YOU'RE DOING COMMISSIONS WRONG! (+ Contest Updates!) || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
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tiktok is SO TOXIC. if a younger person makes a MASTERPEICE and charges something as little is $7 for it (keep in mind this is a fully rendered drawing not just a sketch) they get hate saying that this should cost $2. and most of these come from ppl who ARENT artists.
I always recommend to use hourly minimum wage as a base price and then double or triple that at least. If you're selling masterpieces for dirty cheap then you only attract those people who think they are entitled to art for almost nothing or free. If you value your time and labour and the time it took you to get good at drawing or painting then you're more likely to attract people who will see Art what it is, a luxury item.
There's an artist I follow who's been getting regular hate comments about thier commisions to the point where they're basically farming them. They reply to a hate comment with a speed paint that has the price for that type of work which ends up gaining more hate because "ew its not worth that much you're a scammer" rinse repeat ad nauseum. Imo it's a galaxy brain way to advertise and there's no shortage of algorithm boosting comments
@@jojoslameerrand9305 sure it might boost the algorithm but at what price? Getting over and over and over again told you're a scammer and you're art is worth shit must get to the person at some point where it's gonna break them and make them believe those heinous things
@@elisa11041 I mean if you want to punish people for working faster and better then sure. Charge based on time. Its not like people naturally get faster if they have any capacity to improve. Thats why logo design and fashion design dont charge that way. Good people work fast. And speed is also 100% dependent on a bunch of factors that can even involve shit like blood pressure, so you dont want to make it so uneven. Also people can just straight up lie about the time. Also no other product works like this. An individual drawing is a product not a service, woodworking charges a set rate for the table based on materials and technique, not the time it takes. Thats a huge way to turn people off. Like no regular person is going to understand why suddenly this product works diferently from the rest of the economy. Hourly rates work in the service industry. Where there is an infinit amount of work that can be done. But with art at a certain point youre just done. You made the thing and you hand it in. Hourly rates hurt artists in every concivable way I dont understand why people think its a good idea.
This is how you get amatur and clumsy people with bad work ethic getting paid more for crap than knowledgable, eficient and hard working people. In reality, the actual literal amount of effort literally does not matter, one thing can be hard as hell to someone whos not very good, and easey as pie to a competent person. The better way to do it is based on factors that can be equated to those thing. Technique, materials, size, type of art, printing ect. That can be set and changed acording to predictable factors. Art isnt special, it works like any other buisness that works based on one time puchesases. ¿Could you imagine the actual nightmare the world would be if every product was priced based on the hours it takes to make? Pencils, shoes, computers. And its also just too vague. ¿Like are we only counting the time drawing, or any time looking ar references, time choosing colors, picking brushes, buying materials? Because people can and do try to exploit that loophole.
A wage is something based on a salary. Something that only works in the context of constant work. Even if you work fast, thats just more tasks that can ne squeezed in. Artist are only paid in salaries by like Disney, where they need endless work all the time, and also can afford to pay that.
Eh still.
As a client, if I see someone under charging for their commissions, I just tip them more?? I have no issue paying double, or even triple the original price that was listed, and this is a mentality that more clients should have. See the worth in other people's art and show them that they can raise their prices and people will still come and order
There should be more incredible people like you
i've had one or two clients that do this and it makes me feel so good, not so much because they gave me more money but because it really makes me feel like they appreciate and are happy with the work. I never ever expect tips and it is ultimately up to the artist to decide what they charge but it's so nice to see people that aren't just out to pay as little as possible.
god I hope I one day get clients like you
I think it's important to mention that commissioners should have an additional note on their TOS that they're willing to refuse any commission or offer not previously listed in the TOS. That way you cover all your bases.
As long as the money is returned or they money doesn’t get paid to them still then I think that’s fair
@@Name-de1ij most of the time this happens before even payments are considered. I’ve never heard of an artist taking payment, or even part, before discussing what they are drawing. This is just to cover the artist in case someone tries to commission something that they make not be comfortable with, or otherwise don’t feel that they can complete it properly.
Me, a child who physically cannot set up commissions:
That pfp looks like a familiar avatar from Reality- sry if this is random, i just havent seen someone with a familiar avatar from the app in a while :,)
Youll get there eventually :) one day you’ll be able to!
keep practicing and build a "fan base" on Instagram and other social media in the meantime till you're old enough to take on commissions :) you can do art trades too in the meantime
Children can with cashapp
heyo another child artist here, youll get to it. What i do is i take game currency in exchange for the art, win win no?
Great quote for those wanting to start commissions or art in general:
"You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great." - Les Brown
Also, if Celestia is okay with it, Nadiaxel has a couple videos on how to get started and tons of great information along with templates for things like contracts, commission sheets, etc.
This is helpful, I’ve wanted to start commissions for a while but I’ve never been quite sure how to go about it. Plus I’ve always been afraid I wasn’t good enough or I wouldn’t be able to deliver but I’m more confident about my art now
The insecurity part at the end literally called me out, because that's literally me, i have been meaning to set up commissions for months, but the insecurity always finds a way to hit me hard, i always try to remember that i'm doing this because i want to, i'm passionate about art and i want to make it my job.
@Lylie's Corner Same, I just don’t want to be disappointed
@@yoyop0ptart There's no way to avoid it, but that's okay. I was afraid to be hit with disappointment and rejection once I started putting myself out there and I was. Then, one faithful day, I was able to open my commissions with a very specific theme in mind and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who were interested commissioning me. And very nice people as well! I can only assure you that disappointment and rejection will happen and that you will be okay. You can always try again later. Or offer something new and original that you think might interest your followers. Regardless, I'm wishing you good luck on your journey!
I don't do commission because of main two factor:
1) i REALLY don't know what to charge related to time and skills
2) i take it too personal when someone reject my work
1) (Your living expenses + (profit you want which should be at least 50% of your living expenses * (skill + amount of audience you have))) / hours to make it.
2) If they requested a commission is because they want it. Also avoid doing changes or refunds for work like the plague no matter the client reaction if you want to stay sane.
@@SoulGuitarMetal how can you measure your skill? what if you have no audience yet? isn't measuring price by hours disliked by the consumer?
