A Question on Charging for Artistic Services...

I charge the same as my hourly pay from my regular job. It worked for me and I didn't get any grief from the client. 10 hours x 30 bucks an hour= happy client and happy illustrator.

I'd say that it depends on what you are getting paid at your regular job. At 30 bucks an hour, it'd be well worth it, but at like 8 bucks an hour... I know you can get more...

I'd say you'll have to do a bit of research on how much a company charges to design a business card. And then add on a charge for original artwork.

I know a couple of the business card makers around here that charge quite a bit for original designs.

You really shouldn't spend more than an hour designing a business card, logos take a little longer. If it's a template card and then several versions of type then probably $50 to 75 US for a friend, $100 + for other clients. Try and get to do all the business material - letterhead, stationary, etc. then you can charge $400+. Or just call other companies and be competitive.

I'm with scriado on this one. I think it's usually better just to charge a flat rate, so both you and the customer can agree on a set price beforehand. This way, if things end up taking a little longer than expected, he won't feel cheated. Seeing as how it's your friend, that probably won't be an issue, but generally I think it's less complicated.

Course, I'm not sure if I have any room to give advice. My friends hire me to do album artwork, and I just end up with whatever they give me, haha.

Journeyman,

Here's how we approach this. We don't do paper-based work at all really, but when we do web work we try to be really general, figure out the number of hours a typical project SHOULD take, and charge for that. (let's say a typical project were 10 hours start to finish for whatever it is we're doing, this is just an example)... and let's say we're charging $15 p/hour. So we would have a flat rate of $150 with some set number of revisions and a "not to exceed" x number of hours clause. This way you and the client are both in good places. His price is fairly fixed ($150.00) and you're encouraged to finish as quickly and efficiently as possible (if you take 2 hours doing this it's $75 an hour). Additionally, he knows that he's going to get x number of revisions and that his total time shouldn't exceed x hours. If you hit designer's block then you gotta kind of suck it up. Your real security blanket here is number of revisions, not the hours in the process. That's a last ditch "We've done 3 sets of revisions, you still don't seem happy, and I've already given you an extra 10 hours over what we initially agreed upon, we're going to have to work something new out." statement. This way everyone's covered and no one gets treated unfairly. You want to keep track of your hours so that you can adjust your prices according to what your average is so you can turn a profit. Also, it's worth noting, that we allow the customer to make as drastic of a revision (or minor) as they'd like, but they're limited to a specific number of them. We explain this up-front so that the client knows we're not going to do 12 groups of tiny revisions, we want 2 sets, period, end of story.

I hope this helps you. 15-20 bucks an hour as a free-lancer just starting is probably quite fair (depending upon your geographic location). As you gain experience you can raise that price a bit. You'll also have a body of work to back that price up, so it works both ways.

Eclipse

I have found I draw really fast. If I do the subject at all, I get way to into it and fever my way to the end. Though I hardly ever do charge I normally get a mutually agreed price befor I start. That way if I bust it out quick, good for me. If I'm slow, then I normally let them know they might want to look further but keep working on it for them so as to not put them to far out.