Pricing art commissions can be overwhelming, even if you’re an experienced artist. Are you charging too high? Too low? Are you making good use of your time?
If you don’t charge art commissions properly, you’ll find yourself buried under work and bills. Worse, you’ll start to burn out and resent your art.
Fortunately, there are ways to calculate and be smart about how much we charge. No more guessing games! Here’s how to price and adjust your art commission prices as you grow and become a better artist.
This is part 3 of the “Making Money as an NSFW Artist” Course.
Table of Contents
- What are commissions?
- If you’ve never priced commissions, do this
- Other ways to calculate your tier prices
- Other things to consider when pricing
- When should you raise prices?
- Putting it all together with an example
- Conclusion
What are Commissions?
When a client commissions you, they pay you to draw what they want. This might be their original character (OC), an existing franchise character, or whatever else.
NSFW artists usually price by tiers. This allow clients to pick something within their budget.
Other NSFW artists also price by amount of body drawn.
I don’t price like this because I find it messy, and I usually draw full body anyway.
If You’ve Never Priced Commissions, Do This
Price your commissions at minimum wage, or even lower.
If you’re shaking at the suggestion, great! Many artists would say “Minimum wage? That’s too high for the shit I draw”.
When I started, I was charging 6 bucks for a fully rendered artwork. My first commission took 6 months to deliver.
But after that, I absolutely knew and was confident that my art was more valuable than $6, and promptly raised my commission prices (and improved my time!)
If you’ve been scared of taking commissions because you don’t know how to price, this is how many artists start: they charge dirt cheap, do the work, realize they can deliver value, then raise their prices.
Once you’re more confident in your work, how do you price without having to play guessing games?
How To Calculate Your Tier Prices
It’s important that you know how much time you take to finish each stage of an artwork. Use a time tracking app like Harvest or Toggl for this.
Based on my time tracking for the past few months, I spend on average:
- Ideation: 1-2 hours
- Lineart: 3-4 hours
- Coloring: 5-7 hours
Once you have an estimate for how long each stage of the artwork takes you, decide what to price by using the formula:
Tier Price = Average Hours Spent to Finish Tier multiplied by Hourly Rate
You have several choices for choosing an hourly rate:
1. Build it up from minimum wage
When I started, my hourly rate was less than minimum wage. But over the two years I did commissions, I built the confidence to increase my rate to $10. Since I take on average 12 hours to finish, $10 * 12 hours = $120.
Though $10 an hour isn’t bad, the median for illustrators is $24 an hour. The best make $54 an hour. Now that’s a goal to reach for.
2. Research what other artists are charging
I never really liked this one, because we’re all at different stages of the art journey. It doesn’t help that most artists undercharge.
But it helps to be informed. I recommend searching “nsfw art commissions” on Twitter, or checking out skeb.jp (which doesn’t have the undercharge issue as much) to see what other artists with similar skill levels are charging.
It’ll also give you an idea of what art commissioners might expect for a price range, though don’t forget that you set the expectations first and foremost in your branding and marketing.
Handpicked recommendation: Building your Brand as an NSFW Artist
3. Base it on monthly expenses
If you’re planning to do art full time (or to supplement your main work), you can calculate the hourly rate needed to pay for monthly/remaining expenses with these steps:
– Multiply your expenses by 2 (to account for taxes, holidays, sick days, etc)
– Divide that by hours per month you can work (maximum 100 per month to remain sustainable)
For example, if you need $1000 a month = $2000. Divide that by 100 hours = $20 hourly rate.
Christopher Cant, a professional digital illustrator, uses this formula to calculate his hourly rate and annual income. If you want to learn more, check out his insightful article!
Other Things to Consider When Pricing
Don’t forget to take other things into account when you price:
- Price of Materials. Do you draw traditionally? Make sure you factor in the cost of your materials, like paint or paper.
- Revisions Cost. When will you allow clients to give feedback? Do you charge after a specific number of revision? Or will you charge depending on the request? Make this clear from the beginning so your client doesn’t have to guess.
- Copyright and Licensing. Your client might want to use the commission commercially (e.g., sell as merchandise). How much will you charge for that?
- Billable Time. Remember how we tracked our time? That also includes research, ideation, and time spent meeting/discussing with the client.
- Cost of Service. If you use PayPal or other services, you might want to incorporate their fees into your overall pricing.
When Should You Raise Prices?
1. When You’re Feeling Resentful
When it feels like the work isn’t worth your time, it’s time to charge more. Artist Melissa Dinwiddie shared her experience spending 106 hours on a ketubah (Jewish marriage contract), and barely getting paid minimum wage.
2. When Your Goals Change
I recently shared my income from the past 4 months and mentioned the idea of a money goal. When you’re more confident in your art, you can justify price increases simply because you aim for a higher goal. Just make sure people are still willing to pay!
3. When Your Queue is Full
Some artists only take a certain number of commissions before closing them. Since you have work, it’s a great opportunity to raise prices and see if it’ll impact demand. Most of the time it doesn’t!
4. When You Add More Value
I do a lot of alternate versions like x-rays and undressed, which the client can pay extra for. Similarly, you could think of other things to add like:
- Designing a magazine cover version
- Writing short stories to go with the artwork
- Adding subtitles and changing expressions to create a CG set
Art is also a marketing game. My favorite example is Sakimi-chan, who charges up to $500 for full body artworks. The demand for their art is insane, and they’re able to leverage that and justify the charge.
Putting it All Together
I was recently commissioned to do this artwork.
Client-san agreed on a single version artwork. The final price was $110. (I added the clotheless version and background at my own liberty, so no charge for that).
My rate is $10 an hour. Tracking my time told me I took 10 hours.
Success! However, I upped my price after I noticed I needed more leeway to make my $10 hourly rate.
Did that impact demand? Not really, I got a $355 commission job with my new prices afterwards.
Conclusion
Raising commission prices might be nerve-wracking, but the more you work and become a better artist, the more confident you’ll be in your prices.
Your price may start low, but it doesn’t have to stay low. Instead of giving in to self-doubt, lean on the knowledge that you are delivering valuable art, backed up the formula for tier prices:
Tier price = Average House Spent x Hourly Rate
I hope the article helped you! If you need any feedback on your commission prices or want some advice on how you can bring more value into your art, feel free to reach out on Twitter or comment below.
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