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The relationship between art and money is always tense. In fact, one of my favorite books that I read during my time in the music composition department at school was Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland (which I very highly recommend to any artist readers out there).  They describe the relationship, in part, as “There’s one hell of a lot more to art than just making it.”  The tension shifts in the world of ‘crafts’, functional art, and the like. The website What The Craft dissects the problem of working with money in craft in two excellent posts, one about why handmade is “so expensive” and another about how to price hand-made goods.  In both cases, the author explains that “[h]andmade goods mean attention to detail, quality craftsmanship, and a significant amount of TIME and SKILL”, which can in turn lead to the higher price.

Furry art, then, fits in a strange place in the middle, what with the “traditional art” aspect of a commissioned artist creating a work, as well as the custom, attention-to-detail oriented aspect of handmade crafts providing a visual representation of our characters. I’ve written before about the how the connection between a visual representation of one’s character can affect the way one interacts with an artist, but I spent little time on how the financial aspect of the transaction plays in the scenario.

In order to gain some insight on the matter, I conducted interviews with various artists, asking questions suggested to me by a few others.  The truth is, I simply have very little basis on this to work from in my own past.  I have had exactly one piece of music commissioned of me, pro bono, and it went terribly.  The work I do on my own in web design is a little more expansive, but still hardly worth much in the way of experience points.  Having collected the answers into one place and read over them a few times, I started to notice a few points of tension that stick out beyond simply “drawing one’s character”. I asked questions about how the artists had come up with their pricing schemes and how they interacted with customers, and each showed that a good amount of thought went into their role as furry artists.

When it comes to pricing the work of a furry arist, there seem to be two main ways of going about it. The artist will either come up with a rough guideline as to how best to price their work on an hourly scale – for example, given that a certain type of drawing takes x number of hours, they’ll come up with an estimated range for pieces of that type. The other way in which a commission price is determined is by checking prices against their peers and estimating from there. An artist of a certain style and perceived skill level can get a pretty good idea of how much they might charge for work by looking at their friends’ work and how much that goes for.

That said, the overwhelming response from those that I interviewed was that furry artists most definitely undercharge for their labor. One artist, Ten, mentions, “I’ve been to far too many artists pages’, even talked to friends of mine who do outstanding work, and they’re all ‘is fifty bucks too much? That sounds like too much’, and it turns out they think fifty bucks is too much for a fully colored custom work.” Another artist, who wished to remain anonymous, echoed the point clearly: “I have seen some very talented people charge very little for their work, and I try to point that out when I can. ‘You could charge twice as much, you’re so talented!’ is what I usually say.”

The question of why many artists charge as little as they do and why they don’t often raise their prices is a fairly interesting one. Certainly one of the reasons that many do not charge more is that it isn’t their primary source of income, but out of the five artists that I interviewed, only two of them had additional sources beyond their own art. So, if many artists are making art in order to support themselves, why is it that there is a general impression of undercharging art?

Part of it, I believe, is tied to the expected consumers of the art, the patrons who pay for the commissioned works. There is an expectation that furries simply will not have the money at hand in order to afford what would be full-price for a similar commission outside the fandom. Rhazafax mentions, “if it were possible to raise [prices] without losing a chunk of clients, I won’t lie, my pocket book sure could use it,” somewhat supporting that idea, while the anonymous artist mentioned that they “certainly charge furries less than what [they] would charge at a professional artist level.”

There seems to be quite a bit of mental strife involved in valuing one’s work in terms of dollars, pounds, or yen.  In order to come up with a price point, not only does hourly wage need to be taken into account (the “am I making enough” aspect), but also how that relates to one’s peers in style and skill level (the “am I asking the right amount” aspect).  For those who do it for a living, the point is quite fine, there.  The artist needs to pay for their rent and food, as does the client, and so their output needs to be high enough or of high enough quality; as Sigil puts it, “you can sell one picture for $100 or ten pictures for $10…which would be more rewarding?”.

But what about the client?

