ONY'S Commission: Book Covers & Illustrations

Not_A_Symphony

Picasso 2.0
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
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Hi everyone! :blobtaco:
So I recently started taking commissions again (I had stopped for two years before this) and would like to showcase my services in case anyone would be interested in them.

These are my ratings:
  • Chapter Separators → 5$
  • Book Covers* & Character/Chapter Illustrations (with a simple background included) → 15$
*The 15$ only include free sources, and my hardwork paid stock images are added to the final price if they are requested.

How I Work:
  1. I will send you a sketch or a concept design and only after your approval I will start working on it. In this phase you can ask for as many alterations as you want.
  2. Afterwards, you will receive the .png or .jpg file in High Quality after I receive the payment.
Due to the ongrowing AI trend, I am willing, if you ask for it, to record my working process and send it your way so you are sure it was made by human hand.

Character / Chapter Illustrations:


Book Covers:



If you'd like, check my portfolio for some other samples of my work.

Thank you so much! ~ :blob_paint:
 
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Not_A_Symphony

Picasso 2.0
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
177
Points
83
How do you calculate your prices?
Basically, as a beginner, I'm taking into account three factors:
  1. Art Quality
  2. Client List
  3. Freelancer Market
So, to explain each one individually...
Firstly, I think that my art is pretty, consistent and solid, taking me quite some time to finish my most detailed pieces. Simultaneously, I know that I don't have commissioners (or am know in the field at all) so I must set my bar lower at the beginning in order to get some clients, reviews and hopefully bring in more commissions organically. Then, looking at the highly competitive freelancer market I can see that my art is not that great - there are artists who charge +25$ for pieces way out of my league, so if I over price myself I won't even stand a chance.
Thus, in my case, I considered all of these factors and realized I should price myself in the 10$ to 20$ range, even if it takes some time for me to finish the pieces.
It's important to understand that we all start somewhere and it's okay to change your prices as time goes, as your art improves and your commissioner base increases, but until then you have to do your best and hope it is enough :blob_pout:

However, I can say that if you are not a beginner like me and already have a solid customer base all you must take into account is: market research and time spent vs quality delivered.
This to say that, you have to do a throughout market research in order to understand what is the current price expected of the art you are delivering so you are not over pricing yourself or under pricing yourself, causing unwanted fluctuations in the market. Then you must consider how good your art or your work really is and how much time does it take you to deliver the most amazing piece you've ever done.
So let's do some calculus!

Assumptions:
You have 15 commissioners per month on average;
You take 6 hours doing a jaw-dropping piece so you can only complete one piece per day (health and rest are important too!)
Your monthly spend of bills and food is 300$ which means per day is 9.7€

((House Bills + Food) + Time Consumed & Handwork) / Nº of Commissioners (average)
(300€ + 1000€) / 15 = 87€

Also, keep in mind that depending on the product you are delivering your prices should be subject to change - so if something takes you about an hour to complete, it should be considerably cheaper than something that takes 6 hours.

It's a bit late here where I live so my brain may not be braining but I hope I was able to help you out a little bit and not make things overly confusing :sweating_profusely:
 

Not_A_Symphony

Picasso 2.0
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
177
Points
83
I suggest limiting alterations instead of infinite. Pieces of shit exist afterall. Like me.
Well you may be right, of course I'm not going to do 1000x different sketches right but I might do one or two redos if the person is truly unhappy with the work. I don't want to deliver something that they won't like, you know? :sweating_profusely:
 
D

Deleted member 166076

Guest
For price reference, if I wanted something like a woman with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a purple dress in a field of purple flowers either beside or holding a blue slime, how much would that cost? Would that even be something in your skill set?
 

Not_A_Symphony

Picasso 2.0
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
177
Points
83
For price reference, if I wanted something like a woman with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a purple dress in a field of purple flowers either beside or holding a blue slime, how much would that cost? Would that even be something in your skill set?
So I'd assume something similar as in your first picture right? I think I can do that for sure, of course it wouldn't be like the one you have now - my art style hasn't reached that godly status yet - but I'm confident I can make something you'd like! And I think (depending on the complexity of the background + if you want full body or not) it would range between 15$ and a max of 35$. Assuming it is similar to the one you have on your signature, it'd be around 15$ - 20$!
Also if you are unsure, I can do the sketch first, send it to you and then you decide if you want to move on with the commission or not :blob_aww: I wouldn't want you regretting spending your money on something you feel like it wasn't up to part, after all.
 
