Questions about Cost

[Midgardsormr]

Ouch. If only there were some sort of a...mapmaking sweatshop where cheap "creative" types could purchase poorly crafted, tear-soaked maps from enslaved cartographers for our equally poorly written epic fantasy novels. When will Drake Dragonblade finally be able to wander the misty vales of the Firedeep forest, or run along the coast of the Pyrian Fire Sea! Curse you professional artists demanding a professional wage!...curse you. :,(

Heh, well, there are more ways to pay than money, remember. I've only taken two commissions here. One was for a very simple floorplan that I was planning to make for myself, anyway, so I just charged an hourly rate for the small chunk of time it took me. I think it came out to about $45. The other I did for barter: I got a cut of royalty-free music from a composer in exchange for a map of his continent. I might even be persuaded (very rarely) to reduce my rate in exchange for royalties if I truly believe that the map will see print and a significant circulation. Usually that means that the content creator in question already has a track record of successfully monetizing their work.

Also, I'm usually willing to license existing work for far less than I'd get for a commission. The work is already done, so it's not competing with higher-paying projects I could be working on. I am, though, a professional digital artist and living in Los Angeles with it's astronomical cost of living. If I'm going to be making art for someone else's benefit, then I have to charge a rate that will pay my rent and put mac 'n' cheese on my table. And it's always nice if there's enough left over to pay down my student loans.