Artist Budget planning ranges?

[DreadMervin]

I have some half built games that I want to start to push across a finish line next year. My question that brings me here to chat about it (instead of lurking) - I couldn't find a great discussion of what to budget for. I know there's huge variability, so to narrow it down, I'm thinking it'll be 2d, drawn - something along the lines of Karryn's Prison or Witch Trainer, maybe? I'm envisioning lots of pieces of different elements that I can mix and combine in code, layering images together. I suspect it'll be lots of little pieces that might equate to 20-50 full character drawings per month (I don't know what's reasonable).

I would like to start building my budget now to:
1) Pay for some good initial test character sketches and test completed works. I know an 'interview' of an artist like that is the same as doing the work, so I'll carefully refine what I'm looking for so that I am asking with a reasonable request, plus pay for the time.
2) When I move on this, I want to have a good budget to pay monthly for multiple months to really ensure the artist(s) I involve are treated fairly and can build their commitments. I do plan to talk to profit share as the games move forward (crowd-funding, subscriptions, Steam, w/e), but for the first 6 months, at least, I want to be ready to bankroll it.

I spent the past day or two poking around for a thread, but couldn't find a lot of clarity. What is a reasonable budget range for those two?
(If this is the wrong forum, I apologize, please move.)

 

[Egglock]

The best place I can think of is look at the listing on Fiverr (

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) and base your judgement off that.

 

[arimouse]

Really this is going to depend on a few factors you will want to consider:

1: Quality
2: Method of payment

These will both drive each other, because you really have two methods to select from:
a: Hourly wages
b: Per art piece

My instinct tells my you want to go with per art piece, since you're probably not wanting to hire an employee at this point.

You're also going to want to make sure that the artist you do pick is going to focus on your project long enough to complete your art, otherwise you'll need a different artist and the style changes may be jarring to you/players.

You also don't necessarily need to have your sketch artist be your final artist. You can probably have a mediocre artist do a so-so sketch a lot cheaper than a great artist to do the same so-so sketch.

If you're looking at something like RPG Maker with low res art, you may be looking at $50-$75 per piece, depending on the caliber of your artist. The better the artist, the higher this can bloat also, and conversely the less likely you'll be to get them to commit to your project fully, because they'll have a lot of commissions coming in.

So don't just consider the cost, but consider the time and availibility of the artist and the style YOU want. See what the going commission rate for them is. Shoot them a message; see what THEY will charge you.

Good luck.