This is probably the biggest question everybody has when they're just starting out. After all, what are the criteria behind pricing my services? You might be disappointed when I say that it's not exactly a simple thing to figure out.
The reason is that there are several different factors you need to consider when coming up with prices for your commissions. Now, thinking about multiple things at the same time is counterproductive and anxiety-inducing, and it is not going to take us very far. We need a starting point, some initial value that will facilitate the pricing process for us.
The way I keep things simple is by starting with a simple conversion from an hourly rate to a flat rate. Of course, you need to have a good idea of how long it usually takes you to do a specific commission type in order to come up with a price that's fitting. I find this way to be the easiest starting point.
Let's create a hypothetical situation here so we can better understand how pricing works. Let's say you're planning to do commissions in a painterly style. It usually takes you around 6-10 hours to complete one of these.
If we are using the working hours as a base for our flat rates, we can think of an hourly rate that would be a good fit for us, multiply it by the number of hours we usually take and use that as our price for that commission type. In this case, let's say that $25/hour is a good fit for us. That would make our price range between $150 to $250.
Of course, we are not going to put a price range on our sheet, so let's just do the most sensible thing and go with the highest price of $250. Now we got a starting rate that we can judge whether or not it'll work for us.
Tip: When in doubt between a lower and a higher value, always go for the higher one. It's easier to lower the price later on than to increase it.
Let's say that $250 is not enough money for the amount of effort we put into the commission. We like doing complex illustrations, with fully-fledged environments and characters in dynamic poses, full of foreshortening, complicated prop interaction and visual effects. It's a style that demands a lot of energy and concentration from us, even if we usually take that same time range to finish it. We can arbitrarily push the price up a bit and see how we feel about it. How about $300? Maybe $350? Too high, perhaps $325...
On the other hand, we might think $250 is too expensive and people might not be willing to pay that much for this specific commission type. Also, it's not that big of a deal for us to work on it as we have a comfortable amount of time in a day to do so, we're comfortable with the style and we have another source of income that puts food on the table. Maybe we can lower it to $200 or even go down to the $150 we got in our range.
After getting that initial value from the hourly rate, start thinking about the different factors that will influence how much you will charge for a specific commission type. Is it a style that demands a lot of energy from you? Is it something you do easily? Do you need money to survive? Or are you just doing it as a side hustle to have a little extra money? Do you have a goal, like saving money to buy an iPad? Maybe you have some pending debts you want to pay or an emergency. Heck, do you even need the money? How popular are you? As you're just starting, should you perhaps lower the price a bit more just to get some commissions done?
After you become a more popular and established artist which people are willing to give money to draw, you can start raising your prices. You can do this whole process again, but with a higher hourly rate, you can increase it by a percentage or flat amount you think it's fair (although I do recommend percentages), or you can simply gauge how valuable your work is based on experience.
However, as I mentioned above, raising prices is harder than lowering them. As you get more popular and more people wants to commission you, you will have to gradually nudge that price up in smaller increments. If you raise the price by 100% overnight without a heads-up, you will lose clients. A sweet spot could be about 10%-15% a year, or maybe after 6 months. Basically, not by an absurd amount and over a longer period of time.
Tip: The paragraph above is true when you already have a client base, even if small. However, when you are relatively unknown and have no fixed clients or anybody saving up to commission you, there's a lot more freedom to play around with prices, meaning you can do something like 50% increases in a couple of months.
Should I compare commission prices to the ones of other artists?
Yes, you should, but do it carefully. This would be one of the many factors to take into account when coming up with your own prices, but it doesn't mean you should ignore all the others. Each person is an individual, with their own sets of problems, needs and wants. Using this comparison as the only factor you consider when establishing commission prices is very inaccurate and will do more harm than good.
Also, there's another reason why you should be careful when comparing your prices to other people's.
Undercharging
It's very common to see people charging way too little for their work on the internet. Way too common, actually. There have been countless times where I've seen artists charging less than $10-$20 for very demanding drawings, which definitely ends up being way less than a minimum wage! Never go below minimum wage!
Undercharging is detrimental not only to the artists themselves but also to the entire community. I think many people do that as a way of attracting more clients because it's so cheap! But hey, remember that game that was just 50 cents on e-shop? Did you buy it, or did you find it kind of sketchy?
I am not saying that people will think you're sketchy for charging too little, that's far from the truth. But what will definitely happen is that you will attract bad clients. Clients that are cheap, and might commission you just because it's so cheap! A lot of the time they are the more demanding type of client as well.
But how can this be detrimental to the whole community? Well, a single isolated case might not affect the bigger picture too much, but as I mentioned before: It's very common for people to undercharge. When a lot of people do that, clients will assume that's the market average price, which means they will want to pay less, and if there are so many cheap options, they might just end up going with those, even if the quality is not as good. This may lead to other artists having to lower their prices to be able to compete and get some commissions themselves.
So your undercharging indirectly forces other artists to lower their prices as well, perhaps needing to work more to make the money they need.
A good rule of thumb to prevent undercharging is to never charge below minimum wage.
Undercharging can also be somewhat tricky as depending on what part of the world the artist is and in what currency they're being compensated, minimum wage can be a pretty decent income. Consider that as well.
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