I should be honest that the impetus from this post came from seeing a rash of “wish I could afford it” or “those are cool but too expensive for me” comments on FurAffinity when an artist opened up for commissions.  I understand the difficulty of finances first hand, having paid my way through three years of college, then going on to buy a house.  Even many of the artists I asked sympathized on some level with these comments.  However, many of those comments seemed to be implying that the artist should lower their prices, even if only for the one who posted the comment.  Ten addresses this directly: “[I] wish I could cater to their price level, but then everyone would expect alterations for them, and it’d through off my whole point of having specific price points.”

This leads to another mechanism of catering to many when it comes to commissions: target audiences.  Sigil mentions that everyone can save up for a $20 piece of art, though the sentiment is echoed by many that I interviewed, leading to varied price points for different levels of work for the artist.  These are often exemplified by the ubiquitous pricing sheet (Floe,  Ten, Rhazafax, and Sigil - the four named interviewees – all have their own in their galleries).  Another example of a targeted client base was provided by Floe: “My target audience is repeat customers.  I tend to get better every time I draw them.”  She mentions that her prices are structured around this idea.

All these financial reasons surround this tension, and yet one main economic factor is very much subdued in this market: competition.  Most of the artists that I asked mentioned that competition plays a relatively small role in their interactions with others, often due to style.  ”Furries are going to commission the artists they like and the artists they can afford,” Ten explains, and Sigil echoes this: “if someone wants a Sigil picture, they will come to me.”  Even though there may be competition within price range, Floe explains that this is why she strives to build a relationship with her customers.  As a concrete example of this, Floe created our delightful RandomWolf banner for us at the top of the page, and I commissioned that from her last year after meeting her…gosh…five years or so ago, and having received several pictures of my own characters from her.

In the end, some of the tension surrounding money and art may indeed be due to the “yes, but this is ME!” aspect of having one’s character drawn by another, but there are often simple and mundane reasons at work, as well.  The artists need to make their money for their own reasons, whether to support themselves completely or simply to supplement their income, and the clients need (or want; I say need because I’m so terrible at drawing) art of their characters created by others if they want some sort of visual representation of the avatar into which they’ve poured so much of themselves.  It’s economics at its (complicated, puzzling, sometimes hurtful) finest.  And in the long run, well, we seem to do pretty well by ourselves.

I’d like to thank the artists who provided me with their input, and one of the best ways I can think to do so is to encourage you all to go check out their galleries, they’re really awesome!  Their input was invaluable not only in constructing this post, but also increasing my own understanding of the other side of the trade.  If you’d like to check out their responses in full, I’ve posted four of the interviews here.  I asked seven base questions, but, of two of the artists, I asked an eighth question that was put to me by a few friends.  Sigil broke this down into two delightful sub-questions that anyone can answer in their own way; feel free to let us know what you think in the comments!  Sigil’s in-depth response is available on the interview page mentioned above.

1. Is commissioned art different because it’s furry, and hence, usually more personal/self identifying for the client?

 

2. Should furry art be handled differently financially due to its niche status?

Author: Fred Has anyone ever heard of A Fox Tail, or of Eric Deal? According to CreateSpace, this has been out since March 2011. It makes Deal sound like a veteran and well-known Furry author. Polar, a handsome arctic wolf, crosses paths with Vulpie just as the fox boy is about to unleash his life’s [...]

submitted by chaos386
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Papabear,

Alright, this has been a problem that's been plaguing me and my boyfriend for about a month and a half, at least, and I figure since we're having trouble coming up with a solution an outside source that doesn't know either of us personally would be the greatest help. (Because let's face it, while friends are very good for support and bias, even mutual friends will be slightly biased towards one, the other, or both.)

We haven't been dating for too long, only about a week and a half shy of three months. This is his first relationship; this is my ninth. (So I have a lot more experience dealing with stuff like this) Our problem is this:

I've obviously been in a lot more relationships than he has—despite him being about a year older (his 19 to my turning 19 tomorrow), I've got more experience. However, most of my relationships were abusive in one way or another, usually emotionally/psychologically. Its gotten to the point I have an irrational fear of showing aggression/dominance, for fear I'll be expected to act that way from that point onwards. (Its happened before, so...I guess its not FULLY irrational?) I'm already pretty timid/passive/docile/pick your term, because I grew up in an abusive home as well, so the fear doesn't affect too much. Or...at least, that's what you'd think.

