How much would your pages cost?

[IdiotWithPencil]

per page I would say 10$ a page and 15$ if you want it coloured
though reading the thread I think I should re think that XD

I've never priced my art and I draw digital so I don't have that much cost
and I don't got the best level in art as is so...

I don't know what to think >-<

[Croik]

Looks like they've got rates for scripts on there, too, which I think is important for all writers on here looking to commission comics of their stuff. Even if you're not able to pay a professional rate, 50/50 potential profit split is not the norm unless you're helping out with coloring and lettering.

[UrMom]

Ooh, alright! I just assumed from being the first to respond, and bringing up the subject of being over priced. Yeah, unless the page was drawn by DaVinci, I don't see how someone would pay nearly a grand for 1 page... $300 isn't too bad if they're really skilled.

Oh god, my dream of surviving off my work was crushed several times, over the course of several years. The funny thing was every time I offered commissions (only 3 times, last attempt everything was $10 max) all fan activity instantly died until I announced things were good again... aside from the "over priced" commentary of course, pretty much destroyed my self worth. But I'm now a paper pusher/pilot babysitter, a very monotonous job, but at least I'm making money.
Anyways, enough of my bitterness. It is a pain in the ass to monetize your work, but I hope you end up making something off your comic. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

[Luminosophy]

....This is completely hypothetical. I don't do commissions. Even if someone threw a ton of money at me, I couldn't justify it. I struggle to even want to do illustration commissions because I don't like other people's ideas. That's why if I were to ever do it, I would charge extremely high. My pain threshold is higher because I dislike working for other people, I am not expecting to find work. There's a lot more to business than basic supply and demand.

I just think it's bizarre that people think $1000 is astronomical. Established freelancers can earn up to 10K+ per project depending on who's involved and how they're working around the IP. Heck I've sold an illustration in the past for $240 and one lady (Qinni) on Instagram doesn't touch anything lower than $500. If you want to earn money don't advertise yourself to teenagers on Deviantart.

Also keep in mind I'm not a penciller, inker, or whatever only. I do the entire page from start to finish.

[deltastic]

Heck I've sold an illustration in the past for $240 and one lady (Qinni) on Instagram doesn't touch anything lower than $500.

Honestly, Illustration and comics are completely different beasts. If you look at the breakdown on the site I linked, artists receive a lot more money for cover illustrations than for a page of panel-to-panel. I don't think that $1000 is astronomical for artwork or illustration in general, but the comics industry and page rates are completely different. I do find it unfair, but right now it is what it is in the American comics industry. I think that European markets are completely different, but I don't have any information on those particularly.

But just as a bottom line, Illustration (especially concept art) is far more respected than comics art. That means the bottom-line on how much you can reasonably make in this market is different. It's super sad, and I wish it wasn't that way, but comics are a different art form than other mediums, with its own sordid history

[Luminosophy]

Which is completely backwards in my mind, because so much more work goes into a comic page than an illustration. That said, you're never going to command respect by always trying to meet lower expectations.

[deltastic]

That depends on the type of comic and illustration. Style and detail go into account a lot. Some illustrators work for weeks or months on a single illustration. I agree that lower expectations aren't going to help anyone, but reasonable expectations are also important. There's a lot of room between DeviantArt teenagers who super undersell themselves and what is common for working industry professionals. But as you said, your rates have to with your dislike of doing projects for others- and I always agree with raising prices for rush jobs and ones you know you'll hate

[edmourabarbosa]

Oh, I never meant to imply that charging $1000 is bizarre or even wrong. As you said, most professional artists are paid really well. You can earn a lot of money in this industry. But there's a catch: you have to be one of the best around. Are you one of the best? Does your skill and experience in making art match others industry veterans? Then you should be earning a lot of money. If you're not, then there's something wrong. Maybe it's your marketing or maybe you're not that good.

It's a VERY different thing when you're offering a SERVICE: "I'll draw/paint what you want" to when you're selling a finished product: "here's my original illustration/ here's my complete comic book". If you're offering to sell a service, don't expect to get paid more than when an artist sells a finished original illustration, for example. We're talking about two completely different things here.

I'm just trying to help people understand that when they're offering a SERVICE, they should be looking at the industry standard for what their prices should look like. That's if they REALLY want to earn money with their art, of course.

Personally, I think that many artist just don't want to admit their art sucks. They just pretend that they want to earn money with their art, but the reality is harsh. They suck. No one wants to pay for their product. Instead of looking to improve, they just say that people don't want to pay. They blame their "fans". I undertand very well that pain. I recently received a "no" for my portifolio when applying to one of the big 3. It'd be easy to just say that they don't accept different styles, etc. But the truth is: I'm not good enough (yet).

[eleoza]

Oh interesting thread!

I recently agreed to sketch, lineart and color pages for another comic. I'm getting paid 35$ for a page.

[soju]

you always have to consider what it is for.
i work in advertising (mainly storyboards) and from time to time i draw comic-pages for over $ 1000. then again i have no problem drawing a comic-page for some local newspaper or magazine for $ 300.
when it comes to actual comic-books.. -i usually do it for fun!
i mean.. you can't just name your price. usage is important too. the "comic industry" doesn't really have money.. -unless you are "famous"...

