&quot;Artists Beware&quot;

I mainly wanted to comment to say.. Don't undersell yourself! I see this all the time. Many artists way undersell themselves because they think they are not worth it. You're worth it. Don't hope that dropping your prices so low that you won't get anything out if it will somehow make your art sell. Most times that doesn't even work.

Just be sure to have confidence in what you do and stand firm in your prices. I've had people walk away from my prices before, sure. But if they wanted MY art, they would pay it. If they just want art from anyone, they will pay the cheapest they can.

Here are my prices: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5458699/

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I would love to get people's opinions about pricing my art. If people could be specific, I would really appreciate it! Like maybe picking pieces out of my gallery and saying what you think it's worth, or just giving a general opinion (IE 'I think your sketches would be worth X, and your coloured and shaded stuff worth Y, etc'). I don't have a pricelist as of now as I usually decide a price on a case by case basis.

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kayla-la/

The more opinions so I can form an average, the better!

Otherwise, I definitely agree with

blackberrypie. Usually if you price yourself too low, you're opening yourselves to the kinds of customers that are complained about here on AB. It's better to have fewer commissions (and thus less work) at a higher price than be overwhelmed by lots of work for little pay.

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I would love some advice if anyone would be so kind. :)

My prices: http://www.furaffinity.net/full/5640201/

I feel like my prices are pretty balanced and fair, but I can't seem to garner any interest. I enjoy my style but even with my badges priced at $8 I only ever got one commission. :/ I've been to one small con and did well there but I don't very many bites otherwise. I'm not sure if it's my prices or my ability. Thanks for looking!

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hikitsune.livejournal.com

I would love an opinion too, just in case someday down the road, someone asks me to draw for them (dont think it will happen anytime soon, but i'd like to be prepared in case)

http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/hikitsunethefoxfire/

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ocelotish

I might post some art later for critique, but before that I have general pricing suggestions:

1 Figure out what it's worth to you and don't charge less than that. If your time is worth more than people are suggesting, don't lower your prices, work on your own stuff and raise your skills.
2 Remember that the right price is subjective. People can only tell you the fandom average/what they'd be willing to pay, but you might be happier doing it a little cheaper and doing more or using a higher price and doing fewer at greater profit.
3 Don't be afraid to put up prices, then change them. You can do a trial sale, then see how that sells and choose what to do from there.
4 Just because other artists undercharge doesn't mean you should. Stick to your guns, you can get commissions at a decent rate, maybe 2 instead 20, but do you really want to work 20 times as hard for the same amount of pay?

The last advice I would give is figure out your hourly wage at $5 an hour and set a price from there. If nobody buys it, it's time to start improving. You're doing skilled labor and you should never be below minimum wage. It might sound mean, but it's probably better to spend 5 hours really improving your technique than 5 hours working on a $10 commission.

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anarchicq.livejournal.com

Jumping on the bandwagon regarding pricing.
I don't think I undersell myself, nor do I think I over-sell myself. I'm just starting out but the pay has to be reasonable enough to be worth the time and effort the artist puts forth.

Info (http://anarchicq.deviantart.com/art/Commission-Info-212427662)
Gallery (http://anarchicq.deviantart.com/gallery/24441215)

Thanks!

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I was just about to balk at how cheap you're pendants and charms were but then I saw the price for 100% customs. ;) I like your prices! I think they're well rounded and you're making sure it's fair to both parties.

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Haha thanks. Yeah for the charms and stuff I'm charging less for reprints to just cover the mats and time it takes to do it. As I do them in batches its not too bad. But not being able to reuse the lineart makes it a severe cut in profit I could make so it made sense to almost double it. :)

I like giving lots of options, because I know there are times where I really want something from a specific artist but I can only afford so much. So I go for the cheaper option but I'm still able to get something! ^__^

It took me a long time to get many people interetsed in my stuff but I bought a banner ad and this year I'm trying to sell at my first con. I made something for the conbook and I'm hoping those both will help even more. :)

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Agreed so much on the hourly wage. D:

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ocelotish

I personally love this piece - http://www.furaffinity.net/full/5628167/ and I definitely think you should offer monochrome as a cheap color option (I may do a series myself now). I'd put that in the $30-40 range, but keep in mind, I'm rather cheap (college student, I have no $) Then this I'd put in the $40-50 range. I'd put the first one in the $40 range if it weren't for the background, this one more in the $50. From what I've seen, the first has a few problems with the muzzle, and both have difficult to read silhouettes. This picture is quite impressive and I'd go about $60-70 on it?

The badge I see is quite nice and I'd put it again in the $30-40 range. The scrapbook paper works really well there, and I imagine is a bit of an expense to keep in stock.

Hope that what I said was somewhat helpful, and of course I won't be offended if people disagree.

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Good luck to you! :D I'm fairly new to the fandom (about 2 years or so) and I can say that I noticed your stuff popping up every now and then, then more often and more often... A large part of being successful definitely hinges on good ol' perseverance.

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mrst4nkr.livejournal.com

My price list is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1906467/
I am not currently seeking critique on my price list. I adjust it when appropriate.