@@psycless The client doesn't need to know how much time you take. You set fixed prices based on how much time you usually take. Skill and audience are a plus. Even if you have no skill and no audience, you must charge to cover your expenses and profit. Skill is the least important thing, there are plenty of popular series in any media with very bad or amateurish art. Clients care more about if you can finish it while artists themselves care about quality. Be able to complete things is more important than making it high quality.
Just consider your skill 0 if you are starting and then increase it as years pass the more drawings and work you do. The audience will only make a difference if you get too many requests, which is when you must increase the price to focus your time on who pays better.
90% of your problems will be money, so you need to get it out of the way first. 10% is deadlines. Charge upfront and delivery in time and will you rarely have problems.
@@SoulGuitarMetal Thanks, this helps!
Same (2)
also artists should remember that art and therefore art commissions are a LUXURY not a necessity. When you grow up low income it's easy to feel like you're asking a lot with prices but people buying commissions are usually people with at least some disposable income. They may not be loaded to the point they're willing to throw money at it, but in my experience my clients usually don't blink an eye at the price I agonised over raising.
There are exceptions of course and people that expect you to be thankful if they offer you $10 but most will be prepared for a custom commission to not be cheap.
I do digital art commissions and crochet commissions. Great experience for me, people asking for a custom blanket realize that they're getting it because it would make their life a little nicer and nothing more. People with digital art don't seem to realize that as much, I think because it's not a physical good but then it would seem like even *less* of a priority so therefore makes more sense to pay more for..I don't know.
@@nyandoesthings thankfully i've also found most people pretty good with that so far and i do digital stuff (but admittedly im early in my career and have worked mainly with people i know). but yeah i think some people just see it as a 'hobbie' and think the artist should be grateful for any money they get for it at all, but I've certainly seen that logic applied to physical goods too.
The good thing about this is that i noticed a lot of the artists i follow re-valuing their com prices every couple of com reopenings and people still showing support by commissioning.
TLDR: Repricing is a good solution once you get a bigger following(?)
Repricing is necessary as the cost of living/expenses can change. Also, keep an eye on what professionals and the rates freelancers in the industries you are looking into being a part of are charging. They'll give you an idea what you should be charging for your skills at your current level.
The "pricing low to actually get SOME commissions" loop is so draining, honestly. You get shit on by better artists with a bigger following for charging so low, but then if you hike your prices up, people complain that your art isn't good enough for that price, or just don't commission you at all. I haven't gotten a commission for more than a year at a reasonable price for myself (I need to price a little extra due to disability and chronic pain) and I'm quite proud of the work I do. But even my fanart doesn't get numbers. It's hard not to view your work as just "bad" when so many factors seem to say "you're not good enough, so why bother trying to sell your work?" even though you can logically know better. It's a painful situation to be in.
Honestly, you might want to take a page out of NSFW artists books. And just start using templates for your lower priced work. High skill artists might shit on you for using templates, or ai generated back grounds, or using other tips and tricks.
But like . . . If you got disability and chronic pain. Then it isn't worth it to go through the extra suffering just to earn a few dollars for your art.
Save your body, your spirit, and your effort for higher charged work. And cut corners where you can for lower priced work. Burn out is real. And we can't afford to lose artists like you
as a disabled artist, much less one who can't afford a tablet (so i use a mouse), i really have to charge extra. But I undercharge. I only got 2 commissions and it sucked so much. but people either want anime or realism and my art style is neither of those, so I don't even know what to do anymore. Just want you to know that you're not alone, OP.
As an american who is starting to rekindle my art career, I personally think that all artists shouldn't charge less than minimum wage; whether that's federal or state. If a company charged you less than minimum wage, they would be heavily scrutinized for undercutting their employees ability to.... live. The way that I intend to calculate cost for my commissions is a base amount based on how long that type of commission usually takes me plus hourly minimum wage for any time Over the projected time limit. That's to compensate for any studying of the elements (character, setting, brainstorming composition, posing) Specific to that piece.
For example, prototype for my future model:
- For Reference, my state's minimum wage is $15/hr
Single Character Render:
- Sketches usually take me 15 minutes, maybe 30 if I'm struggling or am including a background: worth a solid $10; this check-in is where I estimate the time it might take to finish more rendered pieces
- Line Art can take an additional half hour to two hours depending on level of detail: $15-35, decided at sketch check-in
- Flat Colors are, in general, fairly quick; done in a few fill tool clicks and tidying. Although, having many complex details can take an hour of fine tuning: $20-$50, decided at line art check-in
- Full Renders require enough time to figure out and play with lighting and layers, which can sometimes take me a full hour alone, plus up to another hour depending on the level of detail requested: $30-$65, decided at flat color check-in
Extras:
- +1 Character: +$25
- Simple Backgrounds (e.g. geometric or color blobs) Only take a few minutes: +$5
- Flat Colored Settings can take a bit to design: +$25
- Fully Rendered Settings take A Lot of my time and energy between detail and shading: +$40
Character Animation Reference Sheet: $100; non-negotiable
- 3/4 Turn (5 renders, basic cell shading)
- Up to 3 Facial Expression Color Sketches
-Up to 3 Small Detail Color Sketches (jewelry/scars/birthmarks/etc.)
- If I have to go significantly over eta (1+ hours) due to unforeseen difficulties at any stage of the render, I plan to contact the client with "I have to do an extra bit of work because of x/y/z, here's the the new eta and price".
I feel all prices are Completely reasonable, but let me know if you have any advice
Also an American who's trying to work on starting their career lol, but I have a different system to pricing that is (for the most part) divorced from time spent. Btw, my state min. is $7.50 an hour
$25 for a sketch (I will not touch pen to paper without at least $25)
$50 for a sketch + Background
Flat colors (with fresh lineart) is $75
Flat colors (with lineart and background) is $100
Fully shaded pieces START at $100
Fully shaded pieces with backgrounds START at $150
Prices are negotiable for partial pieces or for goods not stated above, but they will hover around these rates (or significantly more for animation). 50% is due upfront with the latter part being paid when its complete.
Additional characters start at +$15 to the cost of the piece, depending on the level of detail or rendering.
