My friend is home-bound and cant travel. However she has a rare an
exceptional talent in my opinion; being able to recreate on paper
large portraits of anyone from any reasonably clear photo. It is
almost like the photo itself but in coloured pencil. I am thinking
that as she is unemployed there must be a way for her to capitalise on
this extraordinary talent. Does anyone have any sound advice or even a
qualified opinion. I was thinking perhaps  an advertisment in womens
magazines, a letter-box drop or something similar. However I have
never had to market a product or service in the open market before so
admit to being at a loss to assist at this point.

 Also it would help if I could get an idea of what people thought was
a fair price to ask for such an item given the time and care required
to get to the final product, ( in any currency as I can
convert).Portraits measure around 3 feet by 2 feet.

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Clarification of Question by johnfrommelbourne-ga on 07 Jul 2004 06:22 PDT

On second glance I note that portraits are not 3 feet X 2 feet but
closer to 2 feet 6 inches X 20 inches or something close to those
figures.

Thanks for your indulgence,

  Johnfrommelbourne

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 07 Jul 2004 08:29 PDT

John:

A Google Search on "pencil portraits" popped up this site on Tripod:

http://pencilportraitsdrawn.tripod.com/

Is this the sort of artistic talent that your friend has? If so, then
perhaps the operator of the webring that this site is part of can
provide direct advice to your friend:

http://g.webring.com/hub?ring=graphitepencilpo

I'd suggest that you show your friend the various websites associated
with the webring to see if the possibility of joining this artistic
fraternity excites your friend... that enthusiasm will be needed if
she intends to begin applying her skill commercially.

What do you think?

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Sounds a great idea!

If she's not earning anything at present then anything is a bonus.

If I were you I'd start marketing the service by Word of Mouth, always
the most effective (and the cheapest) marketing method.

Once she has a few satisfied clients, they'll recommend more and soon
she'll have enough work to justify her jacking up her prices.

I'll have a go myself but please remember that I am just a poor
student with a hungry dog that needs feeding.

Just give me a price and we'll take it from there.

All the Very Best

Bryan

Bryan:

Well, if John's friend is good at this, then here's the pricing from
that website I referenced above as a guideline:

http://pencilportraitsdrawn.tripod.com/pencilportraitsdrawnfromyourphotographs/id3.html

You and Daisy would be about $250-300 and shipping charges to the UK
from... I suppose Melbourne.

aht-ga

Yes thanks for those comments and particularly the website AHT.  the
site was quite informative in terms of giving insight into how others
are forging a business via such skills. I will fix you up with a
portrait if you like; so feel free to send me your photo/s and I will
return  an excellent portrait via my organisation  AUSTRALIA POST, 
the corporation I work for.

 P.S This aplies to both Bryan and AHT. 

   JOhn From Melbourne

great, John, Very many thanks!

Hi, Again, John

Is there a name to quote for the AP?

Regards

Bryan

Hi JohnfromMelbourne,

It's cold hereinMelbourne, isn't it! We just had a very light fall of
snow here in these here hills!

Regarding your friend and her talent, I know that there are hundreds
of community groups, school groups, kindergartens, sporting groups etc
all desperately searching for some *new* way to raise funds, and she
just might be able to provide one!

I suggest that your friend works out a fixed price for a certain size
portrait and that she puts together a brochure/flier and sends it to
some of these groups in her area. The group can then work out a profit
margin, per portrait. She would need to also create an order form so
that she can offer a professional presentation.

Personally, I'd recommend that she targets the children's market
because every proud parent is willing to outlay for professional
photos and a hand-drawn portrait is that much better than a photo. She
could drop off some brochures at some of the up-market kids' clothes
stores or at some of the kinders and primary schools -- particularly
the private schools. Similarly, she could target the 'grey' market,
i.e. the senior people who feel they might like to have their image
captured for posterity. I'd get in touch with the Bowls Clubs and the
RSL clubs around wtih a similar proposition that as long as she gets
her fixed price per portrait, that they can add their profit margin in
order to get the sales for her and raise funds for them.

Good luck and let us know how she gets on.