FA+
Shop
Commissions
4 years ago
Ok so I've been getting commissions for over twenty years regularly. I'm ancient, but hey I look great. lol
So let's start with the disclaimer, I'm a scientist, pattern recognition is my super power. But hey these are quite literally my opinions and observations so take it with a grain of salt. Also I will not get into some ePeen discussion of who or what or who is right and wrong.
I don't play those games, so save it. This isn't interactive. I publish and walk away.
Let's start with the controversial, ala the hot takes. This is from my buyer side prospective.
YCH and auctions are NEVER worth it. That bears repeating. Anything with a competitive price is NEVER WORTH IT. I mean yes for the artist it is, but if you want to pay 200%, 300%+ the price. Get into a bidding war. Let's not split hairs, there are techfurs with more money than brains and they will swoop in and drive up prices to stupid levels. That $1200 commission might be worth it to you, but it sure as fuck isn't to me. I can get 7 or 8 custom crafted pics for those prices. The TLDR is I can pay those prices, but I won't. I don't even look at variable pricing. Value is what is important to me. That'll factor in later, you'll see.
Also I don't know about you but I don't want some random fur fucking up a YCH with a terrible design for multiple slots. Let's not beat around the bush here, artists do YCHs to rapidly output work, or to combine multiple payers into a single piece or minimum of work to maximize their cost (time) / benefit ratio.
Ok so let's go back in time. pre 2000s, say 90's before wide spread computerization you'd pay somewhere between $30-$60 for a pencil sketch with maybe simple colors. The market was small, you were lucky to get any pics at all. Artists primarily did comics and published material. Commissions were pretty much just at cons and they were simple. What could be drawn in a few hours.
So let's jump forward to like 2006. A year after FA opened. Now there was a reliable marketplace. Buyers and artists were connected. Artists figured out that you could create enough output to make art a full time job. I think the average price was $80-$120.
So as time goes on new artists join the fandom, old artists get famous, some drop out. It creates a churn. A pattern forms.
New artist shows up and is cheap. I notice them and get a few pics at a great price. Over time they get more popular. Raise their prices. Take too many commissions. Long pause as they slowly lose their mind. Then it becomes impossible to commission them as they either reduce their queue to a rare few openings or raise their prices to levels where it's no longer worth it for me. There's always new artists out there and they're cheaper. It takes quite awhile for new artists to figure out the business aspect btw. At first they're like wow this is like printing money, I can take 30 pics at $200 each and make a fortune. Not of course realizing they've just committed to six months of non stop work, which of course inevitably leads to burnout.
I can tell you exactly when prices drop. It's when a large group of new artists get computers and start business. I remember the south east asian countries, Vietnam and Malyasian artists started showing up from like 2010 to 2015. Now these days it's the Russians, 2018 to current.
The Russians are crazy skilled, but their prices have jumped up incredibly high in a short time. About 300% in those three years.
So here we are 2021. The average price of commission I'm paying is $200+. Some as high as $300+ and it bothers me a lot as the most expensive commission I've gotten up until now I believe is $550 in 2018 and surprise it's not even my most favorite pic. I mean I like it, but I like value more.
Why are prices high? Obviously people will pay them. A lot of people did quite well in 2020 so can push that kind of wealth around. Inflation is up like 30% so artists are pushing the costs along. Also I believe that it's funds that people would have used on cons or outside experiences that our lovely pandemic has made impossible.
So the future does not look good. I used to commission about 20-30 pics a year. Now that will probably drop to 10-15 given these prices. That is of course unless another large group enters the fandom. South America? lol
Addendum: In all the years I've commissioned artists most have been chill. A minority are complete assholes. They're super prickly like a cactus to work with. I guess they feel their work is good enough you can burn bridges with every order. Because I sure as hell won't be a repeat customer.
I've paid more and regularly to some artists just because they're fun to work with. If you're pleasant and collaborative I will return, because I enjoyed the experience.
