Art prices nowadays

How much would you pay for art?

nothing .-.	11.2%	[ 27 ]
tens of millions	6.6%	[ 16 ]
hundreds of millions	10.4%	[ 25 ]
billions	17.0%	[ 41 ]
tens of billions	42.7%	[ 103 ]
all of the above are too expensive	12.0%	[ 29 ]
Total Votes:			[ 241 ]

[Punktz]

This is a topic concerning the economy but please don't get mad.


So I sell art. Lots of users do nowadays. With the current economy, I don't know what to price my stuff at. Lots of people don't, and the Pricing and Suggestions subforum of the Mini Shops forum is thriving with threads asking for advice on pricing their art. However, the favourite reply seems to be "I'd price your art at XX billion." Sure there are lots of amazing artists on Gaia, and yes they deserve to get what they give in a commission, but, well... Billions of gold is a lot.

So... Spoons.
gaia_spoons Do you enjoy getting/giving art on Gaia?
gaia_spoons Are these prices justifiable in the current economy?
gaia_spoons Do you think these prices reflect the buying ability of the general public?

[Sheshira]

I honestly believe that asking for specific items would save the hassle unless the gold amount is fairly comparable. Really though only if someone is doing art casually or isn't interested in selling art professionally...

Mostly because most artists will almost always be ripped off (in a way) since they will very rarely be able to sell their art in a way that fully compensates them for their time (like labor, and cost). Well let's say that in the "real" world some of the higher end art could possibly cost 75 dollars. I don't see getting 75 dollars worth of GC items ever happening on Gaia (maybe it has?). So even paying in items would never be comparatively equal to the piece of art.

So I feel as if artists on Gaia have to come to the understanding that items or gold they're never going to be fully compensated. The only option would be to do real life commissions (maybe able to get better compensated this way) and then using the money however they'd like (on Gaia, maybe other stuff etc) or having to be willing to take a cut (I'm talking about reasonably not in a way where I personally demand that artists lower their prices or that I'm ranting about it).

[Head Up Your Astronaut]

gaia_spoons Do you enjoy getting/giving art on Gaia?
as an artist, i delight in bringing people's characters to life. emotion_kirakira i like art shops just because i think a lot of people on gaia couldn't actually afford artist's rates IRL so being able to trade pixels for art of their creations is a great alternative for them!

it's also a low-pressure way for beginner artists to sharpen their skills, though this can lead to unfortunate manipulation of newbies...

gaia_spoons Are these prices justifiable in the current economy?
depending on the artist's work: yes. i mean, i would find sloppy chibi sketches going for billions a little shameful but clean pieces with clear effort? definitely. billions are a lot but gaia gold isn't representative of what it used to be.
though i couldn't imagine selling my art for, like, 10s or 20s of billions myself. eek but my first art shop involved me selling colored full bodies for only 15k a pop! thems was the days...

one must also keep in mind how marketable the style is though. anime-inspired art draws in crowds simply because it's more popular, but on the other hand if you've got the chops to draw older people/masculine people/less 'cutesy' subjects you might get people willing to pay out extra just for the rarity. it's very complicated.

ummm i guess bottom line is: if you've got people willing to buy from you for billions, go ahead and price it at billions? really depends. sweatdrop
gaia_spoons Do you think these prices reflect the buying ability of the general public?
you mean like IRL? all i can say about gaia commissioners vs offsite commissioners is that you'll always have people trying to haggle your prices lower because they think they can get away with it.
"oh, it's my anniversary! for my fiancee!" "my sister is sick and i want to make her feel better!" "it's my birthday!" etc etc tons of excuses to get a good deal.

also: non-artists being shocked & angered at how high artist's rates can go for without realizing time, effort, supplies, etc are huge factors for price. rolleyes

[Ven Loki]

For artists it would be a lot more profitable to sell art for cash on other sites and then use the cash on here.

If you buy a piece of art on Deviantart, you'd probably pay about 30-40$ a piece.

