Some time back, a couple folks mentioned it would be a great thing if there were a standard price guide for contracting illustration work. After all, you wouldn't make a serious offer to a carpenter of $1000 to build you a house (for a number of obvious reasons), so as a designer, what are the prices you should offer to an artist or to budget for when you go looking for an artist? What's an offer you can feel is ethical when you make it, or ethical when it is offered to you?

Those are good questions for designers in the gaming hobby, and ones that don't appear to have easily available answers. This is an attempt to rectify that.

First off, however, know that pricing quotes for artwork can vary, because illustration work is contract work and works very much like hiring a contractor: there will be high bids and low bids, cheap contractors and expensive contractors, inexperienced contractors and experienced contractors, slower contractors and faster contractors, etc, and--more importantly for the purpose of this--standard price ranges you can expect things to fall around depending on what you want.

Like contract work, one of the reasons you won't find an exact list of prices is because no one can pin-down the exact rate you could point to and say that's "how much" it costs, as the price depends on the project and the artist and a number of factors such as size, materials, line/shaded/color, expected work time, expected exposure, intended use, rights, etc. There is often significant leeway in price (a standard $25 illo might cost anywhere from $10 to $120, depending. A standard $600 illo might cost anywhere from $200 to $2000).

The rates I presented below have been pieced together over the last eight years by talking to other artists, looking at various price guides other artists have posted on their sites, talking to publishers and what they've paid for what in the past, and finally from the Association of Illustrators standard rates and the suggestions of the Graphic Artist's Guild (via the latest edition of Pricing & Ethical Guidelines), modified for the RPG publishing niche.

I mention that last bit because, as a niche hobbyist industry, RPG publishing (to say nothing of indie publishing) tends to pay a fifth of what you'll find as standard in the book publishing or wider business industry--where you'll find standards of $225 for a quarter-page B&W interior, a full color cover for around $1200, or $20K for illustrating a children's book of ~32 pages.

Which goes to show you, if you're illustrating for RPGs, you're doing it because you love it, not because you're being paid what you could easily get elsewhere. As RPG writer/designers, you know plenty about that issue.

(Tangentially, I want to mention that I have noticed with economic downturn, many of the artists I used for establishing my baseline originally have increased their prices -- price points I was looking at a year ago for some artists have in some cases tripled on the low end. The following rates do not reflect those changes, and are still based on the AOI and GAG's suggested 2007 standards that I used to calculate the below.)

To break things down:

Artists usually present prices for illustrations by size and basic type, though some illustrators will charge based on time (or expected time, which is often how they determine their standard rates per size, they know generally how long it will take them to do an illustration of a specific size and type). Sizes are generally: spot, quarter page, half page, full page (at 8.5"x11"). You pay more for larger sizes. (Note: spot illustrations are usually little gew-gaws and bits used in various places in the work, page borders, little icons, that sort of thing.)

Black & white line drawing--that means no shading, just lines--is the most basic type of illo, though some artists charge varied prices depending on the media used (pencil lines, ink lines, ink and marker, etc). Grayscale is either line drawing with tonal depth indicators added with marker, ink wash, basic hashing, or etc, or a fully painted image in gray tones; again price can vary based on media. Color is the next step up, either line work with shaded color added in, or a fully painted image, and costs more as it requires more work, balancing a palette rather than just tonal shades, more expensive materials cost, and so forth.

Keep in mind some artists do some of these and not others. For example, I don't do line drawings, just grayscale and color--mainly because my line drawing technique is terrible and I'd have to pay you to use it (or to hide it from the world)--but I've also adjusted my pricing downwards for grayscale and treat them like line drawings. Other artists may only work in ink and acrylic, or pencil and watercolor, or ink and marker. Depends on the artist.

The complexity of and number of figures desired in an illustration is another factor to consider, as well as the use or complexity of background. More figures and/or a background will increase the price, especially on larger pieces, as there is more detail involved and thus also more work. For figures, this means distinct figures. A complex scene with numerous figures, such as a large battle-scene perhaps, will probably charged as a complex background rather than per distinct figure.

Another factor is time: if you want or need a rush job, or sooner than the artist contracts for, expect the price to go up. An illustrator who has to push to get things out and put off sleep or work twelve-hour shifts to get your illustrations to you is going to charge more. But this also depends on the artist. Some artists work slowly, some work quickly. Example: I have one artist friend who can bang out a full page complex color illustration in a few days (24 hours); going full-bore, I can do the same in a week (40 hours), but closer to two if the client requests changes during the process.

