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Rates for Commissions: Artist Commissions Survey Results

Posted on September 3, 2019August 30, 2019 by Stephanie Cooke

We put together an anonymous survey for artists who take or have taken commissions to help creators better navigate the rates that they charge and the methods in which they accept commissions.

As mentioned, the data was gathered anonymously via Google Forms from a sample size of 290 artists. We are not drawing conclusions or interpreting the data, just presenting the results.

All of our page rate information is in USD. If any creators responded with a different currency that was noted, we’ve converted that to USD. The data has been compiled into a few different categories

Sample Size: 290 Artists

Of the 290 artists that responded to the survey, 96.9% currently accept submissions. The remaining percentage have taken commissions in the past but do not at the moment or any longer.

We’ll attempt this survey again in the future having learned quite a few things about the collection of the data, but it was really difficult to find common ground to average everything out. Artists accept commissions in completely different ways, so we’ve tried our best to lump the rates together based on the information we were given. For instance, “SKETCH”, “BLACK & WHITE”, and “FULL COLOUR” are based on an average commission size of 6 x 9 (or roughly in that area). 

Lots of folks didn’t specify more outside of “BUST” or “FULL BODY” for some of their responses, so this could mean a number of different things – we apologize that this isn’t made clearer (again, like we said, we will adjust the survey in the future).

The most accurate data that we were able to compile is that of the hourly rates. Lots of artists seem to be working on hourly rates and that was very easy to process here. Some artists work in half hour increments but also included their rate for the full hour.

Ultimately this isn’t meant to be the be all and end all of artist commission rates. Please understand that we processed the data as best as we possibly could but it does have some flaws (as we’ve tried to outline). Use it as a base guideline, if you’d like, but it should not be the definitive way to price your work. Many folks specified that the rates provided were also the starting point, so please keep that in mind as you look through the data.

 

PUBLISHED CREATORS – TRADITIONAL

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
SKETCH $80 $15 $32
BLACK & WHITE $200 $20 $69
FULL COLOUR $300 $40 $122
BUST $120 $12 $55
FULL BODY $300 $45 $155

PER HOUR

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
HOURLY RATE $70 $20 $37

PUBLISHED CREATORS – DIGITAL

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
SKETCH $75 $15 $29
BLACK & WHITE $65 $20 $35
FULL COLOUR $120 $20 $60
BUST $80 $12 $30
FULL BODY $125 $20 $65


PER HOUR

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
HOURLY RATE $45 $7 $29

 


UNPUBLISHED CREATORS – TRADITIONAL

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
SKETCH $45 $10 $24
BLACK & WHITE $64 $10 $35
FULL COLOUR $100 $15 $52
BUST $150 $10 $34
FULL BODY $200 $15 $57


PER HOUR

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
HOURLY RATE $45 $11 $23

UNPUBLISHED CREATORS – DIGITAL

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
SKETCH $50 $10 $25
BLACK & WHITE $100 $10 $43
FULL COLOUR $150 $30 $73
BUST $120 $10 $36
FULL BODY $240 $20 $69


PER HOUR

  HIGHEST LOWEST AVERAGE
HOURLY RATE $85 $10 $42

What medium do the responding artists typically work in for commissions (ie. digital or traditional)?

  • 51.7% – Digital
  • 15.5% – Traditional
  • 30.7% – Both

The remaining percentage was broken up by creators going into the specifics (ie. “mostly digital but takes traditional commissions at conventions”).

Where do the majority of creators take commissions from?

  • 89.7% – Online through social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
  • 21.7% – At conventions only
  • 4.5% – Through Etsy, Shopify, and/or other e-commerce platforms

Other respondent comments:

  • Personal web site
  • Email only
  • Art dealer
  • Commiss.io

How do the majority of creators receive payment for commissions?

  • 79% – PayPal

The remaining percentage was individualized responses such as:

  • Cash up front (for conventions)
  • Square (for conventions)
  • E-transfer
  • Patreon, Ko-Fi, Payoneer
  • Google Pay
  • Venmo

How much do commissions contribute to the majority of overall income for creators?

