band dudes: how much would you pay or have paid for cover art?

[updog]

i just sent out a request for a quote to an awesome graphic artist, and realized i have no idea what to expect when he does come back to me with it. to avoid a huge shock, and to know if we're being asked for too much, i wanted to ask you guys:

what's usually in the ballpark when we're talking about prices for artwork like this? i literally have no idea. what have you guys paid for cover art?

 

[Skinny Viking]

$500 for a front and back cover

 

[B36arin]

We've paid almost $1000 for pictures(concept, shots and editing) and about the same for the layout(booklet, logo, front/back cover etc.). But that's in The Faroe Islands, I have friends who have paid $5-600 for a complete good looking package with album layout(booklet, CD, etc.), logo, backdrop, t-shirt designs etc...

 

[StefTD]

something around 500$ if it's "normal" stuff, friends of mine got a guy to design there cd who's a
package designer and he designed a new cd package for them, made out of carton but the cd
can't fall out of it and stuff-really cool and special.

depends if you need photos, or if you want him to do loads of revisions and so on. A complex drawn
cover art like Dan Seagrave stuff is pretty different from something really clean and reduced, but
it still can take lots of time.

 

[Jevil]

I usually pay about 300-400 € to a friend for all the artwork.

Years ago with my ex-band we paid some few thousands €uros for a cover by Derek Riggs (Iron Maiden, Gamma Ray).
Front: http://derek.server311.com/riggsart/Pages/valhalla.dir/front.html
Inlay: http://derek.server311.com/riggsart/Media/pubart.dir/valhalla.dir/back.jpg

* BTW, now I'm reading his comments about the cover artwork and that's totally bollocks! Our idea was not that! What a bastard!

 

[Firaxis]

If you aren't looking for a pro there are people on deviantart just begging to get their work out there. Some are charging pittance for their projects and are really really good!

 

[updog]

thanks guys, i got the quote and it's around 500$. i guess it's more than i had in mind, but it just goes to show i don't know how much work goes into it. hopefully i can persuade others to think we need professional cover art as well instead of just going cheapskate like the last time

 

[updog]

If you aren't looking for a pro there are people on deviantart just begging to get their work out there. Some are charging pittance for their projects and are really really good!

thanks for this tip though, the guy we had in mind is a deviantart user as well, but i guess we could ask for a few other quotes before making a decision.

i REALLY like this guy's work though haha

 

[Melb_shredder]

Just over $1500 AU. that's for covers, inlay and booklet. 8 page booklet that is, and CD art too
Not complaining, I love our album cover a lot

 

[Firaxis]

thanks for this tip though, the guy we had in mind is a deviantart user as well, but i guess we could ask for a few other quotes before making a decision.

i REALLY like this guy's work though haha

Well dude I think it's more important to pay extra and have something you know will be awesome and you will love.

edit: I guess it's the same as paying for an engineer/producer in this respect as well.

 

[StefTD]

If you have something really special in your mind, try to make it as clear as possible, doing graphic work
without a good explanation from the client sucks if he is pretty strict, like mixing for a client how knows
the sound he wants, but won't tell you

 

[Benalthel]

My band is lucky to be very close friends to an awesome graphic artist (IMO!). He's made our logo and base for our art for basically free (my avatar), he just think it's awesome to get to help us. We kinda feel bad about him doing all this great work for us though so we'll be paying him for the real deal when it gets to that. We're all really poor bastards though.

 

[halcyonwayband@aol.com]

Travis Smith did out last two albums and in addition to doing an absolutely killer job, he was very cool to work with. He cost a bit more than some of those quotes - would maybe be inappropriate to say just what - but I literally had the art canvassed and it's in my dining room, it's that cool. Great guy and I can't recommend him highly enough.

 

[Ben Johnson]

I usually pay about 300-400 € to a friend for all the artwork.

Years ago with my ex-band we paid some few thousands €uros for a cover by Derek Riggs (Iron Maiden, Gamma Ray).
Front: http://derek.server311.com/riggsart/Pages/valhalla.dir/front.html
Inlay: http://derek.server311.com/riggsart/Media/pubart.dir/valhalla.dir/back.jpg

* BTW, now I'm reading his comments about the cover artwork and that's totally bollocks! Our idea was not that! What a bastard!

What idea? The ice monster?

 

[DanLights]

Derek Riggs did that? I love his art, but that's pretty bad IMO. I mean, the concept is cool, but it looks like a rough draft and not an actual finished cover.

 

[Ben Johnson]

^ It seems like ever since he started using computers instead of traditional painting, the quality has dropped off tremendously - like a mixer who has been working OTB forever and just can't cut it ITB...

 

[if6was9]

We paid 300-400 euro for our E.P artwork from a guy who's friendly with us but a pro. At the time we were shocked at how much artwork cost as we'd never gotten it done professionally before. Now I realise that it's totally worth it and the amount for work that goes into it for the artist.
It's totally worth looking around and finding a few artists who's work you really like and mailing them for quotes- even try a few bigger names as they can be pretty accomodating depending on your budget and what you're looking for.

 

[Jevil]

What idea? The ice monster?

Our idea was a "monster coming out of from a cave"... not an ape-robot coming out from an ice cave, the lake and the pople burning was also his idea. We gave him freedom to do whatever he considered.

Derek Riggs did that? I love his art, but that's pretty bad IMO. I mean, the concept is cool, but it looks like a rough draft and not an actual finished cover.

Yep, and there are even worse covers, like Timo Kotipelto's as an example. I am a great fan of his hand painting but not really of computer painting.

 

[Rip-G]

Wow, Derek is horrible... Check this out:

http://derek.server311.com/riggsart/Pages/vitalij.dir/front.html
http://derek.server311.com/riggsart/Pages/vitalij.dir/back1.html

Can you imagine this guy walking around and talking about how he got the Iron Maiden guy to make his album cover?

 

[halcyonwayband@aol.com]

What a dick! Not a chance in hell I would ***EVER*** consider using an artist at that level of douche elite. And his computer generated stuff in these links looks like shit that could have been done in Microsoft Paint about 15 years ago. Awful.