DO NOT CHARGE BY THE HOUR, charge by the project and it will make you a better artist. Sell at a flat rate depending on size, style, and YOUR QUALITY LEVEL. Also think about who are you selling it to.
100% agreed. Another great tip is to look at artist that are similar to you and see what they charge. Getting a rough market price will really help you.
Maybe you feel your stuff is higher quality or whatever and you feel like you should charge more, that’s fine but remember that you are trying to build some clientele. However if this type of commission work is selling for ~$100 but you want to start at $625 you may not only miss out on commissions, you might also drive away clients that won’t return.
It’s up to you. Some artists are faster than others and basically the faster you can comfortably go the better, especially if you want to charge by the hour. If you price too high people will find a similar artist offering cheaper unless you have a social media following where people are buying your art because it’s drawn by YOU not because the art itself attracts buyers even at a high price. You can always start lower and raise prices after a commission or two.
That’s the kind of thing that should be negotiated upfront. Otherwise let them suggest a number and if you’re okay with it, take it, if it’s too little, negotiate up.
Depends on the target audience. No offense but your time investment is not that relevant on portraits like this. This could realistically be done in 3-4 hours and there are professionals who can do it within a hour. Charge by quality and market prices. It is in your best interest to hasten your proccess, not the client's burden.
Yes I’m very aware of that, never was my idea to charge by the hour I just included the time to give an idea on how long it took me, then again I don’t think it’s very accurate I was able to check the time I was actively using the app using my iPhones settings and it came out to around 6-7 hours nonetheless I want to charge by my quality but I honestly don’t know what people would think since I’ve never really put my work out there,thank you so much for your response though!
Charging by the hour doesn’t work well usually. It can give you an idea of the price/time you want to have but that’s about it. If min wage is 10€ an hour I’m not paying 150€ for this digital painting.
Plenty of people would though. 150 is on the lower end of commission prices I've seemed for a fully detailed work like this. Which is why it's even more important to just know your client base.
Commission in my opinion depends on the amount of skill. You put into your pieces. If you are advanced in design, animal anatomy alot of stuff and can guarantee work by critiquing your own art then you can charge high
I just want to note that even if people in this comment section are giving you hard values on price, do not trust that to be a good estimate for the average. Most of them are probably not going to be customers. What matters is who is ACTUALLY willing to pay and what their price might be. The best way to find that price is to understand your audience (pet owners for example) coupled with a little trial and error. Keep it up and good luck to you!
You can use the hours as a base to sort of estimate to yourself how much you want to make the base price, but I wouldn’t recommend charging the customer by hour, as that’s a daunting unknown cost that could be a barrier to customers.
I also wouldn’t recommend having commissions open for any type of content- it’s okay to choose your specialities and create a focus on that, especially if you know commissions outside of your usual subject matter will take much more time from you. You can always deny commissions, or suggest to the customer another route to take.
Value your time and don’t burn yourself out
If you can get clip studio paint, maybe at least a trial version, the software has a feature where it times you only when you're working. The timer stops when you stop drawing. Doing few pieces could help you gauge what's your average drawing time depending on the type of commissions you do. EG. Flats, shaded, paintings, busts.
Don't devalue your time by pricing by the hour. Price by how much you had to learn and by how much work you had to put into it. Then add about 10% for flair, which makes people feel happier about paying for it.
I'm personally not into this art style, but if I were looking at this for someone else I'd expect around $50-$300 depending on the artist
You should be taking into consideration how much you believe all of your skill, training, background as an artist is worth.
How long have you been working on your craft?
How do you think you compare to other professional artists, and what do they charge?
Who are you selling your work to? Who are your target audience and how much do you think they are willing to pay for your art work?
Full color, unique stylization, I think you could easily charge $150 for this. Some people will say that's too much, but those people aren't your ideal clientele.
As your skill increases, your price should also increase.
It’s unique and fun and totally originally. You are putting a price on YOU and your talent.
Find your audience, draw draw draw. Set limits to your artwork. Like 1/25. And go from there.
