Advice: Commission Prices

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

EDIT: Please note, I'm under the age of 18, so I can't take money commissions yet.

I've been getting people seeming to call me "greedy" or "crazy for having commissions for 400 points and more.

are people getting greedy right now and want more for less?
i think my art is really quite good so I take points commissions on DA for points all 10 $ worth or less.

yet people ask to take that and such to 100 points?
It bother me that people call me greedy for wanting a decen money for commissions? It's not even money, only virtual currency that's purchased for money but cannot be sold for money P:

I've only had people "satisfied with my prices" when I sold things for less than 40 points a year ago pretty much P:

Comments

[taasla.livejournal.com]

You should go by time x minimum wage (or whatever wage you'd like to earn) as to what you charge. If your sketch takes you, say, an hour then you shouldn't charge less than $7 for it.

You have a lot of potential when I look at your gallery. You should be charging more than $5usd.

It'll take some time to build up a client base that will pay the prices that you ask, so just keep uploading and showing yourself off! Don't let anyone bully you into charging less than what you are worth. Some of these folks see that you are young and figure that you will be happy to get anything.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

I've noticed it's really slow.
Luckily those 4 years will give me LOTS of improvement time!
(I've improved drastically even in the past year o:)

And Alright! I'll be checking out all his stuff soon.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Alright! I'll keep that in mind when I get myself a complete redo of my prices! c:

And Thank you! ^0^

OK! May I ask what kinds of Tags are good to use? I never seem to figure out how to tag things well.
That seems reasonable as well, I'll make sure to be firm and keep my prices no lower than what they're stated as.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

This is a really interesting thing I've never thought of!

I think currently I work as fast as I can with school, but also with keeping art good, which takes maybe a 2-5 hours on a piece depending on what it is, which is a decent timing I'm assuming?

[crazy-onna.livejournal.com]

There's a way to give away points for llama badges (mostly 1 point for 1 badge). There's probably a large group of people that would think that 400 points is a lot, since they only get one per llama. They may also be unwilling or unable to spend their own money for points. Maybe they're seeing only how much effort they have to put into getting these 'free' points. It's not your fault for wanting to standby realistic prices.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

Oooooh alright then! This post makes a bit more sense then.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

I remember that! I used to try getting points from it, but it was a hopeless attempt. XD

And ah, I get that.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Haha yeah, I should've specified that I cannot currently take Money Commissions for the sake of being under 18.

Would it be allowed to edit it in? (I'm still getting used to AB's Rules ^-^)

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Pricing depends on a number of things, but a fair place to start is to figure out how long an piece like that one usually takes you to finish--actual working time, not the number of days you've had the project on your list. Multiply that by minimum wage, and that would be the lowest you should charge. If we're talking about points, you then have to convert the real-money cost into points cost as well.

So $10 or its points equivalent for that piece is fine, if you're taking about an hour and fifteen minutes or less to finish it.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Could I ask what "Green-Lighting" a post is for future knowledge? c:

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, That makes sense!

A piece like that normally ranges from 2-4 hours, so it would be around 25$ worth of work when I take in the factor of my art not being of a higher quality yet?

[grandioze.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I'm super slow myself (wooo... details) so I'm probably not the best person to ask on times. To me, as long as you aren't taking, like, 400 hours to make a picture, I don't see the problem. Speed is something you shouldn't really focus on by itself because it comes with experience (I can already tell that I'm faster now than I was last year).

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

I think that sounds like a good starting point.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Slownesssssssssss. <3

And Indeed! I've definetly not only improved in ability, but speed as well! I like to do quick sketches, only up to 10 minutes per sketch, to practice.

I'll have to think over all pricing and such, and then have a major repricing. c:

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Alright! I'll do a kind of calculation like that based for all my prices then figure out what to change things too c:

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

I agree with this, many don't have access to a credit card to purchase points.

This is why I see many artists in the TLK fandom sell art for say a single character piece for $10.00 or 50 points. There is no parity there BUT their typical clients can amass 50 points through free means but have no way to get the equivalent points for to equal $15.

*sorry for the edit, on heavy duty pain killers and I never get thinsg worded properly the first time. -_-'*

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. If I purchase points, I ask my dad to purchase them, and he takes it from what money I have saved up.

And ah, that's just sad for them to have to do that D: I rather get my parent or someone to purchase points with Credit card, then pay them, then waste time trying to get points from givng llamas -.-

[tanginello.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you need to find a new audience. $10 worth of points for a full piece hurts you because you're not getting paid enough and it hurts other artists because people come to expect art for cheap.

[mistresswolf.livejournal.com]

I won't even accept DA points in exchange for art. It is worthless to me. lol

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's fine to edit your posts to add in additional information, we just prefer that nothing is edited to be taken out. :)

[mistresswolf.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I live in BC, Canada and minimum wage is now $10.25. Liquor servers is $9.00 though. I also believe delivery people (pizza, etc) are 'contract workers' and get as little as $5.00, the rest being made up in tips. Waitstaff (to my knowledge) get regular minimum wage.

I am lucky to earn a few dollars above minimum wage at my job. :)

[otherscape.livejournal.com]

It looks like a combination of the two. I wouldn't say your overcharging, but your not at the skill level of making decent money yet. I'd really focus on your skills so you can make decent money in the future.

[otherscape.livejournal.com]

I'd actually slow down and work on the fundamentals more. You may be fast now, but you also have to think about what you are doing in order to improve. Once you've gotten the hang of those fundamentals, you can increase your speed without loss of quality, since it would become natural to you.

Looking at your gallery, I got to say, you have some great potential, especially for a 13 year old. If you seriously started studying now, you could have some amazing art, if not professional quality, by the time you're 18 or 19 (it doesn't take that long to improve if you do it correctly, actually). If you wanted to have a career in art anyway.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

People will very literally find something to complain about if you give it away free. You can never please everyone.

Also, for me, I consider my pricing to be about right if I get around four complaints that it's too much to every one astonished exclamation that it's so cheap. :D

However people react, so long as some folks are willing to pay the price you've set, then the complainers do not matter one bit and you can ignore them.

[ocelotish]

Offer commissions at what is fair pay for you. For the most part that will be minimum wage when you're a largely unskilled artist (where I live minimum wage is $8.25, but for someone under 18 it's $7.75).

If you're not fast enough for that or good enough for that, then just work on being that good/fast or work on stuff for yourself. However, keep in mind this can be fun work or the work you need to do to get better.

However, sometimes you may find that what you really need is a little dough. In that case, just realize that you are spending 3 hours tending to a garden for $5 pay for the neighbors. It's not a good wage, but sometimes what you would enjoy most is an extra dollar in your wallet. Just realize that you're working for a lousy wage. This isn't exactly a good option: you won't be making good money, and you won't be doing art you enjoy as much/is as useful to you.