The Studio Essential Calendar

26-page Wire-Bound Calendar • 110lb Canadian-Made C1S Stock • 8.5″ x 11” Pages • Horizontal or Vertical

A streamlined version of our Deluxe calendar—featuring the same top-tier materials but without the extra pages. Clean, simple, and striking, it’s designed for artists who want their imagery to speak for itself. Finished with your choice of black or white wire-ring binding and a precision-drilled hole for effortless hanging. Small bio and contact info on back (social media, website, etc.).

— Please allow up to 4 to 6 weeks for completion, from initial design work to finished binding of calendar + shipping time —

Calendar Design Guidelines & Customization Options

To maintain consistency and quality across all calendars, we offer two levels of design: template and custom.

Below you’ll find a breakdown of features, pricing, and options to help you choose the best fit for your project.

Template Design (Fixed Layout – $150 Design Fee)

Every standard calendar begins with our expertly designed base template—a refined structure that balances professional aesthetics with production efficiency, making it easy to showcase your art beautifully and affordably. The template keeps things simple and streamlined. If you’re looking for something more customized just let us know—custom designs are available for an additional fee.

This includes:

Preset calendar date grid
Fixed date numbers and weekday labels
Standardized fonts, sizing, and layout positioning
Canadian & U.S. statutory holidays
Moon phase indicators (new, quarter, and full moons) – Equinox & Solstice dates

This $150 design option covers layout preparation, image placement, light text setup, and soft proofing. It’s ideal for artists looking for a ready-to-go format without major layout changes.

Note: Any changes to the calendar grid, structure, or core formatting are considered extended customizations and require a custom design quote (see below).

Custom Calendar Design (Starting at $300)

When you order a custom calendar, you’re not just printing dates—you’re creating a one-of-a-kind piece that reflects your personal brand or artistic voice. Our custom design service starts at $300 and gives you full creative control over layout and visual elements.

Customizable features include:

Front & Back Covers: Imagery, typography, and layout designed to match your vision or brand
Fonts & Typography: Select your preferred typefaces, sizes, and text treatments
Monthly Layouts: Customize grid styles, image placement, and background elements
Bio & Feature Pages: Add artist bios, promotional content, or storytelling sections
Special Editions: Include title pages, dedications, quotes, or poems
Colour Themes & Backgrounds: Match visual tones to your art or seasonal mood
Grid Modifications: Alter layout structure, date alignment, or language

Custom layouts are ideal for collector’s editions, branded merchandise, or themed series. Additional fees apply for extended changes or complex formats.

‘The Enchantment of Nature’ Calendar ~ by M. Morgan Warren

Image & Design Formatting
Production Process

Image & Design Formatting

Holiday & Moon Cycle Inclusions

All calendars come standard with:

Canadian and American statutory holidays
Moon phases (new moon, full moon, etc.) – Equinox & Solstice dates

If you’d like to add or remove specific holidays, highlight personal milestones, or modify moon phase visibility, these are considered extended customizations and will be quoted based on design time required.

Image Area & Borders

For best visual results, we recommend full-bleed images, which extend to the page edge for a bold, modern presentation.

If borders are preferred:

A minimum ⅜” to ½” margin is required on all sides
Note: Borders are not available on small-format calendars such as the Gallery Mini or Artist’s Perpetual, due to trim and bleed limitations

Choose full-bleed for immersive impact or bordered layouts for a clean, gallery-style look when space allows.

Colour Matching & Proofing

Due to differences between backlit screens and printed materials, colours may appear slightly different in print. To help ensure a high-quality outcome:

Soft proofing is included with all calendar orders (PDF layout for general review)
Hard proofing is required for all fine art design and print projects – $70 per calendar (professionally printed, colour-calibrated).
For critical or advanced colour matching, changes beyond our standard refinement process are billed hourly at our design rate

Image File Review & Optimization

Each image you provide goes through a professional review process to ensure the highest print quality:

Resolution Check: We confirm each file meets print standards. If it’s too low-res, we’ll contact you with options
Image Clean-Up: We remove dust, specks, or scanning artifacts as needed
Colour Optimization: Adjustments are made for optimal vibrancy, contrast, and tonal balance—tailored to the digital press output
Signature Removal: Artist signatures can be removed upon request, with care taken to preserve image integrity

This process is included in your design fee and ensures your calendar reflects your work at its best.

Production Process

Scanning/Capture of Images
Options:
A. Scanning: Watercolours and matte art works are best scanned for exceptional detail and colour precision.
B. Capture:   Glossy and varnished paintings are best shot with a digital camera as the lighting can be polarized to reduce reflection.
C. Provided digital file: You can provide your own digital files. Images should be provided at 100% at 300-400 dpi in RGB (tiff or jpg). Best to include a colour/greyscale reference in your image to adjust for colour cast and reduce calibration time.
Design & Layout
The Template Design Fee includes standard dates and holidays in Canada; custom events and dates can be added for an additional fee. Once the calendars are designed we send out PDF proofs for you to review and confirm all spelling and content is correct.
Printers Proofs
Once the designs and text copy are proofed, we calibrate your calendar images to look the best they possibly can, matching to your original art if we have scanned or photographed it for you. Full size colour proofs are generated for you to approve (by mail or in person). These proofs are filed along with your archived digital files to make sure that all repeat orders are the same colours (our specialty).
Printing
Calendar pages are processed and ripped through our state of the art EFI Splash colour server for excellent critical colour reproduction and repeatability on our digital press. We pay close attention to image quality and colour consistency for every order. Not only can we get the colour right, we can reproduce it time and time again.
Cutting & Binding
We cut your calendars to size on our precision hydraulic cutter.  Each calendar is then bound with a metal ‘o’ ring coil binding, and a small hole is drilled through the pages and cover near the top, for hanging.
Packing
We carefully package your calendars in groups of 50 to 100 in robust cardboard boxes with padding to keep them safe in transit.