Artistic Science

You all are so fucking spoiled by artists I swear to fuck

dramarising:

I want to start off with saying that I do underprice my commissions like a lot of artists tend to, but lately I’ve been trying not to because I deserve a fair wage for my work, and I value my work, which is reflected in my fees. I am still substantially cheaper to commission than more popular artists who can afford to charge a premium due to demand.

But there is NO FUCKING WAY that I will EVER do $15-21 worth of art for the equivalent of 93 cents. I will charge my fees based on USD to Gems, and then Gem-to-Treasure equivalent, and if you can’t handle paying 380k for a drawing that you’re not shelling out real money for to begin with, fuck off.

Pay a fair wage to artists. And artists, charge as much as you deserve. No more drawings for pennies, please don’t underprice your work, it undervalues the art market as a whole and creates entitled, whiny customers who want free shit.

Fair wage can be calculated by figuring out how long it takes you to finish a piece, and where you rate yourself in terms of skill. If you’re untrained or under 18, charge minimum wage (or $8) per hour. Learn how to manage your time when working on a commission piece compared to how you manage it when you work on a personal portfolio piece, because you can’t just spend 15 hours on something and price-gouge people either. If you’ve gone through art school, charge double minimum wage, and if you’re out of college, charge triple to quadruple that.

A good rule of thumb is to charge just enough that you’re uncomfortable with it, at least when you’re starting out. You only have about 40hrs of work time in a week post-college, maybe more. Your time is a premium, so start figuring out how much that and your skills are worth based on your monetary needs, not the baseline that a forum seems to have (Seriously, 10kt is 9 cents USD, stop that! You deserve more!)

Don’t give me flack about how much you do it for fun or your prices are low to be nice. People who want your artwork badly enough will pay for it. Don’t lower your prices if people aren’t biting, increase your quality! Go out and make some massive piles of treasure!

Buyers, don’t bitch about how you can’t afford it. Art is a LUXURY SERVICE and if you can’t afford it, you don’t need it. Artists DESERVE to be treated fairly and with respect. DO IT.