Good morning,

How much do beginning illustrators typically charge per hour or picture?

I will soon be helping a friend's family in financial distress by commissioning the eldest child to do some illustrations.  I would like to know typical costs so I can pay her appropriately, after considering that this will be her first such endeavor and her quality will not be nearly as professional as the impressive example pages linked to in this forum.

Thank you for your help,
David V.S.

The sad truth of it is that the beginner illustrator does not charge at all. Their first works will almost always be for free as they build up a CV, reputation and working discipline. Only once they've realized their own worth by succeeding in a few small assignments will they have the moral position to demand their rightful fee.

That said, I've paid a small per-hour fee or a modest couple dozen euros in similar situations, treating it more as an allowance or pocket money than serious business. That's not to say that I don't keep the fledgling artist to his promises, but paying an easy professional fee for what amounts to an uncertain reliability at uncertain quality does not help the person build up his expectations of the field. This is especially true for some teenager who lives with their parents - they don't need a living wage, so it's not appropriate to pay them such.

Of course, if you have a project that is actually relying on the person, they understand it and are committing serious working hours above the dozen or so per week that an aspiring artist would be spending as a hobby anyway, then it might make sense to pay more or less serious money, equivalent to what the person might get in an entry-level no-schooling-required job in any other field. But that's a pretty hardcore thing to do just for social reasons.

Ah, thank you Eero Tuovinen.  Your reply is a well written.  I am sad to learn that the reality is a bit depressing.  ;-)

There was a really, really good thread where folks hashed out a lot of details about what and how to charge for illustration, but I sure can't find it (and as the Forge archive is being rebuilt, the Search function isn't helping me out any). It's either in the Publishing or Connections forum, but I can't seem to remember the title. Maybe you can find it with some patience!

If you're helping out by commissioning some pieces, I would say pay what you can bear. I mean, if it's essentially charity, why hold back?

If it helps any, here's what I've paid artists recently:

7$/15 minutes ($28/hr) for up-to-quarter-page spot illustrations. Limited color pallet. Billed in 15-minute increments.
$150 for two pages of spot illustrations, varying from doodles to quarter-page. Black-and-white. Flat rate.

And the last full-time artist I happened to speak to gave me his rates as this:

-B/W picture 1/4 page-card art: 60$
-Color 1/4 page-card art: 75$
-Color full page: 150$
-Color cover: 250$

So maybe that will help you benchmark.

Thank you, Nathan.

And my reason for "holding back" is that the child is young, and her mother is also breaking into the world of freelance art.  I am asking the daughter for help with the RPG illustrations because her mother is much a busier person, and a child's hand is appropriate for the RPG.  Next week I'll be finalizing a picture of my toddler for the mother to paint--that will be the place to not hold back with generosity.  Overpaying the daughter would only cause confusion and strange feelings.

Is this thread the one you're referring to, Nathan?

Yes, thanks!

David, fair enough. Hopefully the info in this and the thread that Raven linked too will help you out.

Eero wrote:
The sad truth of it is that the beginner illustrator does not charge at all. Their first works will almost always be for free as they build up a CV, reputation and working discipline. Only once they've realized their own worth by succeeding in a few small assignments will they have the moral position to demand their rightful fee.

Eero wrote: The sad truth of it is that the beginner illustrator does not charge at all. Their first works will almost always be for free as they build up a CV, reputation and working discipline. Only once they've realized their own worth by succeeding in a few small assignments will they have the moral position to demand their rightful fee.

Well, experiences differ - and I'm not an illustrator, so I only see the other side of the equation. Still, Kevin's nowhere near what I would consider a beginner artist when he's already graduated college. In these parts my experience is that the people who gravitate to professional graphic design or illustration start doing it seriously in their teens, spend years doing unprofessional work, perhaps get a degree for it and then start making money once their credentials and hobby credits are solid. There's a long stretch of years, even a decade, where these people produce work of sufficient quality (if not of sufficient work ethic in terms of deadlines and such,  perhaps) for small press publishers. Paying a 15-year old a modest fee to encourage their art and get some passable sketches for your publication is one thing, treating them as professionals would be something entirely different.

Still, I make no claims for any sort of moral imperatives in this regard. The market pays what the market will bear, and I'm just describing how the scene rolls in my environs. I've paid teenagers for their art, but I haven't referenced the freelancer's association pay grade guidelines while doing it, as the gulf in the quality and reliability of the work is so extensive.

I agree with the spirit of what you're saying, Eero, and I'd handle this situation pretty much the same way.

My intense disagreement is mostly a matter of the terminology used, and the fact that someone not so versed (or too well versed and unscrupulous) could* apply your statement to the wrong sort of "beginning illustrator" and use it to give that old "It'll be great exposure!" line and "well, I read on-line that..."

* which isn't me going "The sky is falling!", because similar has and does happen

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. I have tried to assemble a team of budding designers and artists to get a bootstrap sweat equity project going, and it went nowhere fast.
If they have a great idea, then they have means of getting funding with a kick-starter project or even an open design patronage type plan.
As a graphic designer I understand that you have to have a portfolio in order to come across with the kind of credibility that gets you paid. SO my advise is to work on that portfolio. have something that will market the skills of the illustrator and then go find projects to get involved with. Its a lot of work, but normally an art student leaves school with a body of work that can get a foot in the door.