concept art fees

[yuriart]

a production company approach me to do some character designs for a feature animation they think of doing
i never done this before so i would like some help on how to charge them.
for starters lets just say i am designing one character.
how much should i charge?

the budget is not set yet for they are still getting more investment and funds for the film.

but he ask me to design one character to use in his pitch.
he will pay me of his pocket, but when he gets the investment then he will have much more.

i have no idea what to charge, but based on my previous illustrations i came up with a number,
$250.00 usd for that one character

6 design roughs
revision of one character out of the 6
revision (clean art with color)
character expressions. (for animation only)

how does that set up and price look to you? is it to high?

if you have a better set up could you please share it with me
per character and per project ( a number of characters, weapons and accessories etc)
also, do you include the color? or charge separately?

well, i hope you can help me out
i would really appreciate it.

please contact me asap
thanks

[J Wilson]

I would say that is not too high at all. In fact it's way too low in my opinion.

a) they are shooting for a feature (good luck!)
b) the pitch is largely going to rely on how well that character sketch sells the concept. Ideas are a dime a dozen as they say. It's ALL in the execution. The execution is the only thing of any value really. A great story and poor visuals won't do anywhere near as well as a poor story and great visuals. If that character concept sells their idea for a film, $250 is going to be incredibly low, especially for a main character. If they are really serious about this film they will beg, borrow and steal the money needed to get the best concept artist they can right now to sell their idea, because that is almost entirely what will sell their project to investors (especially if they don't have other experience to bank on).

Now how much is the right amount to ask for? I have no idea :P But at the very least stop worrying about a $250 asking price. If they have a problem with that kind of money they need to take a serious look at how realistic their goal is anyways.

[Izi]

$750 but depends on how pro you are, right now I couldn't afford to bid that, (for a CA job _ i do mainly fine art and occasionally promo posters for cash) so it all really depends on how much you CAN charge right now, you know...

$250 is very low....example - I sold a charcoal last year for $750 - one head study that probably took half the time...and that same study would go for $1000 or more in NY or LA...(higher cost of living, and huge art buyer market)

[Brashen]

J and Naomi are right don't sell yourself short. I made that mistake when once and ended screwed in the end.