TheSnowman
New Member
Yea, well, he's from Georgia...not a non inhabited area where the village is looking for their idiot.
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what would you pay for this line drawing
- Thread starter The Vector Doctor
- Start date
John Butto
New Member
Dan Antonelli
New Member
What's interesting is that I almost had a job for him a week ago. A very complicated redraw of a period-based one color logo, with lots of fine lines and rules, and scroll work. My inhouse illustrator figured about 8 hours, so we estimated the job at a $1000. I planned to use you, and without even contacting you - figured it would be about $500.
We were approved on the $1000 and I was set to call you and then client actually found the AI file for the original art.
But I would have been happy to pay $500 for the job.
Most guys ironically want to charge LESS the more efficient they get. I've stated repeatedly, that this fallacy makes no sense. Why would you charge less the faster and more efficient you get? By the same reasoning, if you were slower, you'd actually make more money.
Stop penalizing yourselves for being good or fast, and sell your services by what they are worth, not the hours taken to execute.
Some logos I can slam in an hour and feel they are pretty tight. I'm not selling it for any less - because that one hour logo really took me almost 20 years + 1 hour.
Think about it....
We were approved on the $1000 and I was set to call you and then client actually found the AI file for the original art.
But I would have been happy to pay $500 for the job.
Most guys ironically want to charge LESS the more efficient they get. I've stated repeatedly, that this fallacy makes no sense. Why would you charge less the faster and more efficient you get? By the same reasoning, if you were slower, you'd actually make more money.
Stop penalizing yourselves for being good or fast, and sell your services by what they are worth, not the hours taken to execute.
Some logos I can slam in an hour and feel they are pretty tight. I'm not selling it for any less - because that one hour logo really took me almost 20 years + 1 hour.
Think about it....
HaroldDesign
New Member
$250
I'm amazed what some of us would do for less than $100, and wouldn't be willing to pay...
I'm amazed what some of us would do for less than $100, and wouldn't be willing to pay...
The Vector Doctor
Chief Bezier Manipulator
I used to concern myself with low prices and beat myself up in doing so wanting to get every job. I know there are people out there that will do the work for less both in the US but more frequently out of this country.
But I am apologizing less and less for my prices. I cannot win them all and thankfully I have enough customers that I don't need to accept every job or come down on my prices.
What I do offer is top notch service and attention to detail. Almost every week I get requests from other vectorizing services asking me to send work their way. I always ask for samples and 95% of the time, the quality does not meet my standards. Honestly I have no intention of using an outsource/offshore service, but I do like to compare the work. I have some names on file of people on this forum who have expressed interest in helping me and there have been a couple of standouts, but I have not reached the point where I cannot handle the workload. Don't worry, I have not forgotten you should the need arise
I hope my customers notice the little things, rather than focus on the prices
But I am apologizing less and less for my prices. I cannot win them all and thankfully I have enough customers that I don't need to accept every job or come down on my prices.
What I do offer is top notch service and attention to detail. Almost every week I get requests from other vectorizing services asking me to send work their way. I always ask for samples and 95% of the time, the quality does not meet my standards. Honestly I have no intention of using an outsource/offshore service, but I do like to compare the work. I have some names on file of people on this forum who have expressed interest in helping me and there have been a couple of standouts, but I have not reached the point where I cannot handle the workload. Don't worry, I have not forgotten you should the need arise
I hope my customers notice the little things, rather than focus on the prices
omgsideburns
New Member
I'd pay you a million dollars.. at least that's how valuable you've been. Too bad I haven't needed much from you lately.
The Vector Doctor
Chief Bezier Manipulator
Unless I had a week or more to do this, I likely would turn down such a big job. I am currently a 1 man operation. That focus could change in the distant future where I don't want to do 10-20 small jobs per day
signmeup
New Member
The internet has allowed the entire planet to pursue jobs like this. I couldn't find out what a graphic artist in India makes but I bet a factory worker in India who makes $5 a day ($1700ish a year) would be pretty tickled to earn $15 for 2 hours work. I suppose a graphic artist would bill twice what a factory worker gets but still.
Check elance sometime..
Theres all sorts of design houses in India, China, etc willing to bid 50$ for a 5+ hour job. They boast a full staff of designers, and the cost of living is much lower than us designers here in the states.