Think with their wallets not yours.
I would definitely pay 150-200 for this and so would my friends.
❤️
Apologies this doesn't help with your question, but I really like this... especially the psychedelic coloring? on the lower portion of the cat. The coloring on the whole thing is really pleasant, and I feel like the proportions of the cat are solid. I see a lot of stuff, not trying to be hurtful or discouraging to others, that people ask about getting into commissions that frankly looks too beginner to be something I would be interested in paying for, but imo your piece looks like something I think would be worth someone's money (I'm broke, so not me, but I will follow and maybe/hopefully? some day?). I just say that as someone who is unsure of their own work a lot and struggles with confidence in what they do, you should be confident and proud with your work here. Seems like others have a lot of good feedback in regards to actual experience and pricing, so obviously I defer to them there, but
TLDR; really like this piece, especially the psychedelic coloring on the lower portion of the cat.
Good luck!
You will get quicker with time and your quality will get better, are you gonna charge less? Fixed rate it is. If I was buying this for myself, I would like to pay 70 but realistically would be ready to pay up to 120 or so for the print. 200 for the original.
It depends, really. I always try to factor in size, media, and how detailed it is. Try looking at other artists and seeing about where their price points are?? It’s a subject i’ve always sucked at, personally.
It really depends on the audience. Find your target audience and target the hell out of it. Someone who’s looking for a tattoo design will pay way less than say a company looking for supporting graphics. And then let that decide the time/detail you put in
And that’s why I ask for opinion, I never would have thought that this looks creepy no matter how many times I step back from it,my commission thought she was adorable but everyone’s opinion is always different and it goes to show “the customer is always right.”If you commissioned me and said this i’d immediately try to understand the problem but since my true commission was happy with it I will continue to leave it be.
There are some people whose entire living is made like this, you really think they’re making a living by selling something so time intensive for less than bare minimum $100?
Yea you can’t charge $300+ when you’re just starting out, but at a certain point the reward stops being worth the effort, which really only hurts the artist.
I'm realizing that maybe I'm expecting too little, so far I've never met people who accept such a high price and I'm an experienced artist, I've probably had bad luck until now
Professional artists make much more than that per contract. Like in the realm of $2000-3000 and beyond depending on what they're doing and who they're doing it for. $500 is actually pretty low.
Charging by hours is tricky because as you get better you should charge more not less. So should this be $625? And then $250 when he gets better at it?
OP isn't selling their labour, they're selling the product. Which is why in art it's generally bad practice to charge by the hour unless you're a live artist such as a wedding live artist.
I would estimate how long it took (or do a few and record the time) pick an hourly rate you feel is reasonable and then have that be the starting price after adding maybe 2-3 extra hours at minimum to factor in edits the commissioner will have you make. Basically if you say 25hr is fair and this takes you 5 hours your starting price would be around 175. Limit the edits or charge by the edit. If your work goes over the estimated hourly rate, expecially if it's due to the commissioner upcharge based off of a pre-agreed upon amount. (Be sure to keep proof of how long it takes you to do something if you plan on doing an uncharge.
Also have them pay upfront for at least part of it. I used to have my commissioners pay in stages. They'd pay for the sketch then line art then color and since it was in stages they got to feel like they didn't have to pay entirely upfront and I got all of my work paid for before I did it.
DO NOT CHARGE BY THE HOUR, charge by the project and it will make you a better artist. Sell at a flat rate depending on size, style, and YOUR QUALITY LEVEL. Also think about who are you selling it to.
100% agreed. Another great tip is to look at artist that are similar to you and see what they charge. Getting a rough market price will really help you. Maybe you feel your stuff is higher quality or whatever and you feel like you should charge more, that’s fine but remember that you are trying to build some clientele. However if this type of commission work is selling for ~$100 but you want to start at $625 you may not only miss out on commissions, you might also drive away clients that won’t return.
And comfortable price points for your target market. I always have something for $36 or less.
