Every artist with a show on the calendar ends up asking the same thing: how many prints to order for an art show? The real worry sits on both sides of the answer. Order too few and your bestseller sells out on Saturday morning, and order too many and you drive home with boxes of the slow ones.

There's no single right number, because every show, booth and body of work is different. What you can have is a clear way to size the order, so the run you bring matches the show in front of you and print-on-demand catches the rest. Here's how we'd work it out, from your sales history to the run you order.

Your own sales history is the most reliable guide you have. Before you order, look back at what actually happened:

Past shows. Which designs sold, in which sizes, and at which kind of show? A two-day street fair and a one-evening gallery event can tell very different stories.

Online favorites. If you sell online, the pieces that sell most often there are good candidates for the booth.

A small test. If a design is new, print just one or two and see how people respond. The photographer behind BermanGraphics, who has sold at more than a thousand art shows over thirty years, says digital printing made it just as easy to print one or two and test an image.1

That same photographer also warns that the pieces you think are most popular may not be the ones the public chooses, and that picking proven sellers comes from doing shows and watching what people gravitate to.1 Your records will settle that question better than a hunch.

How many prints to order: a simple way to size it

Here's a rule of thumb we suggest as a starting point, built from your own numbers. Treat the result as a first draft and adjust it with your judgment, because no method can predict exactly what a crowd will buy.

Pick a reference show. Choose a past show that's as close as possible to this one in length, crowd and setting.

Note what each design sold there. Work design by design and size by size, using your records.

Adjust for show length. Scale each figure by the number of selling days at the new show compared with your reference show.

Adjust for traffic. If the promoter's attendance figures or your own sense of the crowd point to a busier or quieter show, nudge the numbers up or down to match.

Add a cushion only where it counts. Give your proven bestsellers a little extra, since running out of them costs the most sales, and keep new or slow designs lean.

Check the design count. If the list keeps growing, trim it to the designs that have earned a spot. A focused selection is easier for visitors to browse and easier for you to restock.

If you have no sales history yet, start small across your strongest designs and lean on print-on-demand for anything that sells better than expected. That same photographer's advice for new exhibitors is to avoid bringing so much inventory that you can't cover your expenses even if you sell.1

A booth usually works with three kinds of stock: small, grab-and-go prints that visitors can carry home easily, a few large statement pieces that draw people in from the aisle, and browse bins where people can flip through unframed prints at their own pace.

Keep the size range tight. The photographer mentioned above recommends skipping adjacent sizes, offering one smaller and one larger size, because buyers who like an image tend to pick the smallest size available.1 He also reports that unframed prints in bins outsell framed work by a significant margin in his experience.1

Some things don't need to ride in the van. Big sizes, metal prints on aluminum, gallery-wrap canvas and one-off requests are all good candidates for print-on-demand, where nothing is printed until a buyer pays.2 Brakebee's print-on-demand covers gloss, satin and matte aluminum, gloss or matte photo prints, gallery-wrap canvas and giclée.2

When a visitor falls for a size or format you didn't bring, point them to your online listing. Once they order, the Phoenix lab prints, packs and ships it, usually within hours to a day.2 If you'd like to see a piece on a new surface before you list it, <a href="https://printsbybrakebee.com/for-artists">try a test print</a> first.3 You can read more about <a href="https://brakebee.com/print-on-demand">selling your work online with print-on-demand</a> on Brakebee.

Once you've sized the order, <a href="https://printsbybrakebee.com/wholesale">order your show run</a> from the same Phoenix lab that fulfills marketplace orders. You pick files from your catalog or upload new ones, choose quantities and substrates, and check out in your artist tools.4 The run is printed, hand-checked and packed in Phoenix so it's ready for the booth.4

Proof first. Use the preview to check how each crop sits on the material, and order a single print of anything you haven't seen in print before.4

Check your files. Pixel size, color and crop all show up in a run. Our <a href="https://printsbybrakebee.com/blog/how-to-prepare-your-files-for-gallery-quality-prints">file-prep guide</a> walks through each one.5

Leave time. Order early enough to look over your proofs, make any changes and receive the run before you pack for the show.

