Album Artwork - How much does it generally cost?

[colynomial]

Just wondering what you guys think is a reasonable "budget" for album art? Say, just the cover or maybe a 2/3 pane insert. Not the cost of actually manufacturing the CD or printing the artwork- just paying a legitimate artist to draw it (either by hand or digitally).

Thanks!

 

[ADRSean]

Depends, I mean I charge 100 for cover/back cover and 2 panel insert. But my work isn't a major label artist. www.myspace.com/stormingthegates I did the logo.

 

[smy1]

Colynomial: between 400 and 1000 Euros would be reasonable. Of course you can get anything from 50-5000 bucks ..

 

[exoslime]

+1 to smy1s suggestion
and often there are some local designers that want to build up there reputation and are offering there work very cheap.

also dont forget the costs for photographer and stylist, cloth rental etc. for doing band photography shots.

cheers
exoslime

 

[coreysMonster]

that's a really hard question. professional designers aren't ALWAYS better than amateurs, you can get really quality stuff for cheap money if you know the right people.
HOWEVER, if you don't trust yourself to have a good eye for design or art, I'd say go for a professional, and then it would depend how elaborate the artwork is.
Oh, and before you commission an artist, no matter if he's a professional or not, ALWAYS get references and ask for previous work.
always.
even if it's your best buddy whom you've known for ages.
I've worked as a designer before, and let me tell you, just because somebody has worked in design for 15 years doesn't mean he knows squatdiddlyfuckall about album art (talkin about some of the guys I worked with).

 

[smy1]

The problem with free or cheap work is the lack of incentive to follow through on time. If I pay someone 1k to do my album art, he'll be most likely very motivated to do a good job and be punctual. If I pay someone 50 bucks for the same work, the motivation and timeliness is usually not comparable.

I'd rather pay someone more and get good work, delivered on time than have to wait forever to get my stuff. There's a story about a DVD by one of the most famous futurepop/darkelectro bands (we are talking about a band that pulls 1000 people per show, 100 shows a year worldwide) who's mainguy is so cheap that he relies on friends and acquaintances to do work for him. This DVD got delayed by far more than a year because the guy who edited it did it for free or very little money and he was the only one who had the files.

And this shit happens ALL the time.

 

[coreysMonster]

The problem with free or cheap work is the lack of incentive to follow through on time. If I pay someone 1k to do my album art, he'll be most likely very motivated to do a good job and be punctual. If I pay someone 50 bucks for the same work, the motivation and timeliness is usually not comparable.

I'd rather pay someone more and get good work, delivered on time than have to wait forever to get my stuff. There's a story about a DVD by one of the most famous futurepop/darkelectro bands (we are talking about a band that pulls 1000 people per show, 100 shows a year worldwide) who's mainguy is so cheap that he relies on friends and acquaintances to do work for him. This DVD got delayed by far more than a year because the guy who edited it did it for free or very little money and he was the only one who had the files.

And this shit happens ALL the time.

that of course is true. has happened to me soo many times, but then again it's happened a couple of times with expensive people, too. Some people are just all-around unreliable.
Oh, and I know this sounds like something obvious, but you'd be surprised how many of my friends don't do this:
DO NOT PAY until the product is finished. You can pay an agreed percentage, but no more than half of the negotiated price. Also, contracts are essential to keep people to deadlines that MUST be met, and to keep either one of you from being ripped off.
But I'm just ranting now, yeah around 400 dollars should be okay, but get somebody decent for that money.
EDIT: Aaaand one last thing (sorry : ) don't be put off by people who aren't willing to draw up a contract for the job, as this is often an indication for an unreliable and unprofessional person.

 

[egan.]

The problem with free or cheap work is the lack of incentive to follow through on time. If I pay someone 1k to do my album art, he'll be most likely very motivated to do a good job and be punctual. If I pay someone 50 bucks for the same work, the motivation and timeliness is usually not comparable.

The other thing I'll add to this is what really separates the amateur from pro in the layout world is anticipating how things will actually print. There are lots of folks who do nice graphic work but in the end it doesn't matter if it looks nice on their monitor if it doesn't translate well.
We've worked with Travis Smith a couple of times and the amount of discussions and guidance he has offered on that front alone has been worth the cost of admission (and then you get killer art too!).

 

[Skinny Viking]

The other thing I'll add to this is what really separates the amateur from pro in the layout world is anticipating how things will actually print. There are lots of folks who do nice graphic work but in the end it doesn't matter if it looks nice on their monitor if it doesn't translate well.
We've worked with Travis Smith a couple of times and the amount of discussions and guidance he has offered on that front alone has been worth the cost of admission (and then you get killer art too!).

+1000

Travis Smith did the art for our 1st cd as well ... Front cover, Back cover and cd tray art plus designed our logo. He is extremely friendly and easy to work with and also very accommodating. That being said, I won't mention the price we paid but will say is was well worth it for everything, including the time put into changing a few things around from their original version ... and the price was not bad at all

 

[discordless]

check my friend's portofolio, he is a nice guy and does artwork at lower rates than the big names
http://www.myspace.com/twilight13media

 

[coreysMonster]

why does everybody insist on making a myspace site for their designs?!
I'm sick of seeing just random pictures in that horrid myspace layout. GAH!
The artwork isn't that bad, a tad one-sided for my tastes, but then what would you expect from the disclaimer

"TWILIGHT 13 MEDIA does NOT obey its clients."

wtf?