For this system, my clients know how much it costs right when they commission me, AND (this is specific for me) my contract specifies that while I give an estimated time of finishing, the project is not bound to that timeframe, and may be subject to change depending on what's going on in my life.
This works for now because I do not do corporate dealings, just personal commissions.
If I priced based on time, my commissions would be almost thousands of dollars because of unmedicated ADD and depression frequently slowing me down, or hindering my ability to be productive. (and of course, my clients also like to choose my most expensive options consistently)
So for someone who needs maximum flexibility, a flat rate that's built higher so I still walk away with a decent amount in my wallet at the end of the week (for weeks I'm productive) has seemed to work out best so far. Sometimes this means a commission can be done that same day (rare for fully rendered, but has happened), or more likely over several days, or even a couple of weeks as I try to manage my household and mental health.
It's like she said in the video, everyone just really has to look at their own situations and ask, "what would be best for me and my priorities, that also works out in the interest of the client?" As long as they don't try to overly undersell themselves (within reasonable circumstances) in a way that is counterintuitive to both of those points, then I think they're good.
For me, my system not only gives me incentives to try to focus and get myself sorted faster, it also means I'm rewarded by BEING productive like I should be, (more money in less time) which helps get me out of bed in the morning lol.
But for someone without those issues, or a much more stable flow of commissions that necessitates a faster turnover, or those who are doing corporate work, I dunno if my system is good for them.
A full body takes me like 8 hours 😭
Yeah what happens when a single drawing takes you all day :(
I personally "undercharge" due to my skills being mediocre, and since I haven't been drawing "professionally" for too many years now! I hate sketching, so I don't give out sketches sadly, but since I absolutely love making customs/designs, those are somewhat cheapest, since I really enjoy them! Thank you for the video!
Tried to under price my stuff and I have had a commission sheet for SEVERAL YEARS. No one has ever asked me for one. Now I made a new one with prices I feel are reasonable and not as undercharged but still, nothing. No offers at all. It’s frustrating.
i understand that, though i only had my commissions open for a few months, but its still very frustrating
What platform are you using to sell commissions? If you haven't already started doing this, I would recommend pinning your commission post(or link it in your bio), and make fanart for fun, that will give you practice, and get attention from people in that fandom. These people may reblog your fanart, and put more eyes on you, the more eyes there are, the more likely it is that people will click on your profile and see you have commissions. Since they already have seen that you can draw characters they like, in a way they like, they would feel more comfortable about commissioning you as they know you are fully capable of drawing what they want(fandomwise).
@@syares6470 I’ve been sorta doing this already, making fanart for some people😅 been posting on deviantart, tumblr, Instagram and Facebook for YEARS. Started recently on Twitter. My channel also showcases me drawing my art pieces as well.
@@TheHitsubasa how about discord? out of all other social medias (Instagram, twt etc), thats the most of where I get my comms from. I suggest joining servers thats related to art/gfx (floofy box, gfx yummy, they have a loads of members who's willing to pay for art) and showing of your art + promoting your comms in the designated hiring/selling channels. the community is also super nice too
@@moqamoka yep there too
It’s so surreal hearing my name and seeing my work on a RUclips Video 😅 Thank you again for the opportunity! (^v^) As a freelancer who is setting up commissions and payment options, it’s quite helpful viewing other artists’ experiences, especially those are who are far bigger than me, to make sure my business is clear with no problems! Thank you for your perspective! (^v^)
I LOVE THESE TIPS! I really like that you looked at both sides. It can be frustrating when someone who’s just starting out on opening commissions is asking for advice, then a bunch of people who aren’t artists, don’t plan on commissioning artists, and feel guilty about it say, “Charge industry prices.” While they might have the best of intentions, I feel it hurts the beginner artist because they’re getting the feedback from the wrong people. If they don’t plan on paying for a commission, their opinion should be taken more with a grain of salt. I’ve personally never been a fan of the minimum wage pricing scale because with higher skill comes fast results, meaning beginning artists would be getting paid more that higher level artists. That might sound saltier than intended, but this is something I experienced and I’m slowly raising my prices as my skill level increases.
Another funny thing I’ve noticed was in vids like this, the artist with 50K followers and has their commissions closed because of too much demand always say charge high, and that’s coming from a place of HUGE privilege. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just they usually have the tales of of “I was charging 5$ for fully rendered pics when I started with commissions.”
My advice is always, “Would YOU(the person pricing the commissions) pay for it?” And taking ego and self doubt out of it, and that’s where the “comparing to other artists of similar skill level” come in. All in all, great vid with excellent tips!!!!
I always thought of commission prices as a popularity thing
You aren't paying for the art, you're paying for the name...
I think the more popular artists will have incredibly high prices simply to deter too many people from commissioning them at once, or they're busy with other projects, so they need a price that will be worth taking time away from their own projects.
Of course they could always limit their commission slots, or close them altogether, but more head strong people may still try to talk them into doing a commission, despite the artist not offering them.
But if they show outright that they have high prices, those headstrong people are more likely to look elsewhere
Plus, if they can get such a high price for their work, I don't see why they wouldn't take that.
I think the problem lies in thinking that each artist is on the same level, low prices usually come from beginning artists there is nothing wrong with it, but being able to do this as a business is knowing how to handle situations such as changes and provide the support the customer needs.
This situation hits hard as I do experience this just as much;
I'm a commissioner artist that draws and doodles YCH's and easy doodle pages for 2/4USD. I had been repeatedly harassed by older artists to up my prices.. for art that I draw for fifteen minutes only and is very simplistic? I get a very long and fast string of people who go and want to buy from me, and all my posts would atleast get one extremely negative comment about me weighing down the ENTIRE community with my doodle pages(just expressions of one oc(5)). Keep in mind that I am fourteen, I closed my serious commissions for now as I had experienced one of my first few breakdowns as an adult that commissioned me had gotten mad at me for charging an extra TWO, I REPEAT JUST TWO- dollars because I DESIGNED THEIR OC'S OUTFIT AND I THINK THAT I DESERVE JUST A LITTLE. Original price was 5 USD, I did a thigh up chibi art of their OC
I had to stop doing art for like so many weeks! And the string of older people still harass me! I have to ALWAYS open a post every once in a few weeks of me looking for artists to give back the quick money that folks who commissioned me had given me just so those older artists wouldn't tell me that I was stealing from them. This is my HOBBY, the quality I give is just alright for the money I ask and I am very active in posting and talking in groups to get my name known. I did a lot of things to get me to where I am now that people remember who I am and stop by my posts to give me their support or an order. Yes they're doodles, yes they're YCH's, but I WORKED HARD TO GET MYSELF OUT THERE BECAUSE EVEN IF ITS JUST A HOBBY I STILL LOVE DRAWING FOR PEOPLE TO SEE THEM JUST BE A LITTLE HAPPY OVER WHAT I'VE DRAWN. I'm not cheap, I price what I think is right! I can even say I'm worth 10USD if ever I open my serious commissions again.