The show itself is your next sizing guide, so capture what happened while it's fresh.

Track what sold. Write down sales by design and size, along with the show's length and how busy it felt. That record becomes the reference show for next time.

Update stock as you sell. If the same piece is also listed online, update its stock the moment it sells in person, and one catalog makes that a single change.6

Move slow designs online. A design that didn't move at the booth can keep selling as a print-on-demand listing, using the same file with no re-upload.4 Here's more on <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/selling-online-while-doing-art-fairs">selling online between shows</a>.

Reorder the winners. When a design sells through, it's a strong candidate for a larger share of your next run.

If you're still deciding whether a run makes sense at all, or how much to rely on print-on-demand, our guide to <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/print-lab-vs-print-on-demand">bulk run or print on demand: the full comparison</a> walks through both. For most shows, a focused run of your proven sellers plus print-on-demand for everything else keeps the booth full without filling your garage.

1 Source: How Much Inventory and Pricing When Starting Out, BermanGraphics, https://bermangraphics.com/blog/how-much-inventory-when-starting-out/ 2 Source: Print-on-Demand for Artists, Brakebee, https://brakebee.com/print-on-demand 3 Source: For Artists - Prints by Brakebee, https://printsbybrakebee.com/for-artists 4 Source: Wholesale - Prints by Brakebee, https://printsbybrakebee.com/wholesale 5 Source: How to Prepare Your Files for Gallery-Quality Prints, Prints by Brakebee, https://printsbybrakebee.com/blog/how-to-prepare-your-files-for-gallery-quality-prints 6 Source: Selling Art Online and at Art Fairs: How to Make Both Work, Brakebee, https://brakebee.com/articles/selling-online-while-doing-art-fairs

An art fair booth with browse bins of prints in front and large aluminum prints on the walls

How Many Prints to Order for an Art Show, and What to Leave to Print-on-Demand

Lab cost is the floor. It is not the price.

If you list print-on-demand or order a wholesale run, the number that matters is the gap between what production costs and what a collector or show buyer will pay. That gap has to cover your work, your risk, and enough margin that selling the print is actually worth doing.

For <a href="https://printsbybrakebee.com/for-artists">print-on-demand</a>, your cost is the lab price for that substrate and size, plus any platform fee on the sale. On Brakebee, you set your retail price above that lab cost. What remains after the sale is yours.

For <a href="https://printsbybrakebee.com/wholesale">wholesale</a>, your cost is the per-print lab price at the quantity you order, plus packing materials you add yourself and the time to get the work to the booth. Your retail at the show still needs to sit comfortably above that.

Do not hide shipping or fees from yourself. Price as if you want the business to still work on a slow month.

Production — lab cost for the exact size and substrate.

Artist share — what you need to earn for the work, the file prep, and the listing.

Position — where this piece sits versus your originals, your other sizes, and the room you sell in.

Retail = (lab cost ÷ your target cost percentage)

If lab cost is the example and you want production to be no more than 40% of the selling price, divide lab cost by 0.40. That is a starting retail, not a law. Raise it if the piece is a proven seller. Lower it only if you are testing a new size and can afford the experiment.

Show price should stay high enough that even after booth fees, you still clear more per print than you would on a single POD sale of the same piece — unless the goal of the run is inventory for a specific event, not maximum margin.

Collectors compare your 8×10 to your 16×20. If the jump in price is random, the larger size looks expensive or the smaller size looks cheap.

Mid size: the default “this is the piece” price

Large: a clear step up that still feels cheaper than an original

Aluminum, canvas, and framed paper should not all land at the same number. The substrate changes perceived value. Metal usually supports a higher price than an unframed paper print of the same image. Canvas sits in the middle for many buyers. Price the object, not only the image.

Matching the cheapest listing you saw online. That race has no finish line and it trains buyers to wait.

Pricing only for the booth or only for the website. The same file can live on both paths. Keep the public price consistent enough that a collector who saw it at a fair is not surprised online.

Forgetting your time. File prep, listing, booth setup, and follow-up are part of the product.

Discounting before you have a real price. A sale off a weak number still leaves you underpaid.