Time also comes into play if the artist has multiple commissions or is working more than 40-50 hours a week, at which point they will charge more for taking on additional commissions.

What rights you purchase for the piece will also factor in to the price: it is cheaper for you to buy one-time usage rights, while buying all the rights will quadruple (or more) the price because that image can no longer be resold, sold as a print, etc. and usage rights have changed ownership (the buyer can use it however they wish at that point, and you receive nothing for anything else it is used for). It is also cheaper to license the use of an image that has already been commissioned and paid for previously, since factors like time and materials no longer factor in to the equation (rights, exposure, and similar still do, however).

Exposure is another factor: this is why covers cost more than interiors, part of why large pieces cost more than small pieces, and why large companies are charged more than smaller companies. If your product is expected to have a limited audience, or is buried inside the product, you won't be charged as much as you will be if the audience for the work is expected to be larger or if it is part of the product's visual identity and helping to sell it.

You should also expect artists who are just starting out to charge you less, and established artists to charge you more. One reason you pay more for artists with established reputations is that you're paying for the name and the security and quality that comes with it. Established artists won't flake out on you and will provide you with excellent, recognizable work in a reasonable time frame.

And as you can see, all this is why there is no absolutely set standard, just standard guidelines.

Keeping all those variables in mind, I have found the following professional prices are a midline/ballpark/standard in the hobby, for commissioning one-time use rights for a single figure with a basic background, used for an interior:

Spot: $5-10
Quarter page, B&W line: $25
Quarter page, color: $40
Half page, B&W line: $60
Half page, color: $75
Above with multiple figures: +$10-15 per figure
Above with detailed background: +$10-20
Full page, B&W line: $75
Full page, color: $125
Full page, color cover: $225*
Above with multiple figures: +$15-25 per figure
Above with detailed background: +$20-50

*  Keep in mind a more likely price is higher, with detailed background and multiple figures

For indie projects, you'll find that professional artists will often cut even these prices if they really like the project on a personal or aesthetic level (I've done this numerous times, having done quarter pages for $10-15, and even a cover once for, as I recall, $150). Sometimes you can even get work for free--but you also get what you pay for in terms of artist commitment/reliability/quality/etc.

But as much as there are artists who work in the lower range, and will charge a buck per spot, $10 for quarter page line, and $100 for a color cover, be aware that potential upper ranges can run as high as $80 for a spot, $400 for a color half page, and $1000 for a color cover.

Now, to avoid the whole "But Raven said" thing, I'm going to hammer this home one more time: these are a guideline based on standard midline rates and average circumstances in the above listed factors; they are based off my own research and experience, and provided for indie designers to get an idea what a fair price is to ask (when they can afford to offer it) and/or around what number they will be quoted.

Note, too, that a quoted price may go up, as a project may require more time than the artist expected, you may request more drafts, or changes to your finals. This is, as mentioned above, because hiring an illustrator is like hiring a contractor. You'll probably pay close to your quote, but don't figure that as the set-in-stone final price depending on what happens during the project. Always communicate with your artist and discuss the cost (if any) of desired changes post-concept phase.

As the designer/publisher, you need to make sure you aren't over-paying for your product, either. If your design is only going to sell to your three best friends or small mailing list, paying out the nose for a color cover or hundreds of dollars total for spot illustrations shouldn't be something you are considering doing as a business-person (but if it's for personal pleasure, then whatever makes you happy). When soliciting for artists, mentioning it is a small print run product and what your budget constraints are is something you should do up front so artists can consider a fair bid price, and thus also whether or not it is worth their time.

Finally, it is a good standard practice to pay your artist half the quoted price up front, establishing good will between the both of you. And it  means if either of you flakes out, each of you has only lost half. If you have a contract (and why wouldn't you?), all the better. If a project is canceled, it is also standard to pay an artist for the work they have completed, whether or not your project is going to print: they have done their work, their job. So if they've completed an illustration, pay them for it; if they've completed part of an illustration, pay them half for the work they've put into it for you.

(There's a reason for the title of "Towards a Standard": feel free to weigh in with your own experiences and the average prices you've encountered. Questions welcome, too.)

Hi Raven,

Here are a couple of nuances of my own art policy which make your post more difficult to process - for me.

