I've been using the search feature for the forums to try and find a thread that was just a general discussion on the cost of artwork, however nothing came up. So here goes...
So how much can one expect to pay for original artwork?
I know that "it depends" is the first answer, but I love averages and generalities.
Deviantart seems to be the first place to look, though even there I'm not finding a lot of general ideas of cost on good artwork. It seems that you can hire someone generally to do line artwork for around $10 for each piece. That sounds like a fair price.
But what about cover art? If you want your cover to be really impressive, how much are you generally looking at in cost for full color? Is it $100, $1000? It was here that I wasn't really getting clear rates from artists. Anyone who was really impressive on Deviantart wasn't listing rates.
Just out of sheer curiosity, how much does it cost to get well known RPG artistis to do a cover for you? I'm sure its too much for a small time pdf author, but if I wanted to get someone in the industry like Wayne Reynolds (Pathfinder and 4E covers) to do a cover?
A good, "pro game quality" artist is probably around 1000$ for a colour cover. Some charge by the hour, in which case you'll get somewhere around 50-100$ per hour.
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I've been commissioning illustrations for my first publication - Kaidan: The Gift: Part 1, and have been working with pros and semi-pros. Depending on how many pieces you're buying you can get a bulk deal, but that's buying 6 or more pieces of art. Depending on where you shop for fantasy artists prices vary. I've managed to get two great cover illustrations for my first two adventures, as in my Map Emporeum thread, and a third on the way for only $100 each. You'll notice that there's only one figure in each piece - that kept the price down. However the artist added in some background creatures for no extra charge, as that became what he wanted to do. If I had wanted five or sixes individuals in a design it might triple the price or more.
Interior art costs less than cover art. Color more than B/W. Size of art changes the price (full page, half page, quarter page).
A B/W quarter page art can be $10 up to $50 or more depending on who is creating the art. The more experienced, the more published, the more money - usually.
Basically I've got an art heavy set of adventures and the start of a setting manual, and only have spent about $600, though if the setting manual gets published, I may have $1000 to $1500 invested in art - but this is for a big multi-product project.
Problems to worry about, especially from cheaper, less experienced artists is art that both best meets your needs and whether they can make a deadline. Plus some artists get burned, so they are more reluctant to work for less money.
Expect to pay after work is completed, but you should also have some kind of contract and Non Disclosure Agreement that protects your IP.
If you just need a few pieces and you can find good B/W art, except maybe a cover design, you could expect to pay at least $150 - $200, again depending on who, when is your deadline, size of art, etc.
You could also troll your local college art department for talented unknowns that may do the work for lots less.
I've only worked with semi-pros and pros and got deals from all of them. You just need to shop around.
One of my artists is Mark Hyzer who is the most well known pro illustrator working on my project, having painted art for WotC Magic the Gathering CCG. Apparently he loves to create pencil illustrations, but nobody ever commissions him for that (and he is good), so I did for all my monsters in the setting, so he's doing bulk work and only charging $20 per illustration - which is an unbelieveable deal, but I will be spending almost $1000 just for his work, before the project is done.
Here's a sample of his work... Same Bito (Shark Shapechanger)
Of course, I create fantasy maps for publications - mine and others, and that's a different animal altogether. I charge $20 per hour, with most maps costing around $100 each, unless its requested as hand-drawn then it costs more.
Go to Conceptart.org and post a thread in the Job Listings. Dont go to the artists, let the artists come to you.
Write exactly what you expect from them and what you expect to pay for their work, whether that is $100 dollars for a single cover image or $300 for 10 interior illustrations. Those who are interested in this work will contact you, but give them at least a week to find you, and don't worry, you'll get lots of cool artists to return your job call.
I've tried to work with the "famous" artists in the biz, and they are way overpriced, but hey, someone is paying them! My first fantasy cover ever cost me $1200... and it wasn't worth the price, and it took way too long to make. The artist's name was Doug Kovacs.
Since then, I've found a few artists that I love to work with, and whose prices I find quite reasonable. I give them a little freedom in the work and I'm loyal to them, which is important. I also make sure to pay them on time, and often before time!
My absolute favorite artist is Gary Dupuis (www.gdupuis.com); he always have time for my projects, is fast and always delivers brilliant work. He mostly does black and white interiors.
Just remember, there's lots of cool artists out there whose names are NOT James Ryman, Todd Lockwood and Howard Lyon! In case you are wondering about their prices... they are in the $4000 league...
Just out of sheer curiosity, how much does it cost to get well known RPG artistis to do a cover for you? I'm sure its too much for a small time pdf author, but if I wanted to get someone in the industry like Wayne Reynolds (Pathfinder and 4E covers) to do a cover?
You might want to talk to Jason Walton at Jason Walton Online Gallery. Good artist who is very reasonable. Also, when I asked for Wayne Reynolds rates, I was told they were in the low $1,000 range.
