shoomlah:
oxboxer:
greatsc0tt:
oxboxer:
arcsin:
Signal boost. Artists, learn what your work is worth. Commissioners, learn what you’re asking for. If someone’s serious about being a professional illustrator, they should look into the Graphic Artists’ Guild guidelines before they even touch Loomis or Gurney.
I’m curious who would pay so much for artwork though. Par example, there’s a small art gallery in Columbia, South Carolina selling 5x7 cards covered in Sharpie squiggles. The cards are going for over $100. I understand the time and effort that goes into art, but I don’t know people who can afford to spend so much for it.
Though I don’t understand why two bucks is too much for fully rendered little A5 format chibis.
In the case of that gallery, those are probably priced that way standard gallery cut of each sale is 50% (or higher). The artist is only getting $50. Which… I actually hope the artist has a lot of them Sharpie squiggles for sale and also has a day job, because $50 ain’t gonna cover their rent and groceries.
Work destined for publishing is also priced far higher not because “more work went into it” or “the anatomy is more quality” (or whatever other bullshit quality metric), but because the client isn’t ONLY buying the artwork. They are also buying the legal rights to exclusively use a piece in a specific market for a limited amount of time without getting their ass sued. Factor in that most commercial illustrators are freelancers and need to cover a lot of costs to keep the lights on (and thus continue delivering what the client wants), and the price skyrockets from “fandom commission token respect prices” to something that might actually constitute a living wage as outlined in the GAG13.
Reblogging for the commentary. Yes, so-called “fandom” artists are notoriously bad at pricing themselves, but it’s unfair to compare them to book illustrators and their respective price points. Fine art/gallery pricing is far more applicable- there’s a big difference when you work is being published or licensed.
tl;dr, you should probably be charging more. I’ve rarely, if ever, run into an artist online who is overcharging for their work.
-C
Remember, too, that when you’re paying an artist for work, you’re not just paying for X hours spent on the picture, you’re paying for the thousand upon thousands of hours of practice, training and education that went into producing a skilled person capable of giving you this art. You’re paying for the privilege of having something uniquely produced, something that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.
Too many artists undercharge for their work, which not only harms them but the rest of us, because it warps the expectations of the community and industries when they come looking for work from us.
So when you’re asked “Why should I pay you X when these other guys are charging less?” The best response is “Because I produce quality work and I know what that’s worth in the long term.”
-AD
