Commission Prices - opinions please! ^^

[PrettyGirlJean]

Hi all,

Well, recently I announced on my deviantart account that I am currently taking commissions. However, I'm now wondering after a few days if maybe my prices are too high. Maybe they're not fair somehow? I could just be paranoid too, but I'd like to think not.

I guess the reason for my concern stems from the fact that at a recent anime convention many people asked if I could do commissions and I even had quite a few people online ask me as well... but now that I've announced that I am... no one seems interested so I'm thinking that it's got to be my prices. I have a poll up on my DA account, but so far the one person that I've seen that's answered has said the prices were fine.

Anyhow, if you have a moment please take a look at the info and let me know what you think. I'll list two links just in case one doesn't work:

http://www.freewebs.com/vanstane/dacommis.html

and

http://vanstane.deviantart.com/journal/6521782/

Thanks a lot!

[GhaleonOne]

Actually, I think your prices are quite fine. In fact, I think you're underselling yourself. The problem is, you're likely selling to a broke crowd. Then again, I know next to nil about commissioning this type of stuff. I have no clue what the average rates are for other artists doing a similiar style of artwork, I just know that generally art type stuff can be charged at quite a high hourly rate depending on the market.

[Kizyr]

Hm, I usually ask for art just at conventions, since I rather like some kind of direct contact with the artist. Typically I'll set aside $10-20 just for Artists' Alley; so, your audience might not be as broke as you think. KF

[Rune Lai]

$10-$20, going by PGJ's prices, is just plain pencil or line art though. That's fine for something a customer gets while meeting the artist at a convention (limited time and such), but generally for a commission the buyer is looking for something in particular, and they want more than a pencil or line art. If I was to commission something, I would want full color with a detailed background (anything less wouldn't be worth the time and effort or working with the commission artist to get the look right). So that would come out to $50, which probably comes out on the steep side for most people.

Personally, I couldn't justify spending $50 on a personalized piece of artwork from amateur. For that amount of money I would rather buy a print or two at a sci-fi convention from a favorite professional artist, which aren't personalized but I would probably enjoy just as much. (And that's not a knock against PGJ. She's very good. But she's not pro caliber yet.)

I don't think you should sell yourself short if those prices are what your time and materials come out to be, especially since you would be setting aside other work you could be doing in the meantime, but it might be a good idea to try doing your first commissions "at cost" or a little above, and then once you get a feel for the demand you can raise your rates and charge appropriately.

[Karthur]

Having bought commissions from a number of artists, I can say that your prices are very reasonable and your art rocks

[PrettyGirlJean]

Having bought commissions from a number of artists, I can say that your prices are very reasonable and your art rocks

Thank you very much

And again, thanks to everyone who's posted their opinions