Is there a way to make money making "artistic" maps?

[tilt]

I have no idea of what people earn i the US in an average job, but personally I'd "settle" for a little less if I could do what I love

when you look at the commision prices on DA (for those who list them) - there are some pretty talented people that charge 30-100 dollar for a drawing depending on color and details. The problem with both cartography and art in general is that its hard to make a name for yourself - there is lot of competition out there, especially if you go world wide.

I remember when I read in a "what can you be" book back in school. If you were lucky enough to get one of the very few spaces in the art school, you still knew that only about 5% of the students actually could live of their art afterwards - most ended up teaching art in schools or just doing something else completely.
But then again - just because the competition is hard, is no reason to give up before hand, just placing some facts on the table

[FrancoisGoulet]

Charging by the hour can be tricky. As you gain experience, you draw faster so does it means that you would charge less? Personally, it always ends somewhat charging by the hour, but I estimate the time it's gonna take me, then multiply by the hourly rate I'd like and then give that number to the client as a "package" price for the project. I always change it a bit according that I find it too low or even too high for what I'd estimate the market price for what I'm doing. Charging to low and your client could think it's gonna be cheap, ugly work. Charging too high and he could run away. It's difficult.

I've read an article recently written by a web designer, but the principles could easily be applied to fantasy mapping.
Charging Per Hour vs. Per Project

[Gamerprinter]

True, but when I started, that's exactly how I quoted it - if I was better at this, it should take me X hours to create, so I bid this job based on X hours, not actual hours. But I am rather fast at this cartography stuff...

I have actually bid on jobs, was told by the publisher I was the highest bid, but I still got the job - it was based on quality and meeting a deadline.

Of course you can ask anyone on this site, who is the fastest mapper of all. The answer is "me." So my bids for hourly rate is actually fairly accurate.

GP