Is calligraphy really expensive? If Yes, Why is Calligraphy so Expensive? How Much Do Calligraphers Get Paid? How Much Does It Cost For Calligraphy? How Much Should I Pay For Calligraphy? If you are looking for answers to these questions, here we are to help you. 😉

Is calligraphy expensive? Due to the time and effort required in calligraphy as well as the time it requires to learn calligraphy is an expensive art. The Calligrapher not just gets paid for the current work he is doing, but also for the time he puts into learning the skills. Therefore Calligraphy is expensive.

Is Calligraphy Expensive?

Calligraphy seems a little expensive to some people. And calligraphers do get paid a good amount for work.

Calligraphy is expensive Because the calligrapher invested his time and effort to learn the skill for several years.

He practiced the skill for many years, trying to acquire the skill. Hence we also pay him the time and effort he put into learning Calligraphy.

Many Calligraphers rate their customers by per hour. And commonly it’s $2 to $5 USD per envelope or higher for special requests. So we can say calligraphy is an expensive art.

An average calligrapher in the United States makes around $64,490 USD per year. So it is a good paying artfield. Calligraphy is an expensive art form, but there are reasons behind it. It is not blindly overpriced. The pricing in calligraphy actually does make sense.

The calligraphy tools are very expensive. So it increases their cost. Calligraphy is handmade therefore it’s impossible to mass produce it. So this rare factor makes it more costly.

An artist has to put a lot of effort, time and his unique touch to it. So it also increases its cost. Following we mentioned all of the reasons and explained it properly point by point.

Why is Calligraphy so Expensive?

Following are the reasons why calligraphy is so expensive.

1. Calligraphy is a Profession.

Calligraphy is a profession. Commerce stream mainly believes that a person can only earn money through three categories. First one is business, second one services and the third one is profession. 

The doctor, lawyers and is classified as professionals. The only condition for being professional is you have to have deep knowledge and skills for that profession. You have to learn and acquire everything about that field.

The doctor, lawyer, video editor, film maker, calligraphers are considered as professionals if they are not working for any job. I gave this example to you to make it simple to understand.

And now you can easily understand it. We pay doctors and lawyers, we pay them for their experience, expertise, and the time they invested in learning those things.

And it also applies to calligraphers, when we pay them we also pay them for the time they invested for learning the skill and their expertise.

2. Calligraphy Tools are Expensive.

Also the second reason is some calligraphy tools are very expensive. So when a calligrapher uses those tools for your artwork, it becomes expensive for them also.

For Example: calligraphers use onion skin paper or something cheaper but nice quality paper while practicing and making something for themselves. But when they work to get paid they use premium quality paper like rhodia paper which is very expensive. They use good quality tools for great looking results. And it is really worth it. But it increases the cost. therefore it becomes a little more expensive.

To give you more measure, an onion skin paper costs about $46 USD for 500 sheets. And when I did some advanced research I found out that we can get it for $41 USD with a special coupon code. To see more information about calligraphy paper visit here- Best Calligraphy Paper Recommendations. And a rhodia paper costs you about $9 USD for 80 sheets.

So you can compare the difference. The one sheet of onion skin paper costs you $0.082. And on the otherside a rhodia paper costs you $0.1125 for one sheet. I am not sure but maybe it’s 31.362% more expensive.

And it’s only for the paper. It is also followed by ink, pens and decorative stuff. So using good quality products is one of the factors which plays a role.

3. It is Very Time Consuming and Needs Dedication.

The third reason is it’s very time consuming and a person has to be very dedicated to it. An average person can take 6 months to be good at calligraphy while learning from the beginning. We had a separate article about it. This article will explain to you everything about learning calligraphy and how much time it will take- How Long Does It Take To Learn Calligraphy?

So averagely it takes 6 months to learn calligraphy. And learning further skills and scripts(fonts) will take more than a year of regular practice. A person has to be very dedicated to calligraphy. It takes so much effort and time to learn and do it. Therefore a professional calligraphy expert will charge you a good amount of money for artwork.

Calligraphy is a creative field. Everyone is different and the work done by is very different. And it takes us to our fourth point.

4. Calligraphy is unique and handmade.

Calligraphy is a creative art form. It’s done by hand. Firstly a calligrapher learns this skill and masters it. After that he manually uses his hand on the paper and makes amazing artwork using his skill. These skills took him years of practice and everyone is different therefore artwork has it’s unique style to it.

These days people really love handmade things. Also the artist has their unique style to it.

Therefore it increases the value of work as well as it’s cost.

People make artwork by their hand, there is not any machine or printings involved in it. so making it on a large scale is not possible. So there are very few unique artworks that get created. So this rare factor increases the price. And therefore calligraphy is an expensive art. 

How Much Should I Pay For Calligraphy?

If you want to purchase or order a calligraphy artwork and want to know about pricing details, here are a few details that will help you in this.

If you want to order a personalized artwork from someone, the best place is freelancing. You can order the artwork from them. There are few very great options for it like fiverr, freelancer, up-work. 

Or if you already saw someone from social media, who is selling and ready to work with you will be the best option also.

