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2024 commission pricing probe
2 years ago
ok so - it's fairly simple and self-explanatory.
I'm asking for feedback about commission pricing. I genuinely don't know how much my works are worth, I've seen fellow artists who are anything from 'more-' to 'bit less-' skilled then myself, but they can ask for their works anything from respectively 'less-' or 'more-' than me. So... I have no idea.
I've been pondering over "becoming fuller-time artist". Because now i'm working at most part time here, and money i get from commissions goes to hobbies/games/PC/artbooks/doodads etc. But i'm considering making this more of a "job" - you know: money goes towards food/petrol/shelter and such. But i'm very apprehensive and reluctant about this idea.
So i'd want to know if i'm underselling myself? and if so: by how much? I consider doing something underhanded like: "YCH auction to probe how high it'll go" but swiftly i thought to myself: "fuck no! I hate when games do loot boxes and companies manipulate customers to get them to spend as much as possible - i won't be doing small scale equivalent of that!", so i decided to just ask about it upfront.
I won't bullshit you that: "yeah if i get 1k answers where all people claim that my works are worth gazillion usd/character i won't raise my price to accommodate that" - because if that were to happen: ofc. i would. I would 'ditch my job' and 'become full time artist', 'live high life, las vegas and hookers and all that bs' .
What i'm trying to say is that: "you can lowball your answer to get possibly better price later on" or "you can highroll your answer to look more generous and increase odds of me drawing more stuff" BUT i'd just ask you to be honest instead? yeah i know - novel concept on the internet.
below is link to google form, where i go over basically same topic, if you prefer not to feed google analytics: you can answer publicly here (in journal comments), but i actually would be grateful if you'd use google form if you don't mind (i'll be able to download all responses and look over them in one place - create nice 'box plot' and try to interpret results etc.)
it's 'form open to the internet' so if i won't hide it behind login: it'll be one troll away with getting spammed into oblivion - so i ask for google account, but i don't ask for you email, and it is anonymous.
https://forms.gle/nXtNYM21CW6HDyRb9
either way:
if i end up not being able to get any conclusions from gathered responses, (or if i'm not underselling myself, and i'd not be able to make this financially viable):
i'll probably keep working same way i've been working last year (so: commissions, with some requests thrown in, at around '1 image/2 weeks' rate) and raising prices from 50usd/character to 70usd/character.
(unless i'll get clear signal that i should keep prices where they are now that is)
thank you!
sorry for wasting your time!
Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah / 'whatever solar solstice you happen to celebrate' 🙂
I'm asking for feedback about commission pricing. I genuinely don't know how much my works are worth, I've seen fellow artists who are anything from 'more-' to 'bit less-' skilled then myself, but they can ask for their works anything from respectively 'less-' or 'more-' than me. So... I have no idea.
I've been pondering over "becoming fuller-time artist". Because now i'm working at most part time here, and money i get from commissions goes to hobbies/games/PC/artbooks/doodads etc. But i'm considering making this more of a "job" - you know: money goes towards food/petrol/shelter and such. But i'm very apprehensive and reluctant about this idea.
So i'd want to know if i'm underselling myself? and if so: by how much? I consider doing something underhanded like: "YCH auction to probe how high it'll go" but swiftly i thought to myself: "fuck no! I hate when games do loot boxes and companies manipulate customers to get them to spend as much as possible - i won't be doing small scale equivalent of that!", so i decided to just ask about it upfront.
I won't bullshit you that: "yeah if i get 1k answers where all people claim that my works are worth gazillion usd/character i won't raise my price to accommodate that" - because if that were to happen: ofc. i would. I would 'ditch my job' and 'become full time artist', 'live high life, las vegas and hookers and all that bs' .
What i'm trying to say is that: "you can lowball your answer to get possibly better price later on" or "you can highroll your answer to look more generous and increase odds of me drawing more stuff" BUT i'd just ask you to be honest instead? yeah i know - novel concept on the internet.
below is link to google form, where i go over basically same topic, if you prefer not to feed google analytics: you can answer publicly here (in journal comments), but i actually would be grateful if you'd use google form if you don't mind (i'll be able to download all responses and look over them in one place - create nice 'box plot' and try to interpret results etc.)
it's 'form open to the internet' so if i won't hide it behind login: it'll be one troll away with getting spammed into oblivion - so i ask for google account, but i don't ask for you email, and it is anonymous.
https://forms.gle/nXtNYM21CW6HDyRb9
either way:
if i end up not being able to get any conclusions from gathered responses, (or if i'm not underselling myself, and i'd not be able to make this financially viable):
i'll probably keep working same way i've been working last year (so: commissions, with some requests thrown in, at around '1 image/2 weeks' rate) and raising prices from 50usd/character to 70usd/character.
