commissions pricing

[DescentfromOblivion]

i was wonder how much $ do you TP artist or any body else usaly charg for your commissions like


CG $
or copics

Sketchs $

inks $

and do you charge more depeding if its a really well know character

[Klawzie]

Well, it's a sliding scale based on what they want. Including how many characters it is and if it has a background (and how complex?) I don't work for less than 50 dollars for a commission, but I also don't do sketch commissions either.

I don't think I've ever been commissioned to draw a... uhm... 'official' character. I'm not sure if I would accept one.

Anyway. I'm not going to quote prices because it makes me uncomfortable. Note your relative skill level and never, ever, sell yourself short. Try to pay yourself miniumum wage, at least. (For example, if it takes you two hours to finish the picture, you shouldn't work for less than 12 dollars.)

[Menstrual Cramps]

I have commissioned three artist in real life.
One charged me 80, Another charged my friend 1 dollar and the last one charged me 42.

The 80 dollar commission was a full body with background of my gaia character.
The 1 dollar was for a gaia character again with a background
The last one for 42 is for a Fullbody and 4 little chibis.

All of them were CG.

[sonia]

Definitely a good idea of how much to charge for commissions is based on how long it takes you to do something. Say doing a colour marker portrait of somebody takes about 3 hrs of work, total. Then you state how much you charge per hour - less if you're an amateur, more if you're pro, and more on top of that if you're in demand/well-known. I also charge double if I have to sell copyright, or I charge somewhere in between if I give up copyright, but get deferral payments or royalties (y'know, an extra bonus if the client does well with the image).

Klawzie is right in saying that you should charge at least minimum wage or more. When you think about it, you are putting in time, effort and skill.

It doesn't matter whether or not the character is original or fan-art and is famous, it is actually how much time is put into it. But fan-art of existing characters means that it is difficult to utilise commercially if copyright of the character design belongs elsewhere.

For example, I'm a professional illustrator, and one-off commission questions are dealt with in their own section on my website, in my sig.

[rivkah]

It depends who the person requesting your art is. A commission from somebody at a convention is going to have a lower price than a professional commission, generally in the range of $10-$100 depending how requested you are. $35-50 seems to be the usual medium fee I've seen.

Yet a professional commission (something for actual publication) can range anywhere from a couple hundred to several thousand. It's important to have good bartering skills because illustrative work never has a set price. It's like dealing in antiques; you can only charge how much an item is wanted and how well you know the product.