Reblogged from spoonygal
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
This is my eternal internal conflict. I have been published and I’ve been paid illustrator’s wages, but I always feel bad when I charge higher prices for commissions online. I feel like it’s unfair to folks out there who can’t afford to pay the higher prices, but at the same time I also feel like I deserve more. Finding a good balance is the hardest part.
By the way, I have the Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. Fantastic book, I recommend it to all serious artists.
Pretty much most of this commentary is what my parents have been telling me for years. Both of them are working, professional artists, my dad specifically works in illustration. My dad does have a well paying day job and earns a study income off of his freelance illustration work (he draws cars for various automotive things like car shows, dealerships, and such). Both of my parents ALWAYS tell me to value my work, you don’t want to be the cheap artist.
Need to get the Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. Sounds very good :)
(Source: bambicandi)