Dude older ppl harrasing you over your pricing that ur fine w? Jesus I understand being concerned over someones pricing but come onn whatttt thats just crazy.
why waste ur time shitting on others pricing over working on your own art (talking about those weird ppl ofc)
Well, I do mostly "spicy" commissions. I'd say my prices are pretty high(about 180$ on everage/piece), but this has offered me plenty of long time clients. Rather do fewer commissions and have awesome long time clients than the opposite. Not saying I've never had bad clients, but oh well.
right as I sat down to draw, I see that you uploaded lol. Your videos are great to listen in the background XD
Commission has been for a few years what has put bread on my table, and i gotta agree so hard with this video. I wish i heard some of these tips earlier in my art life hahaha. The debate about "dont uder-price VS its the only way to get clients" is a nasty one that caused me a lot of guilty trips at times... i tend to agree with the 'do not sell yourself cheap!', but at some critical points in my life when i urgently needed the money, charging cheap is what helped me get through it... It's complicated...
Three things i find lots of even artists missing, let alone clients, but i think they should be more commonly known to better deal with this line of work is that: 1) art is a LUXURY product... like, you ain't gonna starve if i do not draw your OC my dude... I'm not saying that everyone regardless of ability and experience should be charging tons of money for each sketch, but when i figured this it did click something in me that really helped to lose the fear of pumping up my prices, and also to be more assertive when clients tried to sway me into charging less because they thought my work was too expensive. 2) art is a HIGHLY specialized job and creatively/mentally draining, so no one should be afraid to try and find a sweet spot between work, comfort and prices. Lots of people tried to make me charge less with an argument ironically alike my last point, which is "but its just a picture!" "its not that important/useful/essential!" etc, and my dude... no. Regardless of what art is or isn't (essential, useful etc) work is work, and as much as i like working with art, goddam how tiring it is sometimes. Focusing on one's satisfaction and comfort is not just a luxury but a necessity on the long run, or you'll be running your mental and physical health into the ground and earning huge burnout :( .3) COMMISSION. IS. INFORMAL. Never forget this. Even if you force your clients to sign contracts and whatnot to have a minimum of security for both sides, there's still a mountain of difference between doing art for personal use (usually for 'small' clients) and doing art for commercial use (usually for 'big' clients). I mention this because i've seen quite a few times clients angry arguing that "i paid for the commission therefore ALL rights to the image belongs to me! How dare you make and sell for yourself a sticker (for instance) out of my commission >:( "... and the artist bowing down to this. Commission is so particular in this regard to any other paid activity because our instinct is to think that, if i paid for something, that thing is mine... But this logic does not apply to commissions as at no point we're selling the copyrights of an image to the client; and last i checked this is an actual law that unless clearly stated otherwise (preferably through a contract), the copyright of an image (aka: the right to do whatever the heck one wants with it) belongs to the creator; the artist. This is a huge part of why commission is so much more affordable than, let's say, a card illustration for Magic the Gathering. It would be much more correct to think as if what the clients are actually buying is our willingness, effort and invested time to work on a demand rather than buying an image; the image ends up just being a happy byproduct of this. From the moment the artist is giving up the rights of usage of said image, be it to post on their portfolios or sell shirts with it, we're entering into a completely different situation and type of work. (Of course, we can always go for a gentleman's agreement and avoid making further use of a commission if it's what the client wishes; this is all just to say that, legally so, in these conditions, the artist is not bound to listen to the client). This last one is what tied all points for me, helping me more confidently adjust my rates, posture dealing with clients, queue sizes and accepted requests, etc.
Well, i hope these insights i had during my time working in this field helps someone else as much as i'm sure this video will.
Cheers again for the nice video~
A lot of interesting points about commission work. I do animation commissions through a job website, so it's a little different as far as pricing is concerned. Everyone basically states what they're willing to pay and I adjust how long I spend on a piece based on that. It's worked out alright so far, but not great. I've often considered doing commissions for the general public as well, perhaps like a kind of animated still art kind of piece. But I struggle to get eyes on anything I do, even when I put my all into it and make it as high quality as I can. Nothing's worse than opening up for business and no one showing up, you know? I'm still trying to figure out pricing I'd have available to the general public, but I have the start of a system at least.
THE ART YOU DID IN THIS VIDEO TURNED OUT SO GOOD OMG 💖💖💖
Something else to really take into account when starting commissions is that while you could try to get more commissions, commissions will very likely not help you grow your platform and likely not teach you as much to improve.
You can counter this hindered improvement with artistic freedom commissions, but in the end its important to understand that if you're taking commissions, you generally wont have as much of a chance to focus on your weaker areas, as you're being paid for your strengths, and thus can't feel as free to experiment and fail to improve.
I personally have and still am choosing not to underprice my artwork, as if someone wants to commission me, its important that its worth my time, and I'd prefer a lighter commission pool so I can focus on improving certain areas of my artwork. Ofc this changes based on circumstances, but as I take my first steps into art college in the coming weeks, its important that I focus on improving to a professional level, and choosing less commissions for me is a long term investment that will help me majorly in the future.
Do what you feel is needed for your circumstances, but remember that taking commissions can sometimes be more of a hinderance than anything else based on your goals as an artist.
This was a wonderful video! Thank you in particular for bringing up that aspect of customer service to keep your commissioners up to date. I know that, as a customer, that's primarily what has deterred me from commissioning.
