About prices

Why almost every non-artist on this site thinks that asking more than, say, 10$ for a commission is 'too much'? Why should I explain to them why my prices are like that, and how difficult it is to create a 3000x2700 highly-detailed picture, and how much time does it take me?

Artist is a job. It's a hard job. And the worst part of this job is clients who think that to create a good picture 'is not a big deal', and who get genuinely surprised when you ask them to pay for the quality accordingly. 'Whaaa? 50$?! That's too much!' And no one cares that I haven't slept for two days just to create that work, that my arm and eyes hurt and that I had only breakfasts all that time. Because 'we all know that it's not a problem for an artist to draw pictures'. U-huh. It's like '*POOF!* Ready!'

Stop underestimate artist's work process. It's not 'easy'. In most cases it's not even 'fun' or 'interesting'. It's a huge amount of hard monotonous work which requires a very high level of concentration and drains us artists very quickly. We have no 'magic brush' to order it to do all the hard work for us. We just sit until our bottoms start to hurt and draw until the work is finished. It is _not_ easy. So yes, we do ask money for our time and efforts, because we do not run a charity organisation. We have bills to pay, we need to pay our rent, we need to buy food and clothing, pay our dentist and so on. Have any of you ever said to your dentist '500$?! That's too much!'? I guess you haven't. You just take your wallet/card and pay. So why do you think that it's 'ok' to say such things to us? What? 'An artist' sounds not very 'job-like' to you?

'An artist' is a job. Like any other job out there. We sell our skills, like IT specialists, drivers and security personnel sells theirs. It's not a 'hobby'. It's not what we do to 'kill time', like watching TV or any other pleasant activity. It's a business. And in business you pay if you want to get something. So when we hear another 'Whaaa? That's too much!' it shows how little people know about our profession. (and how greedy they are)

Please, don't be silly - don't say such things to artists.