What Do Artists Get Paid?

[Mistah_Richard]

I think I can shed some light on this (not that others haven't). I can provide a viewpoint as a freelancer AND as a former partner and project director at Sanguine Productions Ltd.

From a company standpoint, we would pay what the artist was worth. Typical per page rate was 60 to 80 US dollars per page of B&W. This scaled down based on actual page size drawn. Thus, a 1/2 page piece would be around 40 USD and a 1/4 page would be 20 USD. We only did B&W interiors so there was no color rate. For color covers, the scale ranged from 300.00 to 900.00 depending on the talent, professionalism (meeting deadlines, following file formats, etc), and fan base. Sanguine had limited purse strings so that was what we could afford.

As a freelancer now, I have gone as low as 5 USD for an eighth of a page. Why? Because I can pump them out REALLY fast. They are detailed, yet simple B&W linework pieces and I can get 3 to 5 done in an hour rating my pay around 20.00 per hour. Which is fine for me. I am not THE artists of artists. I avoid projects I know I cannot do and for more detailed stuff the price jumps pretty high.

Bottom line though is that Game Industry doesn't follow a true scale. This may be a good or bad thing. I honestly do not know. I can say that if an artist even suggests following the pricing guidelines in the Graphic Artist's Guild's handbook I would laugh. Certain markets simply cannot bear the burden of a standard wage one might find in say Package Design or Advertising. When a publisher prints 3000 books (and yes, A GOODLY amount of the D20 products out there are printed in small numbers) you cannot afford to pay EVERY artist 120.00 to 180.00 an illo. So the good artists get better in skill, and more importantly, style and fan development (artists sell book just because their art is on the cover more often than you might think) AND/OR learns to take projects they know they can whip through in a blaze of speed with little in the way of loss in quality.

Hope that helps!

 

[hellbender]

One of the most poignant statements on this thread is that illustrators (for we wear the 'illustrator' hat when working in this capacity) should not expect to make a living on rpg art alone. This is very true, even regarding the fact that some of the big names that were made on the Magic ccg, some illustrators bought houses off a couple of royalty checks (ok, not huge houses, but $30,000 checks and higher were made out). And now, some of these illustrators make about $3/hour (on some jobs) doing spot work for rpg books, in addition to getting artwork in other venues.

This is where innovation comes in. There are many ways of still living as an artist/illustrator by doing your own thing and forging a niche for yourself. The fact that you won't pay your mortgage on b&w interior art shouldn't be a revelation, either. And it should not discourage talented illustrators from diving in. There are many opprotunities in the fantasy market besides rpg art that allow one to still do rpg work for the love of it.

In my opinion, better than pay from the rpg company, are the rights you retain on your work. Who cares what a 1/4 page illustration pays? It is your ability to retain your control over it. If your work is good enough, then you can reprint your work in any number of ways for residual income from your initial work.

hellbender

 

[Mistah_Richard]

In my opinion, better than pay from the rpg company, are the rights you retain on your work. Who cares what a 1/4 page illustration pays? It is your ability to retain your control over it. If your work is good enough, then you can reprint your work in any number of ways for residual income from your initial work.

Maybe. Certainly in some circles, retention of IP may seem key, but to be honest, it usually doesn't work that way. As an artist I undertand that I may be doing work based on copyrighted text and others ideas. As an art director, I hand fed my artists, supplying them with EXACTLY what I/the company wanted. That is, often times what an artist does. Fullfills the vision of someone else. I want A, B, and C. If the artist can't do it, they do not get paid/hired. On the flip side of the coin what can you do in weak market?

As an artist, I understand my worth. I do not have a fan base like Elmore nor do I have the skills of Adi Granov. I pump out simple quality images out and if I WANTED to use this as a form of living I could. For me it is simply additional income. If I am spoon fed EXACTLY what a company wants, the image really isn't mine. Sure I did the work, but then there was little on the creative end, which ultimately is what you should own as an artist.

Understand also that my original background is advertisement design and package design. I worked for a company that made images for other companies. I have never felt a need to own t he IP of my work unless I create it for me and my use.

Just my two cents...

 

[hellbender]

The point of retaining rights is for selling prints, especially at conventions, in the case of most interior art (b&w) this is a moot point most of the time. Interior colour art is another ballpark. Selling prints if you are not violating IP (a 'generic' type image that can have multiple interpretations) is done ALL the time by illustrators that are able to retain the rights after printing. There are many rpg companies out there that reserve all rights, which is, of course, their choice, and protects them in cases of IP images as well as generic images. There are no artists in the rpg market, after all, only illustrators.


hellbender

 

[Khur]

Art!

As an artist and pro graphic designer, I'd like to add a bit to the discussion. First of all, it was good that the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines was mentioned here. Unfortunately, unless you do artwork for WotC, you'll never see the rates that appear in that book in gaming. Why? Because game companies can't afford those rates, unlike big-time publishers. On the flip side, what Mystic Eye (Doug Herring?) said is true, and works great for making it worth an artist's while to take a project on. Even at $20 per quarter page, a sizeable book could have $1000 or more worth of images. An artist that gets the whole project gets a decent chunk o' dough. (I think I calculated, based on their art rates and images in one 128-page product, that an artist who got the whole project made around $2000 from Steve Jackson for a GURPS worldbook.) When you think about it this way, it's not bad money; especially considering you'd do all of those images in a few weeks. I've seen cover rates vary all over the place, but hover at over $300 or more. (Feel free to correct me.)

