I am really terrible at art, both the creative and drawing side as well as the computer aided kind where you use a program like Paint.net or GIMP and create boards or cards that way. If the profit is a pie, how big a slice should I give out to someone who does the art for a game? Or would it be better to just hire someone upfront whether or not the game goes anywhere?
What to pay for art?
Wed, 10/31/2012 - 15:51
Wed, 10/31/2012 - 18:17
#1
Game Art
Unless you want to count them in on a total share of any profit and give them residuals as the game sells, I suggest agreeing on a set base price for artwork and graphics with the artist. That is how I generally work when asked to do art for a certain project. Price depends on the type of artwork needed, how many various designs and amount of detail involved. Allow for multiple revisions as the game concept progresses, as there are just about always sudden bursts of inspiration and last minute changes.
It would be hard to convince a designer to do the work upfront and have him hope to be paid if and when the game sells and shows a profit, unless he's a good friend or just totally in love with the game. It is somewhat of a double-edged sword; It is tough to sell a game with bad art, but it is also tough to get good art with a low budget. There are many good artists here who may be more receptive to helping you out than finding someone on Craigslist, etc, as we all have a common interest in creating games. As a Graphic Artist myself, the most fun and satisfaction that I have when developing a new game is creating the artwork.
Mon, 12/03/2012 - 19:33
#2
Ballpark estimate
Voodoodog, thanks for the information but can you give a ballpark estimate for art for, say, a game like Dominion, 7 Wonders, or Space Empires 4x, etc. A range of prices for a game like these would be helpful for planning.
Thanks...
Mon, 12/03/2012 - 23:49
#3
I too am a zero art-skill
I too am a zero art-skill individual, but I do have a number of professional artist friends. On that note... if you are asking what to expect it'll be FAAAR more than you want to spend.
The specific costs will range wildly depending on the scale of the project and the artist. I wouldn't feel comfortable ball-parking... but keep in mind 1 card can easily take 3 or 4 days and you WILL be charged for 4 days work. You may be able to find someone who is quicker and cheaper... but the quality won't be as good... and he is likely to be unprofessional and hard to work with. Good art will cost you an arm and a leg... and possibly one of your testicles.
If you don't want to spend to much, I'd advise you to reuse as much art as humanly possible. For example: if you have 10 magic spells... consider using a single Magic scroll image for all of them. Also, consider having the artist give you the iconography for all cards... but build the individual cards yourself.
As for whether to pay up or pay royalties... I've never met an artist who works for a share. I've heard stories but they all seem to end with "So I had to hire someone else". The only time I've seen "I'll pay a future %" has been with close friends and even then I see it fail more often than it succeeds.
Keep in mind, I'm not an expert on this and I haven't done so much on the board game artists yet. Your best bet for getting quotes on a game would be to actually contact some artists and ask. Be sure to have exact details of how many pieces you'll need. sizes, etc.
Ask around until you find someone whose portfolio looks good and his rates sound feasible.
Tue, 12/04/2012 - 00:37
#4
It really all depends on the
It really all depends on the scope of work. I've gotten quotes for commercial art work between 25 to 250$ per piece depending on the person in question (their body of work, quality etc.). That breaks down a lot though:
Card face, Card Back, Box Art, Game Logo, would be between 100 and 1000$ lets guess, then its ANOTHER price per card if there's distinctive art assuming you can do your own layout.
If you need any symbols made or icons, that's another price per one. Not to mention any board art and others.
I use some custom software to build decks of cards, so I don't need anyone to individually make cards if the only change is text, so that saves some money on a layout perspective, but there are things other than art - like good fonts (which can cost money unless you find commercially free ones), that are required to make it look professional as well.
Many costs will change based on the resolution you need, so be up front about that - since most printing is done at 300 or 600 dpi, calculate that out ahead of time. A lower resolution picture will often cost less money because it requires fewer details if the person is working digitally. And getting art made is NOT necessarily the same as having commercial rights to a piece of art, and there are often higher costs with the latter.
Also, not all artists understand what makes a good game piece. So having a general idea of how you want certain things to look is important. You don't need to have good art to know what belongs where on a card- that's just play testing. Certain elements need to be more or less prominent, and layout and readability are hyper important. This is not necessarily a skill every artist will have, so you might need separate people to design layout and do the actual art. If an artist just need to color in the spaces, they might be able to do the job faster as well.
A game I was working on which had 2 decks, one of "people" (which needed unique art), and another of "actions" (which didn't need unique art), I was given a credible quote of $4500. That was for 2 card backs that were just basic recolors with a small text change, 2 card faces (with special textures and what not), 10 special icons, (54) 600 dpi x 600 dpi character art pieces, and a game logo and box art. I provided the basic layout for the cards (like what needs to go where on the card), and I was going to do the fonts and text myself using my software. And I felt that was a pretty good price (especially for all the specific character art).
Tue, 12/04/2012 - 01:08
#5
$
Pretty much anyone professional is going to want to see money for completion if not upfront, with maybe percentage on top, depending on how rights and ownership are worked out.
The real question is how much are you willing to spend on art? You will get what you pay for.
What are you using the art for? If you're shopping around a prototype you probably don't NEED full art as long as you have clarity. If you're self-publishing you might want to seriously triage which art you will need, as you will probably not have the economies of scale to actually pay it down. Dominion or 7 Wonders are not realistic cost ranges to be looking at off the bat.
One way to counteract art costs can be to get patronage: putting in peoples' portraits can be a great Kickstarter perk.
