What Do You Charge for Art?

(Above: From last year's Maine Comics Arts Festival. The woman across from my table had a sign that let people know she would draw anything for $5. Brave soul. Link here.)


Life is like that old joke where the group of cowboys is riding through the desert. You know the joke, right?

So, one of the cowboys suddenly jumps off his horse and runs toward a patch of cactus, taking his clothes off. He jumps to the ground, rolls around naked, hooting and hollering, while the other cowboys look on.

After a minute, he gets up, bleeding and dirty and full of needles.

"Slim," asks one of the cowboys, "why did you do that?"

Slim responds: "Because is seemed like a good idea at the time."

Avoiding those self-inflicted wounds in life is something we all try to do. Thank goodness for all those self help books and videos and blogs (Hi there!) that help guide us through what may look like a good deal, but, maybe, after thinking about it, that deal isn't what it first looked like.

It's great to get asked, out of the blue by a stranger who only knows you by your reputation, to draw them something; a cartoon, a comic strip, a logo, a character.

Jim Keefe tackles the topic of pricing your commissions. Jim has done work for comic book and comic strip syndicates. He's also brought in National Cartoonists Society president Tom Richmond and myself to chat about it.

Well worth bookmarking, to reread before you answer the question "What do you charge?"

This will help you discriminate between what seems like a good deal and a cactus patch.