Commissions?

Take payment straight up, before you start any work, but after you have all of the information that they are providing. *nod*

You dont want to get started and have them make changes that are going to increase the time you spend working on the project, and you dont want to get jilted at the end and not get paid, or paid enough.

Watermark everything. EVERYTHING. Don't undersell yourself either. I'd charge a minimum of $100 for a simple torso portrait if I had your skills.

I agree with Lessa on the payment up front. Some do it half up front, half upon completion. If you go that route, definitely do like Roz says and watermark any wips you send them. Get as much information as they will give you from the get go, and let them know that once you get going, any drastic changes will result in more payment. Time=money, plain and simple. I have a pretty basic price set up on my site if you wanna check it out. Been a while since I updated anything, but honestly I only do commissions here and there. Plus I have a blurb on there that states flat out if I think something is going to be more difficult, the price will be adjusted accordingly. That keeps it open enough to work out pricing on a case by case basis.

I think one of the biggest things I try to remember when I'm working on something for someone who's paying, is that while it's important to have them happy with the end result, it's not more important than keeping my sanity throughout the process. I have had people that drove me up the wall. Those are the ones I can't wait to be done with and simply will not work with again. Then there are those who are so awesome, I'll jump thru hoops to make them something as awesome as I can. Some are a bit quirky, but they aren't trying to be mean, they just don't seem to realize they are asking for way more than they've got a right to with what they paid.

Yeah, some ask for damned near impossible stuff. (I've never actually done a paid commission btw, just to clarify!) I often had guildies ask me to do them stuff after they've seen my sig, and mostly I turned them down because it's all the dudes/Vah Shir/Iksars etc, i.e stuff I dont already have or simply do not have the skills for yet.

Recently though, I did attempt one (she was a dark elf, so was in familiar ground). I said I'd do it for free cos I already had stuff that would make a nice dark elfy cleric, and I thought it might kick start my desire to do art again. She played me around for days, wanting everything tweaked and so. When I finished it, she didn't even say thank you. After I'd spent all the time doing all the colours and shit she wanted in my own time, she didn't even say Thank You. I haven't opened Poser again since.



Here's the sig, seeing as she didn't even use the damn thing either!

For a commission, I ask for all or half up front; but I keep the money in PayPal until the client is completely satisfied. You can refund money for up to 60 days after the transfer without paying a fee.

I don't do 3D, but as far as money goes think of what you'd like to make in a year doing it then break it down into work weeks and then hours. You might surprise yourself with how much you're worth!

IF I worked on something for a few weeks and the person said they didn't like it and wanted their money back, I would have to say Sorry but that is not possible. You should get paid for the work you do, unless you do not finish somehow. Instead I would try to fix the image to their liking.

People make the mistake of asking us to do something for them, after seeing and liking our artwork, then trying to micromanage the process and details, and it doesnt always turn out as well as if they had said nothing and gotten an artist's interpretation.

And Jet, you should charge something, even if its to guildies. Start with something low if you arent comfortable with it.. $20 plus costs or something, and you'll see people will be happy to pay it, and they will appreciate the work more in the end too ( usually). But at least you get something for your time. Then you can increase your fee later on as needed.

I started off charging EQ plat, then money, but yeah I did guild sigs for free. I never spent that much time on them and they took what I gave them. I'm not above saying, 'What do you say? WHAT DO YOU SAY?!' Fucking 10 year old can say thank you, so can a guildie.

Shenanigans! lol

Thanks, all, for the advice! As for $100 for a simple torso portrait: D: That was much more than what I had in mind. I was thinking $30 for something like this http://cylithera.deviantart.com/art/Egyptian-Eyes-186735831 (without all the text) and then a little extra for painted hair and/or difficult effects.

I probably shouldn't get all complicated with pricing, but Portraits and body shots would be separate, and then charge extra for lots of postwork or whatever. I dunno.

As for breaking down how much I'd like to make, I'm not sure. Wouldn't want to overcharge because I wanna make a ton of money haha Not sure how I'd figure that out.

Lessa - Good point about the micromanaging and just letting the artist do their art. May have to put that in the blurb somewhere.

Any other infos would be great, I really appreciate all your replies! <3

$30? There are people with 1/10th your talent that charge more than that. You're definitely worth the money. Your artwork is ridiculous. I'd happily pay $100.

I could see charging less for a simple portrait without the postwork. Definitely charge more for your painted stuff though, its worth it, and there isn't anyone else who has your exceptional style.

Yes, I would pay $100 for your art, just added you to watch $30 is too low imo.

Oh gosh. You guys are too flattering lol Like, making me blush x_x lol

I guess I should.. time myself on a few pieces see what the price comes out. Since, obviously, I underestimated my talents, haha, I may be a poor judge of how much to charge. I'll have to throw something together (price wise) and then get more opinions.

Thank you!

When you think of it, 50 up front, 50 (barring any extra charges) final payment sounds a lot better than if you just straight up quote the full price, which you should never do. $100 should just be starting because if someone is serious about buying quality art, they're going to ask a lot of your time which will and should cost more.

With Roz here. $100 *absolute minimum* - FOR A PORTRAIT

If you were to do any scene like you just recently did ( http://cylithera.deviantart.com/#/d3dpvaa ) would easily be over $200. I've done a lot of comms, as have a few girls here, and someone of your goodness of art ( its not an opinion by the way, its just fact, you are creative but you also know how to wield your weapon, and that is what makes you worth so much. )

And those are just suggestions for art collector clients. If you ever get propositioned for a book cover, accept no less than $1000 per. :P

Yeah that recent pirate one is ridiculous. Ri-goddamn-diculous. That alone would be easily 300-400. Easy.

Better late than never? I used to do commissions back when I actually had some artistic ability... lol~

I used to charge about $60 for a desktop sized image, and I was pretty cheap compared to a lot of people. I would make that price higher upwards of $140 if they wanted it broken up into a portrait and a desktop image (or a sig). And I let people know up from they were allowed 3 revisions after that it was $25/hr for any revisions I made.

Also at this price I had a waiting list a mile long, granted it was for game art and stuff, but if you're into games like wow and such, you'll absolutely end up with a waiting list if your prices are too low. And waiting lists aren't all that fun...

I have had previous experiences close to Sabby's pricing, actually. I used to commission art from a few specific style artists. THey'd have a flat rate, then rates for additions, kind of like an a la carte type deal. One character was this much, two it became this, details, added items to the scene, etc, etc all changed the final price. Revisions cost extra, however they did send out rough draft images to see if I liked how things were posed/set up in the scene for the most part, which I really liked, since it IS my money in the end. These were hand done penned and water colored on good watercolor paper, and the most expensive one I got with four characters was $250.

Thanks for your inputs, guize! <3 I still really haven't settled on any prices. I can't imagine there's any rush for me to do so, anyway. I'll have to like.. go through this thread again, look at some artist's commissions rates and maybe time a piece of art or something for prices.

Luuuuuuuv