40$ worth of Gaia cash is about 300-600 BILLION gold on here, depending on you smart you are with the cash.

Hardly anyone wants to pay that for art, so artists will always end up getting ripped off on here.

It's probably best to just ask for one or two specific items in return for a piece of art.

[Kaderach]

I absolutely love both giving and receiving art. I love seeing how other artists interpret my characters/avatars, and allows for a visual reference of different physical and personality traits. I mainly work in an awkward-cartoon style, but I love seeing the different styles and techniques that other artists use to bring my darlings to life. *u*

I feel that prices are iffy on whether or not they are ultimately justified. If anything, I know that it at least depends on the context of the shop. (Bribes vs Set Prices, or HQ vs Quick-Buck Attempt). I generally do bribes myself, since I have no justifiable number that I could call a price to my art. I don't want to alienate certain customers simply based on my set prices. But in reality, I base my choices of commissions on the character(s)- despite a high or low bribe.

As well, the time and energy it takes out of an artist's daily life to construct a piece of art can be hectic. When I purchase art, I not only factor in the set price (if there is one), but I can look at the artist's samples and see how much effort and love they put into their work. So to say that prices are justified seems - at least to me- dependent on the paying individual and the quality of work. It really all depends on what style of art someone likes, and how much they're willing to shell out to purchase a drawing for. And in the end, there is always the Art Freebies Forum. emotion_awesome

[Jinglybell]

I like getting art, but dont seek it out. I dont post what ive gotten either so I guess im a bad receiver. I do have all I have gotten saved on my computer though. xp
Yes the prices they are charging are justifiable. With 1$=5-10b and from what I heard of most offsite commissions even poor ones are at least 5$ its completely reasonable.
The current market sucks for people who are bad at making gold/dont have rl $ and people who are sub-par art wise because there's less people able to afford it. If they are buying art they are more likely to buy quality then quantity like in Ye-olden days. Hopefully this makes sense.

[The Prince Soubi]

It has turned me off to wanting to buy art at all. It makes it much
more difficult too. Do I really want to pay x billion for an art piece?
I just make my own for myself to save the hassle.

The problem lies in when someone PMs me asking if I make
art. Yes, I do, but when we get to price I have no idea what to
say anymore. My art isn't that great and I also have no idea
what to ask if I want to use items as payment. Because the
items are nowadays very weirdly priced and all expensive.

There is no happy medium. XD

[dotSei]

Giving art-- ehh, not really anymore. I never really liked drawing avatars. Ocs are better, but at the same time, I can't say I really enjoy drawing a character I don't feel anything for.
In the current economy? Yeah. Billions is the standard price because of all the inflation and stuff.

I generally am very picky about art if I buy it though. If it's not a mix of nice art and what I can afford, chances are, i'm not going to buy it. Why buy what you can draw yourself?

[hiimbeary]

I've been burned in the past by spending a number of hours in the piece (all happened with freebies), delivered it to the person and they never responded. At that point I didn't even care if they never thanked me, but I would at least like to know that they saw it. So, nowadays it's either freebies / trades with my friends, or mega-bribes. I still enjoy art, a lot, but just had too many bad experiences.

I think prices in the billions are totally reasonable considering that there's not really an exchange rate between $ and gold. Of course, you can base that on how much a $1.99 or $8.99, etc item will sell on the MP but that varies a lot. One 799GC could be worth 50b, another one could be 120b.

As for my pricing, no, I don't think it's based on what the majority of Gaians can afford. I do RLCs and I think mine are reasonably priced since, based on the time it takes me to do a piece I'm typically getting less than minimum wage. For gold though, I can't use that out in the real world so I have a very high minimum bribe amount that I'm looking for.

Art is a luxury, it's not a necessity. Sure, I can get on Gaia from work so I can still post throughout the day, but I can't work on art. When I get home, I don't even have kids or family to take care of and still I don't have that much free time before I have to get some sleep.