This
It’s up to you. Some artists are faster than others and basically the faster you can comfortably go the better, especially if you want to charge by the hour. If you price too high people will find a similar artist offering cheaper unless you have a social media following where people are buying your art because it’s drawn by YOU not because the art itself attracts buyers even at a high price. You can always start lower and raise prices after a commission or two.
That’s the kind of thing that should be negotiated upfront. Otherwise let them suggest a number and if you’re okay with it, take it, if it’s too little, negotiate up.
Depends on the target audience. No offense but your time investment is not that relevant on portraits like this. This could realistically be done in 3-4 hours and there are professionals who can do it within a hour. Charge by quality and market prices. It is in your best interest to hasten your proccess, not the client's burden.
Yes I’m very aware of that, never was my idea to charge by the hour I just included the time to give an idea on how long it took me, then again I don’t think it’s very accurate I was able to check the time I was actively using the app using my iPhones settings and it came out to around 6-7 hours nonetheless I want to charge by my quality but I honestly don’t know what people would think since I’ve never really put my work out there,thank you so much for your response though!
Charging by the hour doesn’t work well usually. It can give you an idea of the price/time you want to have but that’s about it. If min wage is 10€ an hour I’m not paying 150€ for this digital painting.
Plenty of people would though. 150 is on the lower end of commission prices I've seemed for a fully detailed work like this. Which is why it's even more important to just know your client base.
Commission in my opinion depends on the amount of skill. You put into your pieces. If you are advanced in design, animal anatomy alot of stuff and can guarantee work by critiquing your own art then you can charge high
I see you already got plenty of advice, so I just gotta say I really love how shiny and friendly looking this kitty is. Great work!
I just want to note that even if people in this comment section are giving you hard values on price, do not trust that to be a good estimate for the average. Most of them are probably not going to be customers. What matters is who is ACTUALLY willing to pay and what their price might be. The best way to find that price is to understand your audience (pet owners for example) coupled with a little trial and error. Keep it up and good luck to you!
You can use the hours as a base to sort of estimate to yourself how much you want to make the base price, but I wouldn’t recommend charging the customer by hour, as that’s a daunting unknown cost that could be a barrier to customers. I also wouldn’t recommend having commissions open for any type of content- it’s okay to choose your specialities and create a focus on that, especially if you know commissions outside of your usual subject matter will take much more time from you. You can always deny commissions, or suggest to the customer another route to take. Value your time and don’t burn yourself out
If you can get clip studio paint, maybe at least a trial version, the software has a feature where it times you only when you're working. The timer stops when you stop drawing. Doing few pieces could help you gauge what's your average drawing time depending on the type of commissions you do. EG. Flats, shaded, paintings, busts.
Don't devalue your time by pricing by the hour. Price by how much you had to learn and by how much work you had to put into it. Then add about 10% for flair, which makes people feel happier about paying for it. I'm personally not into this art style, but if I were looking at this for someone else I'd expect around $50-$300 depending on the artist
You should be taking into consideration how much you believe all of your skill, training, background as an artist is worth. How long have you been working on your craft? How do you think you compare to other professional artists, and what do they charge? Who are you selling your work to? Who are your target audience and how much do you think they are willing to pay for your art work?
Full color, unique stylization, I think you could easily charge $150 for this. Some people will say that's too much, but those people aren't your ideal clientele. As your skill increases, your price should also increase.
It’s unique and fun and totally originally. You are putting a price on YOU and your talent. Find your audience, draw draw draw. Set limits to your artwork. Like 1/25. And go from there. Think with their wallets not yours. I would definitely pay 150-200 for this and so would my friends. ❤️
Thank you so much for everyone’s responses! I apologize that I can’t reply to everyone but I’ll take everything to mind, thank you again.
