Selling brushes: good or bad?

[tainotim]

Hello guild! On several occasions now I have been asked if I want to take commissions where I would produce brush sets / sets of buildings/structures that would be used in some map generator or such. Now, I always refrain from such commissions as I think it undermines the integrity of my own work.

My questions here is, what does people think about such commissions? In many ways map generators and similar applications can be awesome, and obviously, someone have to provide the artwork for them. But isn't it a big risk getting involved in a such a project? To produce a brush set would take less time then producing a map, and the map generated with the brushes would look much worse than a regular map, but realistically, the cost of a brush set ought to be many times steeper than one single map, as it allows for a unlimited supply of maps. And yet in a sense whenever I get requests for such a commission, I always feel silly to turn it down as it would require a minimum amount of work for a decent pay.

So, what do people think about such commissions? Anyone agree with my thoughts?

Cheers,
Tainotim

[Chick]

I got such a request once, but when I put an honest price on it based on the time it would actually take to draw, then create the brushes, then package into sets, the person decided it wasn't worth it.

Those were specifically stated to be public domain by the client, but if I were to do it, I'd make them licensed. And for a map generator, I'd make them very expensive.

The parchment edges and scrolls that I did for a challenge a few months back took a fair amount of time, too, so I'm not so sure "a minimum amount of work for decent pay" is really right. If I had to sell those scroll brushes for "decent pay", they'd be surprisingly expensive. While you probably can do such things faster than I can, you might want to rethink the value of them

[tainotim]

Thanks for the answer Chick! Guess I'm not completely alone in my thinking

What I meant with the "a minimum amount of work" was just a comparison to the amount of work a regular map commission involves for me. For example, it's easier to draw a single building when I don't have to draw it beside twelve other buildings. Things like composition isn't involved, hence, faster to draw. It would still be a lot of work of course, but not nearly as much

Cheers,

Tainotim

[Deadshade]

I got once a PM request to do some mountain brushes.
I turned it down. Even if cartography is just a hobby of mine and I don't depend on it to make my living, I don't see why I should make somebody's life easy in that he'd just stamp my mountains all over some map.
In my particular case this is not a question of money - it already happened that I collaborated on a commercial project for free because the project looked original and/or interesting.
But brushes are something special like cancer - there is no way to be sure that they won't uncontrollably spread around the Net. And that I wouldn't like regardless whether I get paid or not.

[SteffenBrand]

I'm torn about this.

On the one hand I can see the need for such resources in certain kinds of areas but I also see your point in the feeling it undermines you, your work and possibly others who won't get a job then. The thing I also thought about is this: Even if you do the work, it will always look the same. This can be the point of all this, but it can be the problem, too. I don' think you steal any jobs, as there is always the need to do something out of the standart this offers.

Also: I would price this regularly based on time. The images they can create with this might be greater than one if you took a normal job, but with the stocks you created someone else has to put the time in to create something, too. It might shorten the time having this at hand, but someone has to do it anyway. On the other hand it often won't be you getting paid using the resources you created...

As I said, I'm torn. I would decide this individually based on the project and the intention behind this. As Chick said it is also the rights issue - a map generator would be more expensive, a comission from a publisher a bit less, a personal project for non-earning RPG players who want to make their own maps... well, why not? (Contract based to ensure this, of cause!)

Glad you brought it up, I think it can be beneficial for all of us to share thoughs on such issues.
It's usually not a thing with 'normal illustration' as covers, artworks, characters, etc. =)


Best wishes,
Steffen

[jpstod]

Bit of a Pickle ain't it....
Produce Art sets..Sell 1 for $1000 based on Knowing you will have 1 sell for sure and you have to make it worth your time up front...Or Sale a set for $10 on a site and you actually sale 2500 sets in two weeks. It all depends on the Long term goal..You want up front money or from the rears in the long run.

When looking for art sets I look for Unique and similar styled items. and Availability to use Commercially. I look for hand drawn styled symbols vs Photorealistic art. I look for art that will work with other sets and still look good.

[Chick]

And there are already so many free-for-commercial-use brushes available, too. I know I have made some, but I like the idea of posting them free for use, since I've used so many of other peoples', it seems right to pay that back.

And, as deadshade said, once they are released, you can't control how widely they spread anyway, so I'd certainly want the upfront money if I did some as a commission.

[tainotim]

Thanks for the answers friends. Very interesting to read all your thoughts

Cheers,
Tainotim

[Gamerprinter]

I don't have any problems doing both cartographic illustration and creating map symbol sets, I create and sell both. And I don't charge much at all for map symbols, around 10 cents a symbol when I sell packs of 50 or 100 symbols (note: I'm saying symbols and not brushes, though they are pretty much the same thing). As far as pricing, consider that I've charged as much as $750 for a map, but have never charged more than $10 for a symbol set, even though some of those symbols are used in the $750 map. Now I've also created map symbols professionally as a commission and have been paid around $5 per symbol for a set of 189 symbols (for ProFantasy Modern Map Symbol Set). The less expensive map symbol sets I create are sold by me direct to users, what I charge for a set is less than what I charge for creating symbols for other publishers. Generally publishers pay for maps, and gamers pay for map symbols.

[LordEntrails]

As a user/gamer, I will add that I don't think you need fear saturating the market with brushes/symbols. i.e. even if you make the most awesome mountain symbol (or set of them), there is still room in the market for another 100+ sets of awesome mountains.

As for map generators, look at the huge strides Profantasy has made in the last decade. Yes, an amateur can now make a map that a decade ago only a professional artist could make, but, has that reduced the need for professional maps? (I don't know, but I doubt it). And I will argue, the maps produced today by professionals are equally improved over what they made a decade ago.

We (the human race) now have more time for non-survival activities (i.e. leisure) than ever before, but doesn't such lead to a growth in the interest and support of the arts?

For those at the pinnacle of their field, and willing to learn and adapt, their will always (IMO) be work for them. (i.e. the same applies in my field, engineering)