/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>4347293
>"muh popularity determines the price" is a meme in your head
At no point in my post did I even come close to expressing this. Nice reading comprehension, you stupid fucking retard.

>>4347557
>effectively mean the same thing
No, no it doesn't. Again - who it's for and how it's used are the main factors in determining how much you can charge for your work, and the main reason why a single illustration could generate wildly different amounts of money despite being the same amount of work. All commissioned work should be negotiated and quoted on a project-by-project basis with consideration to who is commissioning the work and how it is going to be used.

More flawed arguments from an anon that shows they are clearly not a working professional, and that they should not be lecturing others on how the real world functions. I'm >>4323218 >>4321557

>>4323259
>YOUR ART IS DOING MORE THAT SITTING ON ARTSTATION FOR SOME POTENTIAL CLIENT TO STUMBLE ACROSS
This is how I know you have never worked a professional freelance job in your life. You seemingly assume that people create portfolios, throw them up online and just get "discovered". That's just a lazy misunderstanding of how real freelance careers are built. Anons like you never even seem to acknowledge the fact that networking and real, proactive self-promotion play a role in creating strong freelancer/client relationships.
>You’d rather be a worker than an owner.
I am the owner of a freelance illustration business. I operate mostly in business-to-business.

>>4323370
>Why could YOU be the guy on the other end who created the project in the first place
>Youre completely blind to the fact that your client, your boss is just another dude like you, and you can creat something FOR YOURSELF similar to what he has created.
I can't wrap my my head around your thought process here. It's my best guess that you think that self-publishing is somehow an all-encompassing antithesis to freelancing, but thinking like that willfully ignores what a freelancer does and the role they play in a larger business.
I don't want to operate a brewery, I just want to illustrate cool beer labels and packaging.
I don't want to start a magazine publication and build it up to international circulation, I just want to illustrate cool covers.
I don't want to start an video game studio, I just want to illustrate cool promo art.
I don't want to launch and run an apparel print shop, I just want to illustrate cool apparel designs.
I don't want to be an AD for a single company, I just want to illustrate all sorts of different projects for a variety of different clients.

>>4232974
It doesn't matter what your process is - what matters is the end result. IMO, one of the hardest pills for people here to swallow is that no one really cares what you do. Most folks just want to see finished work. If they do care, then there's nothing they can do but whine and complain, which you should just ignore. As long as the final work is good, then trace away.

>>4232990
el em aye oh.

>>4064697
Anyone who gave a 'price check' in this thread is an astronomical moron and doesn't understand how pricing illustration works. To look at an illustration and just give it a flat price of $80.00 USD is astronomically retarded and is completely naive in regards to how illustration is actually priced. You people are morons who probably think that freelancing revolves around fast-food style commission charts.

Illustration should be priced on a piece-by-piece basis with consideration to a wide number of factors. It's impossible to just look at a drawing and say it's worth $X amount of dollars.

>>3772096
I think I understand. All I can say is that you should look at this endeavor more rationally & objectively, rather than emotionally.

You - as an artist - are a business, through and through. You are a 1-person business, and art is not that much different from any other business. Freelance illustration, freelance photography, freelance editing, writing, design, film, consulting, dog walking - whatever. It's all the same. You:
1. Develop your product / service (hopefully based on what people need)
2. Find customers & others who can use what you've got and market yourself to them.

It sounds like you're still on step 1 - and that's okay. Don't be so hard on yourself. It takes time, and there should be no rush. It is NOT a race.

Another thing to keep in mind is that all these 'good artists' that you keep mentioning might be just as in the gutter as you are. Again - just because they're good, doesn't mean they're successful. They might be very talented, but incapable of landing jobs. They might be landing a few jobs, but not enough to be making a living off it. They might still have a day job, or be working jobs they don't enjoy just to pay the bills. You never see or hear them talk about any of this, because it's not apart of their branding. You'll never see the things that get them down, or their failures, or their bad pieces that they gave up on.

This is reminiscent of the wider negative impact of social media. There's this idea that folks only share the highlights of their lives, and it makes them seem like their lives are full of happiness, fulfillment and satisfaction. You should not compare your life to someone else's condensed highlight reel. There will always be artists better than you in one way or another - this does not mean that you should give up.

>>3701734
>>3701926
I've done several art contests, and I've got a real love / hate relationship with them. On one hand, they're very exploitative of artists and essentially getting a bunch of people to create finished work and then only paying one. However, if you manage to win some, then they can undoubtedly be good money & exposure. Though if your only goal is to 'get famous', then they is not worth your time.

http://www.talenthouse.com I've won several art contests through them and made a good chunk of change in the past year. Fair warning though - they are the worst people I've ever worked with and will string you along for as long as they can before they pay you. This has happened to every single other winning artist I've talked to.

http://www.threadless.com has ongoing design contests for all sorts of different things. If you've got a style appropriate for apparel and such, check them out. You retain all rights to your work, even if you win. They used to payout $2k+ per selected design, though they changed it up in 2014. Now it's a monthly royalty payout, +$ if its for a particular themed contest.

http://www.collectiveartsbrewing.com is fantastic. You don't get a whole lot of money, but they have a twice-a-year call for art that is printed on their beer bottles and packages. You retain all rights, even if you win - they encourage submissions of already completed work. Easy $200 + published portfolio piece. Super friendly crew and I've even got a commission or two out of them from getting work selected so much. Today (Nov. 30) is the deadline for the next one, so if you've got a completed piece that's just sitting around on your desk / hard drive, it's worth submitting up to 3.

http://www.pbart.com has an annual art competition that's pretty big. A lot of competition, but there's a few winners. Top spot gets a whopping $10k + their work printed on over 3 million beer cans.

>>3653129
>>3653947
Are you really incapable of hitting 3 keys that are right next to each other? Do you only have 2 fingers?

Literal crab detected.