# How to price for comic pages?



## kuroseishin (Sep 1, 2012)

I've had a few people contact me in the past asking about comic pages and I'm never really sure what to tell them price wise. I've done comics before, but not frequently and not on commission, so I'm not really sure how to price for them. The few single page ones I've done I priced per panel.

It seems like the amount of time/work would vary a lot by how many panels there would be and the contents of each (eg. a page of headshots of people talking or a page of full body drawings of a fight scene), but people seem to want a "by the page" price. 

I normally charge $50 for a full body two character drawing with background in my cheapest style, and much more in my painterly styles. I mean I guess the best solution is to just do some and see how long it takes me, but I don't really have free time for that. :[

Suggestions?


----------



## Smelge (Sep 1, 2012)

Draw some test stuff. Do a random headshot panel, an action panel, a large panel and maybe a scenery panel. Count it as practice, but see how long it takes for each stage of the panels. So for example, a headshot/bust panel with a character reaction might take 5 minutes to sketch, but 3 hours to refine it, an hour to ink and 3 hours to colour. So you'd have a basic idea that that style of panel will take 7 hours to do, times that by what you want to earn per hour worked. Add on more for more complex panels and so on. Once you have an idea of what works in a panel you can figure out what to charge for it.

Unfortunately, you'll never know what to charge until you try some test panels.


----------



## kuroseishin (Sep 1, 2012)

Smelge said:


> Draw some test stuff. Do a random headshot panel, an action panel, a large panel and maybe a scenery panel. Count it as practice, but see how long it takes for each stage of the panels. So for example, a headshot/bust panel with a character reaction might take 5 minutes to sketch, but 3 hours to refine it, an hour to ink and 3 hours to colour. So you'd have a basic idea that that style of panel will take 7 hours to do, times that by what you want to earn per hour worked. Add on more for more complex panels and so on. Once you have an idea of what works in a panel you can figure out what to charge for it.
> 
> Unfortunately, you'll never know what to charge until you try some test panels.



No, I know how long it takes me *per panel.* I just don't know how to charge *per page*. Because I don't know what sort of panels are going to be on every page and it makes a difference. :/ Like if someone wants six pages do I make them go through every single panel with me? It seems like people want a flat 'per page' rate.


----------



## UnburntDaenerys (Sep 1, 2012)

Given the sheer amount of work that goes into even a short comic, I would take your per panel rate, going off of a 4-6 panels per page base, and come out with a rough per page rate.  In this case, a page at $20 a panel would be $80 - $120, or if you'd rather split the difference, $100 a page.  With a longer comic, you'd also be spending time on layout and storyboards, so that's another consideration.


----------



## Clint Webber (Sep 8, 2012)

UnburntDaenerys said:


> Given the sheer amount of work that goes into even a short comic, I would take your per panel rate, going off of a 4-6 panels per page base, and come out with a rough per page rate.  In this case, a page at $20 a panel would be $80 - $120, or if you'd rather split the difference, $100 a page.  With a longer comic, you'd also be spending time on layout and storyboards, so that's another consideration.



THIS.

If I recall correctly, industry standard [for beginners] is about $80-$200 per page. 

Unfortunately, most people think that's way too much for a comic and only offer to pay $10-$30 per page, which I find ridiculous. ): 
Now this is just me, but if it's a short comic you're working on (10 pgs and under), then maybe you can lower the price a bit, because it won't be a long term commitment. Though if it's a 20 volume space epic they want you to do, put a high price on that bitch! D:<


----------



## HipsterCoyote (Sep 8, 2012)

It is indeed 80 to 200 a page, and sometimes that's not even in color.  Your per-panel rate throws it into that price range rather nicely, so I would stick with that system.  If it helps you, you can hit up places like freelanced.com in order to figure out what people are charging on average and what people are willing to pay.


----------



## Ley (Sep 8, 2012)

I personally just go by 30 for black an white, 50 for flats, and 60 per page for comics.. but I still think thats too expensive, considering I'm not well known/that good. But I don't know. Just my $0.02.


