Guide to Borders

Guide to Borders — The Painted Pixel

A border is the white space between your image and the edge of the paper. It helps with handling, framing, and presentation — and it protects your print.

For pieces with dark or saturated inks running right up to the image edge, trimming and handling can cause imprinting, scuffing, or damage. Even a small border makes a big difference.

We recommend adding at least a 0.5-inch border around your prints whenever possible.

Image Size vs. Paper Size

It helps to understand the difference between these two measurements — you'll see both referenced in our order form and pricing.

Image size
The printable area of your artwork — what you actually see printed.
Paper size
The full trimmed sheet, including the image and any border around it.
Diagram showing image size vs paper size with border

Image size = printable area · Paper size = image + borders on all sides

For example, an 8×10" image with a 0.5" border on all sides would live on a 9×11" sheet of paper. Our order form handles all of this automatically — just choose your border size and it figures out the paper dimensions for you.

A tip from working artists: Many artists choose to keep their paper size at a standard frame dimension and build the border into that size. For example, printing a 7×9" image on a 8×10" sheet gives your client a clean 0.5" border — and a print that drops straight into any standard 8×10" frame without custom cutting or matting. It's a small choice that makes your work a lot easier for collectors to display.

How Borders Affect Pricing

Small borders are included in the price of your print. Larger borders — where the paper size grows significantly beyond the image — are priced on the full paper area. Here's where the line is:

Prints 16×20" and Smaller
Free up to ½" border
  • Up to a 0.5" border — included at no extra charge, priced on image size.
  • Beyond 0.5" — priced at the full paper size.
Prints Larger than 16×20"
Free up to 1" border
  • Up to a 1" border — included at no extra charge, priced on image size.
  • Beyond 1" — priced at the full paper size.

When you configure your order, our form shows you the estimated price in real time as you adjust your border size — so there are no surprises.

Configure Your Borders in Our Order Form

Our print order form has some pretty powerful border tools built right in. Here's what you can do:

By Paper Size
  • Pick a standard paper size and your border is calculated automatically from your image size. Perfect for keeping things frame-ready.
By Image Size
  • Enter your exact image dimensions and the form figures out your paper size based on your chosen border. Great when the printed area is what matters most.
Manual Size
  • Enter both your paper and image size exactly as you want them — or specify individual border widths on each side for weighted or asymmetric compositions.
Live preview included. As you configure your border, a real-time print preview updates on screen so you can see exactly how your image will sit on the paper — before you add anything to your cart. Price updates live too.

Ready to place your order? The form walks you through paper, size, borders, and quantity — with live pricing as you go.

Place a Print Order →