Tag Archives: how to make money with art

How to Price My Artwork; Am I being ripped off?

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I am often asked how to price my artwork; Am I getting ripped off?

Pic of Wayne Andreason at drawing table.

Wayne Adnreason: Will work for food?

To price my artwork and to get ripped off are 2 different things. Getting ripped off is when one of the parties in the agreement, doesn’t deliver on their end of the bargain. That can does happen. And if that happens to you, then yes, you are being ripped off.

If you agree to paint an illustration for $10 dollars, like for a friend or family member, and you end up spending way too much time on it and it was harder than you thought it would be, and you ran out of pthalo green paint and ruined your moms carpet in the process, you might feel like you were under paid. And you were, but you were not ripped off. Well you were ripped off, but only by your lack of ability to negotiate a fair price. Even then, you gained some education so you may have gotten the better end of that deal too.

How can I avoid being ripped off, I mean, price my artwork for a fair price?

You can’t get ripped off if you have negotiated the price. In this case, you feel ripped off if you are not being compensated for you time and effort. So first of all, set the price where you would agree to do it. You can allow yourself to be under paid, but that is bad negotiation and you are only being ripped off by yourself. You should want to make money as an artist, so it is important to figure this out.

When i price my artwork, I like to identify my motivation.

  1. Is it a service project, like for a family member or a friend?
  2. Is it a job you want to do for the money? Hey, we all need money. Some people will say that that is a sellout, but that is for another discussion.
  3. Or is it for a portfolio piece. Every piece should be considered a potential portfolio piece. Until it just doesn’t turn out, then you can sneak it into the trash like most of my figure drawings.

Family and friends seldom understand the value of your art

If it is for a friend or family member, you will probably be under paid.  They don’t understand the time it takes and especially THE TIME AND EFFORT IT TOOK to develop the talent. You are not being paid for the time you spend on your artwork, but for the years of practice and learning and developing your skill, so you could create such beautiful artwork.

How can I price my artwork for family and not be ripped off?

First of all, before I even look at what they want me to do, I say, “you probably won’t be able to afford me.” Even in a joking manner that helps them realize that you probably won’t do it for free. And I like to say that I can do anything that they can afford.

Then I take a look at what they want and tell them I’ll get back with them. Especially if it is something I would like to do.

Then play the price my artwork game

I ask myself these kinds of questions. First, would I do it for free? Probably not.  Would I do this piece for free for a stranger? NO! Would I do it for $200? How about $500? $1000, $5000? One million dollars? Find the price where you would gladly do it. If it is a commission you know you are going to hate, the price should be higher. You may hate it but at what price would it be worth it?

Pad the price

Once you have that amount in mind, add 10% or 20% or even double it. This helps if you run into problems like running out of pthalo green or if you have to replace your mom’s carpet. And besides, you can always cut them a deal after you have finished if you feel you were paid too much. No one will be angry if you say “Hey, that was a lot of fun and it went smoother than I thought it would, and besides, I am Just not that valuable as an artist, so here is some of your money back.”

Now you negotiate with them for the final price

This can be the hard part, but it’s a crucial conversation and you need to get good at it.

So you say, “Friend, (or family member) I would do that for X amount of dollars.” Now they will probably think that they are being ripped off. Remember, you are not ripping them off if they agree to it. You may be asking more than they feel it is worth, but you are negotiating, not steeling. Let them know that that is what you do, and you need so much money to survive. Since you would be willing to do it for less, you can how negotiate down a bit. Give them the Friends and Family discount. Remember, you are negotiating here. If you have padded the desired amount you can come down if you choose, on the price. You can say, maybe we can simplify it, or something.  Let them know that you want to help them but it needs to be worth it for both of you. Win win. But you need to let them know you can’t afford to spend days working for peanuts.

Don’g Give Away Your Artwork

Only you can know determine what you would do a certain job for, or what it’s worth to you. Some would like the government to do make that decision for them, and mandate certain rules and laws for all of us citizens that should be capable of deciding for ourselves what our time and talent is worth.  That too is another discussion.

It is a good rule of thumb for artists, to NEVER give artwork to fam and friends. Because if you do, you will have set a price, you will have demonstrated that your artwork has no value. Let them pay a fair price for it, and they will know it has value and they will value it. It is more likely to be framed and hung up if it cost something too . Did I say never? Well there are times to give it away, so I didn’t mean NEVER, literally. Rule of thumb.

