Pricing? Help

[sparishr]

Having never commissioned any work before, Im looking to get 4 full body, front view, mild actiony, for 4 different characters.

I was hoping for some guidance for offering price. And whether per item, is the preferred metric, or per hour and how to manage that.

(I don't know how in depth this needs to be, so I'll standby to augment details as need be.)

[KeanFox]

There are many factors that come to play. Artist, style, complexity. Sketch, lineart or colors. Some artist take per hour some have a set price. There are different prices for personal use and commercial use. The general is 5$ to 200$ and up. I can refer you to DeviantArt journals that go in depth.
A starting point, look for an artist you like his work. See if he open for work, look at there price sheet and rules and terms of. Do a "background search" to see if the artists not shady 
Places to look for artists. DeviantArt, twitter, Picarto, furaffinity if you want fur work

If you have questions, ask

[sparishr]

I figured it was a very complicated topic, not very knowledgeable about these kinda things! I would appreciate if you could PM me where to find those journals so i can get some research!

[legomaestro]

When stick figures can sell for 10 bucks (I'm assuming, I don't have a concrete example but it's not impossible) and detailed sketches can sell for only 50 bucks  - even though other authors would charge more the problem you're working with here is Market and Reputation.

I know next to nothing about the market, but as for reputation you've got to work on communicating with fellow artists and potential customers (comments that are longer than five words. Comments with questions, thoughts, feelings) through an online platform and consistently (weekly at the very least) for let's say 6 months or a year to build up a presence on the online world. You're fighting against an army of a million artists armed with almost the same skillset, so you've only got your social reputation to give you an edge.

I've heard of places like etsy and redbubble being really good for a more direct experience though, since you put it on a public market place and the site does all the marketing for you without you needing a platform.

Still. We are in the age of Instagram, facebook, twitter and what else is there. Bite the bullet, make an online profile and start posting.

Those are all the ideas I have when it comes to pricing because the amount of money you will be able to charge for your art will depend on your reputation.

And hey, unless you are a mysterious type that can pull of being a douche to get controversy and make your art more popular, it's always better to engage with the community and be someone with a positive influence, imo.

My two toea

[L.K. [Taikichi]]

It's actually extremely subjective and depends entirely on how much money the artist feels it's worth. But typically artists with professional experience in digital concept art will charge upwards of $100 per image, so $100-$200 is pretty accurate. You'll see a lot of that on Fiverr. You can see a big difference with Fiverr Pro from regular Fiverr search. You'll also find a lot of "starving artists" who will be willing to do it for as cheap as possible, maybe $5. I'm not going to say quality will be 95% worse, but it probably won't be the exact quality you're looking for. But sometimes it might. Sometimes really good artists just need money immediately.

In simple terms, the price of the art depends more on the clientele. So if you take the exact same work of art it would sell differently to different clientele. Obviously, the higher your clientele, the more difficult it is to sell art, but the important thing to note is that the same piece would sell differently to different clientele (assuming they wanted it). A person who lives in an apartment probably doesn't want a 10 foot painting even if you priced it at $1, and an art collector probably doesn't want too much digital art because it can be infinitely replicated (unless you're talking about prints, because prints can be very unique and involve a lot of technique in the printing process).

Upper class (Rich/Collector/Museum/Church) $1,000+
Middle class (Businesses/Contracts/graphic design) $100-$999
Lower class (Anime fans/Content Creators/Requests) $1-$99

So if you're wondering how much you want to pay, you should decide which type of clientele you're trying to be a part of, are you an entrepreneur looking for contracted work for you business, are you just some random user on the internet who wants a profile picture for $5, or are you a collector who wants a work of art that has its own sense of self-respect or prestige.

Fiverr is definitely a good website to purchase artwork if you're concerned about being scammed. It's very popular with artists of all skill levels. Even fine-artists will sell and ship you actual paintings.

[KeanFox]

https://www.deviantart.com/arynchris/journal/How-to-Commission-an-Artist-214212067
I skimmed through it So in not sure if it covers everything
Also, look up Nerd City "We Spent $10,000 on Art" on youtube. Been wanting to watch it
 
Your question was about the offering price.
What is the price you should offer the artist to do your characters, right?

The artist has their prices on the commission sheet

Spoiler

If you don't mind me asking Is it for personal or commercial use?
commercial use go for more price