learn how to price your art
and confidently negotiate with clients
Artful Pricing & Negotiation is a pricing course for surface designers to help you navigate the confusing topics of pricing & contracts
enroll now
And it's all because you gave me so much confidence. Pricing my work used to be a huge pain point in my business until I took this course - it gave me insight into how to license my art and work with clients from beginning to end. Also, it quickly paid for itself from the first licensing deal I got while doing the course.
"Since taking APN, I tripled my income and got a POD fabric company to raise their royalties for their artists..."
- fleur crawford
It’s time we all get paid like it.
Our art brings in thousands of dollars for companies.
As a surface designer, your art is WHY people buy a product from one brand and not another. So your art makes a company’s products successful – and you deserve to be well compensated for that!
But I've seen too many talented artists settle for low fees because they lack the confidence to see just how valuable their work is.
And that's why I created Artful Pricing & Negotiation: to teach you how to charge fairly for your work, understand and negotiate profitable contracts, and feel secure in your rates and value as an artist.
So you don’t panic when a company asks for your rates, ever again.
Without second-guessing yourself or doubting the value of your work
Artful Pricing & Negotiation teaches you my tried-and-tested method for pricing your art & negotiating contracts
It felt like a breakthrough! Before I was insecure and didn’t know how to come up with a proper quote. Now thanks to this course, there's no more guessing about what a reasonable price would be! Overall, I feel much more confident which results in me pitching my designs to more prospects. And as for negotiating, I’ve even started to enjoy it.
"When a client reached out this year, I was able to confidently send them a quote the same day and they accepted."
- Kathrin Woo
Inside Artful Pricing & Negotiation, you can expect…
8 easy-to-follow modules through the different elements of pricing & contracts, to arm you with the knowledge to negotiate with confidence.
A flexible pricing system for licensing and freelance projects to ensure you have a rock-solid, yet adaptable rate sheet.
4 calculators for licensing, buyouts, and freelance projects to price your art within minutes knowing for sure your rates are fair.
Screenshots of email interactions I’ve had with companies to take the guesswork out of how to reply to pricing and contract questions.
A custom built ready-to-use licensing contract template, plus training on how to spot red flags when reading a client's contract.
My full organization system to keep track of active licenses and contracts, helping you stay protected and efficient.
Instant lifetime access to the course so you can jump in ASAP and be ready the next time you receive a pricing inquiry.
Inclusion in a supportive private online community so you can seek advice for any tricky pricing or contract situation.
join artful pricing & Negotiation
As a new designer, I didn’t want to under or overvalue my work. I didn't have any idea of how designers set their rates or how to calculate a rate based on what kind of deal is being negotiated. Now I know the value of my work plus I have a path to getting my work out there and to the people who need to see it.
"Until this course, no one seemed willing to speak honestly about compensation – it felt like a giant secret!"
- Anjana Simpson
This course isn't just useful for the surface design industry. I think a lot of artists don't know how to talk about money, negotiate or feel confident in the business side of life in general… now I know how to put myself in charge of the business aspect of my design business.
"Once I finished this class I definitely had a boost in confidence."
- Amanda Todaro
It was so insightful to get a peek behind the curtain and see some of the mystery surrounding prices revealed. She gives information on what to look for and how to best create a pricing guide. Now I feel more confident about how to approach pricing than I did before I took the course.
"I love that Shannon shares real numbers and examples."
- Petra Van Der Lem
Pricing is not often shared and I don’t think people realize the different categories there are or how to charge for each type. Artists would feel a lot less hesitant when giving a price after taking this course – I love the realistic take on all your classes.
"I feel so much more confident in what to ask & how to negotiate!"
- Tracy Beagen
Artful Pricing & Negotiation
is a TWO-PART course designed to help you build your own pricing guide, develop negotiation confidence, and understand how to read contracts.
We’ll cover the common steps of each deal so you'll be prepared for every part of the process, including when you’ll get paid, how to create and send an invoice, and what to do when a client doesn’t pay on time.
Module 4:
We’ll examine your current relationship with money, how common pricing fears impact your income, and ways to dismantle them so you can improve your confidence as a working artist.
Freelance Projects
You’ll learn how to create your own price ranges that you can adapt to any client inquiry, but I’ll also show you examples from my surface design portfolio and EXACTLY what I got paid for each of them.
Module 2:
We’ll discuss what freelance IS and isn't in surface design, my step-by-step method to calculate a quote for any proposed project, and important factors that help make freelance work less stressful for you long-term.
Module 3:
Module 1:
Pricing Foundation
Licensing & Buyouts
Invoicing & Payment
Part One: Artful Pricing
Specially designed calculators for buyouts, flat-fee licenses, royalties, and freelance projects.
Easy-to-use Airtable templates for keeping your licenses, client list, and projects organized.
