How to Price Your Artwork For Profit

Trying to figure out how to price your artwork is one of the toughest things you’ll do as an artist. Here’s a simple formula to use.

Prefer to watch a video? Here ya go. Article continues underneath.

Why Pricing Artwork is So Difficult

Oh my gosh, the stress, the drama! Pricing art is hard because we overthink it and let negative thoughts about our work and our value get in the way of figuring out what our art is worth.

Every artist makes their art because they love creating and something wants to come through them, but how do you put a price on that? Why are some paintings thousands of dollars and some less than $100?

The truth is that how you price your artwork is completely, absolutely up to you, however, if you’re not pricing it so you make a profit, you’ll never be able to get past the point of weekend hobbyist. (And that’s okay if that’s what makes you happy!)

One of the best things you can do for yourself as an artist is to take the emotion out of your prices, and I’m going to show you how.

How to Price Your Artwork: A Formula

It took me years to start doing this, and I really wish I’d figured out this simple way for pricing artwork earlier. Get yourself a notebook and pen (or open up Excel or Google Sheets) and enter the following information:

• How much your canvas/wood panel/paper cost (for the single piece you’re working on, not the whole pad/bundle you bought)
• How much your paint/acrylic medium/watercolors cost (also for the single painting–do your best to guesstimate if you can’t be exact)
• How much whatever else you used on this single painting cost (the frame, a sealer or wax over the top, etc.)
• How much time it took you to create this single work of art multiplied by your hourly rate (eg. 1 hour times $25 equals $25)

Add all of that up, multiply it by 2, add in the shipping cost, and you’ve got the answer for how to price your artwork!

Determining Your Hourly Rate

I want to spend some time talking about that last bullet point on that list, because it’s important. You need to paid for the time it took to create your art. I’m assuming that you’re still in the early days of your creative career, but if you’re further along, take that into consideration as I talk about hourly rates for your time.

You’ll want to figure out an appropriate hourly rate. At absolute minimum, and I mean bottom of the barrel, you should be charging $15 an hour. If you’re really, really new at this and don’t feel comfortable charging more, that’s fine. Using this formula, let’s say you’re using a canvas board and some inexpensive paints that total about $10. You spend an hour on the painting, so you add $15 to the $10, which equals $25. Next you’ll multiply that by two, resulting in a $50 painting. Lastly, add on shipping, let’s call that $10, and you arrive at a $60 painting.

Why do you multiply your time and materials by two? Margins. You spent time creating this painting, so the first $25 is just you paying yourself back for the time and materials, you’re not really earning a profit. That second $25? There’s where you’re making some money.

You may also decide you’re going to start off paying yourself $20, $30, or $50 an hour, all of which are valid. You pay yourself what feels good for you.

When You Should Charge A Flat Rate

One thing to keep in mind: Sometimes an hourly rate isn’t the right fit.

If you’ve gotten really fast at creating something special, consider a flat fee rather than an hourly rate. Let’s say you’re painting watercolor sunsets, but they only take 20 minutes. In this case, perhaps you’ll charge $30 for that twenty minutes rather than an hourly rate. You’ve created something lovely and you’re using your years of practice and are now quick and efficient. No reason to pay yourself a pittance simply because you’re quick!

Why You Should Including Shipping In Your Price

I can sum this up in one word: Amazon.

Years ago I sold on Etsy rather than a shop on my own website, and they got to the point where they strongly recommended including shipping in the price. These days most people simply don’t want to pay for shipping, as they’re used to getting it for free.

I could write an entire post on how to figure out shipping costs! One simple thing you can do is prepare your painting as if you were shipping it, including the box/tube and any packing materials. Take it to your local post office or other shipping site and ask them for a quote, that way you’re not blindly guessing at what the costs will be.

If you sell art locally and people pick their work up at your home or studio, you can ignore this portion of the formula!

Final Thoughts on Pricing Your Artwork

Are there other ways to price your work? Of course there are! A big time artist like Iris Scott isn’t figuring out her hourly rate, but she also had to start somewhere. We all do.

When you use this simple formula you’re ensuring that your materials and precious time are covered, and that you’re making a profit. Good luck to you!