This doc is all about finding the right pricing for your commissions as a freelance artist on social media. Pricing is a much more complex subject than I think most artists realize or take into account. I don't like seeing artists completely underselling themselves on Twitter. We have enough to fight with in today's climate. This is why I made this small (it's not really small anymore) guide, or more like an information piece, about everything that goes into pricing yourself and what you should think about.

(I put some memes throughout for you guys with zero attention span TikTok brains. I do know my fellow artists very well.)

If you want to get to the point quickly, feel free to skip to the conclusion and calculation at the bottom. But I'm trying to explain everything in detail, including how this calculation comes to be.

<aside> ❗

I'm also just human and make mistakes. Feel free to message me and correct me!

</aside>

Table of contents:

1. Ask yourself these questions

These will determine how you should think about this guide and what to take into account.

1.1 Is this my main job, or am I doing it just for fun on the side?

This has a huge influence on what you should include in your rate: taxes, insurance, acquisition and a lot else.

A job means you want to make profit from it. Some pocket change is not profit!

If you're just starting and see commissions as a motivator to keep drawing, that's totally fine. The same goes if you're more advanced and do it because you like drawing different characters (I'm doing exactly that with my sketch commissions. I don't really expect to make much money or finance myself with them. They are more for fun). It's just different, and it can't be logically calculated but even than there's still a lot you can learn from this.

1.2 What's my skill level?

Your skill level decides where you sit inside a realistic price range. Be honest with yourself. I've seen a lot of people undersell themselves in terms of skill. We all do. You know better than anyone how much you still have to improve compared to the one next to you. But also keep in mind that most commissioners don't see it that way. Many commissioners are not artists themselves and don't have the feeling or intuition to tell apart all the skills you can see and feel every time you draw. So categorize yourself a bit more broadly and keep it in mind while going through everything here.

2. Employee vs freelancers: why we can't just translate minimum wage to drawing hours

To calculate a fair rate, it's good to compare yourself with a full-time employee.