How to Price Your Art Commissions: A Step-by-Step Guide by cjrisami for kirke.social

Originally written for Kirke Social, published. Republished here with permission.

It can be overwhelming — trying to navigate how to price your art commissions. Every artist has a moment where they wonder:

Am I charging too much? Too little?

Do people pay this much for art?

Is my art even worth it?

You’re not alone. These are questions that even the most successful artists ask themselves all the time. We know that you’re an expert in creation, not a mathematician, so we’ve created the ultimate formula (with a step-by-step example) for pricing your artwork!

KIRKE’S FOOLPROOF FORMULA TO PRICING ART:

Your Base Price = (Time Estimate × Hourly Rate x Experience Level) + Cost of Materials

What a mouthful. Let’s break that down step by step.

HOW TO PRICE ART COMMISSIONS: START SMALL, THEN BUILD

You will make yourself dizzy trying to calculate all of the different services you want to provide at the same time. 

Pick your most basic commission option, in terms of type and level of rendering. For this guide, we’re going to determine the price of this sketch by @cjrisami. 

TIME ESTIMATE

How long will it take, realistically, to complete this piece? Make sure to consider every step in your process (e.g., research, sketch, linework, flat color, shading, lighting, and background). 

Example: The sketch above took a total of 3 hours.

✶ 1 hour for the initial sketch

✶ 2 hours for shading and rendering

Therefore, our Time Estimate will equal 3. 

HOURLY RATE

Even a beginner artist deserves nothing less than to put food on the table. This means, we’re going to determine the minimum amount of income that could cover your living expenses if you worked full time. ✶This does not always equal the minimum wage in your country.

✶ Calculate Living Expenses: Time to look at your finances (yay) take note of consistent bills (e.g., housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, healthcare, debt repayments, and even entertainment.) Add them all up for one month.

✶ Multiply that by your experience level: we want to make money, not ends meet! So, let’s increase that number based on your experience level. This is your choice, but here are some recommendations.

✶ Emerging Artist: 1.5x Multiplier (1–5 years of professional experience, ~$50k salary)

✶ Intermediate Artist: 2x Multiplier (6–10 years of professional experience, ~$75k salary)

✶ Expert Artist: 3x Multiplier (10+ years of professional experience, ~$108k salary)

Now you have calculated your salary. 

✶ Assuming that we are ultra-successful, full-time working artists — we'll be working a full 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. (Saving some room for vacation!) Multiplying 40 x 50, we get the number 2000. This is your total number of hours per year. 

✶ Divide your salary by the number of hours per year that we just calculated.

✶ Congratulations! That is your starting hourly rate.

To put it simply:

Hourly Rate = (Yearly Expenses x experience level) / (50 weeks x 40 hours per week)

Even simpler:

Hourly Rate = Salary / Hours per year

That was a lot to digest — let’s see an example.

Example: Let’s assume our artist spends about $3,000 a month on needs, with 3 years of professional experience (an emerging artist).

✶ Multiply that by 12 months ($3,000 x 12 = $36,000)

✶ Therefore, expenses are $36,000 per year.

✶ Multiply expenses by experience level (1.5x multiplier) ($36,000 x 1.5= $54,000)

✶ Salary = $54,000

✶ Remember, 50 weeks x 40 hours = 2000 hours per year

Hourly Rate = Salary / Hours per year

Hourly Rate = $54,000 / 2000

✶ Hourly Rate = $27 ✶

VISUAL LEARNER? ILLITERATE? Check out this video on YouTube breaking it down further! [link to YouTube]

COST OF MATERIALS

How much did you spend on the materials used? (e.g., canvas, pens, paint, drawing software, technology, or even ad spend).

✶ If you use something like a tablet & drawing software, you could calculate material cost by time estimate x material cost per hour (cost of technology / (technology lifespan x hours per year)).

Let’s take a closer look:

Example: 

The sketch above was illustrated in Procreate, on an iPad.

✶ Procreate Software: $10, infinite lifespan, so, I will not include it in the cost of materials.

✶ iPad: $1000~, 5-year lifespan. ✶ Remember, our time estimate is 3 hours.

✶iPad cost per hour = $1000 / (5 years x 2000 hours per year) 

✶iPad Cost per hour: $0.10

✶ Materials cost: 3 x $.10 = $0.30

30 cents? That’s nothing!

 This is unfortunately, not the best example. I wouldn’t charge anything for materials in this specific case. However, it is important to consider materials with this formula when working with something a bit more expensive, or a piece that takes more time.

