Hiring artist for card game. $80-100 budget

[Lomberdia]

Hello,

I'm making a trading card game (Two-Sided Mirror) and my budget is $80 per piece (might go up to $100 on very rare cases). The game will eventually be a commercial game but right now, it's just in the stages of playtesting and advertising the best I can until the release in 2017. I'm only looking for artists that are okay with their art being use for a commercial game and some of their art may be used for things like playmats, card sleeves, advertisement, and other things specific to the game or company (Lomber Games, LLC). I also need an artist that can work without being micromanaged but is also available to communicate and will contact me if any issues or delays arrive.

You (the artist) will retain ownership of all art made and can do what you wish with the art. All cards you make the art for will have your name or alias and a link to one of your online galleries or link to your profile. Or you can choose to opt-out and be "Anonymous". You will also receive a digital copy of the card that you make the art for. You can do what you wish with your digital copy. I also offer physical "Artist Copy" of the card you work on, but that can be discussed at a later time.

All submitted art needs to be 2316 x 1844 px, 300 DPI, and no watermarks/signatures on the art you submit to me. You can do what you like with the art you keep.

There are various setting and scenery so don't let that stop you. I also need various subjects and objects from anthro and humans to feral creatures and monsters.

You can check out the game at Lombergames.com

[Guest]

Hello! I'm a professional graphic designer day-to-day. I've noticed a couple things that might make looking for an artist a much easier, simpler process for you, as your initial post seems kind of unclear. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but unless you're only requesting ten cards, $100 for the entire thing might be too low for your budget in order for you to get quality work. 

Some Reading 1) How to budget for an artist 2) How much to pay an artist, plus advice about playtesting

Quotes that are important: "...you should expect to pay a professional artist something around the MSRP value of a single copy of your game per card. So if your game will retail for $40, expect to pay your artist around $40 a card"

In regards to ownership, you're also paying for the commercial uses for the card. So the price you pay is art PLUS ownership of redistribution. The common contract for this kind of thing is where you retain all rights, but the artist is allowed to post on their own social media, website, and personal channels. Here is an example of a contract an artist might send a client such as yourself. 

33 minutes ago, Lomberdia said:

$80 per piece

However, if I am unclear, which I can easily be, it seems like its 80 per card. If that's the case, then you absolutely have a generous budget. Could you maybe clarify how many cards you're looking for, or if this is an ongoing project? This can easily be something I'm personally interested in, but I would have to private message you my professional contact details and whatnot. 

[KittenAdmin]

I would highly suggest checking out Orum on FA. She's a Russian artist and she does great work for reasonable prices.

[Lomberdia]

3 hours ago, Lemon said:

Hello! I'm a professional graphic designer day-to-day. I've noticed a couple things that might make looking for an artist a much easier, simpler process for you, as your initial post seems kind of unclear. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but unless you're only requesting ten cards, $100 for the entire thing might be too low for your budget in order for you to get quality work. 

Some Reading 1) How to budget for an artist 2) How much to pay an artist, plus advice about playtesting

Quotes that are important: "...you should expect to pay a professional artist something around the MSRP value of a single copy of your game per card. So if your game will retail for $40, expect to pay your artist around $40 a card"

In regards to ownership, you're also paying for the commercial uses for the card. So the price you pay is art PLUS ownership of redistribution. The common contract for this kind of thing is where you retain all rights, but the artist is allowed to post on their own social media, website, and personal channels. Here is an example of a contract an artist might send a client such as yourself. 

However, if I am unclear, which I can easily be, it seems like its 80 per card. If that's the case, then you absolutely have a generous budget. Could you maybe clarify how many cards you're looking for, or if this is an ongoing project? This can easily be something I'm personally interested in, but I would have to private message you my professional contact details and whatnot. 

Thank you for the links and advice, I am always open to learning how to do things easier and more efficient. To answer some of your concerns:

1. Yes, it's $80 per image. However, an artist that will do it cheaper without losing much quality if any, will very likely have a spot and dips on my illustrations I need. If I can get $50+ quality by spending $40, I'll go with that artist first. I have 1000s of cards in my spreadsheet so this will be an ongoing project. But yes, I'll with the artists that I find are a good balance between cost and quality and speed, speed to a lesser degree.

2.  I do like the idea of paying an artist the cost of my game. The game retail will be $20 a box. If I can get decent art for $20, I'll go for it haha.

3. I have a contract made for artists to read and sign before they create anything for the game or company. Basically saying how much they are getting paid, allows the company all uses of the art for the company and game, artist keeps ownership and can do what they want with the original, etc.

4. I feel it is a generous budget but I do expect quality for the price. Lower price I'd expect speed. Both is best haha! There are 100 cards per set but I need approx. 57 cards for the current set I'm working on. This project is on going and I see no end in sight for it right now.

I hope this has clarified everything for you. Feel free to ask anything or if you're interested, PM me.

Thanks.