Pricing Question

How much time do you pretend to spend working on this? Take that into account when pricing.

Also, what are some of the normal pricing for this kind of stuff?

This is really hard to answer.

For example, professional artists earn around ~70k-75k per year (salary report), that is ~300 $ working day. Freelancers will demand more (they need to cover more costs). But if you want to demand this sums you really should be as good as them (art like gears of war, darksiders etc.).

It really depends on your skills and what the customer want to pay. $50 might be nothing or too much. Who is your customer ? A small hobby project has most likely not much to spend, whereas a studio will pay much more, but will demand an accordingly higher quality.

If you are a rookie, try to figure out what payment would be enough to make your work worth for yourself. Then try to negotiate with your customer. Best to ofter a portfolio, so that the customer is able to estimate the expected quality.

I haven't done commission and am still debating my first pricing stuff, but to me $50 seems low. I would guestimate the hours you'll spend and multiply that by some hourly wage ($7.25 is Federal minimum wage in the US, so something above that) to get in the ballpark.

How much time do you pretend to spend working on this? Take that into account when pricing.

I'm not sure how much time I'll be spending on it. That's why I figured, being that I'm a student, I could give him a flat price to pay and I'll just work until the project is done.

Also, what are some of the normal pricing for this kind of stuff?

This is really hard to answer.

For example, professional artists earn around ~70k-75k per year (salary report), that is ~300 $ working day. Freelancers will demand more (they need to cover more costs). But if you want to demand this sums you really should be as good as them (art like gears of war, darksiders etc.).

It really depends on your skills and what the customer want to pay. $50 might be nothing or too much. Who is your customer ? A small hobby project has most likely not much to spend, whereas a studio will pay much more, but will demand an accordingly higher quality.

If you are a rookie, try to figure out what payment would be enough to make your work worth for yourself. Then try to negotiate with your customer. Best to ofter a portfolio, so that the customer is able to estimate the expected quality.

I appreciate the advice.

I haven't done commission and am still debating my first pricing stuff, but to me $50 seems low. I would guestimate the hours you'll spend and multiply that by some hourly wage ($7.25 is Federal minimum wage in the US, so something above that) to get in the ballpark.

I think that's the best advice I've gotten. I'm going to vote you up. :)

($7.25 is Federal minimum wage in the US, so something above that)

Something *considerably* above that, IMHO. You get payed $7.25 to flip burgers at McDonalds (and in many states, even they have to pay you more than that).

As a 16 year-old I used to charge $15-20/hour for basic web design/development. I wouldn't necessarily advise selling yourself too much lower than that.

Something *considerably* above that, IMHO. You get payed $7.25 to flip burgers at McDonalds (and in many states, even they have to pay you more than that).

($7.25 is Federal minimum wage in the US, so something above that)

As a 16 year-old I used to charge $15-20 for basic web design/development. I wouldn't necessarily advise selling yourself too much lower than that.

Well thanks for the advice. I'm so glad I made a profile here at GameDev

What I decided was that I would charge him $10/hr since I'm just a student & that I would work on it for 2 hours a day for 1-2 weeks. Good decision? Bad decision? The pricing is still in the negotiation stage.

Just go with it. Experience will help you fine tune your rates. Maybe you'll discover you work quicker when being paid, or it takes you way more time than you thought, and you'll adjust accordingly next time. If the customer accepts the rate, and you think it's fair to you as the artist, just run with that.

Just go with it. Experience will help you fine tune your rates. Maybe you'll discover you work quicker when being paid, or it takes you way more time than you thought, and you'll adjust accordingly next time. If the customer accepts the rate, and you think it's fair to you as the artist, just run with that.

You're being so helpful! I dont understand why you bashed me on the other thread. I was just trying to help. But umm, I have another question now. He says that he can offer me payment at a later date. Also, he says the only thing he can offer me now is royalties and shares of the company. What should I do with that?

He says that he can offer me payment at a later date. Also, he says the only thing he can offer me now is royalties and shares of the company. What should I do with that?

Run like hell. Royalties and shares in a company means "never".

(unless it's shares in an established, publicly traded company)

Just go with it. Experience will help you fine tune your rates. Maybe you'll discover you work quicker when being paid, or it takes you way more time than you thought, and you'll adjust accordingly next time. If the customer accepts the rate, and you think it's fair to you as the artist, just run with that.

You're being so helpful! I dont understand why you bashed me on the other thread. I was just trying to help. But umm, I have another question now. He says that he can offer me payment at a later date. Also, he says the only thing he can offer me now is royalties and shares of the company. What should I do with that?

Don't take it personally, I don't know you from anyone else on the boards. I just respond to information (or misinformation) as I see it.

Anyway, if you want to do artwork for the hell of it and to improve your experience/portfolio, expect that this studio will never pay you and you're doing pro-bono work. If you were only doing it to get paid, respectfully decline and find something else. DeviantArt's forums or Conceptart.org's forums both have sections where paying customers are looking for artists, you can check there.

Run like hell. Royalties and shares in a company means "never".

He says that he can offer me payment at a later date. Also, he says the only thing he can offer me now is royalties and shares of the company. What should I do with that?

(unless it's shares in an established, publicly traded company)

Will do!

Just go with it. Experience will help you fine tune your rates. Maybe you'll discover you work quicker when being paid, or it takes you way more time than you thought, and you'll adjust accordingly next time. If the customer accepts the rate, and you think it's fair to you as the artist, just run with that.

You're being so helpful! I dont understand why you bashed me on the other thread. I was just trying to help. But umm, I have another question now. He says that he can offer me payment at a later date. Also, he says the only thing he can offer me now is royalties and shares of the company. What should I do with that?

Don't take it personally, I don't know you from anyone else on the boards. I just respond to information (or misinformation) as I see it.

Anyway, if you want to do artwork for the hell of it and to improve your experience/portfolio, expect that this studio will never pay you and you're doing pro-bono work. If you were only doing it to get paid, respectfully decline and find something else. DeviantArt's forums or Conceptart.org's forums both have sections where paying customers are looking for artists, you can check there.

Understood, but yeah I'll just decline. I have enough on my plate as it is and I was only doing this extra work for the money.