To make a long post short, there are lots of talented artists on Gaia and I'm sure a lot of them are better, faster or cheaper than I am, but there's a reason that I do things my way and I hope people would respect that even if they disagree. 3nodding

[frailheart]

______________________
ѕσ, ι'м ωяιтιиg тнє fυтυяє; ι'м ℓєανιиg α кєу нєяє...

I think about it this way, a 999 GC item tends to end up worth at least ~50 bil (or more I just don't know anymore) on the MP. I sell single chibis for ~15bil/item of similar worth from my wishlist, and it takes anywhere from 6-10 hours to do. I recognize that I'm shorting myself, but hey, whatever. It's what works I guess.

Honestly, artists kind of get the short end of the stick on the pricing deal. If they price for the effort it really costs, no one's going to buy (or not enough that it's worth anything). So I go for the happy medium of working not out of a shop but through my signature so I'm not always cranking out art, that way I can be more flexible about pricing in ways I couldn't when I was in an art shop.

That said, I'm cheap as ******** and so therefore I draw my own art here on Gaia lmao.

ѕσмєтнιиg ωσи'т αℓωαуѕ вє мιѕѕιиg, уσυ ωσи'т αℓωαуѕ fєєℓ ємρтιєя...
________ ѕσмєтнιиg ωσи'т αℓωαуѕ вє мιѕѕιиg, уσυ ωσи'т αℓωαуѕ fєєℓ ємρтιєя... ________

[Sir Deranged Reindeer]

...As an '04 user, the prices right now just seem crazy... I too remember doing full body coloured art for like... 20k.

Just had a quick peek at the Art Shops forum to see the prices, and some of them are ridiculous. Over a billion gold for some not so good art...? Why? I would feel guilty as hell for selling art for the exorbitant prices floating around in that forum...

I'm happy to just draw art for myself, and for real life money. razz

[Yorugami]

Basically with Gaia's hyperinflated economy..
Billions now is worth almost nothing compared to iRL money.
I mean you can get 50-120bil item for less than 10$ worth of Gcash in
the cash shop. In most online places like DA and tumblr
semi-decent art work for Fullbodies and even Chibis are about
10-25$ on average with those really good artists netting about 65-120$
for FUllbody work.

So it's actually quite a ripoff for artists working here in Gaia online
for the fee that a lot of people are paying for. I really for sorry
for those who are getting paid millions because that is basically
asking for a fully colored piece of custom artwork for less
than what a candy is worth. Making ART is hard. : /

Just like buying good quality product, you gotta pay for the goodstuff.

Now though I tend to just put up a bribe list of items I'm currently
questing for and let my customers decide what they wanna pay
because honestly. 1 billion next week could be worth 1/2 of
what it is worth now. : /

[Tiana Luscinia]

I've only bought art a few times waaaay back when. And they were cheaper options. I haven't looked to buy art here in awhile.

I don't do art to sell and I honestly don't know what I'd price it at if I did. My skill is sub-par anyway. sweatdrop

I make pixel art for my own use. I've never wanted to attempt to sell it. It's not spectacular or flashy enough anyway.

The jump in art prices is obviously due to the economy. It's hard to get many items without some way to earn lots of gold. Besides art the only other alternatives are to be already sitting on a pile of valuables for years (which will eventually dwindle down to nothing if you keep selling them) or use the CS to make gold. Some of the items I bought that are still available are worth 20 billion+. So if you've got the cash you've got the gold. Cash for gold. sweatdrop

[ThanatosRising]

Honestly, billions of gold stops being a lot when you can buy a single MC for $2.50 and become an instant billionaire. I know not everyone can or is willing to buy Gaia Cash, but the bar for billionaire is now incredibly low.

I don't bother pricing my art these days, though. I've pretty much switched entirely to art auctions.

[Tiny Chibis]

People tell me i am underselling my chibis, I sell them for a while 75k, an amount made in one days draw of a daily chance
most people are happy to tip me well into the mils but once in a while Ill get a beggar wanting free art, saying that they can't afford 75k but at the same time be running around giving out and receiving lavish gifts.