Hello all! I hope this post is okay, and if it is not, I am okay if the mods direct me elsewhere. I have been a long time lurker and first time poster so I would like to do this correctly.
I have done commissions in the past, and I greatly undersell myself but I like the fact that I can get people coming back or enjoying my art one way or another. I do a lot of different things, fandoms, and materials, but most generally stick to digital or traditional things like marker, ink, and pencil.
I have recently been asked to accept a commission from a co-worker of my mother. I do not know this person at all, but I can head out to their place of employment once I find out when they will be there. In the past I've done traditional, realistic portraits of myself and some of a celebrity for a friend. The one that sparked the interest in this type of commission was this piece here: Self Portrait.
This project alone took me a lot of time and effort to make it to where I want it to be, as usually I am a comic/cartoonist artist first. I love the way it came out and of course in the end I was pleased, but for a commission I am a bit lost.
Where should I price something like this? Do people work by the hour (and how much per hour), or a general flat fee and upgraded to how much detail? I don't want to undersell myself, but I don't want to come off as someone who charges a ridiculous amount, either, as I don't want to scare away any future commissioners.
I hope this was clear and if not, I am willing to answer any questions about this. I am currently in progress of writing a ToS so any advice to add something like this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance!
To the mods, I apologize for not adding tags as I continued to get this message: Error updating journal: Client error: Not allowed to add tags to entries in this journal. I will try to add them after posting or some other way.
I have done commissions in the past, and I greatly undersell myself but I like the fact that I can get people coming back or enjoying my art one way or another. I do a lot of different things, fandoms, and materials, but most generally stick to digital or traditional things like marker, ink, and pencil.
I have recently been asked to accept a commission from a co-worker of my mother. I do not know this person at all, but I can head out to their place of employment once I find out when they will be there. In the past I've done traditional, realistic portraits of myself and some of a celebrity for a friend. The one that sparked the interest in this type of commission was this piece here: Self Portrait.
This project alone took me a lot of time and effort to make it to where I want it to be, as usually I am a comic/cartoonist artist first. I love the way it came out and of course in the end I was pleased, but for a commission I am a bit lost.
Where should I price something like this? Do people work by the hour (and how much per hour), or a general flat fee and upgraded to how much detail? I don't want to undersell myself, but I don't want to come off as someone who charges a ridiculous amount, either, as I don't want to scare away any future commissioners.
I hope this was clear and if not, I am willing to answer any questions about this. I am currently in progress of writing a ToS so any advice to add something like this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance!
To the mods, I apologize for not adding tags as I continued to get this message: Error updating journal: Client error: Not allowed to add tags to entries in this journal. I will try to add them after posting or some other way.
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I hope that makes sense ._.
Thank you again for commenting. :)
My estimate also takes into account an extra hour's worth of work, to cover revisions and communication with the client. This helps prevent awkward negotiations when the client decides to change something halfway through; It's already paid for, so no big deal. My estimate is also guaranteed, presuming that the client doesn't make excessive revisions, so I won't charge more than my estimate, even if it takes longer for me to complete than I thought.
Don't be afraid to negotiate, but decide what your minimum is, and stick to it. If you don't value your time spent working, no one else will, either.
Thankfully I can talk to this client in person if need be to see how she reacts instead of trying to decipher it through text. I'll have to figure out what it is exactly the minimum would be and work from there. Seeing as I take longer on something like a portrait in a realistic style, charging by the hour seems fairly reasonable.
Thank you so much for your advice, I really appreciate it.
That's true. I would have to get specific paper and such to get it coming out like my self portrait. They want a standard 8.5" x 11" but I put borders, too, so it all depends, really.
Thank you for your advice, though! I will be taking this all into consideration as I work this out.
Don't forget that you're a "skilled worker" (all artists are ... well ... let's say most of them), so your hourly wage should be higher than the minimum wage.
Otherwise you could just go working in a doner kebab shop or cleaning the toilets ...
I think artists should end underpricing themselves like that. Never forget that you're a skilled worker after all. Your art is beautiful, you are talented, so why not charging $20 - $30 per hour?
If you're too unsure, try to raise your prices slowly to see how much people are willing to pay for your art.
And also ... I didn't want to say that cleaning toilets or something like that is wrong, I just say that you should earn more money with skilled work than with unskilled work. And well ... art is luxury, clean toilets are a must. ;)
And yeah, it's really sad to hear that ...
For example, a hobby artist does not charge the same as a professional artist, for an identical piece of work. An amateur artist doesn't either. People are not just paying for your hours of time, they are paying for your craft; and if that craft is represented by a degree, or over several years full-time experience, you are entitled to charge more.
It's not up to us though; what do you think that picture is worth? And what is the most your clients will pay for it? If the discrepancy is too high, there's either misjudgement in the value of the art, or (as is more common), it might be time to find new clients.
As a general baseline though; here in Australia even amateur, non-professional artists are officially entitled to ask for a rate of pay of $27 per hour (according to NAVA), and it goes way, way up from there.
I don't personally charge for an hourly rate, I - like my mentor - charge by size and detail. So I have a base rate for say a 4x5 piece. And then from there, if the detail is more than usual, the price goes up. This is more convenient for me, as I am frequently ill and sometimes only work on pictures for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. If I was constantly monitoring my hourly output, I'd probably lose track and over or under charge. With a flat base fee per size, and then extra for detail, I always know what to charge a customer, and a customer generally always knows what to expect.
I have been drawing ever since I remember, took art all through out middle school and high school, including AP Studio Art. I went to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art for a year and now I'm at Kent State University to be an Art teacher. I've been doing commissions for years now, but it's never been for a professional company or anything like that. Sure, I find myself to be a pretty well trained artist so far at where I'm at now, but I still have plenty to learn. So it's a debate, really, on where I stand on what level, or what level others see me at.
I'll have to poke around and see what some general levels of pricing is around here for such a thing. Or stop at the local gallery and ask. Where I am, however, is not the most populated place or at least not for artists.
Size and detail should be considered. They want a standard size so maybe I can see where that goes and how much the work would be worth. I can talk to this client in person so that may be a good start to see what they are willing to pay and where we can take it from there. It's a new client so I worry where there are limits or not, and seeing how it is my mom's co-worker I don't want to come off as too pricey or feel like they can get away with anything.
Thank you though, for your advice and I will be taking it into consideration. This helped a lot and I'm thankful for the long, in-depth comment.
I don't know how long it took you, but if you're thinking of going by how much you'd want hourly, you could probably be at the $30 range.
To most buyers this price sounds too high, but speaking from experience most people don't know what art is actually worth. $100 is actually a low price for someone with your level of skill - if you're doing it on A4 paper and your commissioner is strapped for cash you COULD negotiate going for less than that, but I'd be iffy if I were you.
I'd advise against asking at galleries - selling art at a gallery is very different from selling it to an individual buyer. Galleries can sometimes push prices up to exorbitant amounts for profit and the artist sees a very small cut of the final price for the most part.
Basically, as others have said, when valuing art, this is what tends to count:
- The amount of time spent on the piece;
- The amount of detail and overall difficulty;
- The price for the medium you're using (include the cost of pencils and paper on your price if traditional, for instance);
- Your level of skill (you're top tier, you can believe that much);
- The amount of money the commissioner can pay.
Also note that if the commissioner can't pay as much as the piece is worth, you can reduce complexity and charge a smaller price - you shouldn't have to put the full effort into a piece that's not being paid for in full, if that makes any sense.
Here's a good website to consult: http://www.artbusiness.com/pricepoints.html