There is nothing more daunting to a beginner artist than the question, “How much do you charge?”

Putting a price on your artwork can make your stomach drop, trigger imposter syndrome, and cause you to get flustered.

The idea of selling your work can sometimes lead to giving your paintings away for free, convincing yourself that the ‘exposure’ will bring future commissions.

With this in mind, I wanted to share my experiences with the emotions that can hold you back, the factors that influence the value of your art, and how to develop a pricing strategy. Hopefully, this will give you the clarity and confidence you need so you’ll be prepared the next time someone asks about your prices!

How much should I charge for my art?

You’ve poured your soul into each piece, laboured over the canvas, and tweaked it until it feels right. Now comes the moment of truth:

How much is it worth?

Pricing your work is a balance between perceived value, market trends, and career growth, but often, the main problem is an inside job.

Getting over imposter syndrome

Many beginners struggle with imposter syndrome, feeling that their work isn’t good enough or that they don’t deserve to charge for their creations.

When a customer utters the immortal words, “How much is that?” You have to try to look at the situation through different eyes and think logically about it. If you were making any other product, determining a price would be pretty simple.

You’d calculate your material costs, set an hourly rate for the time it took to make the product and compare your price to what the market or shops around you are selling for.

This would give you a baseline.

Nearly all of the factors below can help guide prices for your artwork, particularly when taking on commissions.

1. Time Spent /Customisation and Personalization

Calculate the hours you have spent creating the piece to give you a baseline. Commissions are often tailored to the buyer’s unique vision and theme; this level of customisation involves design work and sometimes personalised colour schemes, which can take longer.

2. Quality of Materials

Artist-quality materials can significantly increase the cost and justify a higher price. Consider the cost of your materials—canvas, paint, brushes, or digital tools.

3. Size and Complexity

A piece with intricate details or a complex composition can be priced higher due to the skill and effort involved.

Landscapes or seascapes can often be larger scale, increasing material costs and the time required to complete them.

Portraits, in particular, require skilled craftsmanship and can take hours of meticulous work.

4. Consultation and Planning

Designing a portrait often involves multiple consultations with the subject to understand their preferences, mutilple sittings, and make adjustments.

5. Your Experience

As a beginner, your prices may be lower than those of more established artists. However, as your portfolio grows and you gain recognition, you can adjust your prices accordingly.

Ego is the Enemy

The intrinsic value of art is deeply personal. It’s tied to the time, effort, and emotion spent creating it.

For some artists, this value is immeasurable; it’s the culmination of years of practice, the perfect stroke of a brush, and the precise blending of colours. Or it might be a deeply personal piece that has felt like a struggle.

However, while intrinsic value is important, it doesn’t always align with market value—the price someone is willing to pay.

The market value of your artwork is influenced by factors like your reputation as an artist, the materials used, the size of the piece, and current trends.

You may feel a piece is worth £2,000 because of the weeks you spent perfecting it, but if your audience sees it as worth £200, that’s the market value.

This is where your ego gets involved.

If you were offering a coffee and walnut cake for sale and somebody said,” No thanks, I don’t like walnuts,” you wouldn’t take offence, think the walnuts were bad, or feel overwhelmed; you would just think. No worries.

There will be someone in the room who loves walnuts! You just need to find them.

Selling art is like selling anything.

“To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resources—not to deprive that person, but to leave him better off in the end. This is what it means to serve: improving another’s life and, in turn, improving the world.” –  Daniel H. Pink, To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

The Endowment Effect

The worst time to put a price on your work is the second you’ve finished it.

Why?

You might price it too high.

The endowment effect is a cognitive bias that can cause people to value something they own more than its market value, often irrationally.

It’s why companies offer free trials, or car dealerships get you to sit in the front seat of a car. The more you have a personal connection to the item, the higher the value you place on it.

Suppose you’ve been gruelling for hours, days, or years! on a painting, you’ll have a lot stronger bond to the value you feel it deserves, due to the investment it took you to create it.