Additional notes and tips from artists on commissions:

  • Remember to take payment up front (ie. first payment for sketch, require second payment upon approval before moving onto inks/colours – don’t work without compensation received or a deposit of at least 50%).
  • Under-pricing harms the whole industry, even for newbies. It helps to also offer lay-by options, which people appreciate and make use of.
  • Charge based on edits (ie. at each stage, offer a few minor edits (2-3 usually), and if they are unclear in their instructions/description/etc. and it causes a longer work process or it becomes more complicated, try charging $25 for each additional hour you work on a piece).
  • For more detailed commissions, get everything in writing – outline what you’ll do as an artist (ie. thumbnails, sketch, ink, and color stages) along with what changes are acceptable at each stage. Offer them a contract to sign so they understand the obligations and expectations completely, or as closely as possible.
  • For personal commissions, offer the ability to tip when you send an invoice and you may be surprised by how many of your clients give you an extra 30-40%.
  • Don’t be afraid to be selective with your work. You can turn down commissions that don’t interest you or that you don’t feel you can do justice to.
  • Don’t work for free for friends and family unless you absolutely want to. Offer a friends and family discount but never feel that you have to work for free for them.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at info@creatorresource.com. We thank all the respondents for their time and efforts in helping us create this base rate list.

  • Author
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Stephanie Cooke
Stephanie is a Toronto-based comic book writer and editor. She's the founder of Creator Resource and Creator Advisor, and works with the comic book community as much as possible to help foster safer and more inclusive spaces for all. You can find her work at stephaniecooke.ca.
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10 thoughts on “Rates for Commissions: Artist Commissions Survey Results”

  1. biakosta says:
    September 3, 2019 at 11:50 am

    Thank you for this! it’s so helpful!

    Reply
  2. Lurart says:
    September 3, 2019 at 1:40 pm

    This is incredible! I can’t tell you how often I’ve wanted this sort of informational resource. Thank you so much for putting this all together!

    Reply
  3. Adam Graphite says:
    September 3, 2019 at 2:07 pm

    They are sooo low on average

    Reply
    1. Stephanie Cooke says:
      September 3, 2019 at 2:14 pm

      They are. I did try to give some context for the rates though – quite a few charged “appropriate” ish amounts, but unfortunately a lot of folks undercharge by a LOT which brought the averages down. It’s definitely meant to be used as a very very rough guideline and idea. I’ll work on a new version of the survey for next time.

      Reply
  4. Emily K says:
    September 5, 2019 at 12:46 am

    These rates seem low to me. I think many people are undercharging. The only thing we can do as artists is to raise our rates collectively and support one another in how much we’re worth. If we don’t value ourselves, nobody else will. $7 an hour?! Unacceptable.

    Reply
    1. Stephanie Cooke says:
      September 5, 2019 at 11:49 am

      Unfortunately some folks are still learning how to value their own time and efforts. Those amounts definitely brought the averages down but hopefully the survey will help those creators realize that they need to charge more.

      Reply
  5. Brølyn Katuhooza Ntale says:
    September 16, 2020 at 3:54 am

    Thank you so much

    Reply
  6. Alese Owens says:
    January 7, 2021 at 8:10 pm

    I million thanks! I’m so glad you took the time to do this and that I came across it. For the endeavor that is pricing art, every little sliver of clarity is so helpful and this is a treasure trove for those of us who find more direction in stats than subjective approximations and social comparisons. Really appreciate this!

    Reply
  7. Calcefer says:
    March 29, 2021 at 11:43 am

    Thank you so much for this, Stephanie! May I ask if these rates are for comic or portrait commission? I’m a newbie and I’ve been struggling with how to price comic and couldn’t find any help so I’m planning to use your survey as my refence and just minus 10 USD? Since our currency (PHP) is just 17.3% of a dollar.? What do you think? Or these rates are too low already to less more? I hope you understand my english. I’m sorry in advance. Salamat ulit!

    Reply
    1. Stephanie Cooke says:
      March 30, 2021 at 10:58 am

      Most of these are for general art commissions (as opposed to comic work). There would definitely be a different standard for sequential work that you can see on our page rates page or by visiting Litebox which has live rates that are submitted directly by the creators to their database.

      Reply

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