It starts with the things you can actually measure: the painting's square inches, the hours you put in at your real hourly rate, and what the materials cost you — paint, canvas, framing. That's your honest floor, before anything subjective.
Your rate per cm² scales with your experience — an emerging artist and an established one shouldn't price the same canvas the same way, and the medium matters too (oil and mixed media carry a small premium). Not sure what rate to use? Click "How is this calculated?" in the per-cm² section for a quick guide.
If a gallery takes 50%, or a fair charges for the booth, the calculator works backwards from your target so the commission comes out of the buyer's price — not your pocket. The breakdown shows every line, so you can explain the number to anyone and override it when your gut says so.
Yes. Use the number it gives you as a confident anchor. Round it. Test it on a buyer. Watch how people respond. Adjust if you have to. The maths is honest, but the market always has the final say.
It's tuned for originals on canvas, but the same logic carries to limited prints — drop the materials cost, drop the hours, and add a unit-cost-plus-margin line. I'll add a print preset soon.
For fully-custom commissions — absolutely. For my One Word Commissions, I take 25% off the calculated price because the creative trade is part of the deal. See the commissions page for the full pricing.
I built it for myself first, then realised every other artist I knew was guessing too. Spread it around — share it with anyone who's underpricing themselves. The art world needs less anxiety about money and more painting.