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How much should I expect to pay an artist for this?
Drez
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Disclaimer: I am *not* trying to solicit help or work here, I'm only looking for a pricing benchmark because I have no idea what to expect.
I'm not sure if H/A or AC is the right place for this, but I thought I'd ask here first.
So, I'm writing a game, by myself. My design doc is about 50% complete, my script is 25% complete, and I will program it myself. I'm looking ahead to what else the project needs, that I cannot do myself: artwork and sound.
For art, I need some still scenes and some character art in a few different poses/emotions. Maybe 30-40 pieces of art altogether including all the scenes and character poses. There aren't many characters or locations, so it won't be very art heavy.
I have no idea how much I should expect to spend for something like this, assuming it is just contract work with no profit sharing later. I don't even know what the ballpark is. $1,000? $5,000? $20,000? Way more? Way less? I'm trying to gauge because some costs are out of my range and the whole project may be cost prohibitive. Also, I'm thinking of asking my younger cousin to do this because she's a beginner artist and could use the work/experience/money. I'm not looking for anything too complex. But I want to do right by her - I don't want to under pay her. And I might end up hiring someone else anyway.
Thoughts?
Same question for sound - I wouldn't need that many tracks.
I'm not sure if H/A or AC is the right place for this, but I thought I'd ask here first.
So, I'm writing a game, by myself. My design doc is about 50% complete, my script is 25% complete, and I will program it myself. I'm looking ahead to what else the project needs, that I cannot do myself: artwork and sound.
For art, I need some still scenes and some character art in a few different poses/emotions. Maybe 30-40 pieces of art altogether including all the scenes and character poses. There aren't many characters or locations, so it won't be very art heavy.
I have no idea how much I should expect to spend for something like this, assuming it is just contract work with no profit sharing later. I don't even know what the ballpark is. $1,000? $5,000? $20,000? Way more? Way less? I'm trying to gauge because some costs are out of my range and the whole project may be cost prohibitive. Also, I'm thinking of asking my younger cousin to do this because she's a beginner artist and could use the work/experience/money. I'm not looking for anything too complex. But I want to do right by her - I don't want to under pay her. And I might end up hiring someone else anyway.
Thoughts?
Same question for sound - I wouldn't need that many tracks.
Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
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it sort of depends on style too. different styles take different amounts of time, and level of detail
I have an artist who can do a vector spritesheet of a walking and attacking animation in a medium-high level of detail in basically a day
for some people that takes three days.
on other words there are huge cost variances and the most important thing is to find someone who can work efficiently, not cheaply
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Any idea where I can find some? I can at least use them as placeholders.
Let's say I want an image of a rather spartan living room...
Thanks.
I don't really have a deadline though... So efficiency isn't that important.
Actually delivering is.
Maybe I'll reach out to my cousin and see if she could even do what I'm asking.
that's what I'm saying... 5k is relative. 5k will buy a lot from some people and shit from others, not just qualitatively, but quantitatively
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I have 0 experience in this area but I think what @Jasconius was saying is that artists tend to charge by the hour so to speak. So a cheaper artist that takes 3 times as long will actually end up costing you more than a more expensive artist who can do the job quickly.
What you want varies DRASTICALLY! So drastically. You need to be much much more precise about what you want.
The cheapest high quality illustration I've gotten from an established artist was 900 for a monster in a scene with no other characters. For one illustration. It was good though. Really good. I got quotes from a lot of other artists for this project and it ranged from 1000-2500 for a single illustration. These are all established artists by the way, not students or people in 3rd world countries.
If you were to ask an artist for a quote, they'll want to know how detailed a scene they're making. Just a character on a blank background, is far cheaper than in a detailed jungle for example. And then the character itself, how detailed are we talking? Are we talking details like this: http://s.cghub.com/files/Image/510001-511000/510285/769_max.jpg Or are we talking something more simple like this: http://th01.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/136/e/8/yuyu_character_sheet_by_yuka_kaworu-d4zy8wz.jpg
Now, since you're asking for a lot of them, I'm guessing you're not looking for super detailed illustrations (the sort of stuff you'd see on book covers). But you still need to be way way more exact about what you want.
For example I know artists that'll charge 150 bucks a sketch. A detailed sketch, but still just a sketch. And then there will be other fledgling artists that'll happily take 3k for the whole job just because no one else is hiring them.
Re: Complexity: More like the second. I'm not looking for super-detailed environments.
I think you should probably look around an artist portfolios that are making the sort of work that you want, and then e-mail them and ask for a quote. Show them examples of what kind of work you'd like.
Pricing just varies so much based on the artist.
For that anime illustration, you can probably get that done for between 40-200 dollars.
Without knowing much about your cousin, try not let to let her underbid, and also not just assume she can do the art you want because shes an artist. If you require something that does not look like what she does already, just hire someone.
in fact I would almost say if anyone bid less than 2k on that you'd at least want to ask them why
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Currently, my artistic ability is roughly what you see on XKCD (but only the simpler comics).
Draw from life, draw stuff around your home, draw draw draw.
I hear a lot of good things about the book Drawing with the right side of your brain to help with developing observational skills and translating what you see to what you're drawing, but eventually it all comes down to drawing a lot.
I don't have any of that stuff.
I think I'll continue on with my project from a writing/design and programming perspective and try to figure out the art later.
Cool, thanks.
Because that's sort of like saying "I'd like a game made". That could be anything from a board game to a AAA title, right?
If you want someone to, for instance, provide a single 2-3 minute synth track, then whatever, I'd maybe charge $500-600 if done right and mastered a bit. If you want someone to do music, sound effects, mastering, and integration, then we're talking $4-5k. Hell, if you wanted me to build a system to do generative music then.... I don't even know how I'd estimate that right now. Probably hourly, and it would probably be a fuckton, and I'd probably want royalties or creative control over the algorithm/patch.
"Sound" is a whole bunch of stuff, and it would be charged and measured thusly. Not even to mention that there's a world of difference between various amounts of sound. I mean I'm a composer, so I only really know that world, but even for me sometimes I'll have a project that I can finish in a day, and sometimes I'll have projects that will take me 6 months.
you can get a lot done with public domain art as placeholders
i use Legend of Zelda 8-bit sprites for almost everything I do until it's ready for art... you can find all kinds of SNES sprite sheets out there to use as placeholders
the nice thing about those old school sprites is that they are extremely easy to flawlessly resize to whatever you need them to be... so resolution isn't even a real concern
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
In the meantime, check out their art: http://www.glitchthegame.com/public-domain-game-art/
Thanks!
Take rymdkapsel, for example.
Really fun little tower defense base building iOS game... with Tetris elements.
Your minions are the little white vertical rectangles, the other colored gizmos are various other resources, and the different colored floor tiles represent different structures.
Sure, it could also look really neat with actual little spacemen running around and hallways that look like a spacestation interior, but this minimalist style is also really pretty and didn't require a whole lot of artistic ability to create. The creator had a good artistic vision mind you, but these visuals are something he could create even if he couldn't draw/paint/sketch worth a damn.
I definitely agree with that. I'm a minimalist by nature. However, the game I am designing is essentially a choose-your-own-adventure with storyboards. Think Long Live The Queen. Art is important. I just can't do it. There are elements of minimalism in my game design, but the art needs to be catching.