio for later installation on site or printed from high resolution digital painting onto vinyl or wall paper to be installed. But it all comes down to having discussions face to face or via phone. Text messages are not conversations and inefficient as a means to communicate all the information needed for any project. Text may only be used to open lines of communication.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
BAAS interdisciplinary management with an art direction focus - SWTSU 1984, MA photojournalism UT Austin 1990, ABD PhD Advertising Psychology UT Austin. Studied painting under Simon Michael, Texas Impressionist. Years as Exhibit Department Designer for the San Antonio Museum Association.