How to use the Art Pricing Calculator
- Choose a method tab. Per square inch and Per linear inch use a rate you set; Cost + time builds the price from materials and hours; My past sales learns the rate from pieces you’ve already sold.
- Enter the size. Type width and height and pick in or cm. Switching units converts your size and your rates, so the price doesn’t jump.
- Fill in the method’s numbers. Add materials at cost for the per-inch methods, hours and wage for cost + time, or three or more real sales for the last tab.
- Add the extras. Enter a Frame cost if the piece is sold framed, set the Gallery commission, choose a currency and how to round.
- Read and copy. The breakdown shows retail, wholesale, what a gallery leaves you and the effective rate. The standard-size table shows what the same pricing gives at other canvas sizes. Copy breakdown puts it all on your clipboard.
Why a formula beats pricing by feel
Pricing each painting by how proud you are of it feels natural and causes trouble. Collectors compare. If your 16 × 20 in landscape costs $700 and the 18 × 24 next to it costs $450 because it “came easily”, buyers start to wonder what the numbers mean. Galleries ask for a consistent structure for the same reason: same medium, same size, same price. A formula gives you that, and it gives you one lever — the rate — to raise as your work sells.
The two classic formulas behave very differently as work gets bigger. Price per square inch multiplies width by height, so doubling both sides quadruples the price. At $2 per square inch a 12 × 12 in canvas is $288 and a 24 × 24 in is $1,152. Price per linear inch adds width and height (sometimes called united inches), so doubling both sides only doubles the price: at $12 per linear inch the same two canvases cost $288 and $576. Square inches can push large pieces out of reach; linear inches can make small pieces look expensive and big ones cheap.
Real sales usually land between the two. That’s what the My past sales tab measures. It fits a curve through your actual prices and reports the exponent: 1.0 would mean pure square-inch pricing, about 0.5 behaves like linear inches. Most working price lists fall somewhere in that range — and seeing your own number tells you which simple formula you’ve been following without knowing it.
One 16 × 20 painting, priced four ways
Here is the default example in each tab, rounded to the nearest $10 as the calculator does.
| Method | The numbers | Retail price |
|---|---|---|
| Per square inch | 320 sq in × $2 + $40 materials | $680 |
| Per linear inch | (16 + 20) = 36 linear in × $18 + $40 materials | $690 (from $688) |
| Cost + time | ($60 materials + 12 h × $25) × 2 | $720 |
| Past sales curve | 12 × 16 sold for $450, 18 × 24 for $760, 24 × 30 for $1,200 | $640 (from $641.73) |
At this size the four methods agree within $80. Stretch the canvas and they don’t. Scaled from the same $680 painting, a 36 × 48 in piece comes to $3,672 by square inch, $1,587 by linear inch and $2,210 on the past-sales curve, whose exponent here is 0.73. At 8 × 10 in the order flips: $170, $340 and $232. When methods disagree that much, the curve built from what buyers actually paid is the one to trust.
Then take the $680 through the channels. A shop buying outright at wholesale pays half: $340. A gallery on a 50% commission sells it for $680 and passes $340 to you, which is $1.06 per square inch for your time and materials. If an $85 frame goes with it and you pass the frame on at cost, the gallery’s half of that $85 comes out of your pocket. Marking the frame up to $170 is what keeps you whole — the calculator does this when the box is ticked. For other splits and shipping costs, the Gallery Commission Split Calculator goes further.
Tips from practice
Keep one price everywhere. Your studio, your website and your gallery should list the same piece at the same price. Undercutting a gallery online is the fastest way to lose one.
Build wholesale into retail, not the other way around. If a shop will pay 50%, your retail must already cover materials, time and profit at half price. Cost + time with a markup of 2 does exactly that.
Raise the rate, not individual prices. When work sells steadily, raise your per-inch rate across the board in modest steps. Collectors who bought earlier see their piece gain value, which makes them more likely to buy again.
Price small work by a floor, not the formula. Below about 8 × 10 in, both formulas can produce prices too low to cover packing, postage and the time every sale takes. Set a minimum price for small originals and let the formula take over above it.
Treat commissions separately. Custom work involves sketches, revisions and deadlines, so it deserves its own quote; the Commission Price Calculator itemizes those extras.