Looking for an Artist, actually willing to pay...

[Tanyuu]

@nightshade said in Looking for an Artist, actually willing to pay...:

What I'm saying is, you can sit on your high standards and never get your work off the ground, or you can get the wheels turning through imperfect means. At least this is my personal experience, and what worked out for me. I suppose your mileage may vary, but I hope this perspective helps someone.

For certain situations, I'd agree, if it was due to circumstances, the client, or because it's something an artist feels is a good deal in other ways. What I often see is where it's someone pricing themselves below minimum wage out of the idea that 'this is normal'. Work can be cheap and fast, cheap and good, or fast and good, but it can't be all three at the same time.

I suppose there's a reason why undercharging and dumping prices is a reality of the business world: it works. If someone shows up in the market offering same quality for lower prices, they're suddenly taking all your clients. But they can't viably continue to provide that kinda quality for that price, nor will they want to. So these things are a blip on the radar and should be regarded as such. It does suck when it happens, but the market is dynamic and shit keeps changing.

This can be a thing if we're talking, say, retail. It's one thing to dump prices when you're selling extra stock of a mass-produced item, or when you're trying to stand out from listings in retail. If I remember right, a retail store bought those items at manufacturing cost, so if they sell below the retail price, they still make their money back.

However, for a personal commission, there's no way to spread the cost of an item around. If I draw someone's OC, I can't really sell prints of it, or sell it to someone else as a cover for their magazine.

[Nightshade]

@tanyuu said in Looking for an Artist, actually willing to pay...:

@nightshade said in Looking for an Artist, actually willing to pay...:

What I'm saying is, you can sit on your high standards and never get your work off the ground, or you can get the wheels turning through imperfect means. At least this is my personal experience, and what worked out for me. I suppose your mileage may vary, but I hope this perspective helps someone.

For certain situations, I'd agree, if it was due to circumstances, the client, or because it's something an artist feels is a good deal in other ways. What I often see is where it's someone pricing themselves below minimum wage out of the idea that 'this is normal'. Work can be cheap and fast, cheap and good, or fast and good, but it can't be all three at the same time.

Oh, I completely agree. The last sentence is also why I don't worry about underpaid work affecting professionals. A client will get burned if they expect that to work, and next time will understand why it's worth paying a professional.

Yes, people price themselves below the worth of their work, and I think part of the reason is the confused connection between self-esteem and financial reasoning.

I suppose there's a reason why undercharging and dumping prices is a reality of the business world: it works. If someone shows up in the market offering same quality for lower prices, they're suddenly taking all your clients. But they can't viably continue to provide that kinda quality for that price, nor will they want to. So these things are a blip on the radar and should be regarded as such. It does suck when it happens, but the market is dynamic and shit keeps changing.

This can be a thing if we're talking, say, retail. It's one thing to dump prices when you're selling extra stock of a mass-produced item, or when you're trying to stand out from listings in retail. If I remember right, a retail store bought those items at manufacturing cost, so if they sell below the retail price, they still make their money back.

Actually, this is a thing in so many other areas of business and industry, like outsourcing production to China, helpdesk or programming to India, etc. However, the balancing of fast/cheap/good still applies - you get what you paid for and have to work with less than ideal results, most of the time.

However, for a personal commission, there's no way to spread the cost of an item around. If I draw someone's OC, I can't really sell prints of it, or sell it to someone else as a cover for their magazine.

No, but unlike retail items, you can use your past work to leverage future work. "I've already drawn 50 OCs, as you can see. I can easily do this, but my price is so and so." Of those 50 OCs you might have 10-20 who bring you more business through word of mouth.