12-04-2014, 08:47 PM
Hello and welcome to CD! :) Well to answer your question: I don't think having cheap rates is an "advantage"
I'm not sure it's even the right way of thinking about it to be honest.
I think it more depends on the kind of jobs you can get at your skill level and the amount of effort you spend in marketing yourself to get work. Starting off it can be hard to land decent paying freelance jobs.
There are many people and companies only willing to pay only $100 US and below for finished illustrations, or concept designs that may take anywhere from 2 to 14 hours to produce! Unfortunately these types of jobs are annoyingly common out there especially in the indie market and you will end up being approached to do them.
Even larger established companies like fantasy flight games offer $150/card for new talent. This is for things that could take 10 hours+ to produce!! This is below minimum wage where I am from and I tried it for a little while but found it unsustainable given my outgoing costs.
In your case well, if all you need is $400 a month, then at the face of it, only three of those illustrations taking you about a week of work time, and a few weeks start to finish, to produce sounds like it could work. But you have to keep in mind most companies will pay only after 30 or 60 days after completion and some only pay once the art is published, which can be many months away! The income will not be steady as a freelancer, and this is why you always have to spend a lot of time looking for work/promoting yourself and knowing the business side of things such as your basic contracts and rights is as important if not more so, than rates setting.
Working at low rates means you have to work harder and longer with less down time in between and spend more effort in marketing and hunting new clients. Your speed becomes an important factor, and sometimes speed isn't the best way to do anyrhing well while still learning. It can behard work and not that fulfilling. I'm not saying it can't be done, but be prepared for it. I did it for a while (while working a fulltime day job) and I have to say it totally burned me out and I ended up hating it. I went back to just doing painting for myself and on projects and it was instantly better for me and my work.
I fairly regularly get approached to do these kind of minimum wage gigs and I am always polite and start the talk but then I always get the silence, when I tell them my rates. It's fine, I'm happy with it. I don't need the money, and I'd rather not work for peanuts and end up hating the process of doing art.
I recently got a freelance gig where I will do a bunch of character art for 150 a character, and 350/ environment, plus some box and cover artwork. About 3 grand for a month of work in total.
I halved the rates I wanted to charge and went to the lowest I'd be comfortable with in order to secure the gig because I thought it was a good project with a good client and I wanted to make sure I got it. He accepted with no hesitation, in hindsight I probably could have asked what I wanted and maybe negotiated somewhere in between, but really because I didn't compromise and go below what I was comfortable accepting, I am still quite happy with it this time around. Next time might be different. It depends on you and the work you are negotiating each time.
I also think you need to decide what you want to focus on, aside from this question of rates, for yourself. Do you want to do Architecture, do you want to do art? Do you want to do both? Basically you decide your focus based on your own instincts. Art these days is hugely a desk job, don't be fooled into some idealised notion that it isn't. There are also other desk jobs that can be creative and fulfilling. It is easy to imagine that it is an either/or scenario, but the reality is different and really depends on your own wants.
Nobody will be able to tell you what is right for you. How much you might earn doing freelance seems to be a side issue altogether.
I'm not sure it's even the right way of thinking about it to be honest.
I think it more depends on the kind of jobs you can get at your skill level and the amount of effort you spend in marketing yourself to get work. Starting off it can be hard to land decent paying freelance jobs.
There are many people and companies only willing to pay only $100 US and below for finished illustrations, or concept designs that may take anywhere from 2 to 14 hours to produce! Unfortunately these types of jobs are annoyingly common out there especially in the indie market and you will end up being approached to do them.
Even larger established companies like fantasy flight games offer $150/card for new talent. This is for things that could take 10 hours+ to produce!! This is below minimum wage where I am from and I tried it for a little while but found it unsustainable given my outgoing costs.
In your case well, if all you need is $400 a month, then at the face of it, only three of those illustrations taking you about a week of work time, and a few weeks start to finish, to produce sounds like it could work. But you have to keep in mind most companies will pay only after 30 or 60 days after completion and some only pay once the art is published, which can be many months away! The income will not be steady as a freelancer, and this is why you always have to spend a lot of time looking for work/promoting yourself and knowing the business side of things such as your basic contracts and rights is as important if not more so, than rates setting.
Working at low rates means you have to work harder and longer with less down time in between and spend more effort in marketing and hunting new clients. Your speed becomes an important factor, and sometimes speed isn't the best way to do anyrhing well while still learning. It can behard work and not that fulfilling. I'm not saying it can't be done, but be prepared for it. I did it for a while (while working a fulltime day job) and I have to say it totally burned me out and I ended up hating it. I went back to just doing painting for myself and on projects and it was instantly better for me and my work.
I fairly regularly get approached to do these kind of minimum wage gigs and I am always polite and start the talk but then I always get the silence, when I tell them my rates. It's fine, I'm happy with it. I don't need the money, and I'd rather not work for peanuts and end up hating the process of doing art.
I recently got a freelance gig where I will do a bunch of character art for 150 a character, and 350/ environment, plus some box and cover artwork. About 3 grand for a month of work in total.
I halved the rates I wanted to charge and went to the lowest I'd be comfortable with in order to secure the gig because I thought it was a good project with a good client and I wanted to make sure I got it. He accepted with no hesitation, in hindsight I probably could have asked what I wanted and maybe negotiated somewhere in between, but really because I didn't compromise and go below what I was comfortable accepting, I am still quite happy with it this time around. Next time might be different. It depends on you and the work you are negotiating each time.
I also think you need to decide what you want to focus on, aside from this question of rates, for yourself. Do you want to do Architecture, do you want to do art? Do you want to do both? Basically you decide your focus based on your own instincts. Art these days is hugely a desk job, don't be fooled into some idealised notion that it isn't. There are also other desk jobs that can be creative and fulfilling. It is easy to imagine that it is an either/or scenario, but the reality is different and really depends on your own wants.
Nobody will be able to tell you what is right for you. How much you might earn doing freelance seems to be a side issue altogether.