NOW, WE CAN FINALLY CALCULATE!

Congratulations! you’ve made it through the hardest part. Time to grab a calculator and plug these numbers into our formula:

Your Base Price = (Time Estimate × Hourly Rate) + Cost of Materials

Time Estimate: 3 Hours

Hourly Rate: $27/Hour

Materials Fee: $0.30

Example: The sketch above took a total of 3 hours.

✶ Base Price = (3 x $27) + $0.30

✶ Base Price = $81.30

Therefore, our base price for this sketch commission should be $81.30! But let’s round down to $80 for aesthetic purposes. 

OPTIONS TO CONSIDER

Custom commissions are rarely that simple. A client will often ask for something extra, may it be an OC with two heads, a pet, or a mechanical signature weapon! These add-ons are nothing to fear, but smart to prepare for ahead of time.

ADD-ON FEES

Let’s calculate add-on fees. Consider what you would classify as an “add-on”, and how much longer it would take than a more ~regular~ request.

Calculate your add-on fee by multiplying your hourly rate by that extra amount of time it takes to include their custom request.

Example: Consider that the sketch above now features a golden retriever!

✶ it would take about one extra hour to add the pet.

✶ Add-On Fee = 1 x $27

Therefore, our Add-On Fee will equal about $27.

If you want to keep things simple, my go-to for covering complexities is a flat charge of a bit less than 1 hour’s wage. This means you can skip the math, unless the request will take you a lot of time. 

✶ PRO TIP: Offer a discount on an add-on (say, we charge $20 for the dog instead of $27). Communicating that discount to your client can boost their morale. They will be more likely to cough up the extra dough if they’re getting a deal!

This also makes it easier to upsell add-ons if they’re considering it, but not quite sold. 

PLATFORM FEES

Choosing a platform to sell on is not easy — with some platforms feeling like a members-only club, or some taking all of your revenue before it hits your bank account.

If you are selling your commission on a platform like Etsy or Fiverr, take a look at how much the platform charges you for using their services. You may want to increase your rate to offset that cost. 

Etsy takes roughly 7% of revenue, while Fiverr takes a hefty 20%. It is extremely important to consider these options when choosing your platform!

Prefer to skip these fees entirely? There are platforms that do not pull from your revenue at all, like Kirke Social! You can see a detailed list of free commission platforms, like Kirke, in this article.

TIPS & TRICKS

✶ Always display pricing tiers on your platform (e.g., sketch vs. full color, bust vs. full body). 

✶ Offer a face-to-face connection: Many people prefer to talk over a 10-minute zoom call than over email. You want your customers to feel understood. Physically listening to their concepts will take you a long way. 

✶ Use a visual commission sheet on your page. (How to create a commission sheet)

✶ Be clear about turnaround times, what’s included, and what costs extra. Customers highly respect clear communication upfront. 

✶ Don’t underprice “just because you’re new.” Your time and skills are valuable even if you’ve got room to grow. We all do!

✶ Most important: Be confident in your work. If you were buying a car, and the salesman said “oh, I don’t know, it’s an amateur model, I don’t think it’s even that good.” Would you buy the car? NO!

You are the expert, your client is looking to you for advice. Your confidence is encouraging to the customer. Insecurity will drive them away. You are an incredibly skilled artist! Own it. 

See the full guide: Marketing your Art for Dummies

SO, HOW DO I START SELLING?

After following this guide, you should now have a confident idea of what to charge for your artwork! You’re all set to upload your commission to a platform like Kirke, Etsy, or even Instagram. Take a look at the following guides for a more in-depth tutorial on how to get started.

✶ How to start selling commissions on Kirke

✶ The top five platforms to sell your art commissions

✶ How to become an Artist on Kirke

✶ How to increase sales on art commissions

✶ Marketing your artwork for Dummies

Not quite what you’re looking for? Explore more articles like these here! Our expansive collection of blogposts will teach you everything you need to know about buying, selling, and marketing yourself as an artist. 

Keep up with us! Head over to Kirke’s socials for YouTube tutorials, artist community and support, inspiration, and more. 

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About the author: Morgan Nugent | Cjrisami

CJ (she/her) is a Chicago based marketing professional by day, illustrator by night. 5+ years of professional experience in this rare combination has allowed her to refine an expertise in illustration, digital marketing, and all of the design elements in between. Check out CJ’s work here: @cjrisami