Demanding? No. We just know what we're looking for.
Assuming it takes you 10 mins to make 1 3$ frame and you're making 6-10 3$ frames in an hour, that's roughly 30$ or so in an hour.
Sure, starting out, when creating something like a character base from scratch similiar to this (which is something another artist created and very close to the look we're going for-albeit smaller in size for efficiency):

IT may take a little longer. Once all the basics of the character base are done , you then simply have to dress your character and add things like hair. That's significantly less.
Creating things like simple turf sets for 1-2$ a 32x32 frame, once again nothing with a huge amount of detail, simple, clean is also way more lucrative.
But the reality is--if anything we've said here seems to ruffle your feathers, I invite you to look at it from a less personal aspect.
We're don't desire to waste your time or energy at all, which is why we're completely up front about our intentions. If anything about this job request turns you off, we wouldn't want you applying just as much as you wouldn't want to apply. This isn't a situation where we're seeking (or desiring) to slave press someone into work.
Quite the opposite. Wanting to perform the job is just as important as ability.
If you think you would have a hard time making money at creating simple, clean looking art for this job--chances are you might. Other artists may not. If you can't see yourself doing an acceptable amount of work with this, then by all means pass us by. That's not meant to turn you off or anything. This is simply what we're working in / within. There are many artists doing far more--for free, we're working within our budget to get this game made -- nothing more.