How much to charge?

StormShadow

I've been contacted by a small independent game company that has asked me how much I charge for freelance. They haven't given me much info on the game (not even a link to a site), I have the feeling they don't have a publisher. So what would be a fair price to charge per hour for character work? I was thinking around $20-25 per hour.

Thanks!

MoP

That sounds like a decent rate to me.

Snowfly

Yup that rate sounds fair.

Just be sure to back it up with a schedule, and stick to it. And also provide a rate for revisions.

TomDunne

I freelance for a living - haven't had a W2 to file with my income tax in a couple of years. Pricing is always a tricky thing, as it depends on where you live, the supply/demand in your field, the size of your client, the demands of your client, the timeframe, your level of experience and about a hundred other things.

This may roxor your boxorz a bit, but I don't do a twinge of 3D work for any client at all for less than $50 an hour. When it gets into full production animation, it's lawyer money - $100/hour minimum, and I even bill for render time. $20/hour just strikes me as too low, like html web monkey cash. Remember, as a contractor, you don't get the benefits a regular employee would (insurance, retirement, etc) and it's assumed by clients that they'll have to pay you a higher hourly rate than what their inhouse guys get in terms of actual salary numbers.

This isn't to say you should try to stick it to your client for a big score - I assume this is a new gig and I always undercut myself a bit in that case to pull in new business. I've never had a game contract but I know that many companies are riding tight margins, so the gold mine likely doesn't go too deep anyway. What I might suggest instead is that you flat-rate them for the work they want you to do.

If you're experienced with lowpoly work and can back it up with samples, try to outright sell each piece of work rather than price the time spent on it. Smaller companies often prefer that, as it makes their accounting easier and they're better able to determine what's affordable. If they expect a project should take you 10 hours but you bill 'em for 15, that might kill future business opportunities (they'll either think you're slow or you're trying to rip them off, both of which costs them extra money). If they know in advance that the mesh and texture for Zorg_Imperial_Warrior_A will run them $450, they're less likely to have issues.

Also, you might want to send a PM to AstroZombie on the boards here. He might not be willing to spill any company secrets, but I know that his guys (Liquid Development) contract to freelancers from time to time and he might be able to help you determine the best pricing structure for your situation.

Last piece of advice - whatever you agree upon, get it down as a written (or at the very least, email documented) contract before you do your first mouseclick. Not to cast doubt on whomever you're working with, but smaller companies sometimes have a little trouble remembering to pay their bills; written contracts are your insurance policy, just in case.

My best gig ever was doing Illustrator work Victoria's Secret. $30/hour to do vector art of lingerie. Good times!

Ninjas

20-25 sounds good. Never give them any finished assets without getting paid first.

malcolm

Agreed, 30 bucks sounds very low.

hawken

vermilion is totally right, make a contract before anything.

things can turn ugly when you're a freelancer, it doesn't matter how much you charge sometimes, because some clients go to the ends of the earth to not pay you anyhow.

I'm still battling some invoices I sent over a year ago.

Downsizer

exactly what type of work? I pay professional concept artists about 40 per finalized character sheet in black and white. It's usually about 4 hours work. Though I buy in bulk so to speak.

I also prefer a per-piece basis, but i only do that because its easier to define contracts per certain things. For instance, i would want the artist to be able to take percentage of profits for advertising revanue or game revanue if his work is featured on the cover as a main character or something, and merchandise resulting from his design etc.

ebagg

I would think billing on a per-asset basis would be most logical, with extra rates if they decide to make revisions from the original concept.

StormShadow

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I really appreciate it.
Well it turns out that it’s not even a game company, it’s a real state company looking for 3D artist to do walkthroughs. It would have been nice if that was explained on the job post!
Apparently they want to use Blitz 3D to do walkthroughs and that’s why they were looking for game artist. I get the feeling these people don’t really know what they’re doing, but they still seem interested so I’m going to see how it goes. I’m now waiting for a response from my last email where I ask for more specific information about the project. I’ll keep you guys posted.

Ninjas

Unless you like doing work over, I suggest not working with people unless they know what they are doing. The problem I think you'll run into is that they will ask for one thing, and when they see it, ask for something else and not think it's a big deal.

SkullboX

[ QUOTE ]
Also, you might want to send a PM to AstroZombie on the boards here. He might not be willing to spill any company secrets, but I know that his guys (Liquid Development) contract to freelancers from time to time and he might be able to help you determine the best pricing structure for your situation.

[/ QUOTE ]
Liquid Development doesn't really have your average freelance position. It's a streamlines art production company with fixed rates, standard contracts and they pretty much only use contractors, most of the in house staff have art directing/managing functions.

It's a great place to work, especially for a 20-year-old student like me, but if you're looking for info on how to sort out your own contract work stay away from liquid experiences, you'd just end up naive and unpaid anywhere else. :P