So, among those that do commision character art I've noticed that there's a big push not to undervalue yourself from the artist community. Artists new to commisioning sometimes way underprice themselves to get some customers, get some experience, and end up making a lot less than a livable salary. Spending 4 hours on a $10 work is not sustainable.
While a work of art might not be worth $200 to me, I've come to the conclusion that doesn't mean the asking price is unreasonable. I like to paint miniatures, and while I'm not skilled enough to make a living off of commissions or selling my own work, it might be fun to calculate what I would need to charge to make a a decent profit. Let's go over some of my expenses.
Models: $150. - These are GW Armiger Warglaives that come in a box of 2 for $75. (Even though you can have up to three warglaives in a unit the box only comes with 2.)
Paints: $7.00/$70.00 - I'm lowballing it here because I can't remember all the paints, primers, dry pigments, washes, etc., etc. I used for these models off the top of my head or exactly how much I spent on them. And while I might have spent $6.00 for a bottle of transparent yellow paint, I sure didn't use the whole pot for these three models so it might not be fair to count the whole amount. Still, if I were an artist, it's possible for me to use a color for a commissioned piece and not need that color again for years. I'd be eating the remaining cost for that fiscal year.
Basing Material: $5/$50 - Again, I think I'm lowballing myself because I can't remember exactly how much I spent on these. You might not be able to tell from the photo, but I've got snow and ice effects, barbed wire, oil barrels, concrete terrain paint, and some yellow for street markings.
Airbrush: $50 - My airbrush set up actually cost me $250 in 2000 but I don't think it's fair to include the whole cost in this calculation. However, while painting these particular miniatures, I broke the nozzle of my airbrush and had to replace it so I went ahead and replaced the needle as well which cost me a total of $50. If I were a professional painter, this would have set me back quite a bit because my airbrush was out of commission while I waited for a new nozzle to be delivered. (And I broke my replacement nozzle as well. I ordered two more replacements so I'd have a backup as well as a special tool making it easier to take the nozzle off and put it on without breaking it.)
Time: $150 - Since this is a hobby, I really don't keep track of the amount of time it takes me to paint my miniatures. But conservatively speaking, I think 15 hours is reasonable. The minimum wage in Arkansas is $10 an hour so that's $150 in labor.
I'm calculating what I've invested in this at the lowest price point which is $212 just for materials and $362 if you include my labor. But let's eliminate the cost of the airbrush so we get $162 for materials and if we add labor we get $312. If I were going to sell these three models in a lot I would probably start at $300. But I have no real business sense and if I were selling these it'd be with the intention of buying more models rather than paying my rent. if I were a professional, I'm sure I'd have a much more efficient setup and would be working on more than one project at a time. But labor is still going to be a significant factor in how much I'm going to charge for my work. I sure don't want to live on minimum wage.