- Cover, full page, half page, or quarter page
- B&W versus color
- Deadlines (one hidden cost is that less experienced artists may struggle with meeting quick deadlines)
- Lease or own (prices are lower if the artist keeps the rights to the art, allowing them to resell it, make T-shirts, ask for more money if you want to reuse it, etc)
This is hardly a scientific survey, but based on my recent project, assuming you are looking for professional grade work but are not insisting on top artists, working under a professional deadline,
- Lease quarter page B&W $10
- Buy quarter page B&W, one character, $15, full scene maybe $15-20
- Lease full color cover, slightly used, $50-60
- Lease full color cover, probably unused or littled used, $70-90
- Buy full color cover, $150-250
Note that in many cases, those numbers are lower than "I'll draw your character's portrait, do not reuse this image" rates. While I can't speak for the artists, I guess that is because RPG artists are interested in exposure and would like to work with challenging subjects rather than poses from customers with a very personal vision of what constitutes an acceptable final product.
Caveat: I am just getting started in the biz, so I can't speak from a wealth of experience. Based on my experiences so far, if you are willing to spend a little time with artists of various levels of experience and mostly lease rather than buy, you can get all the art you need for a modest price while building a mutually satisfactory relationship with artists who, like yourself, are building up their standing within the biz. As part of this relationship, use their time well. I lay out the basic thematics and subject of a piece, and I am inclined to let the artist do what they feel they do well, reserving my directorial judgment for what I see as technical or aesthetic problems. If you picked the right artist for the job, and laid out the style requirements at the beginning, this should be a cinch.
If the art you are using is sort of atypical in some fashion, you should probably plan on spending a little bit more to own the copyrights. In addition to keeping the artist happy and well-fed while working on your strange projects, it means you will retain a library of images distinctive and identified with your product. An example would be a cover image featuring one or more new player races.
As a final word, while I have come to the conclusion that clip art is of limited utility, if you can save $10 here or there by using a perfectly acceptable image, go for it. I have bought a couple of packages off RPG now that had acceptable previews and good reviews.
As a ballpark, I would expect to spend no more than $250, total, on a modest project. On the other hand, for a really spectacular cover, that is probably at least $500, as much as $1000, and you could spend as much as you like on interior art. Now is a good time how many copies you think you are going to sell, and how much profit you expect per copy.
Even though I've paid a good sum for the art I'm using for Kaidan, in my first publication module - The Gift: Part 1, about half the art is public domain art, or Japanese Ukiyo-e prints from the 18th and 19th centuries, as it is very appropriate content and didn't cost me anything to use.
I'm curious what constitutes 'full page' vs. 'quarter page' art. I would assume you can just resize art to fit wherever you need it. Does the artist charge you on final use or is there some other factor that determines the difference between big and small art like detail and background?
I'm currently looking for art to compliment an adventure module I'm in the process of finishing up, as well as two or three feature pieces and some website frills. All of it will be B&W with the exception of the website frills.
What sort of price range would I be looking at to help fill a 48-page adventure module with B&W character pieces?
Also, has anyone had any experience pricing map fluffing up? By that i mean I have the basic designs of maps and I just need them to be made to look cooler than boring lines and basic filler. These would also be in colour, several of which would span multiple A4 pages.
I'm not an artist myself, but IME I find that a piece of art designed to fit in a quarter page has less detail, complexity, and so forth (and is cheaper to commission for that reason). Conversely, designing a piece of art to fill a page typically requires more work from the artist (and full-page works are more expensive for that reason).
In addition, when submitting work over the Internet, IME the artist will prefer to send digital files that are of the correct resolution when the work is sized as intended; increasing the size of raster images always degrades their quality (lowers their effective resolution).
I'm not an artist myself, but IME I find that a piece of art designed to fit in a quarter page has less detail, complexity, and so forth (and is cheaper to commission for that reason). Conversely, designing a piece of art to fill a page typically requires more work from the artist (and full-page works are more expensive for that reason).
In addition, when submitting work over the Internet, IME the artist will prefer to send digital files that are of the correct resolution when the work is sized as intended; increasing the size of raster images always degrades their quality (lowers their effective resolution).
This.
And Kzach, send me your file to my email in my sig, and I'll give you a price to fluff up your map. It really depends on how much work is involved and what you're really looking for. Check out my portfolio, to see what is possible...
Although it isn't currently updated, it should give you an idea of the kind of work I produce. Plus you can always look at my "GP's Map Emporeum" thread in the art forum here.
At a guess, I'd say one or two hours or $20 to $40, most likely from what you've described, probably only an hour of work though, so the lesser price.
Ah nice. I'll definitely send something along once I'm ready, which is still awhile off. I like to be well-researched and prepared so I'm starting to look into things early on in the process
I'm curious what constitutes 'full page' vs. 'quarter page' art. I would assume you can just resize art to fit wherever you need it. Does the artist charge you on final use or is there some other factor that determines the difference between big and small art like detail and background?
The size of the piece depends on two factors: the level of detail in the piece, and the level of file resolution. My philosophy is to be very forthright with artists about what you intend to do with their work. The last thing you want is an artist online complaining that you paid for X and are exploiting their work for Y. Also, you might annoy an artist who feels their art was not well presented because of resizing you performed. Also, not every artist has a lot of technical competence, so you might end up with an image that only resolves well at a certain size, say if it's a JPG.
If you intend to reuse, resize, bend, fold, colorize, and otherwise mangle someone else's work, I suggest you contract to own the image outright and you avoid contract clauses that require you to attribute it or include the signature, in case there is some disagreement about how the art is to be used.
In case you are wondering about their prices... they are in the $4000 league...
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