What would be fair pay for an artist on a PDF project?

[mroberon1972]

Like the title said: What would be fair pay for an artist on a PDF project?

A free copy of the work, either PDF or by using the RPGNOW Print On Demand to give them a printed copy?

A Percentage of the income from the project?

A flat payment for use of the artwork?

Smacking them from behind with a wet fish?

...

Sorry about that last one. It's getting late and my blood sugar seems a tad low.

Mr. Oberon

 

[s/LaSH]

As an artist who works on PDF products (personal experiences; other people may vary):

The first three options tend to be most common. A free copy is considered de rigeur; no matter how little effort a contributer has put in, they should get to see their work. I did 2 monsters, 1800 words, for Creature Collection III, and they still send two hardback books halfway round the world for me. For PDFs, it's OK to just send a PDF.

Then there's actual payment. Some people will be content to work for exposure. Many people, however, frown upon this as needlessly denigrative towards artists in general. At the very minimum, therefore, a percentage of sales should be considered. From what I've seen, 10% is a minimum, 33% is a maximum. This is normally split between artists, and (I believe) refers to point-of-sale pricing, just so you're aware.

If you're secure in your finances, a flat payment is always welcome. B&W interiors will probably range US$15-30, depending on size and detail. Colour work will be higher; I'd charge US$50-70 for interiors and around US$100 for a cover. Sequential art (comics) is very expensive; because of the detail involved, I'd price it on a par with covers, maybe higher, and the pages really start to stack up.

This is just my experience, of course. Others welcome to tell me if I'm being ripped off. Or if they are.

 

[mroberon1972]

Hmnnn...

I just had an Idea:

For small publishers, the startup cost of purchasing art can be too high to be possible at first, what about a combination of the percentage, up to a certain amount?

If a normal B&W art unit would cost $15 up front, then offer to pay 50% to 100% more, but in payments based on 20% of the profits until paid off.

This prevents the problem of tracking the artist for royalties even years after the fact. Also, the artist gets his income faster then a normal percentage, and also makes more in the final total than he would if he took a flat fee.


Any thoughts?

Perhaps I'm just reaching... It's hard to be fair and be profitable...


Mr. Oberon

 

[s/LaSH]

Assuming you can sell enough to pay the artist off in the first year or so, then that doesn't sound too bad. The percentage is nice if the project doesn't really get off the ground, the total is very nice too. Upon consideration, I probably wouldn't mind using such a scheme.