(p.s. Ninja move: You can use this effect to your advantage by offering a 30-day free home trial of the artwork)

(Further Reading: The Endowment Effect, Why Perceived Value Increases with Ownership)

Mirror your market

Mirroring your market can be a great place to start if you’re unsure how to gauge your prices.

Look at local shops or galleries selling similar paintings and note the other artists’ pricing range. Also, look for red dots—the little dots that are placed over a painting label when it sells. This gives you an idea of the actual price someone is willing to pay.

There are often pricing bands that the majority of works fit into. Of course, there will be outliers selling for thousands, if not millions, of pounds, but this guide is for beginners.

As a general view of local or small galleries, 80% of the sales will often be under £1,000 in price.

The most popular price range for a small (under 30cm)—to medium-sized painting (under 60cm) is usually £150 – £500

Understanding Social Media vs Gallery Representation

If you start selling in the UK, you won’t have to charge VAT (value-added tax) on your sales. (There is a threshold of £90,000, based on your business’s turnover, not profits)

However, most galleries are VAT registered, so there will be 20% VAT on any sales you make through the gallery.

Physical Galleries often take a 50% commission on your sale price, so you must be aware of this when setting your prices. (online galleries like Saatchi take a 40% commission)

Here’s a quick breakdown:

Sale Price on a U.K based gallery wall not framed – £645.00

VAT amount: = £107.50
Since the gallery is VAT registered, the sale price includes 20% VAT.

Gallery Commission = £268.75
Gallery usually has a commission of 50% of the ex-vat sale price.

Artist’s Share: = £268.75

Deduct Material Costs, Material Costs: £40.00

Artist’s Profit after materials:

£268.75 – £40.00 = £228.75

Final Profit for the Artist –  £228.75

So the customer sees a £645.00 painting, but you, as the artist, receive £228.75. Why would you ever want to get into a gallery?

Collectors, contacts and kudos.

Many collectors will not buy directly from an artist but only through a gallery. Established gallery owners know their best clients well and will have a list of paintings or styles they are looking to buy.

Also, seeing a collection of paintings together on a gallery wall can give customers more confidence that the size and style will fit what they want. Many galleries offer hanging services, art advice, and payment schemes. They have retail spaces in prime locations, and there is prestige involved in purchasing a painting from a gallery.

They also talk to customers, tell your story and don’t show any of those personal insecurities you might have about your own work!

To start with, you’ll be doing everything, but the goal is to get to a point where it makes sense for you to spend your time painting.

If you begin with the idea of gallery representation as a goal, you can incorporate that into your pricing.

‘In an ideal world your prices should also include a buffer to make it worthwhile for someone to represent you. Artists, in my opinion, need to distance themselves from daily commerce — this is why you need to be able to reward dealers who can share your magic with the greater world. Intelligent, long-term pricing accommodates friendly partnerships, maintains your integrity, and makes your progress viable in an ongoing manner. Intelligent, long-term pricing buys your freedom.’ – Robert Genn, The Painters Keys

Starting on social media can be a great place to start, as many gallery owners are also looking for new talent. If you’re selling consistently online, you become a much more attractive option for a gallery.

Now that you understand the factors influencing your art’s value, it’s time to develop a pricing strategy.

Developing an art pricing strategy

You can price in many ways; here are some common art pricing methods:

• Pricing artwork by square inch
• Pricing artwork by time spent
• Pricing artwork by comparison
• Grab a number from the air!

Cost per inch is one of the simplest to use. You can tweak the cost depending on your working style. Create tiers and scales for different sizes.

You can also price drawings or sketches less per square inch than paintings.

If you paint small, highly detailed portraits, the cost per inch will be higher than for a more impressionistic style, reflecting the time it takes to create the piece.

Art Pricing Calculator

This is a nice and simple art pricing calculator.

You can click the toggle at the top to choose either time-based or price-per-inch-based pricing.

There is also a box to enter the cost of materials. (You could also add overheads into this section)

Here’s an example of a 6 x 8-inch Art Pricing Chart:

6 x 8 inch (48 square inches)

£1.50 per square inch – £72

£2.00 per square inch – £96

£3.00 per square inch – £144

£4.00 per square inch – £192

How do you decide on the price per inch?

