Hey guys,
Looking for a little help/tips/advice, in the way of how to charge for artwork in general... (in this case, I'm doing album artwork)
I'm looking for an opportunity to quit my lousy grocery store job, or go to part time to cover living expenses, and spend the rest of my work time doing digital illustration work.
I've got a few jobs lined up for some friends, and now that I've finished one of them, I'd really like to be able to talk with him about payment, and be confident.
He's not being pushy, and neither of us really know what the payment ought to be, so I said I'd do some research and get back to him.
So, what do you think is fair?
I probably spent 30 or so hours working on this painting, but I admit I'm not particularly quick at my work, so I don't know if I'd want to charge an hourly rate.
At the same time, the amount of time I worked on it, I feel a flat fee of a hundred bucks or so wouldn't really be enough to cover my expenses.. Part of the reason is that I have another friend who does art like crazy, but charges very low prices.. makes me feel like I need to be competitive or that I'm valuing my work at too high a level.. I really don't know what I ought to be charging, and thought I should ask some of you in here, who have had some experience in selling their work, or at least may know more about it.
This may be unusual, I don't know, but what's a normal residual percentage for a product? I'd be more willing to accept a low, or even nonexistent upfront payment if I could get a percentage based residual income on it. 3 percent per album sold? 5 percent? 10 percent or more? I don't want to charge too much.
What do you guys charge? Are there any basic legal matters I should consider?
Anything else you could add would be appreciated. Thanks for any input you have!
