Sta.sh
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Total prizes reach 1000 
But of course there are always the rules......
Please please please fave the journal!
this journal 
oints:
Rules
Should be about School Times!
, comment and watch!
(Cross posted from my tumblr)
I feel obliged to, but also want to say thank you for the response to my text post yesterday about my convention art pricing. I certainly wasn't expecting it to get the level of response that it did, or the kind that it did. I was looking for advice on how to properly re-evaluate my work based on it's physical quality and artistic level, but instead I got a lesson in why artists shouldn't devalue their work, and many varying opinions on the sale of fanart. While I still don't believe I am devaluing my work, I want to say thank you, especially to ~fayrenpickpocket and everyone who responded with your insights on this. Artwork and money can be such sticky subjects, and the sale of fanart is even stickier, so thank you for diving into those topics for me.
Like I said above and in the original post, I was honestly not trying to put my artwork down, but express that I completely and honestly believe that my artwork is not worth what I charge, that I am morally struggling because of that belief every time I make a sale, and that I believe I need to lower my prices to match the worth I feel it is... but I guess many others feel very differently. I am not looking for a pity party or a bunch of people to tell me my work is worth what I charge either, because I know now that no matter how many people tell me this, I will probably never agree. Though it is comforting to know that a lot of artists feel similarly about their own work - they just have the smarts, professionalism, balls, and the financial need to not give in to their feelings and charge less. Perhaps my concept of money and artwork is skewed because I've been working conventions for too long. Or perhaps I just need to find my artistic balls again.
Anyway, I think I will keep my prices as they are for NYCC, since it is my last convention of 2012. After that I'm looking forward to a nice six-month break from conventions and Artist Alley, during which time I hope to revamp at least 50% of my merchandise and do some more soul searching on my pricing and artistic worth... just, offline this time. xD;;; Thanks again, and hopefully I'll see some of you in New York next week.
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[ORIGINAL JOURNAL]
(Cross posted from my tumblr)
For the past year or so I've been facing some morality issues on selling my art and fanart. Normally I wouldn't talk about something like this on the internet, but since most of my friends are artists and many of them also do anime conventions, I'm kind of low on unbiased people to talk to. And there are lots of different artists on tumblr, (and DA) so I'd love to hear some opinions on this and maybe get some advice?
First off, I feel like I'm overpriced. I charge what a lot of print artists charge at conventions - $15 per poster, buy 2 get 1 free. Although I am trying to conduct myself professionally at conventions, I feel as though these prices are just too much for what the customer is getting. I look at my work and think, "Wow, I wouldn't pay $15 for this let alone drop $30 for three of them, so why am I charging others that much?" Most of the artists I talk to about this say, "You're not overpriced! Stop devaluing your art!" and, "You'll make the rest of us look bad if you charge less!" But I really don't think it's a matter of devaluing my art. I'm not trying to be depressing or put myself down. I'm trying to look at my work and it's quality and find a price that I am comfortable selling it for. I'm also not trying to make anyone else look bad by charging less; this is about my work and what I feel it's worth is within the level I'm currently at.
A big part of feeling overpriced is the physical quality of my prints. My prints are nice quality - 80lb gloss text, full bleed. They're nice, but they're not great. I used to like this paper because it's light and easy to travel with, and it lasts as long as you handle it well. But I hardly travel with my prints anymore; I have to bring so many now that I mail half of them to the convention in advance, and the mail does not treat anything well. Also, this past summer my usual printer botched a whole lot of my orders, rushing through them to meet summer demand. They got colors and cuts wrong, and these details matter deeply to me. I couldn't do anything to fix these prints since I got them so close to the conventions that I had to sell them, and while I never had a single customer complain about them, I felt guilty the whole time. They were prints I'd rather throw away or give away for free, and I was stuck selling them to make sure I could pay my hotel and flight bill. One thing I've learned from doing conventions is that customers hardly ever seem to care what kind of paper a print is on… or if they do, they never say so to the artist. For this reason I've been told to stop worrying about my paper quality and just sell, and for a while I did, but with all the botched prints I've had to sell it's a worry that has crept back to me.
Luckily I've found a local printer I want to switch to next year. It will be more expensive, but the print quality will be a lot higher, and since they're local I can be there to work with them until the product is exactly what I want. But then I go back to my first worry of my art being overpriced in general, and I think… would increasing the physical quality of my prints make them feel worth what I charge? Or will it be like polishing a turd? Even with nicer, heavier paper and higher print quality, I don't know if I will be comfortable continuing to sell my work for $15 a pop. I feel like $10 per would be much more reasonable for me, and for my customers.
I know, I know… "Wtf you're actually freaking out over a $5 difference?" Yeah, it's important to me… These are the reasons why I decided to sell my prints online for $10. And a $5 difference is a lot when you add up the number of prints I sell at a convention.
Which brings me to the second morality issue I've been having…
…the sale of fanart. It's basically what I've been doing at anime conventions for the past six years. I really love making fanart, since it's how I got started drawing in the first place. I've done plenty of research and know about copyright laws. People argue that the sale of fanart is a very grey area, and I agree, but if you follow the law to the letter the very creation of fanart itself is completely illegal, (with the exception of parody). But big industry has been turning a blind eye to the sale of fanart for many years, allowing the culture to thrive and in some cases, (like Otakon) police itself. I know artists who've been hired to work officially for the things they've done fanart for, so I feel like big industry does actually like fanart in most cases. But I know plenty of people who sell way more fanart than me, some who make their entire living off of it without batting an eye, and some who fanart things purely for monetary gain. And that's fine for them, I don't really care what they do, it's their choice. But for me, it's been feeling a little more wrong with every convention I go to. I have some success with my original work now, but not nearly enough to pay the bills. While I don't think I'll stop creating and selling fanart completely, (I love making fanart too much and sharing that love with other fans I meet at conventions) I feel like I need to cut back on it significantly. Only draw fanart for what I truly love, and make sure I give back to the industry in some way, by buying official merchandise and not pirating. I also want to create more original work and have organized plans to do so, but it's going slowly and I feel like the continued success I've seen in Artist Alley is in jeopardy if those plans don't pick up faster.