Ready-to-use forms for invoicing and receiving payments – they’re fully editable PDFs!
artful pricing also includes several valuable bonus resources...
We’ll discuss the different ways you can finalize contracts, best practices for managing them, how to organize everything on your computer, and tips for keeping your files up to date so you're always protected.
Part Two: Artful Negotiation
Module 4:
We’ll cover the easiest way to reduce the stress of discussing terms with clients, common fears and how to overcome them, and methods for turning the negotiation process into a positive experience.
Let’s Talk Negotiation
You’ll learn about basic contract terms including the differences between buyout, licensing, and freelance contracts, plus common red flags to watch out for when reading a client’s contract.
Module 2:
We’ll talk through common client scenarios and how to approach each one, simple tips for making negotiation easier, how to ensure a deal is fair to both you and your client, and 6 ways (beyond price) to sweeten any deal and make it more attractive to say YES to.
Module 3:
Module 1:
Negotiation Foundation
All About Contracts
Contract Organization
Instant download of my folder filing system to organize all your legal documents.
An Airtable negotiation checklist to walk you through the process of each client deal.
Copyright assignment form to use whenever a client purchases your art outright.
Artful Negotiation has some pretty sweet bonus resources too...
You’ll walk away from Artful Pricing & Negotiation with the knowledge and confidence to negotiate pricing and finally earn more money from your art.
After taking the course, I'm so grateful to have signed four contracts, my first ever as a surface designer and was talking with a new client this week negotiating the terms of a new project. Your course has given me everything I need to prepare for these moments, especially to assign value to my work and to enter negotiations from a place of confidence.
"Artful Pricing & Negotiation changed my career."
- Kate lower
a few special bonuses
my goal is to help you build a sustainable design business for years to come, so I’ve also included…
This contract was custom-made for us by Creative Genius Law so you’ll look professional to your clients – this alone would cost you more than the price of this course!
Candid Pricing Interviews with Design Veterans
Featuring 4 case studies of my own client deals, showing a design’s entire lifecycle from creation to compensation so you understand the entire process.
I interviewed veterans with a combined 75+ years of experience to give you pricing advice from different viewpoints in the industry, highlighting that every artist works a little differently.
Ready-to-Use Licensing Contract
Pricing & Negotiation Case Studies
Zoe Wodarz
brook gossen
leslie kenehan
victoria johnson
stephanie fizer coleman
North America
Children's books focus
Europe
North America
North America
Fashion brands focus
Australia
Small businesses focus
You’ll learn how to set your salary, organize your finances, and effectively use streams of income so you can ride the waves of inconsistent artist income without panicking.
Growing Your Income Module
Have cultivated the confidence to charge higher rates and negotiate better terms with Artful Pricing & Negotiation...
Students from all over the world
The Q&As, calculators, and additional sections that break down contracts and other areas make it totally worth it. Plus the peace of mind of knowing my prices are in line with industry standards is worth everything to me.
"This was the best investment I could have made for myself!"
- Louise Pretzel
The whole course has been so insightful with the ins and outs of contracts and pricing for licensing to freelancing. it’s really open and honest advice. Your open and honest way of teaching is great and is what made me take the decision to do this course after taking Pitch Your Portfolio.
"It gives you the tools to enable you to price your work with real figures."
- Laura Dobson
We are always hearing how underpricing hurts the entire industry, yet many underprice because they simply don't know where to begin. So seeing actual examples means so much in an industry where people rarely share that information.
"The confidence to price your work makes this course well worth the cost of tuition."
- Diane Labombarbe
My biggest a-ha moment was that I have a tendency to under-value myself. The course helped give me the confidence to start with the higher numbers when negotiating. Even if an artist is going to go through an agent, the material in this course is still very helpful.
"It was very helpful to see real and realistic number ranges."
- Heather Rosas
“Artful Pricing let me in on 'the great big secret of surface pattern pricing' and enabled me to create a price guide for licensing & buyouts, plus gave me the confidence to negotiate with art directors.”
A Ireland based surface designer who used the negotiation advice and price guides she created to license 6 designs to a wall art company!
Tina Devins
“This is a great course that empowers you with real-life scenarios and clearly breaks down some of the industry jargon. Your guidance has opened up a new pathway for my business and hopefully, I can now make it sustainable financially into the future."
An Australian illustrator who got a client to nearly TRIPLE their budget using what she learned!
Alicia Rogerson
“This course gave me knowledge about how to price things, what kind of licensing deals there are and how to negotiate, read contracts, all of it. I'm light years ahead of where I would be otherwise with this. What a resource!"
An artist & designer from California who used the freelance module to negotiate graphic design projects with her clients!
Melissa Escobar
- You need help with pricing your own goods or listing art on POD sites as product pricing is a completely different process.
- You're at the very beginning of your career and still building your portfolio. If so, that's ok, but you may find this course overwhelming.