See, the thing is, most people I've been romantically involved with, or who've wanted that from me (crushes, wanting to date me, etc.) have all wanted me to be something THEY wanted. I've very, very rarely found someone who's accepted me fully as being this way- flaws, personality, desires, preference, what have you- without any desire to change me, even on a smaller level. And....my current boyfriend is no exception. He wishes I was more aggressive, more forward, more assertive...etc. He's told other people before that he prefers to be the submissive role in a relationship, as well. And while he does understand that the trauma I went through growing up and the abusive relationships I've had are to blame for my current state, he still wishes I was more that way.

For me, its less of a want and more of a need- I've got a need to feel safe and secure, protected, and comforted, moreso than an average relationship has. Going through all I have has left me with countless scars and issues I'm still coming to terms with, and I need someone supportive and more dominant/controlling to guide me and give me a solid foundation so I can begin to fix myself; someone who I know when I have an emotional break I can come to for security. And...he's not like that, at least, not anymore.

We're barely affectionate ever since this problem arose, and we've been intimate a sum total of once since it started- in which I forced myself to be what he wanted, to show that I was capable of it in rare circumstances, despite not enjoying it really at all. I didn't really get any recognition for it- afterwards, it was never really mentioned and the sentiment/gesture was not and has not since been returned. And, I mean, its a little wrong to EXPECT it, but it just cemented home my fear that that's what he's going to want from me from that point on, so things've gotten awkward...

I know, you'd think the obvious answer would be to break up, but, he's the first guy I've dated in who knows how long who ISN'T a jerk or hurtful or abusive- I do love him and I am very much attached to him still. And, the other obvious answer would be to work this out- but how? The only solution we can think of requires one of us to ignore our happiness (Or, in my case, needs) to change ourselves completely to make the other person happy (or, again, in my case, fulfill my needs), and neither of us are really comfortable with that- either for ourselves, OR for the other to do that.

We're at an impasse. And the stress from this has been greatly impacting me- I haven't been able to focus on schoolwork, or drawing (I have backed up commissions, aaagh), or anything. Heh. Great birthday present, am I right?

Hoping to hear from you soon,
Mix

PS: If you need any more info or for me to go into detail, feel free to ask! I don't mind, really. Heh.

* * *

Dear Mix,

Firstly, my sympathies to you for the pain you have suffered in your young life. The scars inflicted upon us in childhood mold us throughout our lives, and no amount of therapy can ever fully undo the psychological pain of a rotten childhood and abuse by people who supposedly loved us.

It is logical what you have written here, therefore, about your sexual preferences: the desire to play a more submissive role and to find a more comforting partner to take charge is natural. Now your partner wants you to be dominant and you need to be submissive. It doesn’t sound like he is willing to compromise in bed, and he didn’t even acknowledge the effort that you made to satisfy his needs.

While your current relationship might be the best relationship you have had to date, that doesn’t mean, Mix, that you will never find another mate who is not abusive like this one. I could suggest seeing a sex therapist, but somehow I doubt that would help you at this point. You say that the only way you think you could find happiness is if one of you compromises on what makes you happy, which is illogical.

If you are looking for a magic bullet, there is none. The two of you are sexually incompatible, and once you both realize that, you have one of two choices: continue a relationship that is sexually unsatisfying, with the inevitable outcome that one or both of you will eventually cheat in order to get what you need, or admit that this relationship cannot work and break it off now instead of wasting your time. You can remain friends, certainly, but a well-rounded relationship is impossible for you. Move on.

Hugs,

Papabear

submitted by MagicWolf
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anyone willing to draw a family portrait of the main family for my series?

Yes I'm working on it. I working on the pilot script now with a friend it will be set in the year 2000 somewhere in Oregon.

Info on the family: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1796937/family.txt Yes i know there is no height or weight for the children cause im not that good at that sort of thing. (im not a pedo bear)

Thanks for helping if you have any questions feel free to ask.

