Pricing for Art Commissions?

[Kisa]

I typically don't do art commissions because the few times I did in the past, my nice customers turned into SC's. I did a few in high school and, after yet another deal went sour, I decided not to do them anymore. Too many people getting mad about my prices, speed, style, asking for "friend discounts", and/or being overly picky playing "change this fix that". Fast forward to a few weeks ago.

I get a text from one of my ex-coworkers that I was close with. He said that he is looking to get out of the hell that is my old work by opening his own business. Since I'm the best artist he knows (his words, not mine) he wants to commission me to make a business logo for him. I accept because I'm tight on cash and I figure he will be a better customer than bratty teenagers. It's going to be a landscaping type business.

This job includes:
-research for plant reference images
-rough sketching design ideas(I did 6)
-two clean sketches (he liked two ideas so I'm doing detailed "clean" sketches of both)
-linework for one drawing
-coloring one drawing(marker or colored penicl)
-lettering on the final image

I'm not done yet, but I figure the total project should take about 15-20 hours total. I want to be paid for my time and supplies, but I don't want to "overcharge" him. After crunching numbers, I'm thinking about asking $140 for the finished product.

Thoughts please. Too high? Too low?

[Seraph]

Um. That'd be $7 an hour. For creative work.

.....Seriously, you are way, way undercharging.

[Kisa]

Um. That'd be $7 an hour. For creative work.

.....Seriously, you are way, way undercharging.

I'm not a confident artist I always worry that people will recoil in horror "Your art isn't worth THAT much! I can get it cheaper from person X!" when I quote a price.

[Seraph]

Time to get over that. Your art is worth it. Keep thinking that they're going to recoil in horror, and they always will. You need to charge a decent price, seriously.

I mean, look at 99designs. Its a freaking crowdsource place, and the minimum for logos is $300.

[Kisa]

So.....$200? (sorry if I sound dumb)

[Seraph]

I'd say $225 at the least. That's if you want to be nice. I mean, this is going to be the base of his company. This is how he will advertise, how people will recognize his brand, how he will build his business. Just think of it that way.

[KhirasHY]

General rule of thumb I was given a while back: "Take whatever you think your art is worth, then double it at minimum, triple to be closer to safe."

[Kisa]

Just finished it! It didn't take as long as expected (16 hours as opposed to 20) so I was thinking $185?

$11 per hour plus some for materials.

I attached a pic of it with the company name blocked out (mostly so you can see my crappy lettering skills lol)

[wolfie]

Looks good. When I "filled in the blanks" of the blacked-out words, it came up as something that I would have interpreted as the type of work they do, if you hadn't said it was the company name.

[Aethian]

No stay with the 225.

[Seraph]

Kisa, you didn't both agree on a price upfront, before you did the work? Forgive my bluntness, but just take this as good advice.

That will cause you all sorts of problems in the future. You need to get a contract of sorts written out, settle on a price/price range/budget, and THEN go with the work.

Putting the cart before the horse basically burdens you with the work already done, and what if they decide you weren't in their budget? You need to get these things hammered out beforehand. ><

[KhirasHY]

No stay with the 225.

Pretty much. Especially if you quoted that already.

Edit: And yeah, quote a price beforehand. It helps sort out arguments later on.

[CoffeeMonkey]

Don't forget to put licensing stuff in your contract. The pros here would be better able to explain it than I, but basically you have to agree on who gets to use the image for what. Since this is a business logo, and Mr Guy would be putting it on all of his stuff, he would probably own the image outright.

The one time I contracted to design a business logo, the contract included an agreement that I was allowed to display the image in portfolios, online galleries, and I could enter it in design contests if I chose. When I do commissions or sketches for people I retain the rights to the artwork, but they are allowed to post it, use it for avatars, all that jazz, preferably with a link to my deviantart or webcomic.

*IANAL, not am I a professional artist. I sell artwork at comic conventions and do a long running webcomic.*

[KhirasHY]

and do a long running webcomic.*

Which you should totally share Always looking for more good comics...

[CoffeeMonkey]

What? Shameless self promotion? Well, if you insist... http://sidekickgirl.net/


Back on topic, though, don't undervalue your work. Seriously. If you price yourself too cheaply, people will not respect the quality of your work, or your time. Even if you're not confident in the quality yet, NEVER forget that your time is valuable. Pay yourself a respectable wage.