Lineart pricing help - per inch?

ChaiKat 2021-08-12 07:28:35 UTC #1

Hello, I've been offered to assist with lineart for a scrolling format webcomic with payment being "per inch", and I'm looking for help on how that works and how to calculate it? I was thinking of going with per panel instead to make things easier (would it?) but I'm also curious how per inch compares?

I'd really appreciate any help on this because it's my first gig and "per inch" has thrown me off into a state of confusion

darthmongoose 2021-08-12 07:38:57 UTC #2

....Per inch??????? What???? I've been a professional illustrator over ten years and I have never heard of anything like that.

So, yeah, it's not just you; that's not normal. Line art isn't consistently complex across every square inch of an image so that's a bad way to work out pricing. Is it possible to get them to do a more sensible metric? Per panel is more common in scrolling webcomics, and per page is more typical in page-format comics for web and print.

ChaiKat 2021-08-12 07:46:10 UTC #3

ahh I thought it was just me not doing my research or that it was something that came from comics in print but then again I don't know how that works either. Could I ask what exactly is meant by per page as well/ how do you price it - I've seen those a lot but what if there's a lot more panels, where does it start/end?

sushy00 2021-08-12 12:43:54 UTC #4

I think it is best to charge in panel in this case.

fleurravenbooks 2021-08-12 12:45:24 UTC #5

charge per panel or per hour, depends on how much off free time you have

yumeryuu 2021-08-12 13:03:41 UTC #6

Per hour isn't going to work either as hey, people can work SLOW so this page with just a lineart bust will cost your 10 hours of work.

NORMALLY, people have a set price per page of so many pixels (3000 x 3000 or something like that). With or without background. Bust or body.

sorible 2021-08-12 13:21:37 UTC #7

You can use this site as a reference: https://fairpagerates.com

fleurravenbooks 2021-08-12 13:27:43 UTC #8

well yes, but if panel is complicated it will take you more time, to be honest i don't draw so maybe that's why im looking at it from this perspective

drawnbyyannan 2021-08-12 13:36:53 UTC #9

I would just respond to the person that your pricing is per panel. Yes, some panels are more complicated than others, but some panels are very simple, so I find that it balances it out and trying to make it any more complicated than that is too much of a hassle. Decide, on average, how long a panel with this comic's art style, will take you to ink, then think about how much your time is worth to you, factoring in your skill level and how much you want the experience as well.

RedLenai 2021-08-12 13:44:38 UTC #10

I would recommend to ask this person what "per inch" mean, it's not uncommong to have people using terms wrong or something they invented.

I would suggest asking yourself this questions and then ask them
- Do you have to sketch and ink or will they provide you a sketch that you only have to clean and ink?
- Are you going to do more than just flat black and white, or they'll ask you to do grayscales, textures and more? (This because there are some people that thinks lineart means doing grayscales too)
- How many panels the gig has? Is there a detailed script to follow?

For example, this is why I get by Line Artist.
You'll be provided this:

Then you'll only have to do this:

If they ask you for this, be it more or less complex then that's not doing lineart only, that's doing grayscale, shades, lighting, composition, and more.

Ordinaryaverageguy 2021-08-13 02:52:20 UTC #11

Magazines & newspapers used to (still???) use a "column inch" as a measure of output for submission or payment. Maybe that's kinda where their term came from.

ChaiKat 2021-08-13 06:17:26 UTC #12

@yumeryuu now that you mentioned it, it makes more sense if it were a page/picture etc. with a certain size. And I agree per hour isn't reliable, some days you'll just feel off.

@RedLenai thanks for reminding me of that, it seems per inch is uncommon or non existent altogether based on the replies and it didn't occur to me that it might be used incorrectly.

@Ordinaryaverageguy that would be an interesting reference, I'd be really surprised if it were the case!

Thank you so much everyone for the advice and additional information, it's put me more at ease

RedLenai 2021-08-13 11:33:29 UTC #13

I'm glad to help.

The term per inch is actually used to determine the price of commissioned art for traditional works, such as paintings, charcoal portraits and such. However in digital terms you cannot apply that kind of measurement.