 

[Skinny Viking]

why does everybody insist on making a myspace site for their designs?!
I'm sick of seeing just random pictures in that horrid myspace layout. GAH!
The artwork isn't that bad, a tad one-sided for my tastes, but then what would you expect from the disclaimer

"TWILIGHT 13 MEDIA does NOT obey its clients."

wtf?

Dude, whats the matter ... does your vagina hurt or something?

Why do you insist on using an avatar that isn't a picture of you?

 

[coreysMonster]

Dude, whats the matter ... does your vagina hurt or something?

Why do you insist on using an avatar that isn't a picture of you?

because if I were trying to advertise my design and artwork skills, I'd make my own website and show people what I can do. it kind of defeats the purpose of advertising designing skills if you don't even make your own website, IMO.
and I made my own avatar, so there.

 

[nwright]

I'd think whether or not someone made their own site wouldn't be that big a deal if you are looking for someone to design album art...Web design is another story.

One of my favorite graphic designers is Dennis Sibeijn. He has his own site, www.damnengine.net, but also works with Monument Studio, http://www.monumentstudio.com/.

I've never had him quote me anything for CD design, but I did inquire about T Shirt design, and his price was actually MUCH cheaper than most of the blockheads on Emptees (which are FAR less known and most are not near the talent of Dennis).

 

[coreysMonster]

I'd think whether or not someone made their own site wouldn't be that big a deal if you are looking for someone to design album art...Web design is another story.

One of my favorite graphic designers is Dennis Sibeijn. He has his own site, www.damnengine.net, but also works with Monument Studio, http://www.monumentstudio.com/.

I've never had him quote me anything for CD design, but I did inquire about T Shirt design, and his price was actually MUCH cheaper than most of the blockheads on Emptees (which are FAR less known and most are not near the talent of Dennis).

it's just a pet peeves of mine; it's like Drumkit From Hell. It was good at first, but now it's just so overused.

 

[colynomial]

Thank you all very much for your responses. I'm looking into all the potential artists you've mentioned.

The reason why I asked is because we've approached Gary Tonge (http://www.visionafar.com/) who is incredible. He said he's absolutely open to doing some commissioned artwork and wanted to know what kind of budget we were working with. He's a professional artist who has a day job, so this would be something he'd do in his free time. I don't want to "slap him in the face" so to speak by low balling him, but of course we'd like it to be as cheap as possible haha. It's a tought thing to gauge but I asked him how much time he would spend on it. If it takes him a day to whip something up, then maybe his time is only worth a couple hundered bucks, but if he's going to take a whole week to deliver the quality of work he has on his vision afar sight I suspect it will be much more. Would it be reasonable to ask him what his time is worth or is it up to us to determine the budget and see how he responds? Naturally, if it's beyond what we think we can afford we'll start looking into some more affordable options.

 

[Skinny Viking]

because if I were trying to advertise my design and artwork skills, I'd make my own website and show people what I can do. it kind of defeats the purpose of advertising designing skills if you don't even make your own website, IMO.
and I made my own avatar, so there.

Maybe the reason people create myspace pages as online portfolios is because everybody has heard of myspace. Maybe I can't remember Seempieces.com .... but I know how to search on myspace. Get it? Maybe you don't think its a great thing or whatever and thats fine but you don't need to be belligerant about it ... maybe the myspace thing has worked out good for the guy.

And Travis Smith has a myspace page ...

I know, cause he's my friend ...

So there

 

[nwright]

Thank you all very much for your responses. I'm looking into all the potential artists you've mentioned.

The reason why I asked is because we've approached Gary Tonge (http://www.visionafar.com/) who is incredible. He said he's absolutely open to doing some commissioned artwork and wanted to know what kind of budget we were working with. He's a professional artist who has a day job, so this would be something he'd do in his free time. I don't want to "slap him in the face" so to speak by low balling him, but of course we'd like it to be as cheap as possible haha. It's a tought thing to gauge but I asked him how much time he would spend on it. If it takes him a day to whip something up, then maybe his time is only worth a couple hundered bucks, but if he's going to take a whole week to deliver the quality of work he has on his vision afar sight I suspect it will be much more. Would it be reasonable to ask him what his time is worth or is it up to us to determine the budget and see how he responds? Naturally, if it's beyond what we think we can afford we'll start looking into some more affordable options.

I always find it easier for the artist doing work to quote you a price. I'd be the same as you, I wouldn't want to insult the guy by lowballing him. If it were me, I'd ask him to give a quote since you are unfamiliar with the field of graphic design and it's associated cost. If his figure is too high, than thank him and move on. Leaving it to you could potentially make you look cheap and/or insulting.

 

[discordless]

because if I were trying to advertise my design and artwork skills, I'd make my own website and show people what I can do. it kind of defeats the purpose of advertising designing skills if you don't even make your own website, IMO.
and I made my own avatar, so there.

)) www.twilight13media.com

there you go now, everything is suddenly professional!

 

[coreysMonster]

)) www.twilight13media.com

there you go now, everything is suddenly professional!

*bookmarks*