On hiring freelancers
Hi, I'm a hobbyist/wannabe game developer. The art takes up all my time, looks bad, then I get fed up and start something else. So changing my strategy, using some of my regular job earned money to get other people to do it for me! Bought a few things from turbosquid already, and got lots of nice free assets from different places but I need more specific stuff:
I'm wondering how to go about hiring freelance artists? How does it work? How do you secure payments, making sure no one gets ripped off. How does copyright work, does the buyer own the model or are there royalties? How expensive are typical types of models? Can the artist do designs or do you go to a concept artist first? Do character artists also rig/animate? etc. Any other advice you can give?
Naturally I'd be looking to hire people from this site ; )
I'm wondering how to go about hiring freelance artists? How does it work? How do you secure payments, making sure no one gets ripped off. How does copyright work, does the buyer own the model or are there royalties? How expensive are typical types of models? Can the artist do designs or do you go to a concept artist first? Do character artists also rig/animate? etc. Any other advice you can give?
Naturally I'd be looking to hire people from this site ; )
Replies
You should spend some time researching "freelance contract templates".
Depends on the artist.
You need to be perfectly clear about what you expect them to finish.
Discuss and outline in the contract, revisions and changes to the model(s). Don't relay on the artist enthusiasm to see the thing to completion.
Personally I think you should do all the art yourself, it seems a little shifty with only the info provided...
Let's go for a low price on one advanced asset. 10 usd an hour. 8 hour day. Let's say the prop takes 5 days. That's 400 usd for one asset. Would you be willing to pay this much for an asset?
Shitty example but eh, hopefully you get my point.
Chances are you'll be paying between hundreds, to thousands of dollars per model if you want them built from scratch (and even if you don't). Pricing depends on the quality/experience of the artist, and the specification you provide for a given asset.
Generally, the "i'll pay $50 per model" posts/requests go unanswered, or are answered by someone without the ability to actually do the work properly.
I've been running an outsource company for about 7 years or so, and I've done a decent number of models on the side for my own fun projects. If you'd like to post what kind of models you want (in this thread), I can look at some of the stuff I usually give away, and if anything matches, send them to you free of charge.
Notorious P.I.G: 400USD with 5 days...that's gotta be a good prop though right? I've seen 3D tutorials/videos where someone like, creates a decent looking trash dumpster in only an afternoon.
Vig: Contracts is it? I've had a google now and doesn't sound too painful. How are they signed? Are contracts by mail (or email?!) legally binding?
I can't do it myself. Oh sure, after a week of work I can have an anatomically correctish human but I don't 'get' how to make up characters. Anything I make looks lifeless.
Edit:
Well I'm making a beat-em-up game, and need lead characters. Er..that's all I got. 2-4 similar characters shouldn't cost more than $2000 right?
Graphic Artists Guild Handbook:
Pricing & Ethical Guidelines
It would however be a world of a difference if it was a character for an iphone game for example, there's many variables involved, but it all boils down to "how long will it take" and "how much does it cost per hour"
Lots of hidden costs huw.
Indeed. I would charge more for an iphone character, I am sick of wannabe iphone game devs wasting my time :P
Notorious P.I.G: I was kinda hoping the artist'd rig them. I can animate 'good enough'. I got the other costs covered. Started off the classic 'lol I maek gaem' going from c++ to C# XNA to torque's scam engine, to OGRE graphics lib and finally Unity...which I paid 300$ for, months before they released it for free ;.;
Lots of bad luck and failure, but this stuff's in my blood and I can't get it out!
lol@ Torque's scam engine
The 'story' would be the players escaped from a prison, someone from the outside has broken in and given you forcefields (which you can use to punch people), and the authority is after them trying to get them back, or kill them. IN THREE LEVELS OF AWESOME FUN.
Badguys would be a generic swat team with colored accessories to distinguish enemy types.
The characters themselves though... haven't a clue. I know computers inside out, but people are a mystery. Characters are so hard, what do they look like, what personality do they have? How do you convey a personality in a piece of art? What would they say in these situations? There aren't tutorials on this stuff.
Basically I need someone to create characters for me. Heck, if it costs so much to model them, maybe just hiring a concept artist would be a good idea?
Got some screenshots to show this isn't vaporware...which probably should have been posted in the first place. eh.
Specs - What's the budget for texture-maps (sizes, how many, what kinds), tris, bones...
Style - Will be be required to make a highpoly for these, how detailed will they be, do you want handpainted textures on a lowpoly model...
Quality - there's the old 'fast, good and cheap... choose two' saying that's certainly applicable to game assets of all kinds. Do you want cutting-edge AAA quality? Then pay AAA quality cash.
You say 2,000 is a lot for a character, well, what if that character takes you a month of working 60 hours per week. That's only 8.33 cents per hour. Where I live, people who work in fast food restaurants make that much. So a highly specialized and skilled artist certainly won't.
Truth be told, 2,000 for a trip AAA character is nothing. Point being.
If you really want to know how much it will cost you, you have to know the amount of time it will take to develop the said, asset. I will often warn guys seeking freelance artists (on a tight budget) to forget about normal maps and next gen technology. If you are using proper normal maps, chances are this will quadruple the production time. I'm not going to go into the details of it, but there are a ton more steps that must be made when normal maps come in the mix.
If I were you, I would attempt to find on the internet as many royalty free assets as possible that fit. Then use sites like turbo squid to fill in the holes. And if you need a few unique and very important models hire for that and expect to pay good money.
Once you figure out what you need, simply ask about it here as to how long it would take. That will give you an idea about the costs. Expect to pay $15.00 per hour minimum.
Making games is tough isn't it? heh. Good luck man!