Understanding Pricing Methods

Art Price Lab runs three pricing methods simultaneously. Here's what each one is doing and when it matters.

Square inch pricing

Square inch pricing multiplies the height of your piece by the width in inches to get the total area, then multiplies that area by your per-square-inch rate.

A 12x16 canvas is 192 square inches. At a rate of $2.00 per square inch, that's $384.

This method is consistent across your catalog and easy to explain to collectors. A 12x16 always costs the same as another 12x16. It scales naturally with size and is the most common method working artists use.

The limitation: it doesn't account for how long a piece actually took. A highly detailed small canvas and a loose large canvas can land at similar numbers if their sizes are close.

Linear span pricing

Linear span pricing adds the height and width instead of multiplying. A 12x16 canvas has a linear span of 28 inches. Multiply that by your linear rate.

This method is gentler on very large or very small pieces where square inch can produce numbers that feel out of proportion. A 48x60 piece (2,880 square inches) produces a very large square inch price. Linear span smooths that out.

Use linear span as a cross-check, not your only method.

Time plus materials

Time plus materials calculates your actual cost to make the piece: hours worked at your hourly rate, plus what you spent on materials, plus a share of your overhead costs, plus a profit factor.

Overhead includes the cost of having a practice at all: studio rent, equipment, art fair fees, website, shipping supplies. Art Price Lab handles this separately from materials.

This is the most honest method because it directly answers "did I actually make money on this piece?" It tends to produce higher numbers than size-based methods for complex, labor-intensive work. When it does, that's usually accurate.

Why run all three?

The convergence is the point. When the three methods land close together, that range has real backing. When they diverge significantly, the gap is information worth paying attention to: your labor cost may be higher than your size-based rates account for, your materials may be unusually expensive, or your size-based rate may need a review.

Art Price Lab runs all three simultaneously so you can see the full picture.

See How to Read Your Results for how to use the range once you have it.