You may be working to learn, or just trying to build you portfolio, get published or maybe you love charity. In fine, you are not being ripped off, but you may be under cutting yourself.

~Wayne of Folio Academy, art lessons online.

 

How to Make an App: Step 10: Make Another App

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Nice Reviews on Our Story App & a Sneak Peek at “Gary’s Worms”

We are so excited to talk about the reviews Gary’s Place is getting as well as talk about the sequel to Gary’s Place. Gary’s Got Worms.

Gary’s got worms?

Starting my next app, Gary’s got Worms. It’s not what you think, In this next App, Gary has worms, but not the itchy bum type, the night crawler type. Either way, worms can be a pain, in the end.

Gary’s Place gets a 4.5 and a 5 star rating!

We have the new updates now that we’ve fixed the ending of Gary’s place and we submitted it to Digital Story Time and The iMums. Two of the top review sites for children’s story apps. Digital Story Time gave us 4.5 stars and The iMums gave us 5 stars! YAY! I couldn’t believe it! I had to start looking at the competition on those sites and found that many of the other apps in the 4-5 star range are being produced by big publishers like Harper Collins and Disney. It felt really good to be able to start and finish this project with Rick Walton and my son Aaron and a little help from Tabitha Thompson’s wonderful voice acting – and to be able to compete!

WHY IS HE HELLBENT ON MAKING APPS? IS HE CRAZY?

Since we’re finally rolling I’ll share our sales stats from Google Play, Amazon, and iTunes, but not yet, stay tuned. I will in future posts. I don’t expect to sell thousands of these, and certainly not overnight. I don’t think digital publishing works that way for the

most part. I’ve got my eye on the long term goal of steadily building a brand. Some of my peers ask me why I seem to be so hellbent on making apps. Why work on a project like this without any guarantee of success? Why not spend 
more time in traditional publishing markets? Or watch more TV? Why risk it? Do you hate traditional publishing? ARE YOU CRAZY?

I love these questions – keep em coming! :)

No I don’t hate traditional publishing – I illustrated 3 books last year and loved each one of them. I look forward to illustrating more in the future. I’m having the time of my life working in a medium that is expanding my knowledge and skill sets. I’m enjoying the collaborations I’m making with famous children’s book author Rick Walton, and my son Aaron – who, by the way, is very creative and is actually a major contributor on interactive, animation, and content ideas. I count myself extremely lucky to be able to afford the time to work on these. But probably the biggest reason is that in order to succeed in anything artistic there needs to be risk. I’ve learned to embrace it. This doesn’t mean that I don’t hear nasty things from the voices. There always there but I’ve learned how to cage them quicker and keep them locked away longer.Many are afraid of digital publishing. Some are wishing it away. Some are ignoring it. I would just like to point out that it took nearly 50 years for the automobile to become mainstream. The early contraptions were noisy, expensive, unreliable, and inefficient. People  made fun of the early adopters. Many were hoping they would fail so everything would go back to normal. I can’t predict the future but I doubt we will move away from digitally delivered and enhanced storybooks for children. This means that I won’t have to worry about my creations going out of print.

Build a Quality Brand

My plan is to steadily and slowly build a quality brand. Each new app will advertise the previous story apps and each previous app will be updated to advertise the newest story app. I guess that might be step 11 or step 12 but who’s keeping track? They “say slow and steady wins the race” – unless it’s a sprint – we’ll see. I keep hearing about artists who make an app and never make another one because they didn’t sell enough to justify the effort. I also hear about those who make one app and it’s their “Driving Miss Daisy” and they are suddenly rich, and famous and they are millionaires, but that is fluke-ish and it’s probably those guys that make the rest of us want to give up when we don’t hit a home run with our first try. I think this is a mistake if they can afford to continue. Think about some of the most famous picture book brands out there – like the Olivia stories…or the Skippyjon Jones books. They weren’t created in a year or even two – it took a LONG time. It took RISK from their publishers. So Give a Hoot, Take a Risk, and another, and another, and slowly and steadily win the race, it’s not a sprint. 

Story Apps Need (good) Ratings TOO

If you’ve bought a copy of Gary’s Place I’d love to hear what you think! Also if you wouldn’t mind giving us a rating in the app store – that will help – good or bad – Preferably good. My mom used to say, you must be able to think of something good to say about anyone, or any app. 
If you haven’t bought a copy, feel free to buy it, we don’t mind.
thank you
If you want to go back and see all the steps, start with step one and link from there. How to make an app-step 1.