Start with £1 or 2

This is a baseline figure.

After you’ve sold five paintings at this price, increase the number.

Rinse and repeat.

One of the most important things to remember is that if you don’t have any prices on your website or social accounts, customers will often assume it’s super expensive or not for sale at all. 99% of the time, they won’t email to enquire about the cost either.

How to label your paintings on Instagram.

If you want to sell your paintings, potential customers need to be aware they are for sale. Here’s a format you can try:

All of these original paintings are available to buy.
Email me at [your email] or DM me for more information.

Write the size in cm or inch – 15 x 15cm
Write the medium – Oil on Canvas
Write the title – “View over Delft.”
Is post & packaging extra or included? – Plus P&P
Is there a framing option or do you sell unframed? – Unframed

It will clearly state that your paintings are for sale, that they are originals, and indicates the size.

And as a final note, Van Gogh sold ‘The Red Vineyard’ for 400 francs (then £16) at a Brussels exhibition in March 1890. Four months before his suicide, it was the only painting he sold in his lifetime.

In 2022, one of his paintings sold at Christine’s auction house for over $117,000,000 million. (£88 million)

With a price range between $20 and $117 million, it’s no wonder determining the price for your first painting can be intimidating!

As a beginner landscape painter, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the vastness of nature and the complexity of capturing it on canvas. But when you break down the scene into shapes, values and planes, you can instantly improve the sense of depth and realism.

In last week’s post, we looked at the theory of angles and how they relate to a landscape.

This week, we’re going to put the theory into practice.

By stripping away the colour, it will be easier to see how the value relationships work in our subject.

Materials you will need:

• 4 x 4-inch or 6 x 6-inch square canvas board or canvas paper
• Neutral Grey Acrylics (Golden Paints)
• Titanium White Acrylic
• Palette Knife
• Round Brush. Rosemary & Co, Size 4, Series 344
• Square brush. Rosemary & Co,  Size 12, Series 302
• Pencil or Acrylic marker to draw out.

Step 1: Understanding Carlson’s Four Planes of the Landscape

To master landscape painting, it’s crucial to understand Carlson’s Four Planes of the Landscape. These planes are —sky, ground, slanted, and upright—and they serve as your compositional building blocks.

Step 2: Draw Out the landscape

I’ve drawn out the main shapes of the landscape with an acrylic marker. This is by Daler Rowney, and I’ve filled the empty marker with Sepia High Flow Ink. Make sure to keep the spaces between the trees. These negative spaces allow for dashes of sunlight.

Here’s a 6 x 6 inch (15cm x 15cm) version of the drawing you can download: landscape drawing reference image

Step 2: Block in Your Upright Plane

Asking the question, ‘What angle is this object facing in relation to the light source?‘ can help you group the subjects. So, if we look at the trees, they are growing vertically, so they would fit within the upright plane. This faces away from the light source, so it is the darkest value.

I’m using a round brush and an N2 neutral grey.

I’m using pre-mixed greys for speed, but you can mix your own grey using Black and Burnt Umber, or Ultramarine and Burnt Umber.

I dip the brush into water and use that to alter the consistency of the paint.
If I feel the brush dragging a little on the canvas surface, I add a touch more water.

I’ve also got a piece of kitchen roll to the side. I can dab the bristles onto the paper towel if the brush contains too much liquid or pigment.

Step 3: Paint in the slanted plane

I’m still using the round brush, but jump up to the next lightest value for the slanted plane. This is for areas of the painting facing away from the light, but not fully exposed to the sun, so usually within the mid values.

It could be a hill in the distance, a roof, or a mass of leaves. On trees, you’ll often have the trunk as an upright plane, but the top of the leaves grow out at a slanted angle so they receive more light.

I’m using a few different greys and tweaking the values between them.

Neutral Grey from Golden Acrylics

Step 4: Paint in the Ground Plane

Once the slanted plane is in, I swap to a larger square brush to paint the ground plane.

This is much lighter than the slanted plane but not as bright as the sky. This area is often lighter in value than you think it should be.