What one should do with the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines is learn their rights and duties to their clients. Also, don't sell all rights to your work unless you have to. First rights, like Mystic Eye buys, are a good way to go, because then you (the artist) still own the work essentially. Most professional shops I've seen buy first rights, although SJG buys all rights. Paradigm's art rates are good, for the industry and depending on what rights they buy. I think last time I looked at SJG's rates, it was around $1.66 per square inch, or $10 for anything under 10 inches square.

From what I understand so far about typical freelance rates for writers, at small press level both come out about even. Perhaps the artists make a bit more, but if the writer gets royalties, who knows? Of course, beginning writers talented enough to break in with an article in Dragon are making 5-cents a word to start.

Like others have said, the big names make a lot more scratch. Further, TIME magazine can afford to pay an artist $350 for a 3"x3" color spot. But, when your profit margin is only around $5k-10k a book, you have to pinch pennies just to keep things rolling! (Correct me if I'm wrong on the margins for small press.)

We've all seen bad art in RPG products, proving that one does get what one pays for at times. On the other hand, I've seen some spectacular art in RPG books. There's always the "labor of love" factor. The gaming industry is driven by that factor IMO. (Everyone keeps long hours, because it's work, but it's also fun.)

If I could make $25-$30k a year doing gaming stuff, I'd take it over a job making $45k doing something else. Maybe that's just me.

 

[Mistah_Richard]

On Rights:

I agree that an artist should be able to retain re-print rights for personal art sales. I do not however believe an artist working on a visual style or IP for a company should be able to resell the image to ANOTHER company. First, it waters down the conceptual image of the company's product (actually BOTH products). Second, the art is no longer the value you are selling it for (yes, I KNOW we argue about this for a VERY long time...agree to disagree here if you do infact disagree).

At Sanguine, the rights we were granted or given were as follows: Full reproduction rights, payment on publication (at the beginning we paid 30 days on reception), artist retained full reproduction rights, but the image copyright was OWNED by Sanguine, and the artist was liable for misrepresentation of originality and copyright infringement.

That was about the only way we could have done it.

On Graphic Artists Guild:

I think the GAG publication (I own several of the books) is a GREAT source of ethical material, such as contracts, proper billing formats, national and international copyright laws, and a wealth of resources to which to find more details.

I have a major problem with the GAG in that they think that every artist out there should have a paid position and they think "work for hire" is a toll of the devil (my words obviously, not theirs). Their pricing outlines are very East Coast - West Coast, oriented. To them, the freelancer represents an ability to undercut their fulltime/employed artists. In 1990 they were really making noise about this and may have changed their song (I only use the books for contractual and copyright/rights info and ignore the rest). Why? A freelancer is able to charge less than a dedicated employee house artist. If it costs me, as a company to pay an artist 40.00 an hour to work on a project while they are employed by me (benefits, federal, and pay included in that figure) then it would stand to figure that I could cut costs by having a freelancer do it. I don't pay their medical, I don't have to worry about unemplyment or 401K.

A freelancer also has more freedom with less security. It is a give and take situation. No freelancer out there EVER is forced to take a job if the pay sucks.

Last Item:

As I have argued on severla D20 forums before I would highly reccemend ANY artist demanding MORE money for their art should it ever be released as OGC (Open Game Content). The artist should make sure that their contract includes either non_ogc inclusion or compensation for release as OGC. What ever the artist thinks it may be worth...say double or triple original pay scale.

Sorry if I sound wishy washy on some of this stuff. I think that both the artist and company have rights. The company has the right to pay as little as they possibly can and protect themselves as much as possible. The artist has an obligation to demand as much money as they think it is worth. Somewhere the two meet. Sometimes more int he favor of the company and other times in favor of the artist.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

 

[Wolvorine]

In my own opinion as a freelance illustrator, if I do an image specifically for a certain company, then I have no desire to sell that image later to another company. This is mostly because the image was tailored to the original client, and jujst doesn't have a good chance of fitting into another company's book. Not to mention it makes my work look far too repetitive. I'd rather do a new image. It's better for my reputation, and the client's.

On the other hand I always insist on ownership of the original artwork whenever possible. If for no other reason than every piece I do professionally goes immediately to my web site to broaden the strength of my portfolio for future clients to see, as well as forming a job-history for me. I have done work for this and that publisher, because I have work done for them sitting on my page. It's a great boon to me in that respect. But also, I'm very protective and parental about my work, and that's a motivtion, too. Drawing at all is a labor of love, I refuse to ever approach it as a product to be dismissed after completion (the old "if you're good, you can make more, who cares about that one" deal, ugh).

But then again, the only following I have is Tensen.

 

[Impeesa]

Oh and for the guy who always reads "scared lands" when he sees "scarred lands", you are not alone.

What, so I'm the only one who looks at that and sees "Scarred Lads"?

--Impeesa--