I think I've realized from your video that the problem I have may be a result of oversaturation. It's so simple for anyone who does art as a hobby to open up their commissions. Problem is - and mind you, this is from my own personal experience - hobbyists ask for commissions, they post bulletins about needing emergency money, what have you...but almost every time, the customer service had to come from me. *I* had to push for updates. *I* had to ask, "hey, just checking in, where do we stand?" And more often than not, I'm greeted with excuses or empty promises. I've had commissions sit in limbo for months, some even for over a year. One artist, who was a friend, I had to threaten because he kept blowing smoke up my butt instead of being fair and refunding me.
I love commissioning, I'm always so excited to get the art! But I'm always so scared. Scared I'll be left in the dark if I don't message. Scared I may never even see the commission. Scared I'll get told I'm problematic because I asked, gently but firmly, if the overdue art could be done in 1-2 weeks (after waiting for it for 2 months when they had promised to deliver before 1 month's time, after the person's TH account was closed, and they never once tried to find me)
I get so nervous when I see high commission prices, because I'm terrified my money will go into a black hole and I'll have to do it all over again - but I paid more money this time around.
It makes it so, so hard to trust the true professional artists. :( This comment is kind of a downer! I'll say again that your video was great, I very much enjoyed it! (◕ᴗ◕✿)
A lot would be solved if artists on the internet worked like any other normal buissness and did some market research. Ive seen too many people cry about not getting comissions when they only draw OC art. Making things people actually want to buy is the very fisrt thing succesful artists do.
imo low follower low prices once you have a high following theres more demand for your work so you can start charging higher.
It took me a unreasonable amount of time to realize this wasn’t the why i hate taking commissions video… anyways i hope to open commissions this summer so i will watch the rest of this video very intently
ahhh i love this video so much!! Ive never truly been able to justify taking a side in the whole "charge a living wage or else youre lowering the value of art!" vs "I need any money at all" argument, because both are valid.
personally, I know I wayyy overcharge my art. My art takes forever for me to do and (to me) is high quality. My art can and has gone for up to like $900. The reason I do this is because I *know* I'll get overworked and stress way too much if I charge a reasonable price, I cant complete one piece a week, I just cant. Id rather take one commission a month for a few hundered dollars rather than a few commissions a week for maybe one hundered each. I dont need the money, and I dont want the stress.
Usually I like to forward a lot of my potential commissioners to art friends of mine, maybe because im busy or maybe because I have a friend who could fulfil their art need better than I could.
This is what im comfortable with pricing, and overpricing my art has worked well for me so far. I feel so sorry for the people who really do need the money and NEED to underprice their art though, I totally understand their struggle.
I was literally thinking about starting doing commissions 😳
Years back I had this commission price that is seriously low from what I had been doing now and I had a LOT of clients.
I bumped my price for like a little bit after that and no one wanted to commission me after that lol
I did reopened last year with better pricing and it's alright. Since I do have other projects I'm now doing as my main income rather than relying on certain commissions.
Ive had my commissions up for a good bit and the only people that commented on the post told me I should improve my art before I start commissions. It really hurt my self-esteem, but im thinking about updating my stuff and putting it up on other social media I didn't have when I posted the other one.
I set up commissions based on the pricing my anime club had us artists do for commissions in highschool. Ranging from $5-$20. But prints of my previous art pieces are $26 and for VA signing prints it's $36. I do plan on raising prices when I get a constant flow of commissions. of course I'm still starting out and I've only really got one commission but this video is definitely helping me
I hate it when people ask me to do a commission months in advance, and then have someone else do it?? What the actual fuck?? I dunno man, the hype that I get a request to draw something and then I get replaced, the insecurity and anxiety is real here.
I've had so many clients tell me how nice it is to work with me and that I was so much nicer than other artists? It baffles me like?? Girl WHO were you commissioning? Why are so many artists seemingly so cold to their clients? I just treat people like people? Has anyone else had clients compliment you like this? I mean, it's not a marketing strategy, I'm just being personable and.....human?? I've actually have return clients based on the fact that I'm "Really nice." I'm not complaining, it's just an enigma.
My dad told me today that 2-3 hours was way to long to be working on a commission and i should charge per hour
Boi i was making a simple drawing of a friend’s oc
They are as broke as i am
people get mad at me all the time for purposely pricing my art waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay under minimum wage, but like????????? i wont get customers otherwise. my art is shit and i wont get customers unless its crazy cheap. ive even asked my own followers and they admit that they wouldnt buy from me if i raised my prices. dont know what people expect me to do.
The actual problem with los pricing, is that for some ppl, los pricing actually is 5 dolars a fullcolor, who th Charges 5 dolars a fullbody that takes you hours, and the REALEST problem is that for many countries, charging 5 USD means not only that PayPal will eat half that price, but also that CONVERTING that money will cost you half of the rest, so they end up working so hard for less than 2 dollars, and it's not about making a big following or drawing better, because I have a los following, and my art is pretty good, not excelent, but I've seen ppl with simpler styles charge or at least gain more than me, much more, and the métric I got was the following:
-you dont need to have 10k followers to consider yourself worthy, I have less than 10% of that in exactly the platforms that have gotten me the most commissions.
-if I had to talk about quality, you dont need to be perfect, but having a neat lineart does a lot of the work, and it can be thin lineart or thicc lineart, doesnt matter, what Matters is the love you put into it because THEY SEE IT. THEY SEE when you put love into your art and WHEN you just draw for the sake of making money out of it.
-human or furry? Both are good, none is exactly betterthan the other one but try different platforms for a good long time, take it easy but dont give up, cuz ppl will only find you if you never give up. Do you feel you're charging too high for having your lineart 20 USD? Maybe it is ok bro, you just need to not give up, there are good seasons, bad seasons, just dont give up, it's not you, often times its the algorythm and how you use it, or the time you post your art.
-have a carrd and if you get a lot of comms, get a trello too.
- USE DISCORD, I've got comms just by having Joined a discord server, not even commenting (cuz I was busy) and someone just contacted me and asked me for samples of my art.
this is as far as I know but now, do you imagine how much I DONT KNOW? There's a whole world outthere for artists, we have more options than we think.
