Commission talk

CoolDrMoney · March 16, 2014 03:11 AM

Yea I know we all love talking about commission work. I looked through the other topics about this first and still wanted some extra clarity.

This guy wants to commission me to design his characters for some series he's working on. He's a friend so I figure for a full body (back, front, and side view) black and white sketch I'd charge him 10 bucks a pop. If this is insanely undercharging or overcharging let me know so I don't look like an idiot.

Second, is this something I need to draft a contract for? The expenses don't seem to warrant the need for a contract but at the same time i don't know how many characters he's going to want to commission from me. How should I handle payment if I don't draft a contract? This is the first time I've been commissioned for still drawings so I don't want to make any mistakes.

Also I retain the right to use this work in my portfolio just not for commercial purposes, right?

zwimmy · March 16, 2014 03:24 AM

Please for the love of God don't do a full character rotation for only ten dollars. Think about the time and effort you put into drawing that character and all the years of practice it took you to get to the skill level you are now. You are worth way more than that.

As for a contract, just talk it out with him and agree on some ground rules and ask if you could use these model sheets for your portfolio.

CoolDrMoney · March 16, 2014 03:36 AM

I looked at other topics on here and looked like most people charged 10 bucks for a black and white character sketch. I figure I'm just doing 2 more sketches per character. Also he's sort of a friend (acquaintance) so I figured I'd give a little discount. Normally would have charged 15$. It's my first still commission so I factored that in as well. I'm not going to ask you what you think I'm worth, but if you don't mind I'd like to hear what other artists charge for commission.

rtil · March 16, 2014 03:38 AM

some guy... a series he's working on.... ten dollars... sounds like a bunch of

you always retain the right to your work unless you sign it away. but please for the love of god don't work for a measly $10. if he wants a flat rate, think about how many hours you're gonna spend on it, how much your time is worth, and make that the cost. if he says no, then don't do it.

zwimmy · March 16, 2014 03:50 AM

told ya

CoolDrMoney · March 16, 2014 04:25 AM

Well shucks. okay then.

I was mostly basing it on the other topics I saw on here from like years ago. Looked on DA too and it seemed like there was similar pricing. Maybe 35 bucks per character would be better. I can't imagine it taking me more than 2 hours to complete a black and white, front - back, character sheet.

rtil · March 16, 2014 05:27 AM

it's almost never that cut and dry. he might not like them, he might ask for revisions, etc. if he's serious about it, he'll shell out the money he'll need to make whatever it is he's making.

Bamyasi · March 16, 2014 05:55 AM

The nice thing to do would be to inform this person that his series will never, ever, ever, never, ever, be made.

But I understand you have a family to feed.

CoolDrMoney · March 16, 2014 06:18 AM

I sort of did already. He said he might develop it into a webcomic. Anyway, if he pays me I could care less but I just wanted to see the proper conduct to go about this. I've done some research and talked to you guys so if he ends up going through with this, neither of us will get screwed (hopefully). Once he agrees though, and I will make this abundantly clear, there is no backing out without some sort of compensation.

CoolDrMoney · March 16, 2014 06:31 AM

Did a little more browsing around and found some good examples of pricing. Also found this:

http://www.marielblack.com/commission-pricing.html

Am I nuts or is this guy's prices absurd for the services he's offering?

rtil · March 16, 2014 10:56 AM

they wouldn't be absurd if he wasn't so astoundingly mediocre

soup · March 17, 2014 02:40 AM

im pretty sure i could draw better chibi cat horse people

time to start charging $500+ for such artistic masterpieces

JasonDog · March 17, 2014 07:14 AM

This is far below the minimum wage, but I'm assuming you're developing a portfolio website that you will put samples of previous clients work on and gradually increase the price. Correct?

CoolDrMoney · March 18, 2014 03:11 AM

Well...sort of. I realize how stupid the 10 bucks before would have been. It's more of charging a sort of like 15 bucks an hour of how long I think it will take me (I figured a 5 dollar per hour discount would be good since he's sort of a friend). But yea once I feel more confident in the commission process and have some history to back it up, I'd probably charge more.

naturally · March 18, 2014 03:39 PM

i had an old friend message me the other day asking me how things were going, then immediately asked me if i could draw an album cover and some other stuff for him, telling me he couldn't pay me but that he could assure me that 'thousands of people' would see my work. i didn't even fully decline when i replied, i mostly said i was busy (complete lie) but asked what he was thinking of anyway and he never responded.

i may undersell my work a lot and other artists may as well, but even i know i'm worth more than doing something for exposure.

CoolDrMoney · March 18, 2014 05:14 PM

He said he was willing to pay me and I made it very clear that this becomes a professional relationship once he decides he wants it done. I don't want things to be shitty between us afterwards.

crackers · March 18, 2014 05:40 PM

Quote from: CoolDrMoney on March 18, 2014 05:14 PM
professional relationship ...I don't want things to be shitty between us afterwards.

sounds like a bad chick flick

SHADOWFOX2 · March 20, 2014 11:53 AM

^ my goodness if I had a dollar for every time I got that I'd be able to pay my way through the rest of university

GRINACE · March 22, 2014 03:35 AM

Quote from: stusader on March 18, 2014 03:39 PM
i had an old friend message me the other day asking me how things were going, then immediately asked me if i could draw an album cover and some other stuff for him, telling me he couldn't pay me but that he could assure me that 'thousands of people' would see my work. i didn't even fully decline when i replied, i mostly said i was busy (complete lie) but asked what he was thinking of anyway and he never responded.

i may undersell my work a lot and other artists may as well, but even i know i'm worth more than doing something for exposure.

I've defiantly had this happen to me on multiple occasions. One of the worst that had happened to me was when I was doing custom painted sunglasses. An ex friend of mine is into rapping and wanted me to make him a pair and needed them in a rush, he said he would pay me and also promote my glasses in a show.

I agreed and I had told him that I make these glasses at $40 and will have them in time for the show and to pay me within the week. He got the glasses, did the show and gave me a shout out but I never got payed, one of the many reasons why i'm not friends with him and a harsh lesson in doing business.

Nowadays whenever I do a commission, I always request a down payment or I'm not doing shit. I recommend that to anyone selling you work.

rtil · March 22, 2014 05:53 AM

Quote from: GRINACE on March 22, 2014 03:35 AM
Nowadays whenever I do a commission, I always request a down payment or I'm not doing shit. I recommend that to anyone selling you work.

this is good advice. i usually do half up front , that way both of us are invested in the product.