I tried it for side money for a while, when the economy started dipping. You almost wind up doing prelims on spec to get your foot in the door with some of these prospective clients. Most clients were business owners, or admins. Rarely was it for personal use. Most often I'd get a reply saying how they really liked my work, but could I come down on the price because gosh darn it everyone else is so low on their bids.
At first I'd send an email off explaining the amount of time that would be involved... then asked them how much their time was worth if I had to take them away from their job for that long.
Then I just gave up and stopped giving away my ideas for free... because I'm sure they took those concepts to some foreign bidder instead.
I had a lawyer I did a small layout job for. He decided to call me up and moan about why it cost so much (back then my rate was 50/hr, 2 hrs work). His sole purpose in the call was to somehow belittle me, and complain about the cost. I've a feeling if I somehow backed down and lowered my price, he still wouldn't have paid. I explained to him what I specifically did, reminded him of the revisions that took place, and it was all completely open, fair and honest. He knew my rate up front, and I had ballparked it beforehand at 100-150. I argued with him for half an hour as to why It cost what it did until I finally asked "So if I was a client of yours... how much would this 30 minute phone call have cost me?". He hung up lol.
This was the one client in over 10 years on my own that ever gave me that kind of guff over design and cost. I was very particular about new clients after that experience, and made sure to get a deposit up front for any new clients.
For that line art, 150-200 seems fair. I'd have about 2 hrs in it @75/hr. Preblem is, alot of clients look at it and think of it as a coloring book line drawing. They don't understand the work that goes into it. Some clients will trust you, others won't and think it costs too much. But we run into it all the time. "Turn my tattoo into a decal", "Heres this web Icon on my website at 30x30 72dpi, can you print that for my 15' box truck?"
If your clients are sign pro's, they should know better than 50$... for 50$ I'd spend half an hour running it through a crap-a$$ trace program and call it done. perhaps do the work themselves to remind them just how valuable their own time is.
Someone said it best.. they're paying for 20 yrs plus an hour. We all didn't wake up one day as professional designers.
Theres all sorts of design houses in India, China, etc willing to bid 50$ for a 5+ hour job. They boast a full staff of designers, and the cost of living is much lower than us designers here in the states.
I tried it for side money for a while, when the economy started dipping. You almost wind up doing prelims on spec to get your foot in the door with some of these prospective clients. Most clients were business owners, or admins. Rarely was it for personal use. Most often I'd get a reply saying how they really liked my work, but could I come down on the price because gosh darn it everyone else is so low on their bids.
At first I'd send an email off explaining the amount of time that would be involved... then asked them how much their time was worth if I had to take them away from their job for that long.
Then I just gave up and stopped giving away my ideas for free... because I'm sure they took those concepts to some foreign bidder instead.
I had a lawyer I did a small layout job for. He decided to call me up and moan about why it cost so much (back then my rate was 50/hr, 2 hrs work). His sole purpose in the call was to somehow belittle me, and complain about the cost. I've a feeling if I somehow backed down and lowered my price, he still wouldn't have paid. I explained to him what I specifically did, reminded him of the revisions that took place, and it was all completely open, fair and honest. He knew my rate up front, and I had ballparked it beforehand at 100-150. I argued with him for half an hour as to why It cost what it did until I finally asked "So if I was a client of yours... how much would this 30 minute phone call have cost me?". He hung up lol.
This was the one client in over 10 years on my own that ever gave me that kind of guff over design and cost. I was very particular about new clients after that experience, and made sure to get a deposit up front for any new clients.
For that line art, 150-200 seems fair. I'd have about 2 hrs in it @75/hr. Preblem is, alot of clients look at it and think of it as a coloring book line drawing. They don't understand the work that goes into it. Some clients will trust you, others won't and think it costs too much. But we run into it all the time. "Turn my tattoo into a decal", "Heres this web Icon on my website at 30x30 72dpi, can you print that for my 15' box truck?"
If your clients are sign pro's, they should know better than 50$... for 50$ I'd spend half an hour running it through a crap-a$$ trace program and call it done. perhaps do the work themselves to remind them just how valuable their own time is.
Someone said it best.. they're paying for 20 yrs plus an hour. We all didn't wake up one day as professional designers.
phototec
New Member
graphic artist cheaper in India!