Also don't even get me started on Patreon and locking art beyond a paywall. Terrible ideas.
So let's start with the disclaimer, I'm a scientist, pattern recognition is my super power. But hey these are quite literally my opinions and observations so take it with a grain of salt. Also I will not get into some ePeen discussion of who or what or who is right and wrong.
I don't play those games, so save it. This isn't interactive. I publish and walk away.
Let's start with the controversial, ala the hot takes. This is from my buyer side prospective.
YCH and auctions are NEVER worth it. That bears repeating. Anything with a competitive price is NEVER WORTH IT. I mean yes for the artist it is, but if you want to pay 200%, 300%+ the price. Get into a bidding war. Let's not split hairs, there are techfurs with more money than brains and they will swoop in and drive up prices to stupid levels. That $1200 commission might be worth it to you, but it sure as fuck isn't to me. I can get 7 or 8 custom crafted pics for those prices. The TLDR is I can pay those prices, but I won't. I don't even look at variable pricing. Value is what is important to me. That'll factor in later, you'll see.
Also I don't know about you but I don't want some random fur fucking up a YCH with a terrible design for multiple slots. Let's not beat around the bush here, artists do YCHs to rapidly output work, or to combine multiple payers into a single piece or minimum of work to maximize their cost (time) / benefit ratio.
Ok so let's go back in time. pre 2000s, say 90's before wide spread computerization you'd pay somewhere between $30-$60 for a pencil sketch with maybe simple colors. The market was small, you were lucky to get any pics at all. Artists primarily did comics and published material. Commissions were pretty much just at cons and they were simple. What could be drawn in a few hours.
So let's jump forward to like 2006. A year after FA opened. Now there was a reliable marketplace. Buyers and artists were connected. Artists figured out that you could create enough output to make art a full time job. I think the average price was $80-$120.
So as time goes on new artists join the fandom, old artists get famous, some drop out. It creates a churn. A pattern forms.
New artist shows up and is cheap. I notice them and get a few pics at a great price. Over time they get more popular. Raise their prices. Take too many commissions. Long pause as they slowly lose their mind. Then it becomes impossible to commission them as they either reduce their queue to a rare few openings or raise their prices to levels where it's no longer worth it for me. There's always new artists out there and they're cheaper. It takes quite awhile for new artists to figure out the business aspect btw. At first they're like wow this is like printing money, I can take 30 pics at $200 each and make a fortune. Not of course realizing they've just committed to six months of non stop work, which of course inevitably leads to burnout.
I can tell you exactly when prices drop. It's when a large group of new artists get computers and start business. I remember the south east asian countries, Vietnam and Malyasian artists started showing up from like 2010 to 2015. Now these days it's the Russians, 2018 to current.
The Russians are crazy skilled, but their prices have jumped up incredibly high in a short time. About 300% in those three years.
So here we are 2021. The average price of commission I'm paying is $200+. Some as high as $300+ and it bothers me a lot as the most expensive commission I've gotten up until now I believe is $550 in 2018 and surprise it's not even my most favorite pic. I mean I like it, but I like value more.
Why are prices high? Obviously people will pay them. A lot of people did quite well in 2020 so can push that kind of wealth around. Inflation is up like 30% so artists are pushing the costs along. Also I believe that it's funds that people would have used on cons or outside experiences that our lovely pandemic has made impossible.
So the future does not look good. I used to commission about 20-30 pics a year. Now that will probably drop to 10-15 given these prices. That is of course unless another large group enters the fandom. South America? lol
Addendum: In all the years I've commissioned artists most have been chill. A minority are complete assholes. They're super prickly like a cactus to work with. I guess they feel their work is good enough you can burn bridges with every order. Because I sure as hell won't be a repeat customer.
I've paid more and regularly to some artists just because they're fun to work with. If you're pleasant and collaborative I will return, because I enjoyed the experience.
Also don't even get me started on Patreon and locking art beyond a paywall. Terrible ideas.