6:35 commissions are so hard to price. On one hand you need fair pay. On the other hand your audience needs to be ***able*** to even pay at all. Such a fine line to walk.
I actually accepted a commission from someone i know irl, theyre willing to pay 75-100 cad for a drawing with a person and a dog, with lineart and colour! i dont even have commissions officially set up yet and this is my second!!! (first one was payed via in-game money from a game we both play, i even got a tip :D)
tbh theres no way i'd go lower then 100 cad for this commission. i may lack in plenty of areas, but my work is good enough to make me feel superior to most people. hell yeah im worth 100!
"overly aggressive opinions that nobody asked for" is my MOOD lol
Also as always, very rational video exploring nuances of both sides, GJ Celestia! :)
i wouldn't pay more then 10$ for my own art, so i charge 8$ for a full drawing. also, 8$ is the minimum wage where i live! still nobody buys my art, but that's okay because im happy with the price.
The problem isn't always how much the artists are charging, often it all comes back to how much the client can afford to spend.
From my experience in the market, many of youngsters that try to make their first visual novel, face the harsh reality that, their art bill exceeds thousands of dollars that they don't have. And the artists rarely take revenue share instead.
This drives them to the newbies, get ghosted after one or two images and decide all artists are unreliable and they can't risk paying bigger price tags.
I’m glad I decided to watch this. I’ve been thinking about starting commissions for a while but I didn’t know how to go about it. This is a good help for me and I think you for it. And I do agree with what you said about the pricing. There is no real good or bad answer for it. At the end of the day it’s based on what the artiest think what there work is good at the time.
I was getting commissions for a fair amount while I only had 50 followers. When you price higher youre essentially saying you are worth that ammount. Many ppl wont buy something thats cheaper because it usually means lower quality
Yeah, back on my old DeviantArt account when I did commissions for 1-5 points (at the time a point was roughly equal to one US cent) it was bone dry, when I raised it to 100-200 points it was better. Though another factor on DeviantArt is that people looking for commissions probably explicitly bought points to get a commission and they aren't going to get that money they spent back.
usually offer the half and half payment option but over the years most clients have prefered to just 'pay it all upfront' the only other payment method that is usually used by clients is say they want a group picture or something (we have indivual prices for companions, characters, pets, large accessories ect.) sometimes clients will prefer to just pay for each indivually as they come up in the workflow. like we'll do the full composition sketch after the upfront fee. then they tend to pay the like $80-120 for the character, then pay $20-40 for the companion later. find it useful to not only price the commision types but also price what each major element can cost. it'll give your clients a better understanding of what cost what. and then they can pick and choose what they want or don't want.
Good to see you're back! Hope the break helped a ton ^^
I remember a bizarre situation when studying animation in college. One of our tutors invited a rep in from a generic corporation who was looking to get a logo done, and wanted to invite ‘animation’ students to partake in this ‘graphic design’ competition, for the chance to win a new iPad (probably worth 600 - 700 at the time, keep than in mind). The reason I believe the corporation were doing this was to avoid having to pay a design agency a heck of a lot more . I also remember them saying they were looking for something like Apple’s logo (cringe).
Despite all my problems with a corp going about a logo brief this way, what freelance artists can take from this, is that some random startup were willing to pay something close to the value of $700 for a logo drawn by an animation student.
So just keep that in mind when you’re valuing yourself.
If you find yourself amongst a pool of artists with a very similar style, but with lower rates, try to find a difference in your art, and really lean into that: ‘true, they have a similar style to me, but no one executes ‘X’ quite like I do, I stand by my price
i undercharge my commissions because ive literally never done comms before (ive only had one and it was my best friend and she even paid me more than i charge for). Not only that but i literally have 102 followers on instagram, most of which are teens or young adults who cant really afford higher prices.
ontop of that i charge really low for sketches and just lineart, and flat coloring (without shading is free). Whereas ill charge more for full shading because i absolutely hate shading.
I can’t wait to start on my contest entry.
I just submitted my art for the contest, I'm the first one andddd yeah-
Good luck!
@@inksterdoodles11 thank you! If you're trying out, good luck to you too!
I can't believe you guilted me into rewinding to hear about the competition. 10/10 followed on Twitter and subbed.
I used to only charge low for my art work but I realised, why am I doing this as its taking me almost 2 days for the art to be finished. So I charge at a reasonable rate now. Art is not a necessity. It's a luxury. You should not ask for art if you don't have the means to pay the artist. To some folks eve £1 is too much. £1!!
This is actually quite helpful! I've been considering opening commissions, but I've always been worried that no one would want to commission me. I might give it a try, though!
It’s really annoying that I have “not taking commissions” on my acc and every post, yet people still ask me for commissions and when I refuse they keep on asking!
Never tried commissions, have no clue how the whole thing works, or even how the money is transfered.
Thank you for saving me the pain of learning this first hand I mean I have some general experience but this helped with the stuff I didn't know.
The RUclips evil AI randomly showed me this video probably because my data has been harvested to the point where Skynet junior knows me better than I do. But, it MIGHT be helpful because it seems like a good place to ask a question I'm genuinely interested in.
As someone who WANTS to commission art, how is the best way to go about it? I've done it a couple times but it always feels like it's me accidentally finding an artist in Usersub of Imgur. Is there a good way to look for artists wanting work? Is there a way that I could communicate better with the artist to convey ideas and expectations without sounding pushy or demanding? How can I not only become a customer/client but also a good one that an artist might want to work with again? As someone who knows little of these subjects, it's something that can prevent me from even trying to start the process.
Just stumbled to your channel and will be staying due to your well thought out explanation of the subject as well as including the flexibility you included so people can change things to better suit them
good work and looking forward for more
Strangely, no amount of artists undercharging seems to have hurt Kim Jung Gi's *two thousand dollar* commissions. Maybe those artists complaining about undercharging should focus on growing their own fanbase and skills, and not worry about what other artists are doing. I *thought* I undercharged, until I saw some of these comments below. YIKES! Do what works for you.
it's definitely hard to price commissions if the economical system of the country you live in is "worse". It makes it hard to price appropriately when the prices you set seem to high to YOU , but would be seen as too low in a place like the states or other countries, haha
100% agree with this. exchange rates are a thing. and taxes/international money transfer cuts is also a thing. so i gotta consider that...