• In order to move forward with any of these artists, I would recommend you to check their previous work examples first.
• Secondly, tell your requirements very carefully. And ask them for any of their concerns.
• Then ask them about other formalities, are they going to take a picture of it, or show the artwork on social media. If you are not comfortable with them sharing your order on social media or as a showcase. Tell them immediately. Some people do this to attract more customers.
• Then talk about the shipping and other processes. Make sure your artwork will not get damaged.
• Then kindly ask them for when it will get completed. And then place your order.
• Lastly, I would suggest you make sure of their work and will they fit for your requirement. Check their previous work carefully and their review. Otherwise you will get dissatisfied with the result and also lose your money. And if you want to work on a special occasion it might get ruined.

Let’s talk about the pricing now. How much should you pay for the calligraphy work?

The average calligrapher will charge you $2 to $5 USD per envelope or higher for special requests.it may depend on their experience and work.

But there is one thing you need to consider, if you hire someone from a freelancing company (fiverr, freelancer, up-work) you are going to pay them per order. Means a certain amount for a certain work.

Also there is one thing to keep in mind. The lowest order you can give is $5 USD. And further these companies will cut their commission of 5% or minimum $2 USD (if the order price is low) one per order. But these commissions get cut from the seller’s side. Means you don’t have to care about this commission, you just have to pay your initial order amount.

But the thing has to be considered is you have to at least place an order for minimum $5 USD. And artists will receive less than it. And especially for small orders it will cause some trouble. Because you have to pay at least $5 USD.

And if you are wanting to work with someone on social media it will be more flexible but it requires trust. And the person will charge you accordingly because there are no limits or commissions in between, so maybe it is a little beneficial for both of you.

And let’s again came on pricing- 

Following is the organized table for understanding How much calligraphers get paid averagely in different areas/ways. 

Pricing Factor (method)	Average Pricing
Per Envelope	$2 to $5 per envelope
Per Order (freelancing)	Minimum $5 to according your order and artists experience
Per Hour	$20-$40 per hour

• So a calligrapher earns $2 to $5 per envelope, if he is charging by per envelope.
• The average per order rate on freelancing is anywhere from minimum $5 to maximum depending on your work.
• And if you want to work on per hour it will easily be between $20- $40 USD. $20 is considered low therefore the $30 is a perfect place. And if you are lucky or have greater grip on your skill it can go upto $40 easily. (Google says a calligrapher earns $150 per hour. But it is false. This is the rate for contract attorneys. The website claims this clearly mentioned that it is what a contract attorney typically gets. So don’t get confused , it’s for a high level job. And if you are looking for an average calligraphy work or job it will be $20 to $40 from the start. It may increase further. But people normally get $20 to $40 per hour.)

I just want to confirm the per hour charges. So let’s do math, don’t get scared I will be doing it, just see me. Let’s suppose we work 8 hours a day and have a week off. So in one month we have 4 sundays. And now 

• let’s do a simple 30-4 = 26 Days in a month on average.
• Multiple the 26 days by 12. 26 X 12 = 208 working days in one year.
• Now let’s convert it into hours (remember we took 8 hours a day). So it will be 208 X 8 = 2496 hours total in one year.
• So now an average calligrapher earns $64,490 per year. Therefore let’s divide them by hours. $64,490 / 2496 = $25.837 per hour.
• So it confirms our number that a calligrapher earns $20 to $40 per hour on an average. 
• So Google’s data was a little misleading. And I was some website trusting it blindly and mentioning it without proofreading or double checking.

How Much Does It Cost For Calligraphy?

The cost of calligraphy may differ depending on the factor. Yes, the words count or what needs to be done and work is one of the factors for deciding calligraphy cost.

But the main things are What, Where and How you are purchasing them. Those factors influence the cost for calligraphy a lot. We simplified you and classified everything for you. You will get a clear idea from it.

1. If you want to get wedding envelopes, it will cost you $2 to $3 USD per envelope.
2. If you want to hire someone for making you artwork on freelancing or social media. It will cost you $20 to $50 averagely per order. Some orders also provide service cheaper for $5 to $10, you can also go with them. But one thing to keep in mind: you had to purchase at least a $5 order. You can not go below it.
3. And for hiring someone for a job or per hour, it will averagely cost $20 to $40 per hour. So that’s pretty much it.

How Much Do Calligraphers Get Paid?

If you are a new calligrapher artist, and want to earn money from calligraphy. Or wanting to learn calligraphy. The first question may occur: how much do calligraphers get paid?

The average calligrapher earns $64,490 USD per year. Which is 25.837 per hour. And if you want to become a freelancer you can charge anywhere from $5 to $50 for one order. And if you are making a wedding envelope or envelope you can charge $$2 to $5 per envelope or higher for special order.

So from this you can easily understand how much you can make in calligraphy. In simple words even if you work 9 To 5 (8 hours a day) in a job and your rate is $25 per hour which is very normal. You can earn $64,490 (averagely) in a year.

More specifically, It leads to a $5200 salary. If you join a job. And it counts a weekend off. But you have to be an expert in calligraphy.

To be an expert in calligraphy you at least had to give 6 to 12 months for learning it and practicing. Here is the perfect article to help you in this. This article discussed How long does it take to learn calligraphy? How long does it take to be a beginner? How long does it take to be an expert?

And also has information about how to learn calligraphy fast and speed up the process.- How Long Does It Take To Learn Calligraphy?