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Here at In-Fur-Nation we’ve covered a lot of pirates, and a lot of werewolves, and a lot of little doggies.  Well, how about a little doggy who fights pirates who are werewolves? Welcome to the world of Mike Norton’s The Curse. In 2009 Mr. Norton, creator of Battlepug (which we’ve also covered here) took up the 24-Hour Comic Book Challenge, which yes, challenges comic book creators to bring about a 24-page comic book, from scratch, in 24 hours. The result was The Curse, in which a small but tenacious pet pug helps his master to defeat an evil band of pirates who’s bite turns you into one of their kind! The response to The Curse was so positive that Mr. Norton returned to it and created Parts 2 and 3 in 2010 and 2011 for the same challenge. Now Oni Press has collected all three sections into a single black and white trade paperback, which is available for pre-order and headed to the shelves this October.

image c. 2012 Mike Norton / Oni Press

Have a awesome story about fursuitting.

http://www.homtv.net/index.asp?view=news&news_id=1711

Author: Harvi We’re rebooting the podcast! Now you can take part in the Hop Inn from the beginning! When we catch up to the current episode we’ll update our iTunes Feed to point over here instead of the old, soon to be gone, site. We’ll be adding more information and links as this site progresses [...] [Series Reboot]Live From the Hop Inn Episode 303

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In recent years furry artists of all types have been getting more mainstream recognition (“It’s about damn time!” we hear you shout). The world is catching up to a fact we already knew: the fandom is comprised of some of the most talented young artists, writers, and musicians around. With Comic-Con International happening this week, fandom favorite Teagan Gavet – perhaps better known as one half of Blotch – is up for the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award for her work on Nordguard. That’s called officially arriving, folks, and it’s a pretty big deal.

The Russ Manning award is a companion award to the Eisners put on every year at Comic-Con. The Eisners are The Grammys of comics, and the Russ Manning award is Best New Artist. Being nominated for a Manning award puts Gavet into the same realm as comic legends like Scott McCloud, Jeff Smith (Bone), and David Petersen (MouseGuard), all previous winners who will vote on this year’s nominees.

Gavet is technically a newcomer to professional graphic storytelling (her previous graphic novel collaboration, Dog’s Days of Summer, saw a limited release), but she’s been working on storytelling for years.

“I went to college for animation so I did a lot of storyboarding,” Gavet explained. “I think they’re pretty similar. The way I approach layouts for comics is like I’m going to be filming it. I think that keeps it smooth and easy to understand what’s going on.”

It’s a technique that’s very apparent throughout Across Thin Ice, book one in the Nordguard trilogy. The opening mining scene (Gavet’s favorite in the book) feels like a scene out of a spy thriller, and each panel distills the important details without confusion or clutter. As anyone who has tried to do comics can attest, it is an extremely hard thing to pull off well.

And it’s not as if Across Thin Ice is an easy story to tell regardless. The pacing switches from languid to frenetic repeatedly. For Gavet, the most difficult scene in the book is the climactic finale where ravens attack while the group crosses a river.

“There were a lot of elements. There were a lot of underviews and overviews, and a lot of action.”

But perhaps more importantly…

“It’s really difficult to find references to ravens attacking people!”

Apparently Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Birds relies too heavily on dead crows on strings to be of much use.

Across Thine Ice is not a shoe-in for the award, and Gavet is up against four other talented newcomers. In fact, Nordguard may well be the least known book in the list that includes the critically acclaimed Helldorado, Night of 1,000 Wolves, and even the reboot of Voltron. But it’s a huge achievement to be nominated, one that should give her a bit of swagger at Comic-Con this year (“Hi I’m one of the five most talented new comic artists in the country. Nice to meet me.”)

Yet Gavet stays humble, and is currently working on the second book in the Nordguard trilogy, Under Dark Skies.

“All of Across Thin Ice is a complete learning experience. Going into the second book has been way easier. You pick up on the method and it becomes more streamlined.”

Regardless of the outcome, the work that Teagan Gavet and Tess Garman (whose watercolors are breathtaking and bring the story to life) is finally being recognized as not just great furry art, but great art, period.

More information on the Russ Manning award can be found on the Comic-Con website.

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Hey there, Papabear,

There's something quite complex that's been on my mind lately. Something I feel like I've worked over as much as I can, possibly even obsessed over, until I've defined every aspect of it. But it still sticks with me emotionally and I can't help but ask myself if there's something I'm missing. After reading many of your letters, I decided it might be worthwhile to see if you have any insight. So... here goes.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for almost five years now, and living together for almost three. In a couple months, more or less at our anniversary, we will be breaking up.