D

Deleted member 166076

Guest
So I'd assume something similar as in your first picture right? I think I can do that for sure, of course it wouldn't be like the one you have now - my art style hasn't reached that godly status yet - but I'm confident I can make something you'd like! And I think (depending on the complexity of the background + if you want full body or not) it would range between 15$ and a max of 35$. Assuming it is similar to the one you have on your signature, it'd be around 15$ - 20$!
Also if you are unsure, I can do the sketch first, send it to you and then you decide if you want to move on with the commission or not :blob_aww: I wouldn't want you regretting spending your money on something you feel like it wasn't up to part, after all.

The first image in my signature is an edited AI image (AI base + editing software), so don't compare yourself to it. I'm really trying to move away from using AI images for my writing as a lot of people passionately hate it and will assume your writing is also AI or that you're a bad person for using it. I've made some book covers for my other books with royalty-free images and Canva, but that isn't really feasible for my dungeon stories.

That price range works for me and I'd like to see a sketch for sure. Ideally, I'd like to get several book covers made for the same artist since it's a multi-volume series that will be listed on Amazon under separate listings in the future. I'd want to take things one image at a time and I'd be handling the text and all that. So, I'm hopeful that things can work out for both of us. I do pretty much want something similar to my current book cover, just not made by AI. A simple background is fine as the important part is that the MC is in it alongside a cute blue slime to get across the cutesy dungeon theme. The MC has brown hair, blue eyes, and always wears purple dresses, so the current book cover is a pretty good match other than the AI part.
 
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Not_A_Symphony

Picasso 2.0
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
177
Points
83
The first image in my signature is an edited AI image (AI base + editing software), so don't compare yourself to it. I'm really trying to move away from using AI images for my writing as a lot of people passionately hate it and will assume your writing is also AI or that you're a bad person for using it. I've made some book covers for my other books with royalty-free images and Canva, but that isn't really feasible for my dungeon stories.

That price range works for me and I'd like to see a sketch for sure. Ideally, I'd like to get several book covers made for the same artist since it's a multi-volume series that will be listed on Amazon under separate listings in the future. I'd want to take things one image at a time and I'd be handling the text and all that. So, I'm hopeful that things can work out for both of us. I do pretty much want something similar to my current book cover, just not made by AI. A simple background is fine as the important part is that the MC is in it alongside a cute blue slime to get across the cutesy dungeon theme. The MC has brown hair, blue eyes, and always wears purple dresses, so the current book cover is a pretty good match other than the AI part.
Yeah I understand, I personally don't like AI that much as well unless it's for referencing - it makes it easier to keep track of a character's design and stuff - but I do understand that not everyone can afford an artist as the best ones are super expensive and the newbies like me are not in the level people usually want. I didn't know that people assumed that though, interesting... Did you get a lot of comments about it? About people thinking your novel was all written in AI?

Awesome! I'll send you a DM to wrap up the details and yes, if you like what I do I am free and more than available to do other illustrations for your books! I don't plan on stopping any time soon :blobtaco:
 
D

Deleted member 166076

Guest
Yeah I understand, I personally don't like AI that much as well unless it's for referencing - it makes it easier to keep track of a character's design and stuff - but I do understand that not everyone can afford an artist as the best ones are super expensive and the newbies like me are not in the level people usually want. I didn't know that people assumed that though, interesting... Did you get a lot of comments about it? About people thinking your novel was all written in AI?

Awesome! I'll send you a DM to wrap up the details and yes, if you like what I do I am free and more than available to do other illustrations for your books! I don't plan on stopping any time soon :blobtaco:
I have yet to get any comments about it, but Reddit and groups used for advertising are known for completely ostracizing people who use it. They believe it steals real artists job opportunities and sometimes steals their style / work as well. I don't know enough about it to say if that's true or not. However, much like you, I realize most authors who post on free sites like this are kids and people who can't afford a fancy book cover. When the alternative is getting a 'free' graphic artist off Wattpad who might just steal whole images off of Pinterest and slap text on it, AI seems a whole lot better since it, at least, won't get you sued

I don't really make a lot off of my writing right now, so I can't really afford the $500 / cover for professional work like the self-publishing authors on Reddit go on about. That would be my earnings for several months before taxes are considered. They constantly say not to trust anyone on fiverr either as they say too often it's just people using AI and claiming they made it, which is the only reason they think the price could be that low. That's unfortunate since I can't afford to take a chance and waste my money on art work I won't be able to use. Besides, if I was going to use AI, I could do that myself.

