Doing commissioned artwork for writers, publishers, etc.

[Veronica Worthington]

Just curious, how many of you want to illustrate the works of other authors?  Or make something for their website? What would you consider, if you were to do it, an acceptable fee for accepting a commission? Anyone know anything about that? Someday, I'd like to commission a work for my website. I'm also looking at stock photos online. I might have to learn how to photoshop along with everything else I'm studying. Being a writer is hard work, isn't it?

 

Thanks for the help and opinion!

 

Veronica

[Laura Robinett]

I actually do illustrate book covers for authors and do websites for them. Generally a good web designer will charge $1,000 to $1,500 to design a website plus a yearly or monthly maintenance fee along with that. Learning photoshop will be the least of your worries if you want to try and design your own website. Hope this helps you!

[Veronica Worthington]

Hi Laura,

I'd rather just buy the artwork and do my own website, so it's easier to maintain. I have built my own kennels website in the past, and did a pretty good job, people thought someone designed it for me. But an author's website would be artsy-er than a doggie site and require a lot more artwork. :-) What kinds of priced do you charge for artwork? For instance, if I asked you to draw a picture of my main character, using a description, what would that cost me? And what medias and styles do you use?
Thanks
Veronica

[Laura Robinett]

My style varies depending on what I'm doing really. I'm a big fan of Japanese art but if a client needs something totally different I can give that to them as well. I have a few mediums I love to use. My favorite is graphite, but I also do various acrylic paintings for people on occasion and do most of my stuff digitally. My digital rates I charge are $25/hr. hour minimum for one time customers or customers that only need me once in a while. For my customers that use me on a regular basis then I charge $10/hr, hour minimum.