POD and wholesale can share a price logic

You do not need two philosophies. You need two fulfillment modes.

Use print-on-demand when you want the work available without inventory. Price so each sale is worth fulfilling.

Use a wholesale run when you need stock on a date. Price the show copy so the run still pays after fees.

If you are still choosing which path to use first, start with <a href="https://printsbybrakebee.com/blog/deciding-between-print-on-demand-and-wholesale-prints-for-artists">POD vs wholesale</a>. If the file is not print-ready yet, fix that first: how to prepare files.

Preview the piece, look at the lab cost for that size, then set the number you can stand behind. Sign up when you are ready to list or order the run.

How to Price Your Art and Photography Prints Above Lab Cost

A strong print starts before the press ever runs. The same high-res file can live as a print-on-demand listing and as a wholesale run — but only if the file is built for print, not just for a screen.

This guide covers what actually matters when you upload to Prints by Brakebee: pixel size, color, crop, format, and the mistakes that quietly ruin otherwise good work.

The number that matters is pixel dimensions at the size you want to print, not the DPI tag sitting in the file metadata.

Print size (inches) × target PPI = pixels needed

For gallery-quality work viewed up close, aim for 240–300 PPI at the longest edge you plan to offer. Large pieces that hang farther from the viewer can look excellent at 150–200 PPI.

If the file is short on pixels, do not “set it to 300 DPI” and resample up. That does not add detail. Offer a smaller size, or use the piece only at sizes the file can support.

Use the on-page preview on For Artists or Wholesale to see how the image sits at each size before you list or order.

Color that survives the jump from screen to print

Screens glow. Prints reflect light. That is why a file that looks perfect on a laptop can print a little darker or less saturated.

Work in sRGB unless you already have a calibrated wide-gamut workflow and know the lab can use it. sRGB is the safest shared space for most artist uploads.

Soft-proof if you can, but treat it as a guide, not a guarantee.

Watch deep blacks and neon highlights. Both can flatten on metal and canvas.

Leave a little headroom. If the file is already pushed to the edge of the gamut, the print will show it.

Aluminum is especially honest. Fine detail and contrast look sharp; muddy midtones look muddier. Canvas is more forgiving of texture and slightly softer edges.

Different substrates treat the edge of the image differently.

Aluminum and wood panel: what you see is what prints. Keep important content away from the very edge.

Framed paper: part of the image can sit under the rabbet or mat. Leave a quiet margin around faces, signatures, and text.

Canvas gallery wrap: the sides of the stretcher eat a strip of the image. Either extend the background, add a mirrored/color edge, or compose so nothing critical lives in the outer inch.

If a piece will be offered on more than one substrate, build the master with extra margin and crop per product in the preview rather than uploading five slightly different files.

TIFF or high-quality JPEG for photography and most digital painting

PNG when you need a lossless raster and the file size stays reasonable

Avoid tiny web JPEGs, screenshots, and files that have been compressed for Instagram or email

Name files so you can recognize them later: Title_Year_Master.tif is easier to manage than final-final-v7.jpg. The same master should be able to feed both a POD listing and a wholesale run without a re-export unless you change crop or color.

Pixel dimensions support the largest size you want to sell.

Color is in a standard space (usually sRGB) and not clipped.

Important content is clear of wrap, frame, and trim edges.

The file is flattened, sharp, and not over-sharpened for web.

You have previewed the piece on the substrate and size you plan to offer.

One master file can serve both online listings and show inventory.

If those six are true, you are ready to list or order. The Phoenix lab still hand-checks the print — file prep just makes sure what they check is the work you intended.

Once the master is right, you do not need a separate “show file” and “online file.” That is the point of one catalog and one lab. If you are still deciding which path to use first, read <a href="https://printsbybrakebee.com/blog/deciding-between-print-on-demand-and-wholesale-prints-for-artists">POD vs Wholesale: When Artists Should Use Each.</a>

Blog

How Many Prints to Order for an Art Show, and What to Leave to Print-on-Demand

How to Price Your Art and Photography Prints Above Lab Cost

How to Prepare Your Files for Gallery-Quality Prints