Anyway, those are my rambles on pricing and print quality and fanart. Haha, can you tell I'm worried about being at NYCC next week? I'd like to hear what others think about this, and if you're an artist, how you go about pricing your work and finding it's worth. In case you need to see it, here is my art tag and my DA gallery, filled with many things I've brought to conventions, (though not everything). I've been doing conventions for so long and I still struggle with pricing. It's just one of those things that never gets easier. xD;;
-Zimmay
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It seems like your audience prefers to purchase fanart. So if you shift completely or largely into original work, it'll be natural for your sales to drop. If you keep at it, though, you'd probably have a more stable audience that doesn't rely on ever-changing trends of what's popular.
But if you want to draw fanart and for some reason you shouldn't, then that reason is stupid and you should kick it in the face.
Drawing is good. Draw moar
I don't think $15 for a poster is unreasonable. Your art is really good. I don't think $15 is overpriced for the quality of your work. That's just my opinion. But keep in mind, would you be okay financially with the loss of revenue that upping the quality of prints or dropping the price would cause?
I also understand the fanart dilemma. I love to draw fanart, but I try to limit it to series and characters that I really love. That's how I justify it.
In the end it is up to you. How you feel about the whole thing is a huge factor in the decision you make in the end. I'm just saying that you should make sure that you're okay with the effect that any decisions you make may have.
If you remember, when I commissioned you to so Eeveelution X, we made an original arrangement of $15 per character, and then one of your co-artists said you were undervaluing your work and you noted me that you felt that you should've gone to $20 per character. My answer: an immediate yes, and I was so impressed with your work that both the original poster and my commission are hanging on my wall.
And above that, I have purchased some of your original work as well! I find your characters and original art amazing; I especially love how you draw bunnies.
Having paid for your work before, I can tell you that I find your prices more than fair, and I would gladly pay for more again. Don't sell yourself short; you deserve better.
As for the fanart issue in general, I look at it this way: often times, I buy fanart of characters that are either really obscure (i.e. Song *sniffle*) or I buy pictures that show my favorite mains in dynamic or interesting scenarios/poses. Now, had there been any official merchandise reflecting my needs, I would have thrown money down without question--but since the official companies do not always cater to my wants, I turn to fanartists who get to go nuts with their imagination and interpretation. So I always think of my purchases being more like paying for an artists' imagination along with it being an 'official' character or something. Idk, does that make sense?
I understand your apprehension about selling fanart, esp. at the secondhand guilt possibly caused by AA people who are ONLY in it for the money without having any real passion for the subject--but I say don't let their taint affect what you enjoy doing. Your original work is great, and I have been happy with it (I'd actually like to get a print of your Yuki Onna soon when I can)--but it is true that to get a start at conventions, you pretty much have to have fanart somewhere in your inventory. I say draw as much fanart as you want--sell prints of whatever you're really pleased with and then keep the rest locked away until you've got a big enough compilation (fanart + original) to sell a sketch book! To consumers like me, it's like getting sweet bonus material with a blu-ray.
The fan art issue is harder. Personally, I try to avoid creating fan art because I sell on etsy, where fan art sales are technically not allowed. People still do it, but they can get in trouble if anyone bothers reporting them. I feel like I'm really pushing my luck with making soaps inspired by pop culture. (Inspired-by is allowed, but I've never found a good definition of the difference between fan art and drawing inspiration when switching mediums.) So, yeah. It's a hard balance to juggle, since I know my anime-inspired soaps tend to be my better sellers, or at least the ones that bring all the kids to my table.
I will say that I end up sitting near Zeiva a lot, and she only sells original art, mostly in print format. She's not inclined to talk actual dollar amounts, but I know she does a lot of sales. Her prints are the 8 1/2 by 11 size, so I can't comment on her pricing in comparison to yours. So, yeah, you can go all original, and still do well.
As for fan art, I've never felt comfortable selling fan art because I feel like the only reason people are buying is is because of the content and the sale has nothing to do with the quality of my work. I get more satisfaction when I sell original work even when I'm selling less of it. But I do this as a hobby so I'm not relying on the income to pay bills. You definitely have to consider your goals and do what you feel most comfortable with. But since you enjoy talking with people who are fans of the same shows as you it makes sense to continue doing fan art to use it as a platform for connecting with people. Which ties the two subjects together...
People value connections, they're paying for your time and the connection they have with you and your artwork, they're usually happy to do so because you're making something that they enjoy and can share with friends and family. So it's less about the quality or the subject, as long as you're making something people can connect with. The goal is to have fun doing it ^_^
I know a lot of artists who price themselves so that they sell out before the end of the convention and since I've been doing like 2 a month if not more, I've found that I don't need to be that guy. I can carry over to the next convention. For me, I think my sales are helped by the fact that I'm not slashing my prices on the last day like no one's bought anything from me. I don't do sales. If someone walks up to my table, they've already decided whether or not they're going to buy something-- it's just a matter of how much I can talk them into buying or how much they like my art (or in a lot of cases, what they can put in front of their kids).
But I only ever do original work. I don't tend to sell fanart-- the closest thing I've got is people WoW characters. ;; so i can't really comment on the fanart part, i guess.