How to:

Price Your
Work

Pricing your work is super tricky and

everyone has a different approach that
makes them comfortable.

This guide includes a super easy

formula to use, as well as in-depth tips
and advice from three industry
professionals.
STARTING OUT
The first thing you’re gonna want to do is decide what method of pricing your work will
work for you. Everyone is different - you might want to set a day/hourly rate or work from
project-to-project. Do whatever makes you comfortable, and know that you’re allowed to
change your method if it’s not working for you!

• Try to put aside the fact that pricing a piece of ur soul SUCKS and if u didn’t have to do
it u probably wouldn’t (just me…?)

• Log all your hours on a project! Time you spent: coming up with the idea, preliminary
sketches, correspondence with client (if applicable), purchasing materials/supplies, first
“drafts” (depending on what you’re making), actually making the damn thing!, shipping
etc. Keep a note in your phone or on your calendar, don’t just estimate at the end of a
project!!

Things to think about when you’re just starting out:

~ What kind of services do you offer as a creative practitioner?

~ What kind of projects do you want to get involved in?
~ How can you market yourself to attract business/commissions?

REMEMBER
As a creative you are worth every. single. penny. I can’t stress enough how important it is
not to undersell or undervalue yourself.

If you’re reading this, you’re most likely an art school student or graduate… you are
educated!!! You know what you’re doing, and you’re bloody good at it too! I’ve said it
before and I’ll say it again, if you hired a plumber, an accountant, an events co-
ordinator…. anyone to do work for you, you are automatically prepared to pay for their
service!! No questions asked! It shouldn’t make a difference if that service is based on art
or design practices.
THE FORMULA
This is the formula we use. We love it because it can be applied to pretty much every
situation (commissions, etc) and is really simple to put into practice. It’s a great way to
make sure you’re not out of pocket when making work, and that your time is covered,
valued + accounted for.

~THE FORMULA~

Total Material Cost + Total Labour Cost + Additional Costs/Overheads = Cost of Goods

~A BREAKDOWN~

• Total Material Cost — any and ALL materials you bought/used while producing the work

• Total Labour Cost — there are plenty of resources out there to help you determine your
rate of pay depending on where you live.

Scotland - https://www.artistsunion.scot/pay_rates_2020
England - https://www.artistsunionengland.org.uk/rates-of-pay/
Canada - https://carfac-raav.ca/2021-en/

• Additional Costs/Overheads — this applies to any other expenses, so things like

shipping, packaging, equipment rental, travel/accommodation.

~EXAMPLES~

1. Painting Commission

Total Material Cost + Total Labour Cost + Additional Costs/Overheads = Cost of Goods
£250 + (15 hours @ £22.95 ph) £344.25 + (Postage and Packaging) £24 = £618.25

2. Photography Job

Total Material Cost + Total Labour Cost + Additional Costs/Overheads = Cost of Goods
£0 + (1x Full Day) £183.60 + (Train reimbursement) £42.50 = £226.10

3. Video Editing Job

Total Material Cost + Total Labour Cost + Additional Costs/Overheads = Cost of Goods
£0 + (10.5 hours @ £22.95 ph) £240.98 + (Paying the musician for soundtrack) £150 =
£390.98

~A WEE NOTE~

It’s really important to set your hourly + day rates and adjust/update it every year.
Guidance on this can be found through the links above, but your rate is subject to change
depending on things like your experience (for example when you hit the 3 year mark), and
in line with inflation.
This can be added to your website if you offer services frequently, but you should have it
handy for corresponding with clients so they know what to expect from the get go.
TIPS TIPS TIPS

We’ve spoken to some industry professionals to give you some insight into their methods
of pricing their work. We wanted to make sure that we covered as many different types of
work as possible, so have gathered tips and advice from:

1. KIRSTY CAMERON - DIRECTOR OF SECOND HOME STUDIO + CAFE, ABERDEEN

~ Kirsty explains how to price workshops, and gives some advice for setting up as
a Community Interest Company or Not-for-Profit.

2. SWEETPEA GALLERY - COMMERCIAL GALLERY FOR EMERGING CREATIVES VICTORIA, BC

~ Sophia and Catriona of Sweetpea Gallery share some tips for visual artists when
pricing work.

3. ROHANNE THOMSON - ILLUSTRATOR AND ANIMATOR, EDINBURGH

~ Rohanne gives us some insight into her experience as a freelance designer, and
shares some amazing advice for pricing work.

