# Price My Art?



## Alkraas (Jul 3, 2016)

Hello,
I admit that I have no idea if this is the right place to ask this, but could you please tell me if my prices are accurate? Should I put a lower price on these?
As you might guess, I have no idea as to what I can charge for my art.

Here's my commission sheet:


Spoiler: Commission Sheet


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## Swizzle Valcar (Jul 3, 2016)

I think they're pretty accurate! What you do beyond this is all up to you.


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## Alkraas (Jul 3, 2016)

Swizzle Valcar said:


> I think they're pretty accurate! What you do beyond this is all up to you.


Okay, thank you .


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## Sergei Nóhomo (Jul 3, 2016)

I rate it on my $0.02


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## darien (Jul 3, 2016)

After some back-and-forth consideration I have to say think the current prices are fair. If you'd like a little critique on what I think you can work on that will increase the value and allow you to raise the prices a bit, let me know.


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## Alkraas (Jul 3, 2016)

darien said:


> After some back-and-forth consideration I have to say think the current prices are fair. If you'd like a little critique on what I think you can work on that will increase the value and allow you to raise the prices a bit, let me know.


Thank you! Yes, please critique me, I want to learn


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## FlannelFox (Jul 3, 2016)

I've seen lots of less skilled artists charging more so I think you'll do good.


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## darien (Jul 3, 2016)

Alkraas said:


> Thank you! Yes, please critique me, I want to learn



While your attention to detail (particularly on the dragon scales and fur tufts) is good and a great selling point, there are a few things that would up your art's value.

*Backgrounds:*
The very first thing I want to touch on is the photo-texture backgrounds- like the brick-wall on the busts with bg samples. This is an easy solution for a bg, but not a particularly attractive one- it detracts from the piece as a whole as it just doesn't blend well with non-photorealistic art. Even a simple drawn/painted background will typically work much better- my forum avatar for example, that background was a quick easy paint for the artist and it blends very well- only adding to the piece isntead of sticking out. It took the artist somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes to do (I wasn't timing her but it was quick) and only took that long because the original image was many many times larger than the avatar you see on the forums. Painting a brick background for the sample picture you provided would have resulted in a more consistent picture, even if you only painted out one of the bricks and copy -pasted it into a pattern. The little bit of extra time to paint out a simple bg is certainly worth it and can only serve to add value to the composition by giving it a more consistent and polished appearance. It also shows potential customers that you're willing to put that little bit of extra effort in to make their purchase that much better.

*Anatomy:*
The other thing you should consider working on is your anatomy. Overall it's good, but a little inconstant, especially when it comes to heads. There are many tutorials for feral and anthro heads out there - a google image search of "[species] head tutorial" can be very helpful (I've done so many times myself. as I am forever having difficulty with muzzles, eyes, and head-shapes for various species.) interestingly enough I don't see this problem with your scalie art (the dragons) now that might be because by nature they're more open to artistic interpretation and styling, or simply because you're just good at those particular species. I can't tell. The problem is however most apparent on your pink fullbody image (which has a great background by the way!) and the $10 canine bust image on the right. The eyes and muzzle on both of those images really stick out as out of place as a result of inconsistent muzzle and eye angles. Practicing head tutorials and getting the various basic shapes used in those tutorials down pact will help improve upon those problems and allow you to better portray muzzle depth and properly aligned eyes with the head at various angles.

Finally if you look at the canine fullbody without background on the bottom left, the fluff is wonderfully detailed (and though the muzzle issue presents itself, it's very nominal compared to the other two, perhaps because of the angle) the fore-leg you see has very little definition to the shape or fluff when compared to the rest of the body, and sticks out like a sore thumb detracting from the rest of the image. Additionally the elbow seems rather high up, giving the appearance of a totally stiff leg, almost as if it's on stilts. From what I can tell in the image you've provided- the hind-legs don't seem to have the same issue. This is where references come in handy. even if it's a species you've drawn a million times before.