I’ve always kinda hated the “minimum wage” thing, especially when it comes to minors wanting to do commissions. Like yeah if you’re 30 with bills to pay then sure that’ll be a huge pricing consideration but if I’m doing a commission that money is going straight to legos and fortnite cosmetics, our needs aren’t the same lmao. I don’t really care about “industry standards” and “living wages” i just want a 20$ lego set
This is a very well done video. Personally, I charge next to nothing for my fully rendered commissions. Rather than other artists getting mad at me for changing so low, they should instead point people towards me that insist on paying more for what they want. I use "me" as an example, but if across the artist community this is what was done instead of yelling at someone for their low rates then there wouldn't be many more artists still doing low rates. Or at least there would be short bursts of newly monetized artists doing low rates before they increase their rates because their customers are offering to pay more so they can change their official prices accordingly. This is much better imo than saying to an artist "charge more!" So you increase your rates and then don't get any more customers so you have to lower your rates more and more until people come back.
Me charging ref sheets for 20 dollars and headshots for 5 and still not getting commissions ; v ;
At the end of the day, your art is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and as a seller whose main expertese lies in art, knowing what that value is, is hard.
personally i think theres a bias that people should charge really high, but i think some peoples prices are waaayyy too high, and i say this *as* an artist.
As someone that buys art fairly regularly, I always get kind of nervous when I show up at a new artist's doorstep with a bunch of things that I want and expect:
Can I see examples of your work?
Do you have a ToS I should read?
Would you consider (this) a commercial commission?
I would like an update at the sketch, lineart, base color, and full color stage in case I notice anything wrong and/or want something changed.
May I have a transparent, watermarked, and unwatermarked version of this please?
May I have these pieces emailed to me when you're finished so they're in a safe place in case my computer explodes?
I will message you at least every 7 days since your last update about my commission just to make sure you're alive.
And like, other things I can't think of right now. For a buyer, I'm curious about what artists think about this. Like "woo boi what a control freak" or "jesus just chill girl"?
This might be just me, but I would really like someone like you for a client. It's definitely easier if the buyer knows what they want and just tells me than if they don't know and I have to try to ask every question under the sun to make sure they get what they want.
@@nyandoesthings Thanks, that's what I hope gets across. XD I'd rather not to have a back and forth ping pong session for the next 30 minutes while we ask questions when I can just carbo dump everything I want right away. Of course, ToS comes first cuz usually (hopefully) an artist answers all of those FAQs(?) beforehand there.
Hey! I am planning on taking commissions once I’m 18 and I have a question for anyone who has some experience with it. What should I use to send the high quality/resolution image? Most E-Mail / Chat services have limits on file size so it’s difficult to send high resolution images with them. If anyone has some advice or recommendations they’d be highly appreciated!
i use discord to send the hq file, or of they have toyhouse i upload it directly to the characters profile
If you know LINE, yes the app for texting, you can send high-quality files up to 20 mb which is higher than discord, it looks a bit blurry when you send but when you download and open the file the quality is maintained :) I use it to store my digi works
I do quite large reso pieces (3000x4000/300dpi) and I use imgbb. Sending them a link to the image url makes things so much easier regardless of where your main line of communication is.
Oh man...we have Google drive, which you can uploading with unlimited size,(depend on your gdrive capacity) easy access to it.
Be willing to use templates/references, and AI generated back grounds for lower tier priced work. Don't burn yourself out when you are doing commissions for 10 dollars or less.
I recommend using Nadiaxel’s TOS as a base or just straight up using it word for word because she goes over everything!
oh....i thought the "dont charge less than your worth." was to get artists to not charge less for their work, because its worth more. Like a "Care about your worth." sort of way.
Awesome video!
i want to setup commissions but i don’t think i’m good enough lol
I think another part people don't consider, is that everyone has a different "view" of money.
For example, 30 euro is A LOT for me. 100 euro is like...sooooo much! 100 is what I charge for drawings I don't want to actually draw, becouse 100 is so much money and I doubt anyone would pay that much for my art! XD
For other people however, 100 euro isn't that much. And 30 euro is like dust to them. People see money differently depending on how they grew up and how much money they have over all.
I have a problem..
How can I know if I am good enough to do comisions?
I just struggle with anyone commissioning me no matter my prices
For me I've never known how to get commissions. I get them like once in a blue moon about every other month at this point no matter how much I try to advertise that I do commissions (which I've never understood much of how to do either, but try to put up posts on reddit and twitter (that never seem to get seen) and DeviantArt about it), but with how hopeless it seems most times I'm more at the point now where I don't really care as much and am fine with withering away and dying or something if money gets to be too much of a problem if I can't get consistent enough income from it.
your a star this was great help
Honestly I do wanna do commissions but art block isn't letting me 😭
Top tips i use most of them and they make a lot of sense ^^
these are really good tips.
7:42 amogus
I will give unsolicited opinions when I believe their art is worth more than they charge, but outside of that, I won't comment unless I'm asked. I believe not commissioning someone who I believe overcharge is enough of a comment.
Should you ask a client to credit you when using a commission they’ve purchased? I can’t find any advice on credit/no credit but when I see people who’ve purchased a commission to get usually give credit?
My aggressive but loving opinion!...I feel like if you're going to undercharge your art you might as well just take limited amount of free requests at that point. I don't know everyone's situation, but if you can make digital art online you probably have a lot of things already paid for you because owning and maintaining all these things even with free resources is not worth $5. If you were gifted an ipad /apple pencil and are using free Starbucks wifi, you can charge $5-$10, whatever you want. But if you got a whole set up and live with your parents(like me) stick to drawing what you love before making it a career, because you don't *have* to break even yet,and when you're undercharging that's a slap in the face to artists who need money to pay for food or goods beyond what they can't get at home. Being popular isn't because they're cheap it's either luck or because they spend a lot of time advertising & making fanart or things that are trendy. People do not *need* art the way artists need to /make/ art, so they have NO right to take advantage of your abilities even if you don't think you're good enough.