Maybe I should back up a bit.

We first started dating when he moved into the area for college. Now he's on the verge of graduation, but I still have a year and a half to go. So he'll be moving away while I'm stuck here. But that's only a convenient timing for the break-up, not why it's happening in the first place. You see, he has never dated anyone else besides me. As such, he's not comfortable settling down because he believes he'll always wonder what he's missed out on, other experiences and the like. Part of that is because he's bisexual and has never been with the opposite gender, part is just that he never had much of an experimental adolescence in that regard. 

Now, this is something I've known was coming for quite some time. We talked about it long ago, back when we'd first started dating. I suppose I hadn't thought too much of it at the time, probably because the few relationships I'd been in before this either ended horribly, never really began, or lasted only a handful of months anyways. As our relationship developed and we stayed together, the topic of an eventual breakup was broached only extremal rarely. We either skirted around it or I tried rather successfully to avoid thinking about it. But with that artificial deadline approaching fast, it's getting pretty hard to avoid dealing with it anymore.

The thing is, I understand his reasoning, even if I don't agree with the decision it leads to. So my options as I see them are to either let him go, losing him as a partner but maintaining the friendship, or to fight for our relationship. I don't feel like I can fight because, if I do, I'll either convince him to stay and feel guilty for what I've denied him or alienate him in the process and lose him all together. I can't simply be selfish here, as I feel his happiness is more important to me than my own. With all that in mind, I came to the conclusion that I should just accept the situation, enjoy the time we have left together as much as possible, and part on good terms. We do plan on staying very much a part of each others lives, so I wouldn't be losing him in that sense. We just wouldn't be together anymore.

The problem for me comes with actually accepting the situation. Every so often, some little thing in conversation or interaction reminds me that he'll be gone soon, and that snags and sticks in my mind such that it gets me down and I have trouble thinking about anything else for a while. When that happens I tend to close off socially, not wanting to burden others with my problems or rant at them inadvertently. These funks also tend to alter the way I think about things slightly. For instance, he'll be talking to a friend he's recently made online that he is becoming quite close to and I'll find myself thinking of it as him shopping for my replacement. Or during otherwise inconsequential disagreements or arguments I'll find thoughts like "At least I only have to deal with this for X more months," slipping into my mind. I immediately feel terrible for thinking that way, of course, only making my mood worse. At least I get over it all fairly quickly, in a day or two at most, but it seems to be happening more often the closer the split gets. Kinda sours the idea of making the most of the time we have left.

I think that pretty much covers the beast of a situation. So I guess my question is... what are your thoughts?

- Theta

* * *

Hi, Theta,

This is a pretty sad situation for you, and I'm sorry to hear it. Let me tell you what Papabear would do if he were in your situation. I would tell my mate that his decision has already effectively ended the relationship and that we are no longer mates. Furthermore, I would begin looking for a new mate myself, letting him know quite clearly that I am not going to wait around for him to return. I am not a safety net in case things go badly as he sows his wild oats and decides he wants to be mates again. We could maybe still be friends, but the matehood is over.

While I, like you, understand he wants to live his life and would wish him well, I would not be sitting around pretending that he is still my mate when he has already signed out mentally. What would this mean in the short term? Well, it would mean the relationship is downgraded to roommate status: no sex, first of all, and any shared rooming expenses must be divided fairly. Meantime, I'm off to find a date with someone who actually wants to be with me. As I've said to other letter writers: don't be a tool.

I sense you already know all this, Theta, and are just looking for someone to confirm that you are right. You deserve better that this. Time to wave a paw "bye-bye" to this guy.

Hugs,

Papabear

Author: admin Episode 50, the Fuzzy Logic with the portmanteau from hell! We lead off with fun times ranging from Kyo’s real-time reaction to the ending of Episode 49 – don’t worry, we’re still largely intact – to the Pokemon theme song and its infectious nature! We then move on to discussion topics, touching on [...] Episode 50 – Independextravaganza

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Our intrepid heroes are stuck in a heat wave. With limited brain power, a discussion about something furry-related quickly turns into movie talk. Goofiness ensues. Check us out on Twitter at @portzcast and on www.furaffinity.net/user/portzcast! 07 - Movies Movies Movies