- You expect to be earning $100k within the next year. I hate to disappoint you, but it takes years to establish yourself in surface design.
Is Artful Pricing & Negotiation right for you?
Still unsure? Email my team and me at hello@sketchdesignrepeat.com and we'll give you our honest opinion on whether APN is a good fit for you.
it won't be right for you if...
- You're new to surface design and want to start reaching out to companies soon, but know you'll panic when a pricing request hits your inbox.
- You've made a few deals and know you want to grow your income, but suspect you might be undercharging for your art.
- You're a designer with experience in another field and want to pursue art licensing, but need to know how to price for this unique industry.
it'll be a good fit for you if...
I feel strongly about the value and support you’ll find inside this course, but I realize it’s sometimes hard to know if it’ll be a good fit.
MY 7-DAY GUARANTEE
If you decide it’s not for you*, just email me within 7 days of your purchase. My team will send you a simple refund request form and once completed, we’ll process your refund within 5 business days.
*See our FAQ section for more information.
Believe me, I’ve been burned by courses myself – so I’ve got your back!
a left-handed, left-brained surface designer & educator
Btw, have we met yet?
I'M SHANNON McNAB
Over the past decade, I slowly transitioned to my dream job: working for myself as a full-time surface designer. And when I say “slowly transitioned”, I mean it! I was definitely not an overnight success.
One thing that did help? Though I’m an artist, the other part of me is a total numbers nerd, so I thrived on testing different approaches, documenting my results, and creating streamlined systems for myself.
So I’ve learned a whole lot about what to do (and not to do) when negotiating with clients. And I want to help as many artists as possible learn how to price their art for profit and gain confidence.
it's allowed me to license 90+ designs and negotiate over 35 freelance projects with companies like pyrex and cloud9 fabrics.
This course goes WAY beyond pricing guidelines, instilling confidence and increasing the earning potential of the next generation of surface designers:
more buzz about Artful Pricing...
still got questions???
Is there a time limit for course access? (Can I take my time or is there a set schedule?)
The course itself is open for enrollment year-round and is completely self-paced. And you'll have lifetime access to the course content allowing you the time to complete it when you can.
How much time do I need to complete this course?
My suggestion is one module per week (the modules range from 30-60 minutes to watch).
And I’ve provided a 4-week and 8-week pacing calendar inside the course to give you suggested timelines for working through the content – including a few weeks of implementation so you can immediately put what you learn to use.
Still, I don’t want you to get too overwhelmed, so I encourage you to go at whatever pace you’re most comfortable with given your current schedule. Remember, you’ll always have access to this course and can revisit any video.
How much does this course cost? Are there payment plans?
Please Note: We no longer offer payment plans. If you'd like to understand why we made this decision, click here to read an article where Shannon shares her reasons. However, we want to be sensitive to artists who prefer to break larger payments up so if you have a PayPal account you can use its Pay Later option. To enable it, simply choose one of the "Pay Later" options on the PayPal checkout page.
Do you offer refunds?
Yes, you can request a refund within the 7 days of purchase by emailing us. We'll send you a simple refund request form. Once completed, we’ll process your refund within 5 business days. However, we reserve the right to refuse a refund if our system shows you have watched more than 25% of the course.
Will you teach me how to find companies to pitch to in this course?
Will this help me if I don’t live in the US?
Absolutely! Artful Pricing has alumni from more than 20 countries, from Belgium to Greece to Israel, who have used what they learned to further their design careers.
Will this help me price freelance work or is it just for licensing?
Yes, what you learn in Artful Pricing applies to pricing freelance work as well. In fact, there is a dedicated module inside Artful Pricing all about pricing freelance work and I discuss the unique terms you'll find in freelance contracts inside Artful Negotiation.
How do I know if I’m ready for this course?
If you’re reaching out to companies, then you are ready! But if you’re learning how to design, then it’s best to wait.
Will this course tell me exactly what to charge?
Yes and no. This industry is not one-size-fits-all, so giving you a few exact numbers is not going to help.
Instead, Artful Pricing & Negotiation is built around a flexible pricing framework that can be adapted to every situation. This course is meant to meet you where you’re at today, giving you the knowledge and motivation to advocate better rates and terms for yourself right now AND for years to come.
Do you provide captions or transcripts for course videos?
Yes! Every course video has captions and downloadable transcriptions available to make it easier for you to learn the material in whatever way works best for you. There’s also a full course workbook you can download or print out so you can follow along through each module.
What’s the difference between Pitch Your Portfolio and Artful Pricing & Negotiation? (Which should I take first?)
Pitch Your Portfolio teaches you how to find and contact companies, and Artful Pricing & Negotiation teaches you to price your work and negotiate contracts. I recommend taking Pitch Your Portfolio first — because if you’re not pitching, there’s no one to negotiate with!
What if I have more questions before I sign up?
