Doodled a bit tonight with a reference I really wanted to work with. Pulling a lot of Yoruba references for this Oshun-inspired piece. No idea when I will continue this next.

Not gonna quote over one of the posts I see and disagree with, but… If an artist charges what is out of your price range, then don’t commission them? You can discuss payment plans and the likes with them, but they have the right to charge whatever they want. Animation is hard asf. Some people may up-charge because of the work, their other commitments (contract or otherwise, or just because they are well-known. They don’t need a reason. If you don’t like the price, just don’t commission them? I get that the algorithm rewards conflict, but it’s in really poor taste to attack an animation artist’s prices when you’d go to bat for a Live2D artist or rigger. I’ve seen people pay over $1,000 for a 160x220 pixel portrait. People will pay what they want for art, and artists are free to charge what they think their art is worth. The costs don’t always equal getting orders, but that’s their choice. I hate seeing this come up as some kind of “well, I don’t earn this much!” or “no wonder people turn to AI” when we seem to have the same conversation every two weeks about how much -insert x creative profession- deserves. You can have the same truths exist at the same time that you don’t make enough money doing your day job and that creatives deserve to charge whatever they decide to charge (it doesn’t mean they are getting commissions, and if they are? Cool.). I hate this continuous attack on different art spheres. This is all my opinion at the end of the day, but why are we targeting other people’s labor and what they choose to price themselves as instead of the systems around what is underpaying others? Creatives are their own business owner. They can charge what they deem as fair. If anything, but upset at the system around you the consistently makes it harder to buy even your groceries or afford medicine/healthcare/rent/etc instead of what an individual artist charges. Also, fun fact: they have harsh taxes. In the US, you have to pay not only Federal and State, but often sales tax (which depending on location for national sales, you pay every state’s sale tax you sell in) as well as any other business expenses you may be keeping. Artists have to handle all their own math and tax work unless they hire an accountant (more money). It’s stuff you don’t deal with when working for a business. Not going too in-depth into this, but they are also covering their own living expenses with the tax responsibilities. They have to charge in accordance with what they need to live and operate, and doing cheaper and smaller comms often doesn’t quite make ends meet without working yourself to the bone for time spent vs actual profit made. Their labor should not be diminished just because corporations underpay the workforce’s labor. We all have similar issues, and the root cause isn’t each other.