The Casual Webcartoonist

I keep seeing this question asked over and over. Mostly, in forums. Stereotypical newbie is starting to get hot, and has no idea what to do with it.

SN: So hey guys, there’s this people or this site and they want me to make a logo/mascot for them, it involves drawing this cool cartoon logo and the partybets logo in flames with some lightning on, or dude X wants me to draw him an avatar for a game, or girl Y wants to make so-and-so a special gift, I want to do it but how much should I charge for it???

Usually the heart of this question is, in truth “How much do YOU usually charge for it, so I can know more or less what’s the usual fee for this?”

This is, I think, the wrong approach. Artists have a wild range of fees even among their own works, and as such, mostly you’ll have a vague answer or something that’ll feel -usually- too high to the newbie.

So here’s a very simple method to figure out how much you have to charge. Ready? Here we go.

First, you have to take out the fixed cost. This means, how much money is the job costing YOU to take.   This is the easiest part, although it can be more or less subjective. For example, do you have to mail the finished product? How much is that going to be? Do you have to buy a special kind of paper? Markers and/or brushes? Do you need a special print job? Long-distance phone calls? And all that.

Once you have this fixed number, this is the minimum you have to charge. This is so you don’t actually LOSE money by taking a job (this happens a lot). Allow a few bucks over that basic fixed number, to take in account subtle things such as electricity, phone calls, or gas to gather the things you need. Certain added benefits of the job might be considered -things like promotion and prestige-, but never charge less than your fixed cost.

Now comes the most important part: time is money. If you’re going to dedicate the project a certain number of hours, and these hours can be spent making money in other project, make sure that THIS project pays more (or at least equal). Sometimes this is hard to quantify, so here’s a tip: estimate the number of hours the job is going to take (including preliminar work, research, and revisions) and figure out how much your time’s worth. Sometimes you will discover you were even willing to work *below* minimum wage, all things considered. *shudder*

Do you have a final number? Good. Now a last consideration. Let’s consider if YOU think it’s a fair price for both of you. Do you feel guilty? Reconsider. Do you feel they’d be ripping you off? Reconsider. Somewhere in the middle you’ll find a price that will make you say “I’d do this job, and be happy about it, for ______ bucks”.

There’s a lot of informal business going on online and it doesn’t always necessarily involve a contract. Make sure, however, that everything is clarified: payment, deadline, and when and how you’re expecting to be paid. Don’t be vague or timid: it’s a business transaction. Try to be specific too about the extent of the revisions, and insist in doing preliminars for approval. Otherwise you might be finding you doing and redoing something again and again and again.

Do NOT let someone tell you that since drawing is so much fun you should be doing it for free. Sorry, no. If it’s that much fun and it’s so easy, let them do it themselves! But don’t take a job where you feel you’re being underpaid, unless you absolutely need the money. You’ll feel dirty afterwards anyway, probably. If you’re going to charge less than you think you deserve, do it for FREE (but do it for the fun).