I take a lot of pride in my work and I usually make my own book covers and even create my own pixel art maps and sometimes other things too. It's just that I'm not even as skilled of an artist as you when it comes to people and more complex things like that. That's probably why most of my readers support my work, just occasionally saying they wish I wasn't using AI.

I'm glad to hear you're going to be available for a while. You're the first artist in my price range who I'm confident doesn't use AI. You wouldn't be offering to do sketches first otherwise. 😅
 

Not_A_Symphony

Picasso 2.0
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
177
Points
83
I have yet to get any comments about it, but Reddit and groups used for advertising are known for completely ostracizing people who use it. They believe it steals real artists job opportunities and sometimes steals their style / work as well. I don't know enough about it to say if that's true or not. However, much like you, I realize most authors who post on free sites like this are kids and people who can't afford a fancy book cover. When the alternative is getting a 'free' graphic artist off Wattpad who might just steal whole images off of Pinterest and slap text on it, AI seems a whole lot better since it, at least, won't get you sued

I don't really make a lot off of my writing right now, so I can't really afford the $500 / cover for professional work like the self-publishing authors on Reddit go on about. That would be my earnings for several months before taxes are considered. They constantly say not to trust anyone on fiverr either as they say too often it's just people using AI and claiming they made it, which is the only reason they think the price could be that low. That's unfortunate since I can't afford to take a chance and waste my money on art work I won't be able to use. Besides, if I was going to use AI, I could do that myself.

I take a lot of pride in my work and I usually make my own book covers and even create my own pixel art maps and sometimes other things too. It's just that I'm not even as skilled of an artist as you when it comes to people and more complex things like that. That's probably why most of my readers support my work, just occasionally saying they wish I wasn't using AI.

I'm glad to hear you're going to be available for a while. You're the first artist in my price range who I'm confident doesn't use AI. You wouldn't be offering to do sketches first otherwise. 😅
Well AI does end up stealing opportunities to writers ad artists but that is because a lot of people say that they created it when all they actually had to do was type some words into a search bar. Of course, AI like everything is the future and is good but the way people are using it now is definetly taking away income from real artists as commissioners think they are acquiring human-made art but end up discovering it's not and feel scammed. :blob_catflip:
And like I said, I do understand why people use AI as references, or for their novel covers and stuff like that - the problem I'd say relies in selling it as something that it isn't and flagging it as human-made when it actually isn't.

Yeah I understand, one of the reasons why I started doing some book designs on photoshop and illustrations on .sai was because of that... A lot of designers ask 500$ or 1000$ for a book cover but when you are starting out that ammount is completely out of our charts. I can say though, Fiverr is trustworthy as long as you know how to look for red flags, and the reason prices are that low is because everyone is trying to make a living. The platform is SATURATED with freelancers and new ones join everyday and the only way you can gain more commissioners is through reviews but who will commission an artist with no feedback and 60$ a piece? We have no choice but to lower our prices hoping to get some reviews to start gaining some reputation in the field and actually be able to make a living out of it. It goes hand-in-hand with the market research that I explained earlier in this thread basically.

Maybe I'm shooting myself in foot but here's some tips on how to not get scammed in Fiverr: :blob_paint:
  1. Look at the consistency of their art
    For eg: if the art has been steadily improving, as if an "invisible wire" created the following pieces. If the artworks feels completely different from one another they are most likely a scam and are using or AI or stolen pictures from another artists.
  2. Reverse Image Search on Google
    If they stole the images from someone this will allow you to find out who exactly made the drawings
  3. Check for basic anatomy mistakes
    AI art tends to have a lot of these and a lot of the artists do not care enough to fix it. So if you see a character with 6 fingers in one hand and 4 in the other, it's sus - or if the teeth are merged together, lenght of the shoulders, etc. Note that these mistakes are basic but WON'T BE OBVIOUS. If they are obvious it tends to be human made and just the artists lack of anatomy training.
  4. Message them before purchase
    If you are still fearful, I'd send a message asking to record the full sketch process and share it with you afterwards - that way you can be certain they are not using AI. Because yes, some artists trace AI images and then slap some colour on top, like this you won't have that problem because you'll be able to see the creation from start to finish.