Tips for New Illustrators and Art Students Part 3

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 12 tips for New Illustrators and Art Students Part 3

Artist Paul Mann hard at work in his studio.

Artist Paul Mann hard at work in his studio.

            -1 Things I’ve Done as an Artist

Getting What You Want as an Artist

There are people out there who ask me ‘Other than being a big mouth and starting a YouTube channel what have you done?’ (And if there aren’t there should be, because it’s a valid question)

I started Folio Academy with my good friend Wayne Andreason, where we sell video tutorials. I have made 3 e-books, (see here, here and here) which have sold over 50,000 copies on amazon and Barns & Noble.

A story app called “I Eat You” for iPad and iPhone.

The school of visual storytelling.  With Jake Parker, where we teach live online classes.

Now I am working on an app called Gary’s Place, about a gopher who lives beyond his means.  I am working very hard on that right now. (Fall 2013) I even have my son Aaron learning how to program and animate for that. Yes I’ll pay him for his work.

These are things I’ve picked myself, and I’ve decide that I will try, and if it fails then so what? I can move on to something else.

Now as for helping you, I want to tell you.

                2- ‘Wealth is created in your spare time.’

Think about that a little bit, and my follow up is, I want you to ask yourself what you think you need.

If you could look into the future and see yourself after you’ve finished an amazing project. That is having great commercial success. And aside from all the money you’re making, and the conferences you’ve been asked to speak at, and the recognition and awards.

Now after seeing all that, if you could see what it took to get there,

Would you give up some of your Friday and Saturday nights to work on your art?

Would you live in a smaller apartment or house so you could work less at a job, and work more on your art?

Would you go for a cheaper cell phone, and save money to apply towards your art projects?

Would you spend less time watching TV and movies for your art, and I mean a Lot less time?

Would you play fewer or no video games for your art?

And if you are not willing to give up those things then I want you to say this and see how it sounds and feels coming out.

“I would rather hang out with my friends, spend this money, hang out with friends, watch TV, and play video games than have my dreams come true about becoming a (state your dream here)”

I see a lot of my students wasting time, and I’ll come clean I used to be addicted to Star Craft.  I lost two years of my life to that stupid game.  I have come to the point that if a game is really good, I can’t play it, because I don’t have the time for it.

You need to be able to fall in love with your art and creating your art.  Not the things that will keep you away from it.

        3- Make Great Art

The first step, as author Neil Gaiman said is ‘Make great art.’

That’s the first step, but it’s not the only step and it’s not an easy step.  It takes a lot of practicing, and work, a lot of NOT surfing on the internet.  A lot of just sitting down, drawing and painting and working on your craft.

If you’re starting out right now, you may not be making great art.  Nobody starts out great.  The idea of child prodigies in art is a debunked myth. An artist like Mozart who has had movies made about him, and books and is really well known was virtually unknown for the first ten years of his career.

Next step is… Continue reading →

Tips for Illustrators & Students Part 2: Why Are You an Artist?

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We are Artists Because IT USED TO BE FUN!

I became and Artist cuz art is fun.

I became and Artist cuz art is fun.

I want to start this by asking you, how did you get into art?  What made you start producing art?  Was it just for fun? Were you just a kid?  Did you get into art because people asked you to draw things for them?  I honestly doubt that you got into art because other people asked you to. Most of us got into art to make cool stuff and because it was fun and fulfilling.

There is much amazing stuff out there, and we looked out at it and decided we wanted to make our own and show it to the world.

Do you want to be an Illustrator, an Artist, or an Employee? 

Art is fun.

Art is fun.

Yet so many artists who have spent so long learning, and practicing get to a certain point, like when they’re about to finish school, and they start thinking about getting out of school, becoming an Artist, an illustrator, or just thinking about how to make money with their art skills.

After that all of a sudden we want to get hired. So we can get paid. So we can eat. We want to be employees.  We start looking for someone else to tell us what to do (or draw) so we can make a living, and so we can eat.

We get asked to draw something that isn’t fun or we get asked to do something that takes away from our vision.

What can I do To Make Money as an Artist?

I don’t want to discourage you, there is nothing wrong with working with and helping other people. I want to help open your mind to other possibilities.

It started with students across the country, and now it’s students all over the world. People want to be hired.

The main thing I am asked is, “what can I draw to make money?” I think it’s backwards, is that why we became artist? I’m not saying it’s inherently wrong, but it’s not why we started.

