Pricing advice?

[plasticseaslug]

I've been wanting to start taking art commissions, but I'm not sure how to set fair prices. Any tips?

[larvapuppy]

There are a lot of factors to consider. Your skill level, the amount of time it takes you to make a commission, and the materials/resources you need to use up to make them are important.

Are you planning on doing them as a hobby, or do you want to pursue this as a job? Hobbyists usually price their commissions lower, because they aren't relying on them for income. One negative side effect of this is that more serious full-time commission artists can get priced out of the market, since cheaper alternatives are available.

I mostly see people charge a flat price depending on the type of commission (sketch, painting, full body, bust, etc) rather than charging per hour, but it might be interesting to come up with an hourly rate you want to earn and time yourself for each type. Then you have something to base your prices upon.

[villain]

My biggest advice for commissions is to offer VERY LIMITED CHOICES! You may think having a billion different styles and headshot/fullbody options is good but actually it just causes choice fatigue. I think having one specific type (icons or chibis are always popular) that you offer for a base price and then +10% extra for characters with a complex design (trust me, you need this in case someone asks you to draw their ffxiv character...)
As far as the specific pricing - a good way to calculate this is doing a freebie or art trade with a friend, ensure you are drawing a character you haven't before, and time how long this takes for you start to end. It has to be a character you haven't drawn before because this surprisingly affects time a lot! And then work out how much that would cost if you were paid minimum wage per hour. This is the absolute minimum you can charge! Don't charge lower!
Also, it's unlikely to happen if its your first time but in case you have a big following already - don't take on too many your first time or you're likely to burn out. 3 max is a good amount.

[plasticseaslug]

My biggest advice for commissions is to offer VERY LIMITED CHOICES! You may think having a billion different styles and headshot/fullbody options is good but actually it just causes choice fatigue. I think having one specific type (icons or chibis are always popular) that you offer for a base price and then +10% extra for characters with a complex design (trust me, you need this in case someone asks you to draw their ffxiv character...)
As far as the specific pricing - a good way to calculate this is doing a freebie or art trade with a friend, ensure you are drawing a character you haven't before, and time how long this takes for you start to end. It has to be a character you haven't drawn before because this surprisingly affects time a lot! And then work out how much that would cost if you were paid minimum wage per hour. This is the absolute minimum you can charge! Don't charge lower!
Also, it's unlikely to happen if its your first time but in case you have a big following already - don't take on too many your first time or you're likely to burn out. 3 max is a good amount.

That's all super useful, thank you so much!! I'll have to find a friend to do an art trade with, now >:)

[plasticseaslug]

[...] I mostly see people charge a flat price depending on the type of commission (sketch, painting, full body, bust, etc) rather than charging per hour, but it might be interesting to come up with an hourly rate you want to earn and time yourself for each type. Then you have something to base your prices upon.

Ohhh, I'll give that a shot! That might be most useful for me, considering that I don't know how much time each of my works will generally take.