1. I don't buy the art, I lease it. It's a really weak lease, too. My use has absolutely no authority over the artist's current and future use. I'm not even getting first-use if he or she wants to do something with it before I go to print. To take that to its far-end extreme, I don't think I'm comfortable continuing to use the art if the artist didn't want me to. So far, no one has ever said "Stop using my art," but I've thought about it and considered the possibility anyway of abiding by that (maybe holding out for the current printed inventory so it's not dead loss).

2. I pay in full up-front after concept sketches and some back-and-forth about them. Or at least, I've always tried to and usually succeed. It occurs to me that you were one of the exceptions for one of the Sorcerer covers, but as I say, that hasn't been typical.

How would you suggest those nuances play into an artist's rate standards? Should they? I ask because I have no way to tell from this end.

Best, Ron

Oh yeah, a couple of other things. Artists have been known to send me finished work as gifts, out of the blue. Or on occasion to get in touch asking if I want some art which is best understood as "fan art," to do with as I will. Say I want to use these in publication. It may well be my professional/ethical responsibility as publisher to contact the artist to say "Hey, I should pay you," even though, significantly, the artist is sometimes very explicit (in both situations I describe, of which I have at least a half-dozen examples each) that he expected no such thing at the outset.

That's a pretty personal thing. I think I have answers to these questions for myself, but let's say they came down to a payment-oriented conclusion. My question for you is, am I, as publisher, or is he or she, as professional artist, at a time like that, even in the same zone where we should be thinking in terms of the standards you're talking about?

Best, Ron

Ron wrote: How would you suggest those nuances play into an artist's rate standards? Should they? I ask because I have no way to tell from this end.

My question for you is, am I, as publisher, or is he or she, as professional artist, at a time like that, even in the same zone where we should be thinking in terms of the standards you're talking about?

Due to the internet, some of your reply is at a slight angle to my post which makes the dialogue not quite work. Let's try doing some of it over.

First, I didn't ask advice about what I should do as a publisher in the situations I describe, because that's my problem alone. What I wanted to know was how it affected the literal monetary standards you arrived at through your analysis, as you saw it. Most particularly, would it simply be out of the zone of that analysis? My thinking is yes, but it's clear that I need to re-explain what I do.

Second, the whole business about the artist canceling out my usage was a red herring, which was my fault for introducing. That's not the key part of the arrangement and has never even arisen as a faint possibility. The key part is my utter lack of authority over how the artist uses that art now and later. It differs greatly from the usual arrangements. If he sold it to me in full, that means the artist has fired and forgotten, with me as the authority over the art from this day forward. First-use means it goes to me for one purpose, shutting him down until I do it, and then goes back to him for whatever later.

My arrangement is neither of those because it stays his, and basically, my use of it represents one of his uses of the art, with payment from me for that. So having taken the payment and giving me the file, it doesn't have any effect on what he can or cannot do with the art in the next five seconds. It simply does not map to any of the standard deals; it's very close to saying that there is no rights transfer to me at any point, merely permission from the person who has those rights, which remain unaltered throughout the process.

Again, my concern is whether you think that arrangement fits into the existing paradigm enough to say your analysis applies to me. In practice, I've found it does not. I explain what I do, the artist says, "Hey, that means you get more art for less money," and that's what happens.

What I'm saying is that your analysis seems to me quite valid given a particular paradigm of "rights" contracting. But I don't operate in that zone. I don't fit the paradigm. I think that paradigm sucks donkey dick. As I see it, that also means the pricing analysis passes me by too.

For instance, I paid the artists $60 a half-page illo for S/Lay w/Me, which unless I'm mis-reading is well below what you analysis indicates, and one of them actually gave me the option of (i) refusing payment or (ii) paying only a nominal sum. Bad? Good? My claim is that it doesn't apply. I'm off that grid.

My real concern overall is that some artist reads what you wrote, then he and I meet and talk about art, and he goes, "No way man! Raven wrote ..." I mean, he can charge what he likes, but if your analysis is understood to be some kind of ultimate standard for all use of art for publication, then I have a big problem with it. I'm off the grid of the whole suckalicious framework of reasoning in which those prices you're analyzing operates. I also recommend that others try doing that. If your analysis drags people's thinking into that framework, then it muddies the water.

Best, Ron

I think it would be very educational if other artists posted to this thread, with their own thoughts on pricing in general, and Raven's standard in specific.

I believe Raven's done his homework, but as I'm one of the people who commented that a price guide for illustration would be dead useful, I'd like to see it challenged and/or vetted by other artists.

For instance, I paid the artists $60 a half-page illo for S/Lay w/Me, which unless I'm mis-reading is well below what you analysis indicates...