I see, I have never done pixel art but I'm sure it is fun and certainly it looks great! Practice makes perfection (even though I'm far from perfect) and in art that is specially true. Like for real, you really don't want to see my first art pieces... (Van Gogh is rolling in his grave from how bad they are) :blob_teary:

Yes! It will be lovely to work with you in case you do enjoy my work hihihi Thank you for giving me a chance again, I'm really thankful :blob_aww:
 
D

Deleted member 166076

Guest
Well AI does end up stealing opportunities to writers ad artists but that is because a lot of people say that they created it when all they actually had to do was type some words into a search bar. Of course, AI like everything is the future and is good but the way people are using it now is definetly taking away income from real artists as commissioners think they are acquiring human-made art but end up discovering it's not and feel scammed. :blob_catflip:
And like I said, I do understand why people use AI as references, or for their novel covers and stuff like that - the problem I'd say relies in selling it as something that it isn't and flagging it as human-made when it actually isn't.

Yeah I understand, one of the reasons why I started doing some book designs on photoshop and illustrations on .sai was because of that... A lot of designers ask 500$ or 1000$ for a book cover but when you are starting out that ammount is completely out of our charts. I can say though, Fiverr is trustworthy as long as you know how to look for red flags, and the reason prices are that low is because everyone is trying to make a living. The platform is SATURATED with freelancers and new ones join everyday and the only way you can gain more commissioners is through reviews but who will commission an artist with no feedback and 60$ a piece? We have no choice but to lower our prices hoping to get some reviews to start gaining some reputation in the field and actually be able to make a living out of it. It goes hand-in-hand with the market research that I explained earlier in this thread basically.

Maybe I'm shooting myself in foot but here's some tips on how to not get scammed in Fiverr: :blob_paint:
  1. Look at the consistency of their art
    For eg: if the art has been steadily improving, as if an "invisible wire" created the following pieces. If the artworks feels completely different from one another they are most likely a scam and are using or AI or stolen pictures from another artists.
  2. Reverse Image Search on Google
    If they stole the images from someone this will allow you to find out who exactly made the drawings
  3. Check for basic anatomy mistakes
    AI art tends to have a lot of these and a lot of the artists do not care enough to fix it. So if you see a character with 6 fingers in one hand and 4 in the other, it's sus - or if the teeth are merged together, lenght of the shoulders, etc. Note that these mistakes are basic but WON'T BE OBVIOUS. If they are obvious it tends to be human made and just the artists lack of anatomy training.
  4. Message them before purchase
    If you are still fearful, I'd send a message asking to record the full sketch process and share it with you afterwards - that way you can be certain they are not using AI. Because yes, some artists trace AI images and then slap some colour on top, like this you won't have that problem because you'll be able to see the creation from start to finish.

I see, I have never done pixel art but I'm sure it is fun and certainly it looks great! Practice makes perfection (even though I'm far from perfect) and in art that is specially true. Like for real, you really don't want to see my first art pieces... (Van Gogh is rolling in his grave from how bad they are) :blob_teary:

Yes! It will be lovely to work with you in case you do enjoy my work hihihi Thank you for giving me a chance again, I'm really thankful :blob_aww:
I don't know if looks really factor into it. Here's an example of my first floor map of one of my stories in case you're curious about it. I usually use an app on my phone called 8bit Pixel because it's free. It has a habit of crashing if you do too much at once without backing out to save and it has ads, but it works for my needs. You can always try it out for fun if you wanted to.

My grandfather always encouraged me to practice being artistic and my husband has further encouraged it by buying me art supplies. So, I certainly could practice if I wanted to, but I've always been a bit too much of a perfectionist and prefer symmetrical shapes and repeating patterns, which doesn't really lend itself to art very well. Shame all my fancy pastels, coloring pencils, etc. go to waste, but I don't really find drawing that much fun so it is what it is.

It's alright, though, I don't mind asking other for help in the areas I'm lacking, even if that means paying. So long as it's within budget, of course.
 

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