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10 years ago
Hey my lovelies!
I have a big favor to ask of you, and it's in behalf of my friend. Her prices for her artwork at the moment is very very low, and I would like your opinion on how much you think her pieces should be worth, or how much you'd pay for them. She creates some of the most beautiful work I've seen, and I'd love to get her onto here so she could get the art attention she deserves. Here are some examples of her work, and they are simply elegant.
http://orig05.deviantart.net/f1d9/f.....le-d8yif8y.jpg
http://img10.deviantart.net/1b4f/i/.....le-d8m9y8j.png
http://img01.deviantart.net/6068/i/.....le-d8jfwwy.jpg
http://orig02.deviantart.net/e874/f.....le-d8uxvjs.jpg
http://pre15.deviantart.net/23d2/th.....le-d7kyopw.jpg
http://pre10.deviantart.net/61d3/th.....le-d7eins9.jpg
http://orig09.deviantart.net/5d1d/f.....le-d7ed0yl.jpg
Thank you for taking a gander! I'd love to hear your thoughts on her work so I can share it with her! I just want to try and help her 
I'd recommend getting her to time herself on each drawing/painting, and multiply the amount of hours by slightly above the minimum wage that you feel is most appropriate. That way, she's making above minimum wage for her art, and she has a basic idea of how long it takes her to complete an image.
I might try doing the pricing using your method ;;
crayorable ;;
But thank you so much for the comment! <3
She has an account on here now, crayorable , I think she found you through my linking |'D
I'll be happy when she raises them to a proper price
I'm not good at pricing, especially my own art. Thats just my opinion, I'm a go watch her :3
She's at crayorable on here now! Thanks again ;u;
Watched and left a comment on her page.
I would also agree with that she should time herself and get an estimate of how long it'll take her to do works. That way she can form a general idea of what something will cost (with the consideration that it'll be atleast minimum wage times the X amount of time it takes her to do it) or instead, just charge an hourly rate and give a customer a general idea of what they are looking at.
Charging $5 or even $10 is waaaaaaaaaaaay too low for her skills and overall composition. She'll get burnt out easily if it stays that way. :c
I'll throw this community up as well - http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/ - its on livejournal and you'll need an account to join and what not to see most entries but while this is a good place to keep an eye out on who's good/bad in the community, they also do some awesome input/advice posts too such as regarding Terms of Service (TOS) and would no doubt throw in some ideas regarding pricing. It happens on and off and most of the community is pretty awesome.
Edit: I just checked the tags and there is a tag for 'pricing' and it seems that a few members of the community have made a general post for pricing as well posted their own concerns/so forth. Worth a shot.
Aside from her prices I do hope she has a good Terms of service to help in regards to commissions so commissioners don't push her around or anything of that sort. c:
Sorry for the wall of text - hopefully something helps in there!
Thank you so much omg. I think Im going to cry you're so nice.
I should definitely time myself, thats the advice I keep getting lol. What do you mean by "minimum wage times the X amount of time it takes her to do it"? Sorry, Im a very new at this whole thing |'D
That looks great! Thank you so much Ill definitely read through a couple of things there.
What would be a good example of terms of service? I do put limits on what im willing to draw but beyond that im not sure what it means.
No, dont apologize! It'a been wonderfully helpful, thank you!
Timing is a good idea to see what you can and can't do under certain situations. What I meant by the minimum wage times the x amount' is this - I'm not sure what the minimum wage would be where you are but here in the US its currently 8.25/hour in most areas (with some being more and others less). You don't want to be charging yourself under the minimum wage of where you are because then you are loosing out, and essentially doing more work for less.
So let's say where you live is currently is currently $8 an hour. A painting/image takes you about 4 hours to complete, therefore you should be receiving roughly $32 for your work. If you are undercharging and only doing $5 an hour, you'll make $20 which is less then what you should be making, and what you deserve. Hopefully that makes sense and such c:
Undercharging yourself is one sure way to burn yourself out and quick. I've hit that myself a few times and while having low prices may be appealing to draw in some customers, in the end it isn't worth it. If someone believes what you are charging is not worth it or is 'too high' then they are not the right commissioner for you.
A good terms of service can be short and sweet, or thorough. Having one that is short, but to the point is a good way to put your foot down in how you work - what things you are comfortable with, what you will and will not draw, how you deal with situation x,y,z.
Here's the link to my own Terms of Service to give you an idea - there are much better ones out there but mine is simple and just a general idea of how I work and if there are any questions then they can hit me up : https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....uu4/edit?pli=1
In a TL;DR - It's a what are you willing to do and what are you willing to put your foot down. Are you willing to work with customers in regards to payments, ensuring that they are getting what they want as well what you want as an artist.
Essentially it's just my statement on how I handle things when it comes to people wanting to commission me, how it can be done, my policies regarding refunds, payment plans, and of course my rules when it comes to reposting my artwork. The community I linked earlier is also a great place to get critique in regards to your own Terms of service, as many of them are commissioners as well customers so you get the best of two worlds. :)
Oooooh OK, it's pretty much the same at about 11 AUD so yeah, that's aboout it. That is a very good technique, Ill definitely start timing myself and such. The only problem i can see with that is how to predict the amount of hours you'll be spending on it. Is it like, something you have to figure otu through experience and some rough guessing or something that you update your commissioner on as you go?
That's right I guess, Ive been spending the entirety of my commissioning on DA, meaning im making about 50c per painting, if that, so its absolutely mind blowing to get to FA and people are saying you could get more than $50. It's very new to me lol.
Would I need to do any advertising or such? If so, how would I do that?
I have made this terms of service, would you be able to look over it and tell me if there is anythign concerning. Also what even is a babyfur im so ignorant omg.
You have been very wonderful thank you so much! I really appreciate this, I feel like I know what Im doing a little bit more now thank god. <3