I mean, he can charge what he likes, but if your analysis is understood to be some kind of ultimate standard for all use of art for publication, then I have a big problem with it.

Lance wrote: ...I'd like to see it challenged and/or vetted by other artists.

Other than it being an age old practice, is there any practical reason covers cost more?  (Just out of curiosity)

Thank you for the post, it was informative.

David wrote: Other than it being an age old practice, is there any practical reason covers cost more?  (Just out of curiosity)

Thank you for the post, it was informative.

As an artist, I usually submit my portfolio for review and hope to be taken seriously. I am not a bad artist, but I am no Will Terrell or Francis Tsai. My personal commission prices are somewhat lower than the original poster suggests paying out. I may use their rubrick to fix my pricing scale on my personal websites, and do it by image size. Currently they look like this.

---COMMISSION PRICING---
Characters
Sketch: $5 + $2.50 per additional character
Ink: $10 + $5.00 per additional character
*Color: $15 + 7.50 per additional character

Background Art (Includes up to 3 figures in the base price)
Sketch: $15 + $2.50 per figure over 3
Inked: $30 + $5.00 per figure over 3
*Colored: $50 + $7.50 per figure over 3

*= More for digital work, to be discussed with client.

Here is a rough example of what I can do in pencil sketch/shade mode http://lucaspuryear.deviantart.com/art/Grayscale-Basilisk-116273313

greyorm wrote:

Yep, see above: "Exposure is another factor: this is why covers cost more than interiors, part of why large pieces cost more than small pieces, and why large companies are charged more than smaller companies."

...and I don't mean "exposure" in that squirrelly "I can't pay you but it will be GOOD EXPOSURE!!" line people try to use to get something for nothing*....

David wrote: The exposure thing didn't make a lot of sense to me, until I realized it was basically a convoluted royalty system. But instead of paying a percent after sales for "good sales" you're paying before hand for "expected sales."

Other than it being an age old practice, is there any practical reason covers cost more?  (Just out of curiosity)

Spot: $5-10
Quarter page, B&W line: $25
Quarter page, color: $40
Half page, B&W line: $60
Half page, color: $75
Above with multiple figures: +$10-15 per figure
Above with detailed background: +$10-20
Full page, B&W line: $75
Full page, color: $125
Full page, color cover: $225*
Above with multiple figures: +$15-25 per figure
Above with detailed background: +$20-50

Thank you Doplegager, that was a very good point.

Greyorm, I suppose I don't really understand the mechanisms behind "Exposure." However, I do feel I understand now why a cover costs more.

David wrote: Greyorm, I suppose I don't really understand the mechanisms behind "Exposure." However, I do feel I understand now why a cover costs more.

Hello everyone.
This is my first post on the Forge, and as illustrator, I'd like to try giving my point of view. I hope you'll forgive my terrible English (I'm Italian).
From my experience it is usually publishers who choose the amount to be paid to authors, usually upon agreement. Where it is the illustrator that sets the price is in places like for instance Deviant Art where there are often requests for commissions. Usually I see that the price chosen by authors is based upon one's fame and ability.
Personally I believe I am some sort of anomaly, as I've been illustrating sourcebooks of big publishers like White Wolf, but now that I'm loving newer concepts of rpgs, I'm offering my services nearly or totally for free as it would be a source of pride for me to be chosen as illustrator for a game I know I love. I think that this is often met with some embarrassment by the author to whom I offer this, but I make sure to express that having the honor to be featured in a sourcebook by an author that I admire is already enough of a reward for me.

Regarding covers, I have never been commissioned one, but one thing is sure. They are much more difficult to realize than half page or even full page illustrations. First and foremost, for the already mentioned reasons. Also internal illustrations tend to be in black and white and require to visually represent the game's flavor and color in specific parts. For instance, an image that is related to the description of a certain spell, or a certain NPC, or places, technology and similar things. The cover is almost always in full color, and must represent the color of the entire game. Failure to comply this result in making a mess of the game's color and setting. This is something no illustrator with a minimum sense of self respect would allow himself to do as far as I can tell. This means that a cover requires much more time and effort than a regular illustration. Of course it depends on how meticulous an artist is, but as a rule, it takes roughly double the usual time even just thinking how to make the cover.
One other side note: an internal illustration is added to the layout and graphic of the manual, whereby a cover illustration often has to incorporate it. More work to do, more to consider and plan.
At least, that is what I think.