Reasonable price for illustrations?

tatiang

What's a reasonable price to pay for 8-10 illustrations for an eBook/iPad children's story? The illustrations will be similar in nature (e.g. the same characters repeated) but different scenes. The artist asked me to name my price but I don't have a good sense of the range I should be looking at. He's an acquaintance, so I think he doesn't want to just quote me an amount.

LiquidGameworks

Um.. that's a good question. Most artists will consider both the size and detail of the pieces needed. Reusing characters will help, and it would also help if your backgrounds weren't super detailed. Also, is any of it animated? I'll give an estimate based off my experiences (which are in euros)

15-30 euros per backdrop
5-40 euros per other individual items (cloud, or a detailed person)

If this person can do a really good job, you think you can recoup the money, and he is willing to give you a price cut; I would offer $300 - $500 for the full workup. For this amount I'd request that he give you background "elements" so that you could animate them in GS (clouds, flowers, birds, etc).

kolabo

I like to begin by thinking of things in time. How much time do you think (does he think) he will spend on each illustration? What are your expectations? How high will you set the bar? This could vary a lot, all depending on what you're asking him to do. For example, you might already have the characters pretty much invented, and all you want is for him to quickly add the backgrounds. If this is the situation, 1 hour per illustration might be enough. But, if he is to invent the characters, send you a draft, and do multiple revisions it seems to me that he could spend many hours just on this task.

So, I would ask him how much time it might take to make a drawing like... and show him a sample or something in the style you are looking for.

If you know him fairly well, and trust him, it then becomes a simple question of math.

Not sure in the U.S., but I imagine that a going freelance semi-pro rate begins somewhere around $20 dollars per hour and goes up from there all the way to $50 or $60 per hour, depending on experience, reputation etc.

tatiang

I was purely thinking of static images for a standard eBook. But I also like the idea of making it into an iPad app (book) and certainly having individual elements and/or animations would be ideal for that. I think at this point, though I'm just wanting to know how much to pay him for the initial drawings. I realize there's not a single right answer, but I appreciate your feedback!

xforce

depends on his skill level and experience

tatiang

@kolabo thank you, that's very helpful. I think I need to ask him about his time, because my assumptions are probably pretty far off (seeing as how I don't do any illustrating). I originally was thinking somewhere in the $150-$200 range for the set of drawings.

LiquidGameworks

@tatiang yeah, force an answer out of him I know what you're feeling. The first time I worked with an artist, I had no idea how much their time was worth, how long items took, difficulties, or what.

tatiang

@LiquidGameworks Well, and I'm working with another graphic designer for an app I'm developing and he's very fast but the graphic style and skill level is way different, so it's helpful to have a ballpark idea when I ask for more sophisticated illustrations.

SpriteAttack

@tatiang - it really depends on the style you are after. I am currently working on a storybook myself with a team of artists and even though I a reasonably fast the polishing takes a lot of time and we are looking at a good 6 - 8 hours per page...

If it's something that can work handdrawn and be done in 'one sitting' your pricerange might be on the spot but if it includes illustrations on the computer (e.g. using photoshop or illustrator) time will just fly by when working on illustrations and the hourly rate drops to levels that might not be fair.

tatiang

@SpriteAttack He's done digital art for me in the past (pro bono) but this is strictly hand-drawn.

kellyk

it actually depends but based on what i know.. per drawing can be $5-$10.
is it digital or painting?