Main > Artwork
The thing about custom artwork (FAQ & rant)
Maximus:
--- Quote from: Le Chuck on June 04, 2013, 08:09:36 am ---Never stop making, never stop creating. Not everything I do is show room worthy but every now and then I get lucky and something awesome falls out of my head. That's what keeps me at it, the thrill of creation.
--- End quote ---
This.
SNAAKE:
--- Quote from: jmike on June 04, 2013, 09:24:43 am ---
--- Quote from: SNAAKE on June 03, 2013, 11:17:53 pm --- :laugh2:
naw you are good and yours is easy anyway. xbox 360 is like 10x harder. I will have it out probably wednesday when I go to the post office after work.
--- End quote ---
:applaud: :applaud:
I hope that's not the one I was looking at :bat
PM sent
:cheers:
--- End quote ---
its not, he sent his in. yours is still on the side. I will PM you when I have info on that too.
(sorry little OT..go on with artwork rants)
mgb:
I'm one who's kinda getting back into the fine world of art.
As far back as I can remember, I was drawing. In school I was known as being talented in drawing and i expected to be in the art field when i grew up. Somewhere along the way after high school I just kinda dropped out of it.
My drawing time, the time of day I was most inspired and really drew my heart out was from 11pm til 6 am or so.
Give me a pack of Marlboros, a few Mountain Dews and Nick at Nite on the TV and I was good to go.
Naturally I couldn't keep this up and raise a family.
Besides as soon as someone else asks for a particular drawing or in anyway sets the rules for the work at hand, it somehow voids the whole thing for me and I get creatively blocked.
I have always had the strongest need to create and after drawing, I think that's why I've headed into electronics.
Any how, I've been getting back into drawing a little bit at a time ( no more Marlboros though and less Mountain Dew)
I really enjoy doing graphics on the computer now too but a lot of what I do there is a bit more of taking what's already out there and mixing and changing.
Vigo:
I just read this thread today. And to be honest, Opt. I really don't know how I can best comment. I feel I have to say something. I think you are overvaluing your artwork here. I don't even know what you charge, but if you think that your art is worth more than a person is willing to pay, then you just have the wrong attitude about your work. As an artist, your work is worth nothing, $0.00, until another person comes along and says it is worth money to them to have it. It is hard to explain, but it is sorta a zen attitude that I think any successful artist needs to have.
I come from an art family. My Mom's been a professional Artist on and off again for many years. My Bro is an art teacher. My sis-in-law has a radio program about art. I went to a college and have many friends in the art program, some went on very far, others failed and took work elsewhere. While I am not an artist myself, I have done a number of graphic design project professionally and will not take another job again because I know first hand how frustrating it is dealing with people in something that deals with personal taste so much. I have seen enough of your work to agree that you are extremely talented and your work is very good, and your talent is very valuable to this community.
I totally get your rant, really I do. At the same time, I have heard that rant from art friends what seems like 100's of times. Just being honest with you, my empathy meter almost always drains to empty when I hear the "They don't understand the value of art" rant. As I was trying to say above, your art is only worth what that person is willing to pay for it. They may only be willing to pay a measly $20 for it, well, that means your art is worth only $20, Even if it costs you $200 of personal labor and equipment expenses. That is the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- end of the stick that an artist has to live with. Doesn't mean you have to bend over for those people, but they are not at fault for not knowing how the process works. They just don't, and probably will never appreciate your work. Until you accept the truth that your work is both valuable and worthless at the same time, you are gonna be unnecessarily blaming a lot of people for not being experts in your field.
And I do understand you are in an horrid position trying to prove the value of your work. Custom work is easier to sell if you are a known artist doing work on a physical medium, but doing independent digital work in a graphic design word, that's a VERY tough sell.
I do have to point out, you are making things very hard on yourself by not revealing your prices at all. I totally get why you do it that way, but people who are not art savvy think there is not much to the process, and there is no variation in cost or time to you. I'm gonna say right here that people who don't get it are gonna keep letting you down unless you give them some expectations before asking them to PM you. You don't have bracket your work in exact prices, but I highly recommend you lay out some samples and their prices so people can get a ballpark, and you can point out exactly where price variances come from. I know before Melissa was doing carvings as a business, but doing work mainly here, I had a good idea of how much I could get for what prices for her work without needing a quote. Do yourself a favor and start doing that. It will cut back on the PMs that lead to no where.
Sorry if I sounded a bit callous, but that's the opposite of the truth. I have seen a lot of crazy good artistic talent in my life struggle to prove the value of their work. I think very highly of you and appreciate you are here and doing what you are doing. Don't let the PM's that lead nowhere get you down, man. :afro:
Maximus:
Vigo while your point is extremely well presented and obviously from experience I'd just want to point out that while the value of art as a 'product' for sale is subject to the value scale of a potential buyer, someone's time is something they can certainly place a value on.
I've only come to that conclusion over the years of being burned in the same way, if people ask me to do art, web, graphic, cab design etc etc I just tell them how many hours plus materials cost. Then when they ask me how much I charge per hour I tell them, this way they know WHAT they are paying for - my time - a tangible measurable line item. That dollar per hour cost factors in the skills involved and also the personality of the potential client (you get very good at reading that early on too).
Since choosing this route I find that I do very little (if any) design work for people as rates starting at $120 an hour tend to make people think about pursuing other options. But should the situation ever come around, there's no question between myself and my client what they are paying for.
If they don't agree to these terms, I don't do the job.
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