Funny you should mention that about the designers in India, I worked for Dell computers in Round Rock Texas for a few years as a graphic designer, we had 80 people working in the graphics group, and something like 30,000 people working in the Austin area, then after two bad sales quarters in a row, Michael issued an order to reduce the work force by 7,500.
The graphics group was cut in half, 40 were let go including me, I was good friends with the director (my bosses boss), and we would talk off and on for the next several months, even go to the shooting range together for target practice. He would always tell me to hang in there, and as soon as the economy turned around and Dell started to hire again, I would be one of the first to come back to work. This went on for about a year, every month he would tell me to hang-on and be patient, and when things worked out, I would be called back.
Well, I took a job with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, also as a graphic designer, and about two years after being let go from Dell, I ran into my old director at the indoor gun range and we started talking and he finally told me not to count on going back to Dell, he said they moved the whole graphics group to India. Working at Dell, I was making right at $38 an hour and he told me they are paying graphic designers in India less than $10 an hour, so Dell was cutting their graphics overhead by almost 75°.
You know I just don't get it, American companies keep sending US jobs over seas, and then no one here has any money to spend on their merchandise, and then the US economy goes down the tubes.
We need to keep good jobs in the US, so we can have money to go out and buy Dell computers, I don't think Dell sells as many computers in India as they do in the US (I own four).
When I first went to work at Dell they were building all the laptop computers in one of the buildings on the big Dell campus were I worked, then within a year, they started to manufacture the laptops over seas, and closed down the local manufacturing facility, I should have seen the writing on the wall. Now they only do the engineering and industrial design work in Round Rock, the actual manufacturing is being done over seas. At one point they would ship all the parts to Texas and assemble the laptops here to get around paying import tariffs, I don't think that is the case any longer.
I buying American every chance I get! (I have a Dodge Ram 1500, a Dodge Dakota, and a Jeep Wrangler, and a Harley Davidson Deuce).
Sorry for being a
, I just couldn't help myself!
(Ya, I know that Dodge uses parts made in Mexico)
Funny you should mention that about the designers in India, I worked for Dell computers in Round Rock Texas for a few years as a graphic designer, we had 80 people working in the graphics group, and something like 30,000 people working in the Austin area, then after two bad sales quarters in a row, Michael issued an order to reduce the work force by 7,500.
The graphics group was cut in half, 40 were let go including me, I was good friends with the director (my bosses boss), and we would talk off and on for the next several months, even go to the shooting range together for target practice. He would always tell me to hang in there, and as soon as the economy turned around and Dell started to hire again, I would be one of the first to come back to work. This went on for about a year, every month he would tell me to hang-on and be patient, and when things worked out, I would be called back.
Well, I took a job with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, also as a graphic designer, and about two years after being let go from Dell, I ran into my old director at the indoor gun range and we started talking and he finally told me not to count on going back to Dell, he said they moved the whole graphics group to India. Working at Dell, I was making right at $38 an hour and he told me they are paying graphic designers in India less than $10 an hour, so Dell was cutting their graphics overhead by almost 75°.
You know I just don't get it, American companies keep sending US jobs over seas, and then no one here has any money to spend on their merchandise, and then the US economy goes down the tubes.
We need to keep good jobs in the US, so we can have money to go out and buy Dell computers, I don't think Dell sells as many computers in India as they do in the US (I own four).
When I first went to work at Dell they were building all the laptop computers in one of the buildings on the big Dell campus were I worked, then within a year, they started to manufacture the laptops over seas, and closed down the local manufacturing facility, I should have seen the writing on the wall. Now they only do the engineering and industrial design work in Round Rock, the actual manufacturing is being done over seas. At one point they would ship all the parts to Texas and assemble the laptops here to get around paying import tariffs, I don't think that is the case any longer.
I buying American every chance I get! (I have a Dodge Ram 1500, a Dodge Dakota, and a Jeep Wrangler, and a Harley Davidson Deuce).
Sorry for being a
, I just couldn't help myself!(Ya, I know that Dodge uses parts made in Mexico)
Custom_Grafx
New Member
I'm printing that out on 64" vinyl and wrapping my walls with it... can give customers something to read while they're waiting.
Dan Antonelli
New Member
Custom_Grafx
New Member
Deaton Design
New Member
Being one who always seems to undercharge for my work, I would expect to pay no less than 150 for this, but more likely around 250. Its well worth it. The art is perfect.
Brandon708
New Member
what program did you use?