Time is a huge factor, but it needs to be paired with quality and a realistic price. I have personally evaluated that the commissioner should not suffer because you are particularly slow at producing something. By this, I mean: don't charge hourly rates for a sketch if you draw slowly and the end result doesn't bear great quality.

I have been selling art for the better part of 5-6 years. I was not able to really raise my prices for what I feel I really deserve to be paid for a finished piece until recently. Unfortunately, for most artists, you can't sell your unpolished glories for all the time and materials you have put into them. (Much like new fursuit-builders: you can't expect to make the same as Mixed Candy with your very first fursuit head. If you are able to sell it, you'll be lucky to make back the materials. )

I think this is a bit of a note to new sellers, more than anything. C:

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^__^ Pretty much. I've been around for a while but didn't until recently get the confidence I needed. Oh for so long I was doing 5$ or less badges. (Then again my art was pretty bad back then comparably.) But after I decided to go up and stay my ground. I actually get some pretty good interest. Granted not a ton, but I usually have 2-3 things in my queue at a time. xD

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Very helpful!! Thank you very much!

And yeah, I LOVE and ADORE scrapbook paper, but it is expensive. A stack of it costs an average of 20 dollars if I'm not lucky enough to find it on sale, and individual sheets can run from 99 cents to 2.99, depending. It's pricey, but I really love what I can do with it, and people seem to like the badges that can be made with it. All this of course not including the price of copic markers (EXPENSIVE, but lay down on paper so well!), smooth bristol, exacto knives, etc. I really can't afford to do badges at 10 dollars like a lot of people seem to do.

I'm actually flattered, because I'm so used to the fandom pricing things so low that I always expect to hear things like 'That thing you made that took two days to do is worth, hmm, five dollars!'. And at that point, it isn't even worth doing.

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ocelotish

You might fiddle around with wrapping paper and see what you could do with that? It's probably not as nice, but is significantly cheaper. It's certainly worth experimenting with at least! As for the copics, prismacolor is a bit cheaper, so it might be worth trying and it's what my prof used for his color studies for real jobs.

Also, I totally think a four seasons theme with those badges would be lovely/sell like hot cakes.

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vauvakolibri.livejournal.com

Well, I might just as well throw my prices here: http://www.putput.info/Miisa_Artpages/wowcommissions.html I made these for WoW commissions, hence the name and examples, but they would be the same with everything else too. Though these are kinda limited as I don't have time to do very big commissions, but something with, say, one character with a full background would start from 80$ and so on.

In general I base my prices to 10€ per hour, though depending on the commission it might vary a bit, if I feel like doing some extra.

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I would be worried about wrapping paper because it's so thin, I'm not sure how it'd hold up to gluing, and I'd have to glue it to more bristol or it'd be too thin to be a stable badge, I think.. and my only beef with prismacolours is that they don't have the handy brush nib that copic sketch markers do. Those things totally spoiled me, you have no idea. Now everything else feels really difficult to use!

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Your icons are adorable. How long do they take you to do? Unless they're particularly quick, I think they could be worth more in the range of 10 than 5. Animated 15.

Badge price seems alright though maybe still a little on the low end. I'd probably go more for 20, myself.

I would probably bump sketches up to 15, 20-25 for colour on them.

In general, I think you could do to add about 5 dollars to the price of most of your stuff and make it a bit more fair to yourself, but it also depends on how easy and quick things are for you to do.

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taasla.livejournal.com

My price list is here:
http://taasla.rydia.net/

If anyone thinks I'm underselling, of course go ahead and tell me. Haha.

For my smaller items I pretty much charge about $12/hr. For the bigger items, I know I am charging about $8 to $10/hr depending on how difficult the commission is. I usually will turn down overcomplicated commissions.

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I want to add as actual advice, for those of you having trouble getting commissions, advertising is key. It is a difficult climb to make when you start at the bottom, but it is one anybody can make.

Advertise yourself in communities, consider buying banner ads, really get yourself out there. It also helps if you make yourself prominent otherwise, by being friendly and regularly commenting on other people's art and journals and things, as that is essentially free exposure. On art galleries specifically, try to use an icon that represents your own work (though I break this myself), try to make a nice and presentable gallery full of your best pieces and good examples. Try to have examples of everything you could offer, and make good use of gallery folders if your site of choice happens to have them.

Just remember that if nobody knows you exist, of course you aren't going to get commissions. But also understand that name is very important in the fandom, and unless you're lucky, it is usually a long slog uphill to get to where you will want to be.

And lastly, understand your audience. People will pay more for art catering to their particular tastes or fetishes, but don't feel pressured to constantly draw things you don't want to draw. Just know that you might have to be more creative to make up for it.

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lunasilvertail.livejournal.com

My mom was reading over my shoulder and she's a crazy scrapbooking lady who can spot the word "scrapbook" a mile away. XD

Anyway, she said that if you have a Hobby Lobby by you, they tend to have some really good prices. (She said she has gotten some there as low as 25 cents)
She also suggested to print off the coupons online that a lot of art stores tend to have.

Also, she said to try these people. The quality isn't as nice as if you went to a specialized store, but they have great prices on packs of paper:
http://www.orientaltrading.com/craft-hobby-supplies/scrapbooking/paper-a1-388825-2-1.fltr

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mrst4nkr.livejournal.com

^ Very this.

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