My fellow DCGers I need your advice/assistance.

[Shaylinn]

My recent Wonder Woman manip was done as sort of gift for one of the guys at my comics shop and when I gave him the print I made he promptly posted it in the store.

Because of that another patron of the shop saw it and asked me to contact him.... Long story short he wants me to do some manips for him and he is willing to pay. So my question to you is what should I charge him, and should I make it hourly or by the piece?

Also if for whatever reason I can't do all the pieces he wants (he's talking Golden Age characters -I think) would any of you be interested?


Shay

[Pod]

Well a good price, in my opinion, would be in the range of $50-$150 for each pic. And it matters how much work you put into it.

And I'm not a good manip guy so I don't think I'll be of any help there.

[effektdmentality]

Charge per hour. It wouldn't be worth the effort if you charged $50 for a 1 person pin up that took 10 hours and then the same $50 for a 8 person battle scene that took 100 hours. I'd say, maybe $20ish an hour, not to mention materials if they want it as a print or something. Dunno if that sounds a bit much, but I charge $50/hr to draw unlimited BW face caricatures at a party. For me it's all about how long the work takes/is needed, so I'd go that route.

[JonnyFreeze]

hey i got paid 40 dollars to make a short cartoon if that comparison helps?

[Le Pijon]

I think everybody's made good points here and maybe I'll just make things more confusing but I'm trying to be helpful, really! :) I think your pay should be based on a sliding scale which takes a number of factors into consideration such as the value of your time and cost of materials (as Eff pointed out), how much you think your client is willing to pay and your own interest level in doing that particular piece. Also you may wish to consider slightly lowering your rate if you think it'll help you generate more work there in the future (you can always raise your rates later). You may also wish to offer a lower rate if you decide to sell multiple prints of the same image to different clients. If they're willing to post your print at the comic store, you might want to have them put up something about your willingness to do pieces for commission as well as cost of prints for pieces you've already done if you're serious about doing this kind of thing.

[Sonic1002]

I'd say it depends on the piece. Becuase, as we all know, if you do it by the hour, the price could end up being like $500. So, I say like $50-$75 per character in the picture.

[Shaylinn]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I am pretty sure he wants to do a catalogue/handbook type project of golden age characters. So I seriously doubt that any of the pieces will be more than one character at a time but I have to contact him to be sure.

Thanks again I'll let you all know what happens.

Shay

[Hasdrubal]

If the artwork in question featured a recognizable image of character you don't own the rights to, you NEVER sell it.

It doesn't matter how much work you put into a piece, you shouldn't be ripping off someone else's intellectual property, even when it's for just enough money for lunch at Burger King.

[WonderWomanGoddess]

I guess that all depends on your point of view...

Shay, there's fan art sold every day on ebay...Essex even sold some of his pieces that way when he was younger...

Perhaps that would another avenue for you to check prices...go to ebay, find some comic related fan art, etc, and then check the expired auctions for the price pieces end up going for...or for buy it now prices, but not the original list price of course.

[Shaylinn]

If the artwork in question featured a recognizable image of character you don't own the rights to, you NEVER sell it.

It doesn't matter how much work you put into a piece, you shouldn't be ripping off someone else's intellectual property, even when it's for just enough money for lunch at Burger King.

Don't worry Hasdrubal I would never sell a piece that used pictures I didn't have the rights too. One of the things I mentioned to him in the email is the question of image rights and that I couldn't sell any of the images I have done in the past since I don't own the rights to them. If this gentleman wants to publish I will be refering him to Corbis or one of the other royalty-free sites to look for base images. And for the characters themselves I believe the ones he is wanting to work with are in the public domain.

A number of my friends have had artwork "borrowed" by fan-lings for RPG and profiles and such and I am very sensitive to what is right AND legal.

Even the couple of prints I made of the Catherine Bell Wonder Woman that my comic guy asked for I didn't charge for. He gave me a couple of my comics free that week to cover the cost of the photo paper and printing but that was all.

WWG- I hadn't even thought about Ebay thats a good notion. I waiting to hear back right now if he wants to discuss per image or hourly.

[JonnyFreeze]

hmm if i post my crap on ebay some idiot is bound to buy it! i mean they sell potatoes on there right? and fools will buy em

[kev_incal]

Hey Shay, just so you don't scare the guy off, you can also try asking him if he had a total price range for the project and you can figure out how much work is 'fare' for you to do based on that amount. Also I like what other folks here have said about keeping in mind your 'hourly rate'. A Shaylinn original don't come cheak!

[Shaylinn]

LOL Kev -- I thought Cheeks were your specialty :wink:

But I did ask him which he would prefer per piece or hourly and I'm just waiting for his response now.