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Calcimator

Artist Page Rate Calculator

Calculate fair comic artist page rates based on role, complexity, hourly rate, and deadline with industry benchmarks.

Inputs

$

Results

Page Rate

$683.10

≈ 8 nice dinners out

Total Project Cost

$15,028.20

≈ 8 gaming PCs

Effective Hourly Rate$56.92
Adjusted Hours / Page12
Pages Per Week Needed5.5
Weekly Earnings$3,757.05
Rush Fee Multiplier1.65x
Major Publisher Low$200.00
Major Publisher High$400.00
Indie Range Low80
Indie Range High240
Hours Per Week60
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter your desired hourly rate and base hours per page for your typical complexity.
  2. Select art role (pencils, inks, full art, colors, or letters) and style complexity.
  3. Set total pages, deadline in weeks, revision rounds, and whether the job is work-for-hire.
  4. Review Page Rate and Total Project Cost — use this as your minimum before negotiating.

How the result changes with Base Hours Per Page

Base Hours Per PagePage RateTotal Project Cost
4.45$230.29$5,066.33
14$1,449.00$31,878.00
26$2,691.00$59,202.00
36$3,726.00$81,972.00

What each input means

Desired Hourly Rate
Your target hourly wage before overhead.
Base Hours Per Page
How long a standard-complexity page takes you.
Art Role
0=Pencils, 1=Inks, 2=Pencils+Inks, 3=Full Art, 4=Colors, 5=Letters.
Style Complexity
0=Simple/Cartoony, 1=Standard/Clean, 2=Detailed/Realistic, 3=Hyper-Detailed.
Total Pages
Total pages in the project.
Deadline (weeks)
Weeks to complete the project. Rush jobs get a premium.
Revisions Included
Number of revision rounds included in the rate.
Work For Hire?
0 = Creator-owned, 1 = Work-for-hire (adds 20% rights premium).

What each result means

Page Rate
Your calculated rate per finished page.
Total Project Cost
Total cost for all pages at this rate.
Effective Hourly Rate
What you actually earn per hour at this page rate.
Adjusted Hours / Page
Hours per page after role and complexity adjustments.
Pages Per Week Needed
Pages you must complete weekly to meet the deadline.
Weekly Earnings
Projected weekly income at this pace and rate.
Rush Fee Multiplier
Rush multiplier applied (1.0 = no rush, >1.0 = rush premium).
Major Publisher Low
Low end of major publisher (Marvel/DC) page rates for this role.
Major Publisher High
High end of major publisher page rates for this role.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Desired Hourly Rate = 25, Base Hours Per Page = 8, Art Role = 2, Style Complexity = 1 = 8 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Page Rate
    Page Rate = desiredHourlyRate * adjustedHoursPerPage
    683.1 = $683.1
  3. Calculate Total Project Cost
    Total Project Cost = pageRate * totalPages
    15028.2 = $15,028.2
  4. Calculate Effective Hourly Rate
    56.92 = $56.92
  5. Calculate Adjusted Hours / Page
    Adjusted Hours / Page = hoursPerPage * complexityMultiplier * roleMultiplier
    12 = 12

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