(unless i'll get clear signal that i should keep prices where they are now that is)
thank you!
sorry for wasting your time!
Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah / 'whatever solar solstice you happen to celebrate' 🙂
I do think your prices are fine even tho I may never really be able to commission.
I do think the times we are in, things have gotten far harder and the competition is far worse.
I’ve been living out of art out of necessity these past few months cause my husband is having trouble getting a job and well, it can be a very minimalist life, we have to get by $30 of groceries per week or two.
But that really depends cause if you are doing better, go for it! Your work is amazing and I really don’t think it’s over price. I do think it is fair.
I’m giving my thoughts here as I can not do the Google form, idk how but I’ve gotten them blocked on my phone lol
i'm asking about this because generally: it seems that demand for my commissions outstrips what i can draw... - that would suggest i'm asking for less then i could... - at planned 70usd/character that would translate to ~10usd/hour (thus: touch more than ~7usd/hour minimal wage in Poland)
"touch more than minimal wage" seems ok for "middling furry artists" (also it would be on par with what courier earns)
thanks for comment!
also: hope it'll look up for both of you! 🙂
I know it's poor consolation: but 'edge of recession' seems to be global thing? loads of people are on the struggle bus - compared to "before covid", everything is about 50% more expensive now, in Poland. Got to trudge through it... 🫤
You price kinda like I do as well, minimum here is 7.50 as well, it’s rather crazy. But if it’s on par with it and doesn’t put you in strains, it would probably make you happier then I’d say it would be for the best!
Thank you kindly! And trust I have seen it! It’s been rather sad not being able to help others due to my own problems. Life has gotten crazy complicated for everyone and all we can really do is hope for the best! But I’m confident things will eventually get better. Or at least I hope.
Too me in terms of the quality of arts that you create, I'd say that the price you give off is fair but a bit under priced since you are willing to finish it for only 2 weeks. Plus the quality as well is definitely on par with other great artists as well. You can increase it for just $10 if you want since that'll be a lot more fair for everyone as you wanted to venture in on making art commissions as a job/part time.
You can raise your prices, fullstop, is what ill say on that note. Your art is good enough.
On the subject of YCHs, it doesnt nesisarially probe how much your commissions are worth, it probes how good your pose ideas are and a little bit of luck. Lots of YCHs out there go completely unsold just because theyre boring and generic, and on the other hand lots go well above the commissioners art price because the pose is just that good.
Regarding going full time, its a tricky thing imo, since its your livelyhood youd likely have to do one of two things - greatly increase the cost of your art (hundreds) or change your style and/or process to push out artwork quicker. Time becomes your biggest asset and its not just the drawing itself, but "admin" work between - talking to customers, advertising, posting on your page/socials. And it could be very draining to do full time, lots of artists experience burn-out or art-block.
Wish you the best of luck either way, im sure youll work it out :)
the thing about YCH's i kind of dislike is:
- if you ask me commission should be more expensive compared to YCH auction because customer get less of a service (pose is set, often so is background), but it's often other way around?
- while on the one hand: "it's as fair as it gets" as you get to name your price - but i consider it also manipulative: as with YCH auctions you always will get "second highest bidder + 1usd", having set asking price seems for clear cut and fair?
i dunno - there is something about them that doesn't sit with me well
(having top-price / auto buy thing matched with price of your regular commission is probably fine? - i don't think i ever saw someone do that tho - on the other hand: i didn't exactly hunt for YCH to bid on)
well: going properly 'full time' is out of the question - but i considered switching from "1 hour in the evening per day" to "2 days of the week"
'talking to customers' is something i already noticed - that is why i started to try to have ~2 commissions in parallel ("working on first, and working on second while waiting on feedback for first"-type of deal)
studding IT i could handle hosting my own blog - i could also automate posting stuff - but: yeah - it would be annoying
"changing art style" is something i would like to avoid - just "backbone"/"artistic integrity" type of deal - very not business savvy approach in this regard - eg.: i'm not offering "background-less images" because of my conviction that "it's important to have one", and i'm not planing to change that...
thanks for comment! 🙂