Hello all, I am looking to use freelance artists to create art for my next game but I am unsure of the "typical" industry standard art costs. How much would you expect to pay for a 2d character (dimension 64x64) with a few animations (animation range from 8 to 16) in 4 directions? I have been getting quotes from freelance artists and I want to see what is reasonable and not reasonable. Bearing in mind I am just a one-man indie development studio.
such a thing as "typical" industry standard art costs does not exist.. also generic information as x frames in resolution y is not helpfull either.. since it does not tell anyone anything about the target style and quality of the work to be done.. animating a stickman ist alot quicker and easier than a fully fledged character with animated cloth etc.
It also depends if you're doing vector/pixel art style -- 64x64 is actually really large for a pixel artist and 16 animations in 4 directions is quite a lot: 16 animations * 4 directions * 4? frames per animation = 256 frames of animation per character. For a pixel artist, the initial frame is probably the hardest, but each frame after still has to be modified/hand-drawn. I'd expect to pay at least $500+ for this. I've worked with a couple different artists for past games, and have gotten several quotes for similar types of work.
Assuming a rate of $30-$40/hour, that'd be 15-20 frames an hour. Completely doable for *certain types* of animations. You're right though -- it will obviously depend on the type and complexity of the animation.
