Beasts and Characters..

Hi all,

Just a Question also if I know it#s not easy to answer this.
Actually we creating a new world for our pen and paper. And for this we need a bestiary as well.
I don't want to copy pictures from the web, because we dont know about the copyright and so on..

So I searched in the www and found a nice page:
http://www.jaestudio.com/portfolio-characterdesign8.htm

How long would you need to create such pictures? And if I would pay for it, what do you guess how much it is? :)

I know it's hard say but I have no idea how much work it is to create pic's like this. Maybe I try to learn it, but... uhm am I able to..?!


#yosh

Hi yosherl,

I had never heard of Jason Engle, but he produces some really beautiful work - his isometric maps are gorgeous. If you look at his list of clients, it gives you some idea of the standard of the work (if the work itself didn't speak highly enough already).

In terms of the character line drawings, those are done to a professional standard and unless you are very talented and dedicated (and you would know it if you were) it would probably take years of effort to get to this level.
If you are after high quality illustrations, then you're probably going to have to pay for them. It might be worth cruising around the deviant art pages to look for independent artists who might give you a good price.

I couldn't tell you how long it takes someone who does people all the time. I can only say that anatomy is not easy. If you go through his work, and he's extremely good, you can find errors. I am not good at doing people and I haven't practiced them much at all. All I can say is if I was doing an animal I would guess 4-6 hours. Since it is more of an illustration than realistic because it's mainly the lines you are linking us to it might be faster than that. Fully painted, probably longer. I have never really done that style but with practice you could speed that up I'm sure.

If you look at the Bluebird in my deviantArt link of my sig, that took me about 5 hours. I'm just an amateur though so bear that in mind.

As far as pricing goes, that's all over the board. I was looking at someone the other day on dA who does character portraits and I think the price range depended on how much detail there was. I think 20-50 bucks but don't quote me. Also, I think 20-50 bucks for what you linked would be rather underpaid. That's just my opinion but someone who can whip one out in an hour would find that acceptable I imagine. I just know I can't do it in an hour. I think that person on dA said they make 20-30 bucks an hour so you get what you pay for.

Those are my thoughts but maybe someone who does more character work can answer in better detail.

On a final note, it's worth remembering this is a Cartography guild and most folks here do more maps. You might get better feedback on a site catering to character and monster art.

Yep - Jason Engle is a seasoned pro and is work reflects it. However there are many people working on character design like that who are starting out. The best bet is to find a price that works for you and post a note on ConceptArt on the small freelance board:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=130

Another option is to tap Hugo Solis (http://butterfrog.deviantart.com/) who I know is good and reasonably priced, but is very busy. Good luck finding someone for your illustrations! Hope those two sites give you a good start.

There are a number of very old and hence copyright free bestiaries but many of these have been scanned and uploaded and named as copyright even tho the work they are copying is public domain so I think personally (tho you would have to be sure) that these bestiaries could be used. Certainly you could add the obtained form notice that these places seem to want you to put on stuff. Also I recommend Liams old books which have some pictures in them which are copyright free. Also Ravs knows a shop in London that sells books of public domain images and I guess you could see if they have ISBN numbers and get a copy. One day I will have to visit that place with a wheel barrow in tow...

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/

and also wiki commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bestiary

Well, being that you're specifically looking for someone to do some illustration work I guess just a little bit of self-promotion wouldn't be too out of line, right?

I'm probably not as experienced as Engle, but I can draw what you need. I usually work in pencils and inks, but I'm also experienced in
Photoshop and Painter if you want color illustrations.

Here's a link to my blogspot where there are some samples of my work.

http://heroscarf.blogspot.com/

I won't discuss prices or anything here, so if you're interested at all, email me at heroscarf@gmail.com

That's some really nice stuff, HeroScarf!

Indeed, nice stuff. I've just sent you an e-mail, HeroScarf, but don't want to de-rail the OP's thread.
M

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ravells

That's some really nice stuff, HeroScarf!

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Ditto that...

From experience, when I was an avid drawer and still had an imagination (I wanted to be a comic book illustrator), I could pump out a pencil drawing in the course of a high school or college class (around an hour). Adding very detailed clothing or armor adds another hour or so, detailed backgrounds could add 2 hours. Coloring I never got around to learning and still haven't. If I was going to go back and ink the drawing then that would add another half hour or so for the figure and an hour or so for detailed background. So that's roughly how long it took for me (20 years ago); how much it costs is completely up in the air - it costs as much as you're willing to pay and the final product that you're looking for (pencil, inked, or fully colored plus with or without backgrounds and the total size of the image - mostly they fit on a piece of paper but some people want large drawings).