Require tips and info on Commissions

[Sarithus]

Hello Guild.

I've only ever done one commission of a map. I know there are some of you here who make a living out of making maps and I am wondering if there are any tips you could provide. My main questions at the moment are pricing and the process.

I know pricing depends on style and detail and people pay more for popular artists. I've had requests for commissions, but I don't pretend to be yet at the level where people will pay lots. Is there a figure someone could give me that I should be aiming to charge? I don't want to ask for a price that will be over the top but I'm not sure it's a good idea to ask the client how much they'd be willing to pay. How much did you get/ask for when you first started offering commissions? My commission was £40 as that was what the client was willing to pay and it was two rather small maps.

If you send work in progress images so things can be changed, (which I imagine you do, I did so for my one completed commission), do you watermark them?

I have written up a guide on my website for anyone requesting a map and I'd be very grateful if someone could take a look at it and see if anything could be added or that needs to be changed. http://www.sarithus.com/contact-me/

[- Max -]

You should also consider that there's a difference between a map done for personal use, a map with a commercial licence and full rights cession of a map. The prices aren't obviously the same. We can discuss details if you want to but I don't think, seeing the quality of your works that £40 is way too cheap for a map. I won't even start my computer for that price

[tainotim]

Sarithus, he means that your maps are worth way more than 40 euro. I'm 100% certain nothing rude was intended in his comment. He even offered to help you out. You should probably read his reply again and you will see that to

Edit: just wanted to get that out quickly, to avoid a nasty discussion.

Cheers,
Tainotim

[Sarithus]

Sarithus, he means that your maps are worth way more than 40 euro. I'm 100% certain nothing rude was intended in his comment. He even offered to help you out. You should probably read his reply again and you will see that to

Edit: just wanted to get that out quickly, to avoid a nasty discussion.

Cheers,
Tainotim

This sounds like a bad excuse, but I'm genuinely sleep deprived so it took me awhile to actually understand the sentence. Apologies to Max if he read my now deleted post.

[Chick]

This sounds like a bad excuse, but I'm genuinely sleep deprived so it took me awhile to actually understand the sentence. Apologies to Max if he read my now deleted post.

I doubt Max meant to be rude. The original sentence as written was extremely rude. I did a double take when I read it.

Then I remembered that English is Max's second language, and he probably meant as the others have said, and just typed it wrong. That said, I do think that some real information would be much more helpful than a (probably intended, anyway) compliment.

[Ilanthar]

I concur with Tainotim. Being french too, I could have use the same turn of phrase. Therefore, I'm sure he means you should ask for more than 40£ considering the excellent quality of your maps.

[tainotim]

I really shouldn't get into all this, but Chick – I think Max only intended good things. These kind of monetary matters are more often than not discussed behind closed doors (private messages), as they brings a sort of private and more delicate dimension to the forum that not everyone want to be public on the internet. At least that's how many of the professional cartographers here at the forum likes to approach it, and I for one feel the same. When Max said that they could discuss details if Sarithus wanted to, I believe that he invited him for such a private conversation

When I started doing commissions I approached the matter by messaging the professional cartographers who's work and methods I respect and want to learn by. And I have always been met with thorough answers and kindness when doing so. That's something I definitely recommend, and I'm certain everyone with the knowledge here at the forum would be more than willing to help

Cheers,
Tainotim

[Chick]

I really shouldn't get into all this, but Chick – I think Max only intended good things. Cheers,
Tainotim

Exactly as I said also.

[TimPaul]

As a professional illustrator, in which making maps for books for publishing and gaming companies, you should charge what you feel your work is worth to you. Which should be a decent price.

The best advice I've ever heard on pricing art work came from the President of The Society of Illustrators, Tim O'Brian.

"I can't tell you want to charge, I can only tell you what works for me."

The amount of work you are going to do on a map is going to be the same regardless of who it's for. If you charge $200 for a private commission and have tons of information and details, that's a lot of work, isn't it? In general, from a publishing company, I get between $600-$1000 for a one page black and white map. I retain the copyright, and grant them exclusive life time ENGLISH rights. Meaning, they can reprint the map with the book forever, without paying me anything more. If they reuse it in another context, they pay a reuse fee, and if another publisher wants to publish a foreign language edition of the book with the map, the new publisher pays me a reuse fee. Which is generally 50% of the original price.

For private commissions, I won't go below $500 anymore, simply because the projects tend to take up way to much time and end up stretching out far too long. I had one that took 7 months to complete, with me sending emails ever few weeks.

Personally, I'd take down that commissions page, because each project should be a conversation between you and the client, rather than trying to template the process. Yes, you should have a basic structure, and you've got that on the site, which is good to have something like that. But it should be customized to each client. When you have things spelled out, it can turn people away. What you want is to open and inviting to people approaching you.

I've walked away from many commissions because the client only wanted to spend a few hundred dollars and own the copyright. No. In fact I had an award winning maker of liquors contact me about a map. They wanted an interactive map with icons for their website, and wanted to own it, for $1,000. Way to little. We went back and forth, and I explained why that wasn't a good deal for me. and got a much higher payment.

Again, you have to decide what your work is worth and stick to that. It might mean loosing a client or two, but it's worth it if you make a living at it, or even supplement your living. I generally do about 1.5 maps per month in addition to other illustration work and character design.

[Sarithus]

As a professional illustrator, in which making maps for books for publishing and gaming companies, you should charge what you feel your work is worth to you. Which should be a decent price.

The best advice I've ever heard on pricing art work came from the President of The Society of Illustrators, Tim O'Brian.

"I can't tell you want to charge, I can only tell you what works for me."

The amount of work you are going to do on a map is going to be the same regardless of who it's for. If you charge $200 for a private commission and have tons of information and details, that's a lot of work, isn't it? In general, from a publishing company, I get between $600-$1000 for a one page black and white map. I retain the copyright, and grant them exclusive life time ENGLISH rights. Meaning, they can reprint the map with the book forever, without paying me anything more. If they reuse it in another context, they pay a reuse fee, and if another publisher wants to publish a foreign language edition of the book with the map, the new publisher pays me a reuse fee. Which is generally 50% of the original price.

For private commissions, I won't go below $500 anymore, simply because the projects tend to take up way to much time and end up stretching out far too long. I had one that took 7 months to complete, with me sending emails ever few weeks.

Personally, I'd take down that commissions page, because each project should be a conversation between you and the client, rather than trying to template the process. Yes, you should have a basic structure, and you've got that on the site, which is good to have something like that. But it should be customized to each client. When you have things spelled out, it can turn people away. What you want is to open and inviting to people approaching you.

I've walked away from many commissions because the client only wanted to spend a few hundred dollars and own the copyright. No. In fact I had an award winning maker of liquors contact me about a map. They wanted an interactive map with icons for their website, and wanted to own it, for $1,000. Way to little. We went back and forth, and I explained why that wasn't a good deal for me. and got a much higher payment.

Again, you have to decide what your work is worth and stick to that. It might mean loosing a client or two, but it's worth it if you make a living at it, or even supplement your living. I generally do about 1.5 maps per month in addition to other illustration work and character design.

Thanks for the post, TimPaul.

Regarding the commissions page I tried to make it as open and changeable as possible, stating that 'Every client and map is different so I am flexible and we can sort out any issues.' Like you said I did include a basic structure but I'm not too sure what would be there to hinder a conversation between me and the client. (Tidied up the site now)