*Conclusion:*
That all said Anatomy is hard, and it usually only gets better through practice, using references, and learning other ways to do basic shapes from tutorials, and maybe even having someone do some redlines for you.O verall your art is good, and for what you've shown your current prices are fair. With a little more practice and effort in just those couple of areas i've mentioned I can see you easily upping your prices to say $15-25 for busts and between $25-40 for fullbody. If you then tried some other shading methods (ditching the dodge and burn airbrush/gradients and  instead moving to softshading, or 3tone+blending) you could probably price them even  higher- but I would caution that you should take it one step at a time. Anatomy is the biggest hurdle and also has the biggest impact on your art's perceived value.


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## Alkraas (Jul 4, 2016)

darien said:


> While your attention to detail (particularly on the dragon scales and fur tufts) is good and a great selling point, there are a few things that would up your art's value.
> 
> *Backgrounds:*
> The very first thing I want to touch on is the photo-texture backgrounds- like the brick-wall on the busts with bg samples. This is an easy solution for a bg, but not a particularly attractive one- it detracts from the piece as a whole as it just doesn't blend well with non-photorealistic art. Even a simple drawn/painted background will typically work much better- my forum avatar for example, that background was a quick easy paint for the artist and it blends very well- only adding to the piece isntead of sticking out. It took the artist somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes to do (I wasn't timing her but it was quick) and only took that long because the original image was many many times larger than the avatar you see on the forums. Painting a brick background for the sample picture you provided would have resulted in a more consistent picture, even if you only painted out one of the bricks and copy -pasted it into a pattern. The little bit of extra time to paint out a simple bg is certainly worth it and can only serve to add value to the composition by giving it a more consistent and polished appearance. It also shows potential customers that you're willing to put that little bit of extra effort in to make their purchase that much better.
> ...


Thank you very much for the detaild critique! I just have to add something to that brick wall. It actually was much more than copy pasting. I created a grid all by myself and did not just paint one rectangle. It took more than an hour actually. But thank you! I know, anatomy was never my friend, but I'm trying .


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## Ivory-Brier (Jul 4, 2016)

I might even want to say that your price should be higher! You could totally get $35+ for a full body w/ BG!


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## Yakamaru (Jul 4, 2016)

With this kind of quality I would personally increase commission prices slightly, but that is up to you.

Now it's actually tempting to get a commission because of such a good price..


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## Alkraas (Jul 5, 2016)

Yakamaru said:


> With this kind of quality I would personally increase commission prices slightly, but that is up to you.
> 
> Now it's actually tempting to get a commission because of such a good price..


Wow! Thank you!


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## nerdbat (Jul 5, 2016)




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## Alkraas (Jul 5, 2016)

nerdbat said:


>


Uhh okay, I don't quite understand o.o


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## Rust (Jul 6, 2016)

I may consenter getting a commission from you.


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## Alkraas (Jul 6, 2016)

Rust said:


> I may consenter getting a commission from you.


That means so much to me! Thank you <3


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## Agatha-Hart (Jul 8, 2016)

I'd say you should price yourself higher!  Next time you start on a piece, time how long it takes you--your time is valuable and you should price yourself at least $10/hr if not more.  The prices might end up seeming very high, but don't be nervous!  We artists have a bad habit of under-valuing our work.  Just remember: you're worth it!


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## Botticella89 (Jul 9, 2016)

Why are you charging so little for skilled pictures? I can see sketches being that price, but not fully colored detailed pictures. You should be charging twice as that a the least. Yes, I understand you want to get your foot in the door. But think of it this way, is 27$ enough to buy groceries for a week? Or a day? That's barely enough to fill up a tank of gas now a days. If someone asks me "Hey! Why did I pay for something that took you a day to do!?" My response is "No, that took me 20+ years to learn to do." Your pieces should be prices according to how much time, effort and skill you put into them. For example, the minimum wage is $7.25 and if it takes you about 5 hours on average to do a colored bust you should be charging at the very least $36.25. Your essentially doing slave labor and I'm shocked that many ppl who have commented hasn't said anything to you about it. But then again ppl are looking for deals and cheap labor for good pieces. So no wonder they wanna keep you at slave labor prices. Bump them prices up.


