Notes
1. Commission prices - They are vastly undervalued. You gotta charge more. Stop undercutting. Treat your time like money. Not setting the right parameters and lines in the sand for clients will take an emotional toll and a toll on your skill.
i.e. We should be charging 7 dollars an hour
2. Making a commissions sheet with prices shows that it costs that much no matter how long it takes. Instead, make a mini portfolio with a list of things that you're willing to do. Don't put a price on it, there should be room for negotiation. Do 3-4 mock commissions and establish a baseline for how long it takes and what your prices should be.
3. If nobody is paying the amount for your art, instead of lowering your prices below minimum wage, stop and practice to the point where the quality of your art, and your hourly wages make up for time. You can also get faster without changing the price which will give you more breathing room.
4. People are buying a lot of your art. Now you can start being picky on what commissions you want to do, and you can raise your prices.
5. Set a line in the sand for revisions. No public rates during negotiation. e.g. 1/4 additional time in final quote, or add to quote beforehand and allow for 3 revisions for free at the sketching stage but if revised at the late stage will cost them, or infinite changes at the sketching stage then after that changes are +$20.
6. Establish your proofing stages and where you can make changes without it affecting your time.
7. The market will tell you what your art is valued art. You have to put yourself out there and find out if people are willing to buy what you have. Don't lower your prices because it lowers what everyone can charge for.
8. Manage time, manage your quality, managing your hours. You're mastering one of the most difficult crafts out there so don't undercharge.
9. Start at minimum wage. And because you're in the service industry: do you have any contracts, or negotiations for royalties? e.g. Hello Kitty. e.g 1%, 2% royalty. Don't give out concepts and designs for a flat rate. If you're at the stage where you're earning you need to pay a lawyer to make a licensing/write you a contract for commercial commissions
10. Test your market. Most people don't know about art so they have no idea what the value of your work is. You need to gauge how people perceive your art. The value will be determined by what you put out there. E.g. Fine Art dealers and the I Am Rich app. 11. Always take deposits on your work. If a client walks you may even make more hourly than if you had finished. 20-30% not 50 because it might scare them away. If you can’t get a deposit they aren’t worth it. Have a clause that says once you send them proof, no refunds. 12. International artists: Charge the American or European minimum wage. Get compensated the same as your peers. You’re compromising your time. Your work is international so base it on the international standard(California hourly minimum wage standard, it’s low enough that it’s decent enough). 13. If you have full creative control you can charge low but the second someone dictates what you do the price goes up. E.g. I would just love any of your art vs. they are your boss thus you get paid like you’re employed. If you feel like you’re going to lose a lot of commissioners save up money to sustain yourself for a few months before changing prices.
Q&A
14. Get as much info as possible. What it’ll be used for, your process, the cost of revisions.
Sit down with them as a professional. Find out what they want, ask questions based on your process, try to reach a point of understanding. Give them a general outline and then approach negotiations from mutual understanding. Treat it with the utmost level of investigation, if there is no understanding, there is no negotiation. You have to start from the point that this person doesn’t know what I do. As a beginner, you still need to establish a base clientele so you don’t want to scare away clientele, but if you get burned too often(or if you’re pro with many commissions coming in like Waveloop), increase your deposit e.g. to 50%.
15. Getting paid through bids on Upworks? - You’re not negotiating. Try to go for the bid that meets your established rates. 16. Clothing line and yourself(your fictitious name) should be trademarked if you start a clothing line with your work on it. E.g when you post your work on Teespring they own the distribution rights. Understand it shouldn't be the main source. But if you're in control you can charge whatever you want.
17. You don’t need clients who are cheap. Be honest and firm with what you have to do for yourself.
18. You need to make sure that your deadlines are well above your estimates in case life happens. E.g if it takes you 2 days your deadline should be 1 week. Proof of concept should be done a full week before the deadline(e.g. the day after the deposit). Then finish within 4 days before the final piece and submit for final changes. Then submit the final piece within the deadline. Include extra 50cents-1$ in hourly for taxes.
19. Problem with fanart - doing work based on content/characters that are trademarked. Basic non commercial it doesn't matter if it's fanart. If you have a big name, you don’t need to do fanart. If you avoid the logo or change the character or not use the name it’s transformative(40%). Most companies won’t bother suing unless it’s for personal reasons. You’re not sue-able because you can’t pay right now.
20. You can add signatures unless the client doesn’t want it. Don’t add digital signatures because they’re meaningless.
21. Don’t worry too much about your art getting stolen because it’s impossible to control it and it’s more trouble than it’s worth. If they steal and it does well on their site, it shows your work can do well, you have an audience now you only need to work on marketing.
22. We’ll discuss gaining a following next time.
23. Professionals don’t use templates. They use their social media sites for advertisements.
Graphic design templates, they don’t put prices, maybe packages. Make a website then let a salesman or manager if you want, they are a powerful tool. Until you can invest in them, be your own salesman/manager.
24. If it gets too much, fire the client, walk away.
25. DON’T YOU EVER get paid in exposure. If you have creative control, you choose to do it on your own, it can be a good strategy. But the moment they approach you, try to dictate what you draw you should be getting paid. You can save money spending a little on an advert to get followers rather than spending tonnes of time doing work for exposure.
26. If you’re not ready for commissions, don’t take them! You’ll just burn yourself out.
Waveloop - can do 5-6 commissions back to back, an illustration in 3 hours, and he’s getting paid for each of them. Once a week, sit down and do a mock commission, time yourself, until you can make an estimate. The time spent is always more than you expect.
27. If they change up the project, you’ll need to change up/renegotiate the price. Give them a new estimate, ask for additional estimates.
28. If you’re running into skull creep, get as specific as possible with your services. Better to be annoying(cover your ass) rather than getting screwed over. At first treat your client as a complete idiot who will waste your time. Most people just want to know what they’re paying for. Ask for examples e.g. a simple background can be a starship that may be more complicated than the character in the foreground. If they don’t have examples tell them to come back with examples.
29. You are the artist. You establish the project. You only draw what you want to. E.g. some Japanese artists only do figures with no backgrounds even though it seems that artists with backgrounds get noticed more.
30. Refund according to your guidelines e.g. if they renegotiate before you send the proof of concept you refund the deposit. Proof of concept for a sketch - send thumbnails and they pick one. That is the proof.
Waveloop’s proof of concept stages: Clean sketch(client can see what’s going on), then skip inking to the First stages of rendering.
31. NB: Calibrating color for your monitor, preparing art for printing, picking color channels(can be discussed in a later class).
Resources:
Animation Guild
Comments