I’m in a position now that I can pick and choose. I’ve put in a lot of work that I ended up hating but I’ve also put a lot of work into my children’s books that I’ve really enjoyed, and I enjoyed the people I’ve worked with.

THERE ARE A LOT OF OPTIONS.

But is that the only way or are there other things that we can do? Have you ever thought that musicians, authors, actors, videographers, and gallery artists are more entrepreneurial than illustrators. Think about that, are they?

What is wrong with Illustrators.  And this is a generalization. Musicians move to Austin, or Nashville, or they record in a friend’s house, and now with the internet a lot of them are starting their own YouTube channels. Comedians are starting their own YouTube channels. Actors move to Hollywood or start YouTube channels, Gallery-Artists make something and try to get someone to buy it. Writers write something and hope publishers buy it, or they publish it on Amazon and sell it directly. Like Amanda Hopkins.

Illustrators Want to be hired, commissioned, or just get a job. 

What’s the difference between us Illustrators, and all the other artists? Ask yourself and try to answer that question. A graphic designer decided to publish his own small books. I have a friend who owns a graphic design studio, and we first started working together about ten, fifteen years ago. And he would hire me, he was getting contracts from Children’s book publishers, and he would hire me to do covers and inside spreads.

A couple years ago he hired me to do some work for a children’s book with a publisher I had never heard of before, why because it was new, it also happened to be him or his publishing company. He decided ‘you know what, I can make one of these myself’. And he’s still publishing books, and even some e-books online.

The Internet has Been a Real Game Changer. 

If you are a teenager or in your mid-twenties, you probably grew up with the internet. Not knowing life without it. I wonder if the internet is more impressive to me someone who lived without it. I can’t speak for someone who lived without cars, or plains.  But I worked without the internet. I don’t want to just assume that I appreciate something more than you, but I wonder how I ever got along without it.

There are thousands of people on YouTube who picked themselves.  People who just decided to utilize this wonderful tool. Some decided, “Hey! I’m going to broadcast the news, and I’m going to make money doing it”, and they’re doing it.

You got the guys who did kid history, (Bored Shorts) and the guys who do honest trailers, (Screen Junkies) look them up, or click the link. But don’t get sucked in, your focus is here right now.

Prank vs prank, there’s that guy from Utah “tipping servers $200”.  Video recorded it, and put it on Youtube.  By my calculations I’d say he cleared $20,000 just posting that one idea.

Now you don’t “NEED” the middle man.

You can now make a free service like Youtube, get your own channel (FolioAcademy has one right here that is grossly underutilized by the way).

My Kid History friends at Bored Shorts are talking to Disney right now, who may end up buying their channel of videos and if they do it’s going to be big.  By the way That guy who filmed the tipping video has over a hundred million views, when you do that, you get noticed, and even make money with advertising. There are tons of review channels too. Someone decides “Hey! I am going to review this product.” Have you ever noticed that whenever someone decides something they start by saying “Hey!” My friend Jedd Henry who did Yukio Heroes. Michal Dowdled who makes his own puzzles of all the famous cities.  He picked himself, Kazu who made flight, People who made their own web comics. That oatmeal guy (I love that guy) Music,  everyone in music is getting involved,  Indie Music, it’s when YOU decide that Hey! you are a musician, you don’t wait for it.

They don’t teach this stuff in public schools. 

The guy’s running public school never taught this, because so many of them didn’t create anything.

My slam on public schools, they do not teach creativity.  They teach people to obey the rules and math and language and science. And WE need that, OK we do but we also need creativity.

We have not been equipped for this world, and public schools haven’t either, our parents and friends and the world is all telling us what to do.  Go to college, get good grades so you can get a job. It makes sense, it’s safe. But ask these guys who have “picked themselves”, they don’t worry about safe.

This is starting to run long so I’m going to have to have a part 3 and maybe part 4 and more.

Okay my next posts will share some strategies, like: Things that I’ve learned, Things that I’m trying to apply now, and ways for an artist to be more entrepreneurial.

I Draw, but How Can I Make Money With It?

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Professional Artist, Will Terry Answers a few good questions.

In this video Will Terry of folioacademy, answers a question from David – a Southwest Airlines employee who has 3 days off/week and loves to draw comics during his down time. He actually made a video in-which he asked what steps he should take next to getting his work published. We figured that other artists too, might be in his situation and might benefit from some answers. Give it a look or just listen to this video, (there is audio) while you work or what ever.