It's that time: I'm open for commissions! Got questions on the general process? Please see last year's FAQ. Questions on the changes? Please see below:

Why the price increase?
Mostly because of inflation, but some I raised because I had severely underestimated how long it took to make (for instance, shading now takes me about as long as coloring and the linework combined; the previous price sheet assumed it took as long as just coloring. This wasn’t because I was “bad” at coloring and “good” at shading, I just hadn’t done a lot of shaded pieces to get a good grasp on the time it took)
How can I know which were raised for inflation and which were raised for “difficulty”?
As a rule of thumb, if I raised it by $5, it was because of inflation; if I raised it by more, it’s because I’d underestimated it
Why $5?
In 2017 I set my prices as 5,10,15, etc. and it felt fair at the time, but there’s been quite a bit of inflation since 2017.
So why does black and white still cost $5?
I am committed to keeping a $5 option for people that can’t afford more. As with the refsheets, I know that art is a gateway to wider participation in the fandom so I strongly believe in having an affordable option.
So why does lineless only cost marginally more than the lined equivalent? Most artists charge, like, double!
Because I happen to like doing it.

It says prices are per “full body” character, that’s new.
Yes. After the “dollar menu” experiment, I’m more willing to not draw the full character (which, as I’ve mentioned, requires me short-circuiting my own brain that “needs” to see “the rest of it”) and lower the price accordingly. This is also why I’ve set my comic pricing as “per panel”: you rarely have the whole character in-panel in a comic so that offsets the extra stuff that the panel needs.
Wait, that said “per prop” last year! Why the change?
Same reasoning: I’ve decided not to charge for props. This means the total price people will pay won’t go up as much,

What counts as a complex marking? That’s also new
As with refsheets, a character with more than 3 spots or stripes per limb or more than 6 spots/stripes total (not counting tail for either).
Those numbers sound kind of arbitrary
They’re based on practice, and I arrived at them by studying several established character designs so I know they’re fair.
My character doesn’t have spots or stripes, he has markings shaped like [insert symbol here]
A marking in the shape of a “y” counts as two stripes. A marking in the shape of an “H” counts as three. Curves (up until a J-shape) are treated as stripes. C-shapes, circles and dots are counted as spots.
As a practical example, suppose you have a giant heart shape on your back—that counts as three spots (and your back as a limb) so you’re good. If that heart has a line through it, now you have 4 (3 spots and a stripe) so it counts as complex.
My character has those, but I can’t afford the complexity charge
I’m sure we can figure out a way to clothe them so that only a manageable amount of markings is showing.
I heard you charged someone complexity for clothes though
Yes, if your clothes are covered in spots/stripes/etc, it will take me longer to draw it!
You weren’t charging for this last year! Why the change?
I noticed I was unable to predict the time it would take me to draw a character when this happened (kind of necessary to be able to do when you’re squeezing drawing time in between your job) and this is definitely a factor.
Just quit your job
No.
This is all ridiculous, just use a pattern fill!
Although I respect newspaper comic tropes, that is not the kind of work I offer.

This is only valid for 2024, how much are prices going to rise next year?!
They probably won’t: by my math, these prices should still work with the inflation expected for next year. However, I’m not quite convinced of the effort valuation for the more expensive options (lineless may prove either easier or harder than I’m anticipating, but I won’t know until I’ve done more of them!) so I want to leave the door open to adjust prices again in a year.

…How does the discount option work?
Find a piece in my gallery and tell me you want “this but with _____.” If I can reuse part of the drawing, I won’t charge you for that part. I keep the raw files for all my drawings so I’m very likely to find something I can reuse.

Posted using PostyBirb