Step 5: Paint in the Sky plane (light source)

We can jump to the lightest value, sky plane, for the light source of the sky. I’m using the square-edged brush and the corner of the bristles to paint in the sky holes. This helps to move the viewer’s eye across the painting and completes the value hierarchy.

I swap to the round brush for the final details of the gaps between the trees.

By understanding and applying Carlson’s Four Planes of the Landscape, you can break down complex scenes and create beautiful, realistic landscapes. Remember to start with a simple sketch, look for the shapes that are grouped together, and maintain consistent lighting variety.

You can watch a short 1min 30 video of the steps on YouTube below:

You might also enjoy:
1.How to simplify a complicated Landscape Scene 
2.How to Paint Greens in Acrylics 

Morning Class,

This week, I’ve been working on a Spritz cocktail painting inspired by one I enjoyed in St Mawes.

This subject offers an excellent opportunity to practice capturing reflections in water and exploring how coloured liquids can challenge our visual perception.

While painting the background and the surface around the glass might be relatively straightforward, the real challenge arises when we start painting the cocktail itself. Your mind will naturally begin to second-guess what you’re seeing. Thoughts like, “That’s too dark for a lemon,” or “The straw should be white, not grey,” might pop up.

You’ll be craving a cocktail yourself after tackling all these tricky reflections!

Part One: How to Paint a Spritz

Part Two: How to Paint a Spritz

You can see a Student Success page from the lesson here: Aperol Spritz Student Success

Painting large scale is not just a matter of having the right size canvas and paint. It’s also about adopting slightly different working methods and brushstrokes than when you work with a small canvas, and it’s one of the best ways to stretch your skills as a painter, even if you predominately paint small.

After months of renovation, I have recently regained the use of our new studio space. For the last 6 months, it had become the perfect place for storing multiple power tools and timber that needed acclimatising. It has been uplifting emptying the space of leftover building materials back to an empty room.

So last week with great relish, energy and anticipation, I propped up a large-scale 2m square canvas against a newly cleared wall and got to it.

I had a loose plan of the final image.

I’d sketched a pen and ink thumbnail of the view and had a palette of colours in mind but if I’m 100% honest I was super excited by the freedom of painting in a big space and seeing how the new studio felt.

Here are five things I learned.

#1. A little colour change is a big colour change.

Mixing the right colours for a large scale is not easy.

On smaller-scale pieces, your reference image is often close in size to the final piece, so you can translate the effect of the colour quite easily, but when you scale up an image everything becomes exaggerated.

As soon as you scale up the surface area that a colour covers, it has more of an intensity to it. The same colour ratio I would normally go for in a smaller piece looked more colourful once it was painted onto such a vast area.

#2. Scale up your brush to match your canvas size.

Just as you have to be aware of scaling down your colour choices and scaling up the volume of paint, you have to use larger tools to apply the paint too.

I rapidly went from a 1/2-inch brush to a 3-inch brush to a mini-roller!

Morning class, last week I was struck by this image of these beautiful colourful cast shadows.

Spring sunshine was pouring through the wrought iron railings on the balcony and casting all these amazing shapes of the plant leaves onto the studio wall. I really, really liked the way they framed the rubber plant and I also liked how flat the shadows were in contrast to all the textures that I saw on the front of the aged terracotta pot.

You can be put off by painting shadows or tackling greens because they seem too complicated.

So for this lesson, I want you to think about the drawing first—a tonal underpainting and then a minimal painting on top. Spend more time on the shadows and the lights to create a painting that captures the feeling of sunlight.

I’ve put together a detailed photo step-by-step (with a few video time-lapses as well), so you can approach painting shadows and greens with ease.

Will Kemp, Fishing Boat at St Michael’s Mount, 10 x 8 inches, Acrylic on Board

Acrylic Step-by-Step Tutorial

Are you looking for an easy acrylic painting tutorial for beginners?

After posting photos from my recent trip to St Michael’s Mount, the most popular request was to create an acrylic step-by-step tutorial of the little blue boat. So here it is, a new free acrylic lesson!