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## Alkraas (Jul 9, 2016)

Botticella89 said:


> Why are you charging so little for skilled pictures? I can see sketches being that price, but not fully colored detailed pictures. You should be charging twice as that a the least. Yes, I understand you want to get your foot in the door. But think of it this way, is 27$ enough to buy groceries for a week? Or a day? That's barely enough to fill up a tank of gas now a days. If someone asks me "Hey! Why did I pay for something that took you a day to do!?" My response is "No, that took me 20+ years to learn to do." Your pieces should be prices according to how much time, effort and skill you put into them. For example, the minimum wage is $7.25 and if it takes you about 5 hours on average to do a colored bust you should be charging at the very least $36.25. Your essentially doing slave labor and I'm shocked that many ppl who have commented hasn't said anything to you about it. But then again ppl are looking for deals and cheap labor for good pieces. So no wonder they wanna keep you at slave labor prices. Bump them prices up.


Because I rarely get commissioned. I get someone asking for a picture rarely. If even any, it's one-two people in a year. I know I should charge it with time and minimum wage (which is 8.50€ here), but then it seems that I get zero customers. Thanks for telling me though, this just gives me more inspiration to push myself even farther!


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## Botticella89 (Jul 9, 2016)

Alkraas said:


> Because I rarely get commissioned. I get someone asking for a picture rarely. If even any, it's one-two people in a year. I know I should charge it with time and minimum wage (which is 8.50€ here), but then it seems that I get zero customers. Thanks for telling me though, this just gives me more inspiration to push myself even farther!


 Push yourself! Be as proactive as you can in forums and on sites if you can. Maybe even invest a little into advertising. The only ones who get easy on commissions is the ones who invested as much as possible in the beginning to get an audience. Go to other social forums and advertise that you are available on commissions. And when you post a pic plug in you're accepting commissions. More importantly, practice your craft.


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## NegaNeon (Jul 9, 2016)

Definitely agree with Botticella on increasing prices to at least minimum wage, especially since these are all fully polished works you're offering. 
I don't believe it's worth being paid peanuts for your time; especially when you can be putting it towards improving your craft, working on stuff you want, or a job if you need the cash. 

I've been in your position before, getting discouraged because there wasn't a nibble when I opened up shop, even though my art was dirt cheap at the time. Unless you're well known, it's highly unlikely you will get jobs simply from waiting, your best bet is to engage people - whether it's advertising, approaching those who are seeking to buy art, etc. There are plenty of folks who will be more than happy to pay you fairly for the work that you do, but you need to be firm and ask for it first!


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## Alkraas (Jul 11, 2016)

Botticella89 said:


> Push yourself! Be as proactive as you can in forums and on sites if you can. Maybe even invest a little into advertising. The only ones who get easy on commissions is the ones who invested as much as possible in the beginning to get an audience. Go to other social forums and advertise that you are available on commissions. And when you post a pic plug in you're accepting commissions. More importantly, practice your craft.





NegaNeon said:


> Definitely agree with Botticella on increasing prices to at least minimum wage, especially since these are all fully polished works you're offering.
> I don't believe it's worth being paid peanuts for your time; especially when you can be putting it towards improving your craft, working on stuff you want, or a job if you need the cash.
> 
> I've been in your position before, getting discouraged because there wasn't a nibble when I opened up shop, even though my art was dirt cheap at the time. Unless you're well known, it's highly unlikely you will get jobs simply from waiting, your best bet is to engage people - whether it's advertising, approaching those who are seeking to buy art, etc. There are plenty of folks who will be more than happy to pay you fairly for the work that you do, but you need to be firm and ask for it first!



Thank you, both of you for the excellent feedback!


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## DragonJuno (Jul 11, 2016)

i agree with some of the comments above, you should be charging more for such awesome art


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