What are the "Indie Prices" for freelancers ?

MoezMahdy

I've starting looking for freelancing work recently, i had a few people email me for work and asked for how much do i charge, I've read the freelancing polycount wiki, and seen the prices that the people said, and when i mentioned the rate which was 20$/hour or 160$/day (lowest rate), i never got any response back, none of them responded !, i think that they were indie groups (just a guess) so i have done some more research and found out that the your rate should match your experience and work quality, my question is, could it be that the price is too high ? since most of the groups or studios that look for freelance are independent groups and don't have much budget for such rate or is it that I'm not good enough for such rate.
Portfolio/Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artist/moezmahdy
what should i do in such cases, should i lower the rate ?
I've also seen people do 250$ per character, what is that, like 8.9$/day - 1.1$/hour ? (assuming that it takes 4 weeks to finish a character and working 8 hours every day)

Kevin Albers

There is no such thing. Freelancing is an open market. You can ask for as little or as much as you want. For some potential 'employers', pretty much any amount is too much.

If you endlessly lower your rate, you are working against your own self interests, and the interests of all creative types.

I worked as an Outsource Manager for years. I've seen professional rates mostly between 200-700 dollars/day. Make of that what you will.

Keep in mind that, to a degree, 'you get what you pay for'. The people paying 250$ for what is supposed to be a AAA style character probably end up with nothing, or crap, and both they and the artist will likely be very disappointed in the end. The AAA industry has been plagued for decades by unrealistic expectations between the money people (publishers) and developers. The Indie industry is much worse than that, in terms of unrealistic expectations, because Indie people often have much less experience than professionals (but not always).

MoezMahdy

The thing is, professional studios and groups whom are welling to pay the normal rates want professional artists which puts artists just starting in a bad position making them desperate enough to work for any price (I'm talking about the ones who work for 250$) these people are literally ruining the industry, and lets not forget the competition, there is just too much competition.
I definitely agree with what you said 'you get what you pay for', but i think that there a 2 kinds of artists, the professionals (the ones that go as high as they want with their rates) and others (who will have to lower their rates in order to live).
I am not whining or complaining that I am not a good artist, I'm just telling what I've learned and seen from my own experience.

RyanB

You will make far more money creating assets for asset stores.  You will waste hours and hours of unpaid time dealing with wannabes when you could be making stuff that will sell for years.

MoezMahdy

@RyanB , Planning to do so

Larry

Try asking what their task is, and give a package price for a whole task, because if you charge per hour they do not know how fast you are and how much time it takes you to complete it. From your perspective it might be fair, but a customer doesnt want to pay you while you try things and ending up consuming 40hours creatong an asset.