[spadesart]

yeesh for a spire page probably $200-$500 depending on complexity. they take about 3-5 days depending on my strength of attention.

[Zpreader]

There's an art dealer by the name of Felix Comic Art that sells finished pages from alot of popular artists (Ryan Ottley, Skottie Young, Tradd Moore, etc).

You can check out the site here. I think you'll find that most of the data lines up with the numbers on the Fair Page Rate site.

[Luminosophy]

...Guys I think you're reading into this a bit much. I didn't ask people to list actual prices and advertise themselves here. This is just "how much do you feel like you would if you did?" I'm pretty sure most people understand context and have long since understood and researched how to market and price. I'm not 5 years old and would appreciate not being patronized. There's a huge difference between indie and pros in being that indie artist often do more work as the sole artist on the project, have drastically different styles (more or less detail) and work speed which may result in higher or lower listings. People also want drastically different things out of their work and career expectations so I wouldn't just go around making blanket assumptions about artists charging high. I mean you're assuming artists here even want to draw in Marvel and DC style and wish to be hired by such companies. Keep in mind indie artists aren't competing with the Marvel/ DC markets and vice versa, consumers approach one or the other for different results. Some artists don't want a lot of work, or don't mind waiting for the right customer, I mean that's the entire point of having a different career as your day job. You also have to factor in someone's life circumstances, in that they might be incredibly busy and therefore add on to the price to ensure time spent on someone else's project is worth taking away from other important things. I'd rather not just assume someone is delusional and narcissistic.

Seriously this is just meant as dumb fun.

[colonel_ressentiment]

Since I need to prioritize my full-time job over art, I pretty much only have enough energy after work to advance my own comic projects, so whoever wants to commission me would really need to make it worth my while to do pages for them - like $1000/page : P

I think the answers to the initial question vary a lot depending on people's circumstances, so some people might take it in the purely hypothetical, while others end up factoring in their personal situations a lot more and get more serious/involved in the nitty gritty details. I'm kinda in the second camp, but I'm not at all worried about the financial viability of my strategy - like you, I don't want to take commissions.

[edmourabarbosa]

I'm sorry if I came out as patronizing. It was really not my intention. My comments in this thread were not direct at anyone in particular. I saw many other threads like these, where people were asked how much they charge for their pages/ illustrations. What I usually saw were many wrong informations or misconceptions about how the industry works. I assumed that this could be somewhat harmful to new artists who are looking for guidance in this areas. I'm really sorry if this wasn't the intention of this thread.

That being said, I think you're reading too much into my words. I perfectly understand that most artists aren't looking to work at DC/ Marvel. I know that are many differences between mainstream and indie. I NEVER said that you should stick to a price range. I literally said "My point is that you can charge whatever you want, but if you REALLY want to sell something, you HAVE to compare your rates to other professionals." Which means exactly that. If you want to live by your art, you must sell. I'm not assuming what people want here. I'm honestly just wanted to help people who are looking to live by selling their art. Not everyone here are veterans. Some people come to this forum looking for help. I just think that we should try better than "whatever you want".

[panda3291]

I'm similar in this sense. I feel even though I can participate in multiple forums, post on multiple sites, and attempt to advertise, I will simply be overlooked unless my prices are cheaper.

You have many many many artists out there who are charging 30$ a page, but they also have over thousands of watchers and millions of pageviews. Perhaps for someone like that, the prices also need to be raised on their end, but who wants less commissioners and therefore less money?

I can't compete with something like that....

[hotsubsandwich]

My best friend recently approached me and asked me to do a "simple 5 page comic" (lol) about her husband being Superman/The Best Dad Ever and she didn't have anything written, I was supposed to come up with it myself (also, lol). I quoted her with a "friends discount" at $300. (she declined, which was what I was aiming for 'cause I wasn't about to play that game.)
If someone was seriously knowledgable about what they wanted, had something written, and I had the time, I would probably quote about $75-$150 per page at my skill level depending on how much detail they wanted.

[SpavVy]

I'd maybe charge around $30.00 per page (B&W) at my skill level, in the past I probably would have charged a bit more because pages used to take me such a long time to do

[GoldenPlume]

We spent the better part of six months building our team and we had quotes all over the board.

Top quote was $2,500 GBP for a cover by a UK artist.

Top quote for a finished B&W manga by a studio that promos itself heavily was $80,000 USD for 200 pages.

So yeah, neither have any hope of ever being profitable. But it's a free market so everyone is welcome to ask whatever they want. What is "fair" is what both parties agree upon as being a fair trade.

It's a fine balancing line. You have to charge enough to feel that you are being adequately compensated but not so much that you never get any work.

[bilvyy]

i looooove fairpagerates.com, i believe it was linked earlier. i've always hesitated opening comic commissions because i don't know how much i'd charge, but i can estimate it would beeee... $150-$200 a page? this is assuming there's characters, backgrounds and full colour. i use a standard hourly rate of $30usd for all my commission and contract work, and my average comic pages take me about 6 hours, so that's how i got that price! it's also good to sit back and look at the price next to the finished product and see if it sounds fair, because people who buy art aren't usually thinking about all the effort and hours that went into it, they're looking at the finished product. so i think i'm pretty confident in that regard too.