----------



## Caribou (Sep 9, 2012)

You know.... this is totally an error in thinking. Thinking that you are "new" and "not well known" and pricing yourself low is the fastest way to burnout town that I know.  All those cheap commissions really pile up fast, especially if you are trying to profit on the deal.

My rule of thumb is not to price yourself for "new" but better to price yourself for "fair".  A comic is a huge investment in work (mine take 10-20 hours a page, all said and done) and you are not required by any stretch of the imagination to cater to people who think a fair rate is "too much". Think of it this way; at minimum wage, a 10 hour comic page is $72.50 and a 20 hour comic is $145  and that is not including materials, which you should charge for if you are consuming any.  Is it fair to work for less than minimum wage because people say you're expensive?  IMO, you need to be honest with your customers and yourself and say hey, your time is worth at least as much an hour as working fast food.

This is not a flea market (haha... furries...fleas...lol). Don't be sucked in by the whiners who don't want to pay for their fix. That's really not your problem.


----------



## Auradeva (Sep 9, 2012)

If you want to stick with one "per page" price quote, limit your pages to 4 or 5 panels. Someone might take that to mean they can fit their whole 20 panel comic on one page! 

I think you should keep your price per panel and work out price on a per customer basis. Unless you plan to draw lots of comics in the future, don't advertise that you're accepting commissions for them. If only the serious commissioners are inquiring, it won't be a hassle to negotiate price and deadlines with them.


----------



## Ley (Sep 9, 2012)

Caribou said:


> You know.... this is totally an error in thinking. Thinking that you are "new" and "not well known" and pricing yourself low is the fastest way to burnout town that I know.  All those cheap commissions really pile up fast, especially if you are trying to profit on the deal.
> 
> My rule of thumb is not to price yourself for "new" but better to price yourself for "fair".  A comic is a huge investment in work (mine take 10-20 hours a page, all said and done) and you are not required by any stretch of the imagination to cater to people who think a fair rate is "too much". Think of it this way; at minimum wage, a 10 hour comic page is $72.50 and a 20 hour comic is $145  and that is not including materials, which you should charge for if you are consuming any.  Is it fair to work for less than minimum wage because people say you're expensive?  IMO, you need to be honest with your customers and yourself and say hey, your time is worth at least as much an hour as working fast food.
> 
> This is not a flea market (haha... furries...fleas...lol). Don't be sucked in by the whiners who don't want to pay for their fix. That's really not your problem.



I know its horrid to think that way, considering all of my othr stuff is priced to where its at LEAST 7-10 per hour, but with comics I'm still very very iffy about. I love doing them, and I've been commissioned for a black and white comic, but its been taking an awful long time. I've learned my lesson, but its still hard to say 'this is going to be this much'.


----------



## kuroseishin (Sep 17, 2012)

Oops, I stopped checking this topic after a while and then there were a lot of thoughtful responses! Thanks a lot guys!


----------



## corvuszero (Oct 5, 2012)

one thing i'm doing is, for anything that reqires planning, liek scripting and thumbnails, charge a base fee for the planning stage, relative to the side of the project. if they have an idea of how many pages, charge $3-5 per page for planning stage, so a 10 page comic ends up with about a $40 planning stage upfront. then you can charge your per page rate. If they're already spending $120 or so per page for a 10 page comic, thats $1200. an extra $40 to make sure it gets done RIGHT isn't all that much. thats show i see it, anyway. alternatively you could knock the $4-5 off each page when you take payments for the pages themselves.
i was actually even going to post my own thread asking how much to charge per page cause i remembered thinking it was 80-200, im gonna let 80 be my base rate... i got my first 10 page comic done in abotu 24 hours from script to inks, but i skipped the pencils stage and just inked over the thumbnails so there's some anatomy issues and composition problems but nothing major, and its hard as hell to do regardless XD my brain doesnt think in comics. i shoudl be better at this being a sequential art major :x
anyway thanks ot everyone for the input, even though i didnt ask, it was useful to me!


----------