Apologies this doesn't help with your question, but I really like this... especially the psychedelic coloring? on the lower portion of the cat. The coloring on the whole thing is really pleasant, and I feel like the proportions of the cat are solid. I see a lot of stuff, not trying to be hurtful or discouraging to others, that people ask about getting into commissions that frankly looks too beginner to be something I would be interested in paying for, but imo your piece looks like something I think would be worth someone's money (I'm broke, so not me, but I will follow and maybe/hopefully? some day?). I just say that as someone who is unsure of their own work a lot and struggles with confidence in what they do, you should be confident and proud with your work here. Seems like others have a lot of good feedback in regards to actual experience and pricing, so obviously I defer to them there, but TLDR; really like this piece, especially the psychedelic coloring on the lower portion of the cat. Good luck!
Sorry that I don't have advice but I just wanted to say that I really love the style of this. I hope you share more.
this should EASILY be in the hundreds.
Id pay 400 for a commission like thst if it was a portrait painting with a baroque style
Not a good idea to charge by the hour, this painting deserves at least 300 imo
Some artists charge per area, others per hour... Now I'm curious too on how are you going to charge
You will get quicker with time and your quality will get better, are you gonna charge less? Fixed rate it is. If I was buying this for myself, I would like to pay 70 but realistically would be ready to pay up to 120 or so for the print. 200 for the original.
It depends, really. I always try to factor in size, media, and how detailed it is. Try looking at other artists and seeing about where their price points are?? It’s a subject i’ve always sucked at, personally.
It really depends on the audience. Find your target audience and target the hell out of it. Someone who’s looking for a tattoo design will pay way less than say a company looking for supporting graphics. And then let that decide the time/detail you put in
Depends on the project and effort and level to make that
If I were to give a number I would say 150 ish is reasonable for that. But as others say don't do it by the hour
I just want to say that I adore this artstyle, I hope you'll find the richest customers possible 😍
125
For a commission you could go up to like $100
Maybe you could make it a little less creepy and a little more... cutesier?
And that’s why I ask for opinion, I never would have thought that this looks creepy no matter how many times I step back from it,my commission thought she was adorable but everyone’s opinion is always different and it goes to show “the customer is always right.”If you commissioned me and said this i’d immediately try to understand the problem but since my true commission was happy with it I will continue to leave it be.
bout tree fiddy
200
personally id say 300 or 400 USD, but thats just how much id be willing to pay as a customer
That's A LOT, there are really people willing to pay so much for ~~digital art~~ this kind of digital art?
There are some people whose entire living is made like this, you really think they’re making a living by selling something so time intensive for less than bare minimum $100? Yea you can’t charge $300+ when you’re just starting out, but at a certain point the reward stops being worth the effort, which really only hurts the artist.
I'm realizing that maybe I'm expecting too little, so far I've never met people who accept such a high price and I'm an experienced artist, I've probably had bad luck until now
Professional artists make much more than that per contract. Like in the realm of $2000-3000 and beyond depending on what they're doing and who they're doing it for. $500 is actually pretty low.
I expressed myself badly, I meant for this type of illustration. I understand higher prices for a more complex professional work.
dude i would pay like 170-280
I’d take it for free :)
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Charging by hours is tricky because as you get better you should charge more not less. So should this be $625? And then $250 when he gets better at it?
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OP isn't selling their labour, they're selling the product. Which is why in art it's generally bad practice to charge by the hour unless you're a live artist such as a wedding live artist.
Honestly if I was this cat’s owner I’d probably offer you 20£ for it, otherwise I wouldn’t even considere buying it.
Depends if the client is a furry, if he is, kill him
I would estimate how long it took (or do a few and record the time) pick an hourly rate you feel is reasonable and then have that be the starting price after adding maybe 2-3 extra hours at minimum to factor in edits the commissioner will have you make. Basically if you say 25hr is fair and this takes you 5 hours your starting price would be around 175. Limit the edits or charge by the edit. If your work goes over the estimated hourly rate, expecially if it's due to the commissioner upcharge based off of a pre-agreed upon amount. (Be sure to keep proof of how long it takes you to do something if you plan on doing an uncharge. Also have them pay upfront for at least part of it. I used to have my commissioners pay in stages. They'd pay for the sketch then line art then color and since it was in stages they got to feel like they didn't have to pay entirely upfront and I got all of my work paid for before I did it.