How much is an artist worth?
7 or 8 years ago, whilst teaching myself game art, I used to sell ‘Skins’, or character textures. People would pay me to make a personalised character texture for their Quake clan, or for their Unreal server. It was never very much cash, but it bought me a few beers. I still get the odd email asking my to make models/textures for people - for mods or for personal use (people still play quake), but I have no desire whatsoever to make them.
This could end here, but it’d be a short article.
I simply reply stating that a model will cost them £500 if untextured, £750 textured, £1000 to be built, textured and rigged. Texturing an existing model will be around £300. I then link them to various sites where other people will also be able to help them if these prices are not acceptable, and wish them luck.
I’ll be honest - I’m not interested, so I put a value on my time and skills and then I point them somewhere else. Most people are simply looking for some free artwork, and if I’m creating artwork for free, then it’s artwork for me. I already get paid to make art.
A good percentage of the time I never hear from them again, but occasionally I’ll get an incredulous reply along the lines of “WTF!!!111 it are onyl a moddel! LOL! ARE you serious!”
Yes, I am serious. “How can I possibly think to charge that ridiculous amount?” they exclaim?
Simple. Economics. Times * Cost per hour.
Take the time involved, the usually poorly defined brief and hence revisions. How long will that take me? What is a good hourly rate? How much is my time worth to you? Nothing?
The UK minimum wage at the time of writing is £5.35 per hour - that’s what unskilled workers get (and unfortunately in too many places skilled people also earn that). Can an unskilled person make the model and texture that you want? No - that’s why you are looking for someone with skills in that area.
How much does skilled labour cost thee days?
Which? researchers found the typical rate for plumbers is £30-50 for the first hour, £25-40 for subsequent hours. A junior barrister earns £32 per hour for preparing court documents.
I got those results from Google.
As I mentioned, I’ve got a full time job, it pays me well. I really don’t want to spend my free time making artwork for money, I want to spend that time actually enjoying my life, teaching myself to draw, reading, traveling - so you’ll need to compensate me for giving up my free time.
OK, I’ll be generous and say that I’ll charge £25 an hour - this is less than a mechanic and around the lowest end of the plumber scale. I’m not going to stop your house from flooding, or help you get to work on time, but I’m performing a skilled service.
How long will it take? Assuming it’s a fully textured model, I might take 40 hours (in a normal working week one brand new model, UVs and textures is a good workload). You did know how long it takes to make a model, don’t you? Remember also that I’d have to do this evenings and weekends, so I really should be on time and a half. But forget the overtime, I’ll stick with the flat rate of £25 per hour.
That’s £25 per hour over 40 hours - £1000. Of course, I’ll have to pay tax on that (ALWAYS PAY THE TAXMAN), and since it comes in on top of my existing normal salary, that’s a hefty chunk gone.
Am I ripping you off? I don’t think so. You probably think so. Can you get it cheaper? Certainly, you can get it for free if you look around, or follow any of the links that I post at the end.
So you can get it for free, cheap or expensive, but why? Ever seen a hairdressers prices?
Ladies Cut & Finish Senior £39.95 Stylist £29.95 Trainee £19.95
Why is that? Why does the Senior Stylist charge twice as much as the Trainee? Why do some hairdressers advertise for models for free haircuts?
To try and counter the negative comments I’ll get for this, here are some of those places to get yourself some game art. If you’ve read this, hopefully you’ll understand that it is a time consuming service. Even if you go looking for free artwork for yourself or for a mod, perhaps you’ll be more grateful for the work you receive and place more value on it. Unfortunately all too often people seem very willing to be unhappy with anything that they get for free.
Good luck!
February 1st, 2007 at 1:26 am
Truer words have never been spoken. I suppose I’m still at the “trainee” level, making chump change, but I completely understand where you’re coming from.
It seems that everybody underestimates the knowledge and skill required to put out a quality model. Unfortunately, I don’t think many people realize that until they try it out for themselves and find that it’s not as easy as it looks. Which, ironically, is how a lot of people get started in this industry, I think.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
amen :( “friends” can be the worst for this