Pricing Your Artwork Without the Panic: An Artist’s Simple, Scalable Formula

The question every artist both hopes for and also dreads is: “How much is this piece?” In that moment, imposter syndrome can scream louder than reason. Pricing your art can feel deeply personal, but what if you could replace the panic with a clear, logical system that ensures fairness and consistency?

After years of trial and error, I moved away from emotional guesswork and adopted a method used by countless professional artists: the price per square area model. Let me show you how this works.

Why a Formula Beats Guesswork

Pricing by instinct is stressful and often inconsistent. A formula provides a neutral framework that:

• Ensures Fairness: A larger, more complex piece logically costs more than a smaller, simpler one.
• Projects Professionalism: When you can explain your pricing logically, you sound confident and business-like.
• Saves Time: No more agonising over each individual price. You calculate it in seconds and move on.

My Simple, Scalable Pricing System

The concept is simple: you determine a value for every square centimetre  (centimeter for my US readers) – cm2 – of your artwork, based on your skill, experience, and market position.

Here is the exact system I use:

Calculate the Area: Multiply the height of your artwork by the width. *Example: A 100cm x 100cm canvas = 10,000cm2.*

Apply Your Multiplier: This is the key. Your multiplier is a number that encompasses your skill, reputation, cost of materials, time, and desired income. Logically, this number will increase as your career grows.

My multiplier for 2025 is 0.225. For 2026, it will increase to 0.25 to reflect my growing experience and demand for my work. *Example: 10,000 cm2 x 0.25 = £2,500.00*

Establish Your Price: That final figure is your clear, justified selling price.

How to Find Your Starting Multiplier

Your multiplier is personal. To find your starting point, you need to do some market research alongside a cost calculation.

• The Cost-Based Check:
• Calculate your average materials cost for a painting (e.g. £50).
• Decide on a fair hourly wage and estimate your time (e.g. 20 hours x £20/hr = £400).
• Add a margin for profit and overheads (e.g. 25%).
• *Example: (£50 + £400) x 1.25 = £562.50.*
• Now, work backwards. If a 50x50cm (2,500 cm2) painting needs to be £562.50, your multiplier would be 562.50 / 2,500 = 0.225.
• The Market Research Check:
• Research artists at a similar career stage, with a similar style and medium, who are successfully selling.
• Take the price of their mid-sized work and calculate their implied multiplier. Does your calculated multiplier of 0.225 place you in a similar bracket? Adjust slightly up or down to find a comfortable, confident starting point.

The Confidence of Consistency

This system removes the emotion and replaces it with strategy. Knowing that my 10,000cm2 canvas has a clear price of £2,500 allows me to discuss it with confidence. It also makes pricing new work, regardless of size, effortless.

Your art has value. By using a simple, scalable formula, you can ensure your pricing reflects that value fairly, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating art. Please do contact me if you want more information on why I use this method and how you can incorporate it in your own pricing structure.

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