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Nov 2017

Just wondering if anyone knows... how much does typical good flatter charge per page for up to 5 panels?

Does anyone here have experience with outsourcing these task to a flatter?

I'd love to hear it if you do. Thanks a bunch!

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    Nov '17
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    Nov '17
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Good flatting actually takes effort. Prices could go up way higher.
Just because something is easy and mindless does not mean it can go for very low pricing.

uhhh as someone who's degree is literally in illustration and color, i would hardly call flatting in colors "mindless".... theres a lot of thought that goes into color placements and harmony to bolster the themes and moods of the comic
it's still an arts job, i cannot think of a single artist i know who would do any sort of work for 5 bucks. you gotta think about it hourly, and a typical page can take between 30 mins to an hour to flat. people who do it professionally should be making AT LEAST a minimum hourly wage and can charge between $15-50 a page.

I charge $20/hour to do flats. It's cheaper if its part of package deal (Where I'm doing the lineart and the colors, then flats is cheaper and its a flat rate price per page rather than per hour).

I've also hired out to have someone else do my flats, and the compensation was similar. I've had good flats artists and TERRIBLE flats artists. Having someone do a sucky job just costs me even more time to fix stuff.

You get what you pay for I guess. :slight_smile:

kinda off topic but by flatter, i thought you meant flattery...and i was super confused haha

guys, when you're flatting you do NOT need you to choose the colors yet. You can literally pick any color and change it later to whatever you want using the "FILL" tool. That's why this job is usually delegated to others. Because it's only TIME CONSUMING. It, by definition, does not require creative decision making. That's why I said it's easy and mindless.
Now if you are hiring someone to CHOOSE the colors of the piece you're making when flatting, that's another story. I would say that the piece now has another creator and you should credit this person by the end.

Yeah... I just realised that beyond doing it for fun, comic can be expensive to produce.. ha :sweat_smile:
But at the end, it seems like depends on how much we value our time doing something that can be outsourced :neutral_face:

Thanks everyone for the responses
I tried out my first flatter and it did helps alot to have that part of the work passed on so I can focus on the fun part :slight_smile:

I think its good practice to credit everyone who worked on the project regardless. Your letterer, your flats artist, your editor, etc. They don't have to be called "Creators" per say, but they should be credited.