How Much to Charge for Art Commissions: The Price, Worked Out

October 27, 2026 · Freelance and creator rates

To work out how much to charge for art commissions, find the rate each billable hour must earn, price every part of the piece by its hours at that rate, add paid revisions and any rush, then gross the total up so platform and payment fees come out of the client’s price, not yours. In the illustrative example below, the floor rate is $50.00 an hour, a full render with 2 extra characters and a detailed background comes to $1,150.00, and with revisions, a rush and fees the client is quoted $1,711.16.

None of these figures are market prices. Every hour, multiplier and fee share belongs to one made-up digital artist and is there to be replaced with your own timings, your own policies and the fee your own platform or processor charges.

The art commission price formula

floor rate    = (income / (1 - tax share) + costs)
                / billable hours a year
piece         = (base hours + extra characters x hours each
                 + background hours) x floor rate + materials
commercial    = piece x your commercial-use multiplier
with extras   = (piece + paid revision rounds x hours x floor)
                x (1 + rush share)
client price  = (with extras + fixed fee x payments)
                / (1 - fee share),
                rounded up to the cent
deposit       = client price x deposit share

Step 1: the hourly floor rate

The example artist wants $30,000 a year kept after a 25% tax set-aside and carries $1,400 of yearly costs: software, hardware and supplies not billed per piece. That needs $41,400.00 a year. They work 30 hours a week for 46 weeks, but only 18 of those hours are drawing time they can put in a quote; the other 12 go on messages, posting and invoicing. That is 828 billable hours a year, so each must earn $50.00.

Spread the same need over every hour worked and you get $30.00. That is the trap: 40% of the week cannot be billed, and the billable hours have to pay for it. Prices set from the lower figure miss the year.

Step 2: price each commission type by its hours

At the floor rate, each type is its own hours times the rate, plus materials. Materials are zero for digital work; for traditional work, add the paper, paint and board for that piece.

The last column is what the same hours earn at $30.00: a full render at $300.00 instead of $500.00, $200.00 short on every one. These prices are one character on a plain background, before fees. Time your own pieces; the hours here are the example’s.

Step 3: extra characters and backgrounds

Price add-ons by their own hours, not as a flat percentage. At 4 hours each, an extra character is $200.00; a 5 hour background is $250.00. The example piece is a full render with 2 extra characters and a detailed background:

The piece is 23 hours, and every one of them is paid at the floor, because each part was priced by its own time. The revision fee covers the 2 rounds past the 2 included (4 asked for, 1.5 hours each), and the rush fee is charged on the quote with revisions, so rushed revisions cost more too.

Step 4: commercial use

If the client will use the piece commercially, multiply the personal-use quote by a multiplier you choose. The example uses 2.00: the $1,150.00 piece becomes $2,300.00, and $2,350.00 with $50.00 for layered source files. The hours do not change, so that is $102.17 per hour of work. The premium is for the use, and there is no standard multiplier; set your own and put it in your terms. For a commercial piece, carry this price into the revision, rush and fee steps instead of the personal-use one. The logo pricing post works usage and revision rounds for design clients the same way.

Step 5: gross up for platform and payment fees

The example’s processor takes 5% of the price the client pays plus $0.30 on each payment, and the client pays in 2 payments, a deposit and a balance, so the fixed fees come to $0.60. Because the fee is charged on the gross price, the fee included, the price is the amount wanted plus the fixed fees, divided by (1 - fee share), and rounded up to the cent: $1,711.16, which leaves $1,625.00.

Adding 5% and the fixed fees on top instead gives $1,706.85. The fee on that larger price eats into it, and it leaves $1,620.91, $4.09 short. A small gap on one piece, but it is a gap on every piece, and it grows with the price.

Count the payments, too. Grossing up for the fixed fee only once gives $1,710.85, and after fees on both payments that leaves $1,624.71, under the $1,625.00 you wanted.

Step 6: deposit and cancellation

A 40% deposit on $1,711.16 is $684.46, with $1,026.70 due on delivery. At the floor rate the deposit covers 13.69 hours of work. If the client cancels after 9 hours, you keep $450.00 for the work done and refund $234.46. Value cancelled work at the floor rate, not at the client’s price per hour, which also carries the rush fee and the fee gross-up. Put the policy in writing before you start; this is arithmetic, not legal advice on terms.

Checking your monthly slots

A price list only works if enough of it sells. The example opens 8 slots a month at its own prices: 2 sketches at $90.00, 3 flat color pieces at $300.00 and 3 full renders at $600.00. Those bring $2,880.00 for 48 hours, $60.00 per booked hour, above the $50.00 floor. Yet the month needs $3,450.00, so the slots fall $570.00 short.

The prices are fine; the slots are too few. The month has 69 billable hours and the slots use 48, leaving 21. Adding 1 more full render closes the gap, and its 10 hours fit. A price above the floor still misses the year if the hours it sells are not enough.

The insight: the unbilled hours set the price

The single number that moves every commission price is the share of your week you cannot bill. In the example it is 40%, and it is the whole difference between $30.00 and $50.00 an hour. Messages, sketches for approval, posting work and chasing invoices are real hours; the floor rate is how they get paid. Log a few weeks honestly, drawing time against everything else, before you trust any price you set. Then fees and two-payment deposits are the small leaks to close at the end.

How these were calculated

The floor rate is (income / (1 - tax share) + costs) / (weeks x billable hours a week). Each commission type is its hours times the floor plus materials; extra characters and backgrounds are their hours times the floor. Paid revision rounds are the rounds asked for past those included, times hours a round, times the floor. The rush fee is a share of the quote with revisions. The client price is (amount wanted + fixed fee) / (1 - fee share), with the fixed fee counted once per payment, rounded up to the cent, and the deposit is that price times the deposit share, rounded to the cent. Figures are carried from step to step as the spreadsheet shows them, to the cent. Every figure was computed twice, once by the code behind the product below and once by an independent program that adds hours one at a time and steps the client price up a cent at a time until what is left after fees covers the amount wanted, and the two agree. All inputs are illustrative, not market rates or any platform’s published fee. None of this is financial, legal or tax advice. For art done in a shop chair rather than on commission, the tattoo pricing post works the hourly rate with a shop’s cut.

To run this on your own hours, fees and slots, the pack below has eight linked calculators, from the floor rate to the monthly slot check.