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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 4975590" data-attributes="member: 15538">Going past "it depends," you would factor in:- 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, $150-250Note 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.</blockquote>

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