Grab a brew, maybe a biscuit or two (now the weather’s turning a bit more autumnal I’ve got a piece of particularly good ginger cake from the local farmers market) and let’s get painting, I really hope you enjoy it.

(p.s Students have had some fantastic results with this lesson)

Learn more about the course here 

Acrylics are a great medium. Pick up a few well-chosen materials, and after a simple set up, you can paint on almost any surface.

But.

They dry quickly. And sometimes really quickly.

If you’re new to painting, the seriousness of this small window of free-flowing acrylics begins to dawn on you, little by little.

The paints don’t seem to blend quite as well as they did when you first put them out on your palette. In fact, that expensive paint you took so long deciding on has now gone completely hard, and there’s a distinctive shift in colour.

This is not just frustrating but feels like an undisclosed complication.

You thought it was going to be getting the painting techniques right that would be difficult, not battling with the paint drying out too quickly.

So how do you stop it from happening?

Paint faster? Invest in specialist paint mediums? Use a broom rather than a brush?

Humidity

Everything revolves around evaporation.

Controlling water evaporation is the key principle to manipulating the drying time of your acrylics.

Acrylics dry by evaporation. So, the wetter the air around the acrylics, the longer they stay wet. You might be painting in a dry climate and not realise how much that affects the paints’ workability.

The drier the air, the faster the acrylics will dry.

• Wet air (around acrylics) – paints stay wetter.
• Dry air (around acrylics) – paints dry out quicker.

In my studio, I’ve got a humidity and temperature monitor. This helps to keep an eye on the water content of the space, so I can adapt my techniques if needed.

I’ve noticed when I’m painting near the coast, and there’s a higher amount of water in the atmosphere, the paints will keep working for a lot longer. If you are based in an extremely dry climate, you could introduce a humidifier into your space that will emit steam or water vapour to increase the air’s moisture levels.

Heavy Body Acrylics under ambient conditions of 70ºF/21ºC and 30% Relative Humidity in a 0.15mm brush stroke.

wet: under 5 minutes
workable:  10 minutes
touch dry: 30 minutes
locked down: 3+ days

Temperature & Air Flow

If it’s a hot summer day, you might have placed an air conditioning unit or fan next to your painting space; this will shorten the working time of the paints as airflow aids water evaporation, definitely something to consider.

Pro tip: It’s also handy to check the ambient temperature of your studio. If you drop below 9° C, it can cause issues when creating a strong paint film.

Acrylics are ideally used at room temperature, above 60° F / 16° C, and avoiding any applications below 49° F / 9° C, which is the so-called “minimum film formation” temperature (MFFT). Below that temperature acrylic paint cannot form a strong, coherent film and will be prone to failure and various drying defects, such as cracks, poor adhesion, and cloudiness – Golden Paints 

On top of your studio environment, there are a few successful ways to manipulate the drying times of acrylics by controlling evaporation. However, I don’t use them all in one painting but pick and choose whatever would work best for the style or stage of the piece I’m working on at the time.

How would you speed up the drying time?

Here’s an inversion thought experiment.

What would you do if you had to dry acrylic paint as fast as possible?

Paint in a thin layer? Warm room? Wind turbine? Sunshine? …Blow torch?

If I had to get a painting to dry as quickly as possible, I’d use a hairdryer on thin paint. High airflow, high heat, about 1 cm from the paint surface! This expels water the quickest from the paint.

And this knowledge is the secret to your success.

All we have to do is work on the opposites.

Will Kemp, A Mediterranean Washing Line, Detail, Acrylic on Board

A Mediterranean Washing Line

For this week’s free step-by-step acrylic lesson, we’re returning to the gorgeous faded paintwork and quiet cobblestone streets of Corsica.

After the challenging perspective in our first Starter Set Challenge ‘Warm Shadows in Corsica’ the simpler shapes and clear blue sky of ‘A Mediterranean Washing Line‘ should be plain sailing.

I particularly love the multiple wires threading your eye towards the sea in this scene and the washing strung up between the buildings brings a human presence of day-to-day life, breathing real energy into the composition.