We want to thank these incredible creatives for taking the time to share their advice with
us, and hope you find it as valuable as we do! As always, if you have any questions or
concerns regarding this guide, or just want a chat, drop us a DM or fire an email over to
[email protected]

We cover quite a lot in this guide, so to avoid feeling overwhelmed, we’ve added a
checklist at the end to sum up the key aspects you should put into practice!
 KIRSTY CAMERON

Second Home Studio + Cafe

Aberdeen, Scotland

I’m Kirsty Cameron and I’m a Director and Arts Facilitator at

Second Home Studio + Cafe. Second Home is a not for profit
organisation focusing on making art more accessible. We
provide classes, studio + exhibition space at affordable rates
to ensure everyone has the opportunity to explore their
creativity. In my roles at Second Home, I oversee the running
of the business day to day, interact with customers both in
person at our cafe and over social media, organise
exhibitions, facilitate workshops, curate our retail space, and
generally just try to help people on their creative journey in
anyway I can. I really feel like it’s what I was put on this planet
for.
 Workshop Facilitation

When pricing a workshop, I’d keep in mind the following:

1 - Who are your customers? More to the point, how

much disposable income do they have and how do you
market to them? It might sound brash but that’s just
business. You’re trying to make money and there are
people you need to make money from. What can they
realistically afford, and how are you going to get them to
buy it? At Second Home, we’re committed to making art
more accessible, and that includes those on low incomes.
We tend to keep this in mind when pricing our workshops,
but that might not work for you. If you’d like to make this an
option, you might consider a sliding scale pricing
programme, or taking a deposit instead of an upfront fee.

2 - What materials is this going to need? Materials can

be a huge upfront cost when starting workshops. When
pricing your classes it’s important to take into consideration
if they can be reused, if it’s been taken away by the
customer, or if it’s unusable after that one class.

3 - How many people can you fit into a class? This is a

tricky one. If this workshop doesn’t need a huge amount of
tuition / only takes minimal materials / or if you can
generally fit a lot of people in at one time, you might be
tempted to reduce ticket prices. While this makes sense on
the face of it, you need to be pretty confident that those
reduced ticket prices will pull in more numbers. Otherwise,
you’ll be left running a workshop with only a few
participants, and you’ll be getting next to nothing for it.

4 - People pay for what they see value in. This kind of
ties all the points together and is the most important part.
People will pay for the things that they see value in. Even if
you are just starting out, don’t undervalue yourself, your
expertise, and your time. Price accordingly, then add tax.

KIRSTY CAMERON
 Setting Up as a Community Interest
Company or Not-for-Profit

When setting up a not for profit, it’s really important to

have a very clear mission of who you are trying to help,
and how you are going to help. You don’t need to start
with a polished business plan, but you do need to
have a whole load of passion.

When setting up, check which structure best fits your

organisation. The government website lists the
different types and the requirements here (https://
www.gov.uk/set-up-a-social-enterprise).

Setting up a not for profit is much more complicated

than setting up a regular limited company. Limited
companies have almost no regulation whatsoever
whereas not for profit organisations have to adhere to
strict guidelines and have extra end of year reporting
duties. I find it incredibly ironic companies that are set
up with a view to help people are saddled with all of
these extra duties and regulations, where as limited
companies can do pretty much whatever they want as
long as they’re paying tax - and if you’re big enough
sometimes not even then (looking at you Vodaphone,
Google, ABB Finance, Baker Hughes). I digress.

All of the official stuff can look really scary. There is

language in there that you probably won’t be used to
but persevere! You’ll get the hang of it after a while, I
promise. And if you need any help, my DM’s are
open. :)

KIRSTY CAMERON
 SWEETPEA GALLERY

Sophia Seward and Catriona Reid

Victoria, BC

Sweetpea is a digital and (sometimes) irl space that supports

early career artists. We do this through pop-up gallery
installations, online content, and the sale of artwork & merch.
Our goal is to engage with young artists to strengthen their
practice and with buyers who may not see themselves
reflected in the traditional art market.

Working with emerging artists has given us so much freedom

to try new things and push in different directions. It has also
meant that we are figuring out our artist's markets for the first
time which is a fun challenge.

We started Sweetpea because we loved being around

creativity, but hated the stuffy air that surrounded so much of
the commercial art world. Going into an art gallery shouldn't
feel like a pop quiz in being cool, it should be about finding a
work of art to fall in love with! It is all a process, so we are
throwing ideas out there, trying new things, and learning
more all the time. Because of our model, we don't have to
make rent every month and can instead focus on doing
what's best for our artists, the work, and our customers.
 Some Things to Consider When Pricing Work

Pricing is really a process of matching the right work with the right
customer. Typical standards like hierarchy of medium, doubling the
manufacturing costs, and price per square inch are great guidelines,
but each work is so unique!

The best approach to take when starting to price work is to think

about who is buying it and the role the work is going to play in their
collection. Will they enjoy it once like a nice bottle of wine? Is it
going to be a beautiful addition to what they already own? Or is this
going to be a statement & investment piece that is going to root
everything else? Getting a sense of where an individual work fits in
is a great first start (and your practice should include a ton of
options in all the categories!). As much as a work has value and
sentiment to you, it is the value for the customer that matters for
pricing.

When it comes to unconventional works, you should consider setup

costs in the price. This could mean hanging infrastructure, custom
frames, digital screens, and plinths, as well as shipping and
packaging costs. If a $500 drawing is going to cost $600 to custom
frame, could you work on a slightly smaller scale to fit in a
conventional frame, work on canvas, or mount on MDF board?
There are a whole bunch of levers you can use to maximise the
value you get out of the deal if you can think through the life cycle of
the work.

Works that maybe are not the easiest commercially can also play a
big role in expanding your practice and growing your audience.
Price =/= value!

What would you like to tell early career artists

just starting out?

There are a lot of resources out there to help guide you. We love
the book Art/Work and it continues to help us.

Know who you are working for! Being an artist is a 24/7 gig, and
while you might not be making money, figuring out who should be
laying eyes on your work is super important.

And Sweetpea will be looking for our next roster this summer!!!!!~

SWEETPEA
 ROHANNE THOMSON

Illustrator and Animator,

Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm a pop-colour illustrator and animator with a major

focus on fun. I LOVE using bold design and funky
characters to radiate a positive message. Since
graduating in 2019 I've been freelancing part-time,
working with on exciting projects for clients such as the
Scouts and Beer52.
 Could you describe your experience as a
freelance designer?

The majority of my paid Illustration work has been editorial;

magazine covers, spot illustrations.

My first ever commission was for the Scouts Magazine, creating

spot illustrations for a feature on April fools day pranks. This was
completely up my street and I was so excited but, in hindsight, no
way prepared. I didn't take enough time on the colour palette and I
formatted the files completely wrong. I also signed over all rights to
the work as I had no knowledge on contracts. However, the first is
always going to be the most difficult right?

Since then I've learnt a lot more about licensing and displaying my
work. Having worked with Beer52 on an illustrated cover for their
subscription mag, Icon design for a mental health organisation and
more recently animated and illustrated GIFs for a vegan food brand.

How would you recommend that emerging

creatives go about pricing their design
work?

Pricing your work will never be easy, I get confused about how best
to price my work almost every time. A lot of creatives work by a day
rate, which can work for some but not others. This method would
mean calculating how long a project takes to complete and
multiplying that by your day rate. This is a great place to start and is
useful as a baseline to refer back to for similar work. Of course as
your experience grows your rate will increase.

Pricing should also be relevant to the licence you're giving the

client. If the work can be used worldwide, is exclusive to them and
is perpetual, your fee should be a lot higher. If you can always ask
for the clients budget first, and when they hopefully give you a fair
fee this will help in pricing similar work.

ROHANNE THOMSON
 What are some things you wish you’d learned
at art school that you had to learn yourself
when setting up as a freelancer?

I really wish that I'd made more of an effort to learn about licensing,
contracts and promotion at art school. Coaching and mentorships
programmes such as the one run by Lisa Hassel at Inkygoodness
has been so helpful and I can't recommend it more. Putting together
a quality portfolio of work that reflects you and being able to
promote that through email and physical mailers is something I am
still working on.

Do you have any general tips?

Self initiated work is so so important. If you want to be creating a

certain type of work or be creating for a specific brand, create
yourself the dream brief. I used to hear this but never really put it
into practice. Another thing I've found super useful is putting
projects in front of organisations like the AOI or the Dots, these
companies love to share work from creatives so show them what
you've been up to.

Do you have a specific process you go

through when working with brands on
commissions?

When I receive a commission I like to keep or move this to email, it's

a lot easier for keeping track of than a social media message. I start
by asking the client to detail the work they are after and if they have
a budget in mind for the project. Once this has all been agreed I
write up an acceptance of commission agreement (using a template
from the AOI). This is crucial in protecting your rights. If the client
pulls out and you will be paid for the work completed.

When it comes to the work I keep to a rough template of stages:

rough drafts/concept of 2 or more designs, developed chosen
concept, final artwork and files. Confirming the next steps with the
client after each stage. As soon as the final artwork is supplied I
send over an invoice for the work completed.

ROHANNE THOMSON
 A CHECKLIST!

BEFORE I START:

Have I set my rate?

Have I identified what it is I want to make/the services I want

to offer?

Do I have the mental and physical capacity to take this on right

now?

WHILE I’M WORKING ON A PROJECT:

Have I put J&J’s handy pricing formula into practice?

Have I sent out an email outlining my contract? Have I sent out

an invoice? (Resources on both of these things are available on our website.)

Have I logged the hours spent on this from the very beginning
of the project?

Are all of the outgoings covered in my price?