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A few questions for Artists
5 years ago
I have a few questions for artists of any scope or scale who take commissions. If you're not an artist, but have had experiences with one, I'd like to hear that too.
• Tips/payment:
When you charge a price, are you expecting to receive that amount, or is there an unspoken rule that a tip is deserved regardless?
• Corrections/edits:
How many is too many?
Do you take any offense when what your idea of the composition should be clashes with what the buyer expects?
What happens when the buyer points out that you've missed an important sentence in their description?
• Prices:
How did you come to them? Natural supply and demand curve? Based on another artist? Trial and error? Desired/necessary hourly pay? "Looks right/seems fair"?
I have more, but even these feel like I'm pushing the boundaries a bit. Some of these are curiosity, some I genuinely want to know to make getting art in the future a smoother process.
• Tips/payment:
When you charge a price, are you expecting to receive that amount, or is there an unspoken rule that a tip is deserved regardless?
• Corrections/edits:
How many is too many?
Do you take any offense when what your idea of the composition should be clashes with what the buyer expects?
What happens when the buyer points out that you've missed an important sentence in their description?
• Prices:
How did you come to them? Natural supply and demand curve? Based on another artist? Trial and error? Desired/necessary hourly pay? "Looks right/seems fair"?
I have more, but even these feel like I'm pushing the boundaries a bit. Some of these are curiosity, some I genuinely want to know to make getting art in the future a smoother process.
Tips: I like tips, but the thing that makes them tips is that they are OPTIONAL. I also know that tips are kind of an american/western concept and in other cultures is considered rude or insulting. If someone tips me, AWESOME! Yay they really like me! But I never expect a tip.
Corrections / Edits: It depends on whether the fault is mine or the person for not providing me with enough information. If the fault is mine I'll try and fix it as best as I can (which can be harder as I primarily work in traditional mediums) and do not charge for it. But if I show them the pencil sketch and they approve it, and then approve the inks, and then inform me while I'm coloring it that I got everything wrong then they're paying me for the work I've done and a restart. Which brings me to the third point...
Prices: What I tell people is to think about how much their time is worth. Me? My time is worth about $25 an hour. It sounds like a lot but in the long run it's not so bad. My friend Fox is about $60-$75 an hour, BUT she has SAME DAY turnaround on her commissions and you pay for that, plus she studied animation so she can get a finished color piece done in am hour or so.
Thank you for the insights. Been trying for years to find out where I've gone wrong with some artists. And to this day I still don't know, it's great. But what you've said lines up with what I've heard from others so far.
I don't think I'll ever be going into art as a business, but it's good information to have for other ventures.