Fun fact: industry rates (aka what companies like riot games are paying) can reach the tens of thousands *per piece*. If you think you’re charging too much, you probably aren’t. I may be in the “thousands of followers” category (technically, anyway), but I very rarely get bites on commissions. I don’t think my work is out of range, and like, y’all wouldn’t ask Louis Vuitton to charge less, so /shrug
I have a problem to start a art commission because I feel aware the scammers will steal the money after doing a art commission. Please Help how to start…Even though it would be a rough start anyway…
I had 10k on insta my acc got banned and now I have to underprice my art and I need this money for college all my work etc is gone 1&1/2 years of work pfff gone
I've always had an issue with knowing what to price my commissions. I would love to up my prices but the fact that it's hard enough to get traffic at the low prices. So my anxiety kicks in thinking that my art isn't worth cheap, why would they go for a higher one. 😅
A good idea would be to have two tiers of pricing based on the amount of work you put in.
For your lower tier of pricing make use of AI back grounds or grey black grounds. And makes use of templates and other tricks. So that you can keep the amount of time you put into it down. So that you can do more work without pulling your hair out. That's how its done in the NSFW space, because artists in that space have to produce a lot of work very quickly to even survive.
Then you should have a higher tier of pricing where don't use those tricks. And draw like you do right now. There are people who will pay a premium for art that doesn't make use of AI back grounds or templates.
Having a two tiered pricing model gives you the best of both worlds. As the lower tier art pieces will get your name out there. And get you exposure. While the higher tier art pieces can be used as an example of what you can do when you flex your artistic muscle.
My problem is, after thinking about it for some time, I feel like my art is not... "sellable" in some way? It's hard to explain. I have enough drawings to put as an example in my comission sheet, I have some full body drawings and some busts. But I feel like they are disconnected one from each other,,, like, I'm not showing a clear result of what you could get if you comission me. I don't know if that makes any sense. And I also don't know if I started thinking this before even trying to start comissions, or after publishing my first comission sheet and not getting any attention for months. It's probably all in my mind, but idk. I have no problem with pricing my stuff, with payment methods and with taking and processing the comission descriptions (I've done requests before so I kinda know what to do), but I guess I don't know how to sell my art properly (?) It's kinda frustrating because I've also haven't been drawing actively for over a year now so I have a small public... I don't know what to do anymore. I don't think my art is that bad at all, but I still don't get comissions, and idk how to do it.
It is true that most artists who are successful with commissions tend to have a brand, an aesthetic, or a specialty. But you can still succeed without one. Don't give up. Keep on gunning for success. Maybe you'll find your niche by accident.
I remember when I started on commissions I got told my prices were expensive so I changed them to a lower price (I only did it cuz I sorta agreed with them so it's lowed down!)
I'm new to comissions, and my dad said that i should name my price and make then pay half before i draw and after i do the drawing they give me the rest if they are satisfied with the drawing
And is 20 dollars a good star when your begining?
I was too busy to join the contest, I do hope I can join this next one. 😭😭
I put up commission prices (because, small artist, trying to get some attention from art community) and someone commented and said "You're charging too low for what you're offering"
I increased the prices, no interest. No messages. No comments. No likes. Nothing.
So, I have been a victim of "you should charge yadayada" and that was beyond what I was comfortable with (again, small artist, not a big following at all), so I decided to drop it down to what I was comfortable with
My one friend, who's an artist as well, actually said "you should charge what you're comfortable with. If you're comfortable with charging $(x), then charge $(x). If you're comfortable charging $(y), then do that."
In my case, I feel like I'm quite 'unknown' and my 'brand' isn't very big at all, so I charge less until I actually have a good following / brand / interest.
What would you say about an artist that only does sketches/linearts and chooses to have their commissions as "pay what you want"?
It is really frustrating
My art is my only source of income and it is really disheartening when I charge $50 for a fully rendered piece but someone posts their similar work for $3, I got no chance ???
If I charge $3 I'd have to draw like 17 drawings just to buy some groceries omg, and I use copic markers so I basically have no chance in this life
I totally get why people under price their art ((they don't know any better, they're young, they're just starting out, over saturated market etc etc)) but it is really unfair on artists like me trying to just live off of our passion
And I hate the "get a real job then" argument. This is my job, I work/grind 24/7 more than those people probably ever could, I don't get to switch off, I don't get days off, cant even pay my rent lmao
People who complain your prices are too high aren't worth your time. I'm not a US based artist so my commissions are set in regards to my own country's cost of living and freelancer rates (I'm Australian, things here are VERY expensive. Heck freelance rates here start at $35 -$40 an hour in the professional industry space so to NOT charge industry standard you're already gimping yourself. Hourly rates are good for tight deadline jobs - if a client demands something fast charge accordingly!). The fact I've been doing art for 23 years is also reflected in my prices because your also paying for my skills. If you're unsure if your underselling your self look up how much artist who work for DC and Marvel charge for thier outside of work sketches... some are at least $200 USD FOR A PENCIL SKETCH. While not everyone will be at that level of skill/standard knowing this is what professionals charge should be your aim as you improve with your art. Never undersell your skills and never let people devalue them!
Also, small followings will get you commissions just as much as larger ones. If you’ve been around long enough how big your following is doesn’t matter much as people who follow you for a long time will eventually start giving you commisions as you grow. Atm things are still recovering from Covid - there are alot struggling in the normal job market and art is a luxury item they're going to only purchase if they don't have to choose between food or bills. Give it time.
Getting the ball rolling is so, so very difficult ToT like hearing other artists who've already got it rolling and then just giving weak advice - not this video it's pretty good - is just frustrating since in my case at least I am putting out my sheets and making offers on multiple platforms - reddit, discord, Instagram and have and no returns
I will say I do believe it is partially me needing to put in the work for promoting myself more but damn getting that ball rolling is super super difficult
Tbh my commission be like 5$ for a full body flat color and 10 for a shaded full body, I kinda lost how to draw full bodies now so.
i'd love to offer a discount for drawing what i love, but unfortunately, what i love is near-realistic Monster Hunter art that edges four figures...
I do commisions sadly ppl say i should charge like 0,10 cents for it!
LIKE COME ON bruh.. my art is